August 23 - Cuopu Valley, 'The New Jiuzhaigou'?

After Yang Xiao fell off his horse and hurt his back last week, we took a rest-cure in the county next to Litang - Batang. Last year we passed through on NLM2, but had no time to investigate the area locals tout as their best bet to challenge Jiuzhaigou as Sichuan's premier outdoor tourist attraction. This is Cuopu Valley, about 60 km from the county town, but currently a very trying journey over truly dreadful roads. That is all due to change at the end of next year, when the Mt Lana tunnel opens and the sealed road is pushed through the last 35 km from the town of Cuola.

The centerpiece of this area is Lake Cuopu, which takes about 2 hours to circumambulate. The lake is ostensibly looked after by the monks at Cuopu Temple, which is on the far side. Sadly, the monks frown on visitors camping by the waterside, which diminshes the attraction quite considerably. They fear campers might steal fish from the lake at night - the fish are protected, though that hasn't stopped workers from the zinc mine up the valley stealing them by night. Yes, zinc mine - despite all the local government's talk of environmental protection, they have approved exploratory mining in two spots further up the valley. The water polluted by these mines won't flow into the lake itself, but it will corrupt most of the area, as will the traffic to and from the mines. Officials say a full environmental-impact survey will be conducted before the mines are approved for full operation, but I've seen other zinc-mining areas on the Long March trail, notably in northwest Guizhou, and I refuse to believe in the possibility of an environmentally-friendly mine.

Feeding the fish is fine, however. Famously, they are supposed to come when called. It seemed to me they just hung around the same spot all day waiting for a nibble. I went down to the same spot at night and there were none to be seen - and calling them made no difference.

Tsega, 39, is from the lamasery further down the valley towards Cuola. He teaches a Tibetan primary school of eight children by the lakeside. The kids pay no fees and Tsega gets no wages.

After grumbling for two days about the lack of toilet facilities （even the few herders who live by the lake don't bother digging a latrine, and such an amenity is beyond the wit of the Batang Tourism Bureau）, I spotted this fine convenience near the temple. 'That must be a Living Buddha's toilet,' I joked to YX. After I had finished my business, I emerged to find YX surrounded by 12 monks, who angrily pointed out that visitors should not use the Living Buddha's toilet.

As we usually make the mules do the heavy lifting, we had to improvise backpacks for this trip.

Another gruesome foretaste of what may happen when the road is connected and mass tourism comes to Cuopu Lake. There was litter all around the place, no signs suggesting this was a bad idea and nobody deputed to clean it up. We met the head of the Batang Tourism Bureau, a man named Rong Bu, by the lake. He was there to show some Chinese media photographers around and promote the area （and, by the by, to re-instruct us not to camp by the waterside）. I asked him why there was so much rubbish around; he looked owlish and blamed the locals.  

This mess is actually down to the locals. Following Tibetan superstition, they bring objects to leave at this tree in order to change their fate. The idea is that bad luck will stay with the object once it is left on or by the tree.

This area also features several hot springs. This is the biggest and hottest, easily hot enough to boil an egg.

The above spring flows a few metters downhill into this concrete tub - not nearly far enough to cool it down sufficently to actually take a dip （unless you waite half an hour at least）. There are more user-friendly springs by the roadside - you can't afford to be shy here - further down the valley, but the pictures are unsuitable for a family website!