City Walls and Cigarettes

Songpan City Wall

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The majority of the day was spent exploring the remaining parts of Jiuzhaigou. Places visited included: Primeval Forest, which at 3060m is the highest point in the park; Hawk’s Claw cave; Pearl Shoals and Rhinoceros Lake. Some imagination, more than we had combined, is required to understand how these places earned their names. The crowds continued to detract from the scenery.

Ironically, the highlight of the Jiuzhaigou Tour wasn’t Jiuzhaigou, but the town of Songpan. Here we could escape the relentless crowds of jostling tourists. We arrived at Songpan soon after 6pm and lodged at the Tian Ma Hotel. After an ordinary dinner we headed downtown, about a kilometre from the hotel. Songpan was a charming place to explore. There was a mixture of Han and Hui (a Muslim minority) peoples. A high solid stone city wall surrounded a portion of the town. Steep stone staircases led from the street level to the top of the wall. There was no charge to walk on the wall. Locals strolled, rollerbladed, rode bikes and walked their dogs on the city wall. Temples at either end of the wall were being renovated. Stone warriors menacingly overlooked the town. A collection of ancient machines of war – cannons, catapults, battering rams and the like - were aligned along one side of the wall, poised for action.

Standing Guard Over Songpan

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We soon encountered a large open square with a bell tower at one end and a Chinese flag proudly flapping in the breeze at the other. Music was blaring out over the load speakers and a large gathering of women, forming a circle, were moving in time with the music. Lots of people were just sitting around watching - watching the dancing women, watching us, just watching.  

We soon moved to a small dimly-lit Hui restaurant and order some steamed buns filled with tofu and green vegetables. Friends of the restaurant owners burst in holding a toddler. They're all laughing. Nothing unusual, except that the boy has a cigarette in his mouth and is looking for a light! The boy, knowing how to workthe crowd, also does a wobbly little table dance for us. We only hope the cigarette has that smooth menthol flavour and is low in tar content!

Ancient Macines of War on the City Wall

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A brief three-wheeled bike ride in the dark later and we’re back at the hotel. Tomorrow we return to Chengdu.