Day 51 Sunday 20th September 247km ( 16336km total)
3500m marshland, yaks & Tibetan prayer flags
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Continued from part 1
The vast high level plains are known as the Ruoergai grasslands and cover approximately 13700 square miles at an average height of 11500 feet. Like many things I have come across as in China, the sheer scale of it is daunting.
The grasslands are composed of peat and are home to the Tibetan Zang peoples, who traditionally farm yak & sheep there. Nowadays tourism is also a key earner and their were numerous camps offering food andpony trekking opportunities.
Much of the journey was taken up crossing the huge plateau, but eventually after rising to over 3800m, the road began to descend a little and quickly the landscape changed along with the vegetation.
Yak's were still very evident, and we encountered more than one 'Yak jam' !
Songpan, today's destination, is now primarily a tourist town serving the surrounding area, but also has remnants of old city walls and some reconstructed old buildings. Unfortunately, I didn't get chance to look around the old city, but had a nice walk down the main street.
There were many shops selling dried yak meat & other body parts, apparently this was traditionally done to provide food for the herders in the plains, but now is largely for passing tourists. I saw many bus loads passing through.
The other kind of shop commonly found sold furs of varying colours, types & sizes.
We opted to have a late lunch at Emma's kitchen, a sort of central hub in the town for foreign visitors and the only establishment that serves proper coffee & various other comfort foods (the yak burger & chips went down very nicely!)
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