Songpan Horse Trek part 12 Travel tips

"Songzhou", the old name for Songpan on the north gate ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

Most people visit Songpan only as a springboard for a horse trek or a drive-by on the way to Huanglong and Jiuzhaigou. Little Songpan doesn't deserve quite such a cold shoulder. This town of about 70,000 people has a unique history that deserves closer scrutiny. Indeed places like this in China are rapidly disappearing so if you want to catch a last whiff of a town with a "frontier" feeling please spend at least one day exploring its back alleys. 

When I first visited Songpan over 20 years ago it was half the size it is today, there were only a few  remnants of the city wall left, the bus station and its attached "hotel" rooms were some of the filthiest, grottiest in China. The bus ride from Chengdu took two 11 hr days and it was the only journey in China where I actually hit my head on the ceiling of the bus, the roads were so bumpy, bad and dangerous. Whenever I was in Songpan I was either exhausted and dirty myself from a recent trek or horseride and usually also just "passing through" to other areas. But I did spend time there and truly enjoyed the rough-and-tumble Wild West feel of the town. It was a great place to see Tibetans dressed up in their "city" finery: leopard-skin trimmed long coats, amber, coral and turquoise decorated hair, gold teeth and brilliant smiles. People rode horses up and down the streets and the shops were all wooden two-stories with oxblood red trimmings and warm yellow facades. Just as today there was a strong muslim influence with a lovely neat and tidy mosque, ladies with their hair covered and halal butchers. It was a touch of the Silk Road, Lhasa and frontier trading-post-China-of-the-past all thrown into the same mix, ready to be savored along with some dried yak beef and a loaf of bread. 

Songpan has existed since the Tang Dynasty and has seen numerous battles and wars in its role as an important and strategic military post. Situated at a crossroads between Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu and Sichuan it has also served as a vital trading center for tea and horses. Songpan suffered heavy damage during the Ming Dynasty and it was from the Ming that the remaining city walls date. Volatile relations between local Tibetans and Muslims have also witnessed numerous tragedies in the past but today one could say that relations are quite stable and peaceful.

Transportation

There are numerous daily flights from Chengdu to Jiuhuang Airport that is about 1/1.5 hour from Songpan. Buses leave daily from Chengdu and normally take 8-10 hours to arrive. Since the May 12, 2008 earthquake the road via Wenchuan-Maoxian has been in serious disrepair so the road can not be guaranteed. The road via Mianyang/Pingwu/Huanglong however is in perfect condition and takes about 9 hrs by private car or rented bus. Songpan is easily accessible from Huanglong (1.5 hr) and Jiuzhaigou (ca 2-3 hr). There are no buses from the airport to Songpan, quickly grab a taxi from the airport, hopefully you will find other people to share the cost. We rented our bus from Sam's Travel (2nd fl Holly's Hostel) in Chengdu, very economic, great driver. 800 y a day plus a sum for the driver's lodging and meals. You can seat 14 people in the bus including one row reserved for luggage. A bargain if you have enough friends to split the cost. 

Shunjiang Nianqing Kezhan, a regular "motel" that you can drive your car into at night.

Accommodation

We stayed in spotless double-rooms with attached WC/hot shower at the Shunjiang Nianqing Kezhan right behind the horse trekking company and Emma's Kitchen in the northern section of town, not far from the North Bus Station.  120 y a night. Hot water all the time if there is electricity in Songpan (!). There are of course both cheaper and more expensive hotels in and around town.

Massage

There is a great massage centre (Snowland Tibetan Medical Massage Centre) located right beside Emma's run by Henanese Dong Li Xia (Lisa) and her Tibetan husband Hago Tenzin Wangyal. They also employ a local blind man (Mr Mi You Jun). High quality massage and nice, cosy atmosphere. Tel 13678372990. Email: tibetanmassage@163.com/tdgonkatsang©hotmail.com.

Teahouses

Best teahouses and cosiest atmosphere on a sunny day is along the Min River near the south end of town, the old wooden Yinyue Bridge and the Guanyin Fort (Guangyin Ge).  

Sightseeing

There are two mosques and a muslim center in town, the finest is located behind Emma's in the northern end of town. Don't miss the two beautiful old wooden covered bridges. The Guanyin Ge on a SW hillside, the old city gates and reconstructed city wall, the kitschy historic-romantic statue of Princess Wencheng outside the north gate. The main street has lots of shops and good people-watching. Around the mosques you can buy the best China-famous dried yak and beef meat (great for treks). Local honey, mushrooms and medicinal herbs are also a very good buy. Outside Songpan on the way to Huanglong is a quite grotesque, over-the-top monument to the Long March, that supposedly passed this way (debatable as to whether they actually went this way) in the 1930s. You can't miss the huge statue of a soldier holding a rifle surrounded by some very clunky statues at his feet.

Horse trekking

The two former horse trekking companies are now combined as one: Shunjiang Horse Treks (Shunjiang Luyou Madui), office on Shunjiang Beilu beside Emma's in N Songpan (tel 723 1201) just south of the bus station, east side of the road.

Problems

Songpan often suffers from lack of electricity (= no hot water), bring a flashlight. Be prepared with patience when this happens - think of the people who have to live with this every week of the year. Altitude: 2835 m, which can cause headaches for those having just arrived by air. 

# 53 Today's picture 090323

090322 ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

Straight down from the mountains to the city. We see the most incredible people on our street. Tibetans from all areas of the country come down to the city to meet with friends and family, "see something", visit doctors, go to school, buy a new Buddha or two, sell or buy jewelry, purchase a blender for their butter tea or a prayer flag or two, sew up fifty colorful cushions for a new dharma centre, consult their guru or spiritual master, go on a pilgrimage to Emei Mountain or just windowshop and rubberneck. You name it, we see it on our street. This woman had one of the many fantastic hats we see every day in the endless hat parade that is Tibetan traditional couture. She also had an MP3 player in her mobile phone which you can see that she is listening to. 

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Tibetan monk, Tagong, Sichuan 2007 ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

Tibetan furniture

Photos ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

Tibetan furniture is absolutely fascinating. Somewhat clunky and boxy, yes, but full of vibrant life, personality and tangible, living culture. Their earthy colours and folksy craftsmanship convey a sense of warmth and closeness to nature and life itself. Old Tibetan furniture is scarce and hard to come by and for various reasons I'd rather that the pieces that do exist stay with the Tibetans themselves. Luckily the demand for newly produced furniture increases all the time which means that it is easy to acquire a newly produced item today. Even though I live in an area of China that has a large Tibetan population and in the Tibetan area of Chengdu, I've found that the widest selection of newly produced furniture outside of Tibet of high quality is in Beijing. Furniture produced in Sichuan or Yunnan is, in my taste, many times too bright with gaudy colour and not of the best quality. On the other hand, it is extremely cheap. So if you want a brightly colored, exotic sofabed for the kids room, by all mean buy one here, they can be found for around 600 yuan and only need a thin mattress. 

The amount of furniture used in a typical Tibetan home varies with the geographical area and of course nomads carry only a small amount of furniture with them, typical items being small altars, low tables or chests. Wood is scarce up on the high plateau but in the Tibetans areas of Sichuan, which is densely forested, homes are richly decorated with in situ built cabinets from floor to ceiling, bed/benches around the entire room that are then decorated with low tables, rugs and cushions.  The furniture is usually extremely colorful, every visible surface decorated, most often with religious motifs and auspicious iconography but also paintings of everyday life, flora and fauna. The contrast between a typical country Chinese home and a Tibetan home couldn't be more different, although both are unique in their own way.

I'm lucky to have acquired a few pieces here in China from Mansu, a Tibetan contact in Beijing that has a number of craftsmen producing new pieces with old patina. He says he ships them down from the craftsmen in Shigatse in Tibet (Shigatse is known as a furniture area). (I suspect however that a number of the items might be produced in the enormous furniture area of SE Beijing, but no matter, they are definitely made by Tibetan craftsmen). I try and choose pieces that look as old or authentic as possible, using traditional patterns, styles etc. Mansu has several large warehouses packed to the ceiling with different pieces.

Shown here are two cabinets (top) and an altar (above) that I bought in Beijing and had shipped (included in purchase price) to Chengdu. Mansu also has a large number of medium quality wool carpets in traditional patterns and muted dyes (two can be seen beneath the cabinets). Very nice, soft and affordable, but of course no where near the quality of Torana or Khawachen, two magnificent carpet producers that I highly recommend (see separate posting).

Mansu in Beijing:
www.lftibetanart.com

www.lftibetanart.cn
linfengyishu@yahoo.com.cn

Tel: (8610) 87693479

Mobile 13911739981

NOTE: As I say about every region of China or the world, I strongly recommend buying locally produced products produced by the people themselves, to help promote traditional culture and local values. So please try and buy Tibetan furniture, carpets and any other Tibetan handicrafts directly from Tibetans themselves or those shops or organizations that work directly with the Tibetan suppliers in order to support the continuance of fine quality, local traditions and to help bolster the local economy. 

For anyone interested in learning more about Tibetan furniture please read: 

Wooden Wonders, Tibetan furniture in secular and religious life, Edited by David Kamansky. Published by Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena and Serindia Publications, Chicago. ISBN: 1-932476-17-2 (Hardcover) or 1-932476-16-4 (Softcover)

Tibetan tea, tea cups and blenders

©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

While working on some Tibet articles today I came across this colorful image of lidded teacups, which I took in a village home between Gyantse and Shigatse. Tibetans love their tea as much as the English do and a good cuppa is always offered to any guest. Butter tea is called po cha or cha süma in Tibetan ("churned tea") and su you cha in standard Chinese. It's customary to flick into the air a little tea gathered on your fingertip before drinking. In this way you honor both the gods and your host. 

Two fallacies that many people think are true about Tibetans:

1) "That they prefer their tea with rancid yak butter." Not at all. They prefer fresh butter of the best quality if they can afford it. On the other hand, yak butter has a naturally "gamey" taste to it so bland Lurpak it definitely is not.

2) "That they drink up to 60 or 80 cups of tea per day." Tibetans do drink a lot of tea, but they CANNOT possibly drink 60 - 80 cups of tea a day as some travel writers like to say. Each cup is 2 dl of very filling, thick buttery liquid. Do the math and see that this is just physically impossible. It would mean drinking 12 to 16 liters of liquid a day and a cup of tea every 16 minutes in a 16 hour waking day.  80 healthy sips is more like it, as most Tibetans take a sip then set the cup down, whereupon it is immediately topped up by the ever vigilant host. 

Interesting fact: Most modern Tibetans who have access to electricity churn their butter tea in electric blenders and not in the traditional churns that the nomads use. For large gatherings even a washing machine might be used solely for the purpose of making large quantities of tea! (I've heard that many rural Chinese use their washing machines to wash vegetables.)

And to all you business school smarty-pants out there, the above mentioned blender is the in-thing among Tibetans, a much coveted household object that both rich and poor alike own or want to own. On my street here in the Tibetan section of Chengdu, several shops sell a very basic model and I have seen blenders in every Tibetan home I have visited in recent years. (For some reason all of them seem to be yellow in color.) Some genius saw and interpreted this basic need and marketed it: very smart. This, along with the cheap, common, large thermos - which I will stick my neck out and say is one of the greatest contributions the Chinese have made to Tibetan society as a whole - are consumer goods that obviously made it straight to the heart and needs of the Tibetan people. I also love it when someone figures out a simple, affordable solution that alleviates the daily chores that usually fall on the women of the world.