We didn’t have too much driving to do today, so we had a bit more time to relax. We also wanted to see a village that Brandon (who is our travel guru) had recommended in the area.
Since we had some time to relax in the morning, Shirley, Jaye, Timothy, and I decided to take a walk around the village in the 丹巴 (Dan Ba) area. Our hotel was delightful and new, but as we walked around, I realized that the area was still not adapted for lots of tourists. The hotel was meant to be a place to just stay the night rather than someplace to really get to know the area.
The only walking area was on the road next to the river. The road was narrow, and it was also one of the few roads for cars in the area. There weren’t many cars, but anytime there was a car from either direction, we had to move to the side of the road.
At one point, we climbed down some rocks so we could be close to the river, and it was beautiful, but we realized that we wouldn’t be able to walk along the river down there like we had hoped. Even Shirley, our most adventurous team member, wasn’t able to walk very far before she had to climb back up toward the road.
We did find a little side trail, but it seemed to belong to some people whose houses bordered the river. We stayed on the path and hoped the people wouldn’t mind. At one point, we saw a man who lived in one of the houses, and we wondered if he would ask us to leave, but he motioned us forward. We picked our way around broken hoses that sprayed water everywhere as the water traveled from the river to somebody’s garden and other roadblocks before the path disappeared and we went back to the main road.
Even though the path was not very smooth or well-kept, we enjoyed looking at the flowers and plants in the area as well as the beautiful river and interesting buildings. We found some peppercorns (麻, ma, numbing peppers) growing on some plants. We also found random berries and other pretty flowers. The buildings were still interesting, and it was fun to experience something different and new. I think I would have enjoyed it more if we had been able to talk to more of the locals, but the area seemed to be a bit deserted. Perhaps the people were all in the touristy areas selling their products for the day.
After lunch at the hotel (even though the food was slow to come out, it was really good!), we headed off to another village—the one that Brandon had recommended called 甲居藏寨 (Jia ju zang zhai; a Tibetan village in Danba).
This village was up a different mountain, and we realized that it was the kind of place that we needed to drive around in, not someplace that we could just get out and walk. It was 50 kuai per person to enter which was a bit more than we expected, but since Brandon had recommended it, it must be good!
As we drove, we kept looking for a place to get out and walk around. We wanted to get a feeling for the village. There was only one main road, so we followed that further up the mountain. The road was not very fun to drive with all its switchbacks, but it was an adventure. We were following a car and they finally stopped and switched drivers. I was glad because the first driver seemed to be struggling, and the second driver was much easier to follow. Hopefully the people behind me didn’t mind my driving because I was our only driver!
We finally found a spot to stop and park, but there didn’t seem to be anything nearby except for a trail that led up some stairs up the mountain.
“How far do you think it goes?”
“Where does it go?”
“Is it going to a view?”
We all had lots of questions, and nobody had answers. I was feeling a bit antsy and really wanted to keep walking, so Jaye and Shirley and I kept following the staircase. The altitude was a bit high, but it was nice to be out and walking (even if it was climbing stairs). We kept debating about how far to go. We didn’t want Timothy and Jessica to have to wait for us too long, but then we finally found a lookout point with a cool building. The building seemed closed, and we didn’t get around to checking if the doors were also locked, but we enjoyed looking at the view. We also saw a road with a parking lot at the building. We could have just kept driving and arrived at this destination.
After texting Jessica and Timothy to not bother coming all the way up the stairs, we enjoyed the view for a few more minutes and headed back down to pick up the car.
We ended up not stopping again, but we decided to keep driving up to the next viewpoints. We drove and drove up that winding road, wondering how far the next viewpoint would be. Timothy found it on his map which helped with our expectations, but that road sure was winding!
Just before we arrived at the lookout point, we passed a lady and her son who were walking a pig up the mountain. Since we often saw animals on the road, it wasn’t that unusual, but it was still interesting. When we got to the viewpoint, the first thing Jaye did was to walk back to take a picture of the pig. She asked the lady first who didn’t mind.
The view of the mountains and the valley and the buildings dotting the side of the mountain with their unique white, black, and red towers was beautiful. A few locals were selling dried flowers for tea and some other local products.
Timothy’s pictures:
Since we realized that this road was just different lookout points, we decided to go back down to the village and see if we could find a place to walk around and see the cool buildings. Along the road going up, we wanted to find something like that, but every building that we passed was just a hostel or inn.
Driving back down the mountain wasn’t quite as challenging as going up, and I was glad. At around viewpoint number 2 (they were all numbered–I think the highest one we went to was 5 or 6). We found a side street and decided to try walking down it. We tried to ask the locals if it was a place where we could see cool things, but the locals didn’t seem to understand and kept pointing up. So we finally just decided to look.
The street did have some beautiful buildings. But the weird thing was that everything seemed deserted. We found one restaurant that seemed abandoned. We took some pictures of the buildings, but it was a bit weird. There were some apple trees with fruit on them, and some other fields with gardens, and we wondered if the villagers lived here but since they were all up at the viewpoints selling their products, maybe that’s why the area was deserted.
Timothy’s pictures:
We saw one old lady, and Shirley asked her if she could pick an apple from the tree, but the old lady said no. We finally decided to just go back to the last viewpoint and then head out. The village was beautiful, but it was a little confusing. We probably should have done some more research to figure out exactly what the place was. As we left the side road with the deserted village, a tour group headed down the road. Apparently there were things to see down there. I hoped we had seen them!
Before heading out, we stopped off at lookout number 2. It probably wouldn’t be as incredible as the upper lookouts, but there was a restroom and a pretty nice view.
We relaxed and enjoyed the view. Timothy took some pictures and Jessica decided to get some colorful strings braded into her hair. This was another of the things the locals liked to do to earn a little cash. We finally had the chance to chat with them a little bit, and we chatted with an older lady and her daughter. Jaye bought some spices and then they gave us some apples. They were small and green and a bit sour but quite lovely!
As always, the views along the drive were incredible! However, while we were driving, we almost got into an accident (I was trying to remember which days the following two events happened, and while I thought they were this day, after discussing with Jessica and Jaye, it seems like they probably happened on our way back to Chengdu. But I’m going to leave them here since I will probably skip our last day of driving–aside from these things, it wasn’t very eventful.).
Throughout Western Sichuan, most of the roads were a single highway with one lane each for cars going in opposite directions. We still hadn’t encountered a lot of traffic, and I was very thankful for that, but on this day we had two crazy adventures.
One of them was as we were driving along the narrow road on the side of a mountain. Suddenly, the road disappeared and what remained was a path of dirt/mud. On my side, the mountain rose up abruptly from the side of the road, and on the other side, the road dropped off sharply down a cliff. There was no guard rail, just a bit of string with flags.
I was very thankful to be driving on the side with the mountain going up rather than dropping out from under us, but my heart pounded as we tried to squeeze past cars coming from the other direction. The road was so narrow that on the mountain side, I had to drive onto the slope so that the cars could get by coming from the opposite direction. This harrowing experience was only for about 100 yards or less, but that was enough for me. We all breathed a sigh of relief and thanksgiving to be back on the pavement with clear lines. I wondered if the road had been washed away in a mudslide recently. I’d heard that there were several of those in Western Sichuan recently.
A few moments later, we saw a truck rumbling past us. It wasn’t a big semi, but it was definitely bigger than the cars that we had to squeeze past on the road. I was very thankful we didn’t encounter him on that road, and I hoped that all of the cars would be ok. But one thing I have learned about China is that they made things work. Even if all of the cars had to back up to let him through, it might take a while, but eventually, it would work.
Our other crazy adventure for the day happened when we were going through a village. The scariest part of driving was when cars coming from the opposite direction sped around slower cars. I prayed a lot on that trip, and I’m thankful I did. I know God was watching out for us. I also used my horn a lot.
At one point, I went around a turn and saw a large bus barreling toward me in my lane. I slammed on my brakes and slammed my hand into the horn. The bus swerved back into his own lane and passed inches away from us and then drove away. That’s when I realized that the bus had pushed the little red car that they were trying to pass into a ditch.
We saw a parking area on our side of the road, and I pulled off to catch my breath–plus, we wanted to make sure the red car’s occupants were ok. The driver got out and shouted angrily after the bus, but they seemed to be ok. It looked like they were some locals. The road dropped sharply off on their side, and their car was half on the road and half off from where they had swerved off the road to avoid hitting the bus as it came back into their lane. I wished I had gotten the license plate of the bus, but there wasn’t a lot we could do.
Shirley went over to make sure they were ok, and I think Jaye might have gone with her, but the rest of us stayed in the car. After making sure everyone was ok, we thanked God again for our safety and continued on our way.
We got to our last hotel before dark. Shirley was at a different hotel from us, so we dropped her off first. Hers was hard to find, and we passed it and had to go back. Then we headed back to our hotel. This was probably my favorite hotel from the trip. It was nice and new and very comfortable. And we were going to stay here for two nights. We settled in, and I was very happy! Plus, we were going to go hiking the next day!