Original: Lugu Lake Travel Notes Part 5

Article‖Liu Xingxiang

After visiting the Wedding Bridge, we continued on the road and walked into Yunnan Province along the lake highway. The unique lakeside buildings are particularly eye-catching, and there are countless water recreation projects. The blue waves on the lake are rippling as far as the eye can see, and the scenic spots in Sichuan Province can be seen in the distance on the other side.

The lake in Yunnan is deep and wide, with more seagulls and birds. Lover's Beach is under renovation and is surrounded by walls. The bus can only stop by the roadside. Tourists enter Lover's Beach through the gap in the lakeside wall.

Lover's Beach is located to the west of Lugu Lake, at the foot of the mountain between Gemu Goddess Mountain and Houlong Mountain. Legend has it that the goddess Gemu and Houlong were once lovers. Since they were turned into mountains by the God's magic, they can only see each other across the lake. The God only allows them to meet once every year on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month.

Every time we meet, we choose this place to express our sincere feelings to each other and pray together, wishing that all lovers in the world will never be separated. Hence the name Lover's Beach.

The scenery here is beautiful, the lake is clear, the pebbles are clean, the waves are fine, the sand is fine, and the sea and sky are the same color. Visitors come here to exchange vows as lovers, to send their thoughts from afar, or to relive their original intentions. It can be seen that the water is so clear, you can see the rippling sea flowers, and you can take beautiful shots without hesitation, leaving a lover's dream in your heart. Fascinated by the illusory beauty, it makes people forget to leave.

The reflection of the beach, crooked trees, shallow water beaches, blue sky, white clouds and green mountain peaks form a series of vivid landscape paintings. Let us constantly change angles and adjust postures. Some took group photos, some took alone photos, some watched videos, or did TikTok, showing off their talents to the extreme.

The bald old men and women were overjoyed to have regained their youth. The young people danced lively and passionately, releasing their virginal hearts. Lover's Beach becomes full of aura and full of human joy. Lover's Beach is truly well-deserved!

Lugu Lake is quite large. I heard from fellow travelers that they had been here many years ago. They rented bicycles and walked along the road beside Lugu Lake for a whole day.

The bus left Lover's Beach and drove some distance on the lakeside, stopping at the parking lot above the famous Lake Peninsula tourist area.

Many villa-style buildings have been built by the lake, and the winding mountain branch leads to the lake. Our tour guide Zhuoma told us that there are dozens of families living on the peninsula in the lake below. Facing the lake on three sides, the climate is humid and cool. There is a small wooden boat in front of every house, and they usually go to the lake to fish for a living.

The climate here is cool, the environment is beautiful, and it is elegant and quiet. It is very suitable for families to stay for a while, enjoy the scenery of the lake and mountains, and paddle in the shallows of the lake. It is endless fun.

As soon as the summer vacation comes, people come here to rent houses to enjoy the beauty of the lake view and family happiness, and the business is very booming. Therefore, every season, local residents rent out their residences. Earn a decent amount of rent to support your family.

There is a small mountain on the peninsula in the form of a gold mountain. If you stand at a certain angle on the half slope, the picture of picking the gold mountain with your hands will be beautiful. In order to snap this shot as a good omen, many tourists ignored the hardship of returning to the top of the slope with the reflection of the mountain.

Along the way we looked at the statues of Xiaoye Dan and his wife who once formed an alliance with Marshal Liu Baicheng in the Yi Sea. A hotel is marked with the words "Home Far Away". I guess it is the place where the filming crew of CCTV's "Home Far Away" came here to film.

It was already dusk, and we had dinner at a hotel called Huanghada at the junction of Sichuan and Yunnan. As soon as we entered the courtyard, the Mosuo owner put on yellow hada for us, explained the Buddhist scriptures, touched the Buddha stones, took photos, tasted his own yak milk, and listened to famous local singers and Amei singing folk songs.

After the meal, the host interacted with the tourists and danced Guozhuang dance around the bonfire. On the way back, we passed by the high-end lake-view room area where the service was great and the entertainment was lively, and we returned to the hotel where we were staying.

The next day, it was just dawn at six o'clock in the morning, and we had a quick breakfast in the hotel. We headed back home to Xichang, where we visited the world's best tartary buckwheat tea base and the beautiful scenery of Qionghai. The beautiful plateau city is even more spectacular with Qionghai as a backdrop.

I also specially visited the scene of the Lushan Forest Fire, where 27 armed police soldiers and 3 local fire fighters died. The traces of the fire are still vaguely visible.

With a heavy heart, everyone pays tribute to the fire-fighting heroes!

Coincidentally, there were two forest fires here, both on March 30. The painful lessons had to attract the attention of people from all walks of life. In the parks and on the streets, slogans warning of forest protection and fire prevention can be seen everywhere.

On the last day of this trip, we also arranged a scenic spot to visit the Shangli Ancient Town in Ya'an. It is an ancient historical and cultural town and an important stop on the Southern Silk Road. It is surrounded by mountains and rivers, with pastoral hills, wooden houses as houses and stilted buildings as foundations. It is also the oldest international passage in China. Starting from the Han Dynasty, it starts from Sichuan, passes through Yunnan, enters Myanmar, Thailand, India, and finally reaches the Middle East.

It is one of the checkpoints leading to foreign ethnic groups from the Bashu Plain area. During the Ming Dynasty, the economy of this place was prosperous, and Shangli was once famous for its five major surnames, so Shangli was renamed "Wujiakou". At that time, there were five prominent families, namely the Dingzi of the Yang family (a family of officials), the Yinzi of the Han family (a family of businessmen), the Guzi of the Chen family (a family of landowners), the women of the Xu family (a family of beauties), and the Dongzi of the Zhang family (a family of martial arts sellers). Yaorenjia) cultural landscape is very significant.

The scenery of the town is extremely beautiful. It looks like a water town in the south of the Yangtze River. It is known as "two rivers sandwiching a bright mirror and two bridges with a rainbow". There are still preserved stone pagodas where ancient literati burned their manuscripts and the slogans of the workers and peasants' Red Army passing by here.

Enter Shangli Ancient Town from Ya'an. After passing through a high mountain canyon with humid air, it suddenly becomes clearer when you drive here. The river is gentle, the hilly pastoral scenery is infinite, small bridges, flowing water and ancient trees are towering. Half of the street faces the river, and there are teahouses and cheap farmhouses that include food and accommodation.

The streets of the town are antique, with various decorations made of golden nanmu, Maojian new tea being fried and sold on the street, acacia red bean skewers sold in baskets, large fat noodles, and crispy grilled pork belly. There are a dazzling array of products with local characteristics such as strips, pickled and cooked fish, brown hemp shoes, and all kinds of trinkets.

The delicious food, beautiful scenery, and beautiful specialties are eye-catching, forcing us to slow down and taste them carefully. This town is so unique! The ancient town among the night lights is even more charming.

Some pictures come from the Internet.

About the author:

Liu Xingxiang, born in April 1953, joined the army in 1972 and served in the 305th Construction Regiment of Bangda Engineering Corps in Qamdo, Tibet. After being discharged from the army in 1978, he went to Kaizhou District, Chongqing City Forestry Police Service until retirement. He served as a first-class police inspector and a third-class sergeant. He started literary creation in 1972. He is a member of the Chinese Poetry Society, a director of the Chongqing Poetry Society, an academician of the Chinese Poetry Federation, Calligraphy and Painting Academy, Kaizhou District Poetry, Calligraphy and Painting Academy, a member of Kaizhou District Writers Association, Kaizhou District Musicians Association, etc. Mainly classical metrical poetry. It includes novels, documentary literature, essays, literary reviews, modern rhythmic poetry collections, etc. There are 11 special collections with nearly 800,000 words. Representative song "Friends in Arms"