March 8, 2012
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Sichuan Day 9: Changping gou (E)
Someone told me that when he visited Changping gou in Spring (June), his horse was all the way stepping on flowers. It was absolutely beautiful.
I was obviously not there at the best season, but I still enjoyed the scenery of autumn Changping gou.I took the shuttle bus from Rilong town to the entrance of Changping gou. There are only 2 ways of traveling at Changping gou- walking or horse riding. If you walk, you can only access to a small part of the area. With the horseman, you can get much deeper. The horse was arranged at the entrance of Changping gou with a set price. Remember not to give the ticket to the horseman before coming back to the entrance. If not, they will just take the ticket and go away. As long as they have the ticket, they could get money from the company.
I was super super lucky to go to Changping gou on a clear day, so I could see the 4 beautiful ladies who turned to be snow cap on the mountain to suppress the devil.
It was a legend:
相传在一个非常久远的年代，日隆镇有个叫阿郎巴依的小伙子与邻寨的一位姑娘结了婚，生下四个十分美丽的女儿。四个姑娘中，最漂亮的要算四姑娘。三个姐姐都十分偏爱和呵护她。不久从外乡来了一个叫麻 尔多拉（也被写为墨尔多）的妖魔，他住在一个山洞里，经常为非作歹，残害生灵。他打听到阿郎巴依有四个漂亮的女 儿，就想将她们占为自己的妻妾。他得知阿郎巴依是樟木寨的护寨人，就十分痛恨，常常在青山绿水的时候，哄骗天河泛滥洪水。为了保卫家园，阿郎巴依毅然同麻 尔多拉展开了长期的格斗。不久，阿郎巴依在与魔王麻尔多拉交战时被魔王巧施阴谋害死，并丢失了让魔王害怕的日月宝镜。四姑娘听到这个消息后十分悲痛，年少 的她决心替父复仇，她走遍嘉绒地区的所有神山，请求它们教给她降伏魔王的方法，她走遍所有的寺庙，学会对付魔王的手段，然后回到日隆关和魔王进行斗争。四 姑娘凭着聪明和智慧几次战胜了魔王，日隆关这个地方又安宁了许久。
与四姑娘住在同一村，有个叫央青达尔吉木匠，他与四姑娘自小在一起，青梅竹马，两小无猜。木匠的手艺远近闻名，他雕的花能开，雕的鸟能 飞。他常常以自己的木匠手艺做一些木制东西送给四姑娘，四姑娘也常将自己绣织的腰带和衣物送给他。在一次与魔王的战斗中，四姑娘凭借木匠的帮助将魔王斗得 落荒而逃，从此他们悄悄地恋爱着。
可是魔王并不甘心，他欺骗了天上的水母，只要给水母捎个信去，水母就给这里下很大的雨，让这里水涝成灾，老百姓不得安宁。四个姑娘决心 象父亲那样同魔王战斗到底，守卫她们的家园。三个姐姐把年龄最小的四姑娘看管起来，她们怕她斗不过魔王。但大姐，二姐和三姐和她們的未婚夫也先後被魔王制服。四姑娘的三个姐姐一起变成三座大山压在魔王的身上。可是魔王的法力无 边，眼看三个姐姐压不住了，四姑娘夺回了日月宝镜赶到，她摇身一变，变成了一座雄伟的大山，坚实地压在魔王的胸膛上，然后将日月宝镜往空中一抛，让所有的 积雪变成了千年冰雪，把四姑娘冻得十分坚硬，把魔王撵向死亡。最后，她们终于用自己的生命换来了赞拉河水的平静，让这里的一草一木，一山一水都充满着灵 性。
当四姑娘与魔王战斗时，木匠正在为从西方来的一位传扬佛法的弟子修建庙宇，当他听到四姑娘变成了雪山后，十分悲痛。他沿着长平沟往上 跑，想见四姑娘最后一面，没想到来到四姑娘仙化的地方，她早已变成了雄伟的雪山。看着圣洁美丽的四姑娘，他淆然泪下，觉得尘世间的事对他已没有什么牵挂。 他忽地变成了一道圣洁的白云，终日围绕在四姑娘的山峰上，以表白自己对四姑娘的钟爱。直到今天，他依然守候在山峰之上，人们要见四姑娘真实的面庞十分不 易，除非有缘，那四姑娘山峰上的云彩才会打开，让人们一睹仙女的芳容。
The biggest one at the left was the youngest sister.
This is called the dead tree beach (枯樹灘）. It looks quite dramatic with all the dead trees staying on an almost dried river.
When I was talking to my horseman about the earthquake, he told me that he was at the rescue team in Wenchuan (汶川）.
I said: How could you get there as all the roads were cut after the earthquake? It is very far from Wenchuan.
He said: I walked there. Wenchuan is just behind this mountain.
I said: How long did you walk?
He said: I walked for 2 days non-stop with some of my friends who grow up in the mountain as me.We knows the mountain road, we could make it.There, a hero in front of me. I know there are tons of them around me in this trip too.
We took a break here and I had a cup noodles for lunch. I bargained with my horseman for paying him extra to ride to Mulvzi (木驢子). I heard that it is the most beautiful spot in Changping gou.
Mulvzi (木驢子） was not as beautiful as I expected, but I knew that it was a wrong season to go anyway. It was nice to be alone in a grassland in front of the snow mountain though.
On the way back
It was so cold that those water on the tree branches turned to be ice.
Red stone beach
dark red stone
Light red stone
I was very hungry when I got back to town, so I tried this corn cake made by the locals.
They were still dancing for the celebration in town at night. This time, with a grilled pig!!!
