Self-driving tour in Gansu, Qinghai and Ningxia (22) "Little Switzerland of the East" - Langmusi Town

Travel Together Season 16 - Self-driving Tour in Gansu, Qinghai and Ningxia (22) "Little Switzerland of the East" - Langmusi Town Gannan, Gansu 2023.9.17 The weather will turn from light rain to cloudy to overcast, with temperatures ranging from 3-15 degrees Celsius and the highest altitude at 3,400 meters. Visit Langmusi Temple in the morning. Langmusi, an abstract and vague name. This is a small town named after a temple. It is located at the junction of Gansu and Sichuan and is divided between the two provinces. Langmusi Town was first built in the 13th year of Emperor Qianlong's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1748). A Bailong River (a small stream) roughly divides the town into two parts, north and south (Figure 1): to the north, Luqu County, Gannan Prefecture, Gansu Province, is governed by Langmusi Town; to the south, Ruoergai County, Aba Prefecture, Sichuan Province, has three natural villages under its jurisdiction. There is a temple on each of the north and south sides, both of which are famous temples of the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Langmusi Town is 3,480 meters above sea level and covers an area of ​​55 hectares. It is surrounded by four mountains, with pine and cypress trees complementing each other. It has beautiful mountains and cliffs, lush forests and clear waters, and the scenery is charming. We went from far to near and first went to the Gelug Monastery in Sichuan. The temple is located in a canyon in the west of the town, covering a large area (Figure 2). There are more than a thousand monks. In addition to the temple, there are also colleges for study, Kalachakra, and medicine (Figure 3), as well as a water-driven aqueduct. The prayer wheel (Figure 4). There is a canyon behind the Gelug Monastery, where the Bailong River originates (Figure 5). Then we came to Saichi Temple in Ganjie. The temple is located on a hillside in the north of the town (Figure 6), and one needs to go up and down the hill or walk up stairs to enter. Although the temple here is small, the scripture hall and monks' quarters are connected, stacked up layer by layer, with majestic and magnificent architecture (Figures 7-8). Behind the Saichi Temple there is a road leading to the sky burial platform, which is the only sky burial platform in Tibet that can be viewed by the public. The two Tibetan Buddhist temples are large in scale, overlooking each other across a small stream, with the sound of Dharma drums and conch shells echoing each other. Tibetan people in the town can voluntarily convert to these two temples. Hongshi Cliff, located in the south of the town, has become the iconic focus of Langmusi Town in front of the lenses of photography enthusiasts because of its red rocks and abrupt mountain bodies (Figure 9). At 1:00 p.m., we left Langmusi and headed for Zhagana in Diebu County.