4-21-05 - Snow Mountain and Yak Meadow
by Jenna Hamilton

Today we went to Yak Meadow, the Snow Mountain, and a Naxi village to see 400 year old frescos. We had a long, winding, but enjoyable, bus ride through very rural territory to the base of Snow Mountain. Because of the increasingly high altitude we picked up some small oxygen canisters, but don't worry, very few had to use it. We took a 20 minute gondola ride up the mountain through plunging temperatures to the famed Yak Meadow at the base of Snow Mountain, where we were greeted by Naxi people in their traditional garb. Rumors of famous yak had been circling from the minute we landed in Lijiang, so we were all anxious to see the prized creatures. The locals seem to rate their yaks similar to our hotel ratings and Yak Meadow is famous for its "5 Star Yak". I was in search of a ride on one and nothing else would do. As we descended wooden stairs from the gondola they came into view. I almost shed a tear at the breathtaking flawless appearance of my chosen Five Star Yak (on which I got a ride for 20 yuan). We all took turns riding the magnificent creatures before we hiked up to the Yak Meadow at the base of Jade Dragon Mountain (aka "Snow Mountain").

We visited a temple of the LLama religion, made wishes on the dozens of golden drums we turned as we entered and exited, and received prayer scarves for our donations to the temple. Although our hike wasn't too steep it was still difficult because of the thinning atmosphere, though when we got to the top it was well worth it. It felt like we were flying over the top of the world. We took a group photo and observed a fabulous scientific phenomena thanks to the altitude and Kate's sealed bag of chips (which expanded as we climbed).

Our last stop of the day wa the Naxi village where we viewed 400 year old frescos (painted walls). They are some of the only records in the world that show the combination of multiple religions in one religious scene. The four are: Dambaism, Lamaism, Taoism and Buddhism. It was interesting to see how this area. an intersection of many cultures, combined spiritual systems to create a religion which paralleled the meshing of beliefs.

Here's some of the lunch we didn't eat, although it mostly looked pretty good. We had rice cakes on a stick.

The Temple: Note the brass cylinders which surround the entrance way. These are prayer wheels that you turn as you walk around the courtyard and into the temple. Each turn you say a prayer.