We have visited Fei Lai Si
monastery. It was walking distance from our hostel. It is a beautiful temple
that nestled high above the Mekong valley at an altitude of 3300 meters on the
road to Lhasa. This is the place for Tibetans to pay homage to the sacred
mountain. Feilai Temple has a viewing platform for tourist to enjoy the view of Mount Kawagebo. October and May is the best season to see golden sun rise hitting on
snow capped peaks of Mount Kawagebo. We are not lucky enough to see it as we went
to there on Jun.
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| Fei Lai Si monastery |
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| White blanket of the snow covered the mountains |
We left this beautiful town and
headed to Pudacuo (or Potatso) National Park. The national park is qualifies as
a natural wonderland. It contains endemic species of fish found nowhere else in
the world, rare and beautiful. The entrance fee is 258RMB per person
including the shuttle bus fare in the park. Pudacuo has two huge lakes which is
Bitahai and Shuduhu lakes. The park shuttle bus will take you from visitor centre
to Shudu Lake and follow by Bita Hai Lake. Visitor can either take a boat ride
(RMB 50) around the lake or walk down the roughly 2km path to the exit of the
park.
We estimated to spend around 4 to 5
hours at this place. So my friends and I decided to walk along the park instead
of taking a boat ride as we can stop by anytime. We have stopped by a few time
to capture the photo and enjoyed the quiet and leisurely of this park. But
unfortunately, rain and hail started to fall before we exit the park! “Run!!!”
We ran as fast as we could to the exit. That was how we end our visit at
Pudacuo national park. It was a fun though *Crying*
I still can manage to take few nice photos while rushing under the heavy rain and hail.
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| Bitahai Lake |
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| The Beard trees, Shuduhu lake |
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| Rainy view at Shuduhu lake is still beautiful |
At the evening, we reached ancient
town of Dukezong in Deqin. Dukezong means moonlight city in Tibetan. It is a
Tibetan town in Shangrila, Yunan Province. The town is over thirteen hundred
years old. Although it is a very old town, but that don’t impress me
much. The town has been destroyed by the huge fire in Jan 2014. Most of the
building is still reconstructing. Thankfully, the Guishan Dafo Templein
Dukezong is well maintenance after the fire last year.
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| Religious architecture of Guishan Dafo Temple |
The 60-ton prayer wheel is one of famous tourist destination in Shangri-la. Tourists and local residents twirl the giant prayer wheel to submit prayers. Remember, do it only clockwise, as religious tradition dictates.
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| The prayer wheel. |
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| Guishan Dafo temple and the eye catching prayer wheel. |
This is where we spent our last night at Shangri-la.
