18/4/24
Thurs: Got up at 7.30am and we had breakfast at their courtyard on the first
floor before setting off an hour later. Arrived at松赞林寺at 9am and spent our next three hours there.啊龙helped us to get the entry tickets from the
parking area and we had to take a small shuttle bus inside. Once we got there,
there were some stairs to climb up to the monastery. *Climbing stairs at
this altitude is no joke man… so glad we did our photoshoots earlier and not
here.*
There
were three main大殿to walk
into and a few other smaller ones around. It was quite an eye-opener seeing藏传佛教culture here, albeit I
cannot remember the information I overheard from some guides already haha.
After
we left the temples, we went to a museum at the entrance and was sort “scammed”
by pushy sale tactics on hindsight. As a believer, I don’t want to think that
way but the way those priests tried to sell their天珠to visitors was not nice. While the guide said
the priests would look at our individual fortunes and we could ask questions,
they did not analyse much. What he said was not very convincing nor clever
either, felt more like a rip-off. *Yes I paid RMB 500 for the二眼天珠they chose to
give me, but everyone has their limits too. 我挺虔诚的，宗教和钱扯上关系也总叫人感到不自在，但讨厌被当菜头砍啊。*
啊龙initially recommended a dining place where he
frequented for lunch but it has closed down lol, so he drove us to an alternate
place called藏宝阁食府.
It was almost the best meal I had in Yunnan la! We treated him to lunch too for
being accommodating and working OT for a few days on our trip.
There’s
the super yummy菌菇汤
in a big pot and 藏香琵琶猪which costed us RMB 428 in total but very much worthed
the price paid for.
Left
for独克宗古城at 2.15pm. Saw pretty
flowers outside. We realised we’ve got more stairs to climb in this area LOL.
Made a brief visit to the small temples before proceeding to独克宗古城 （大经筒）to spin the转经筒!It
was 21m tall, weighed 60 tonnes and is the world’s biggest转经筒. One has to finish making
three rounds once you start turning it. I pushed and pulled, and also stopped
two to three times because there were not enough people helping during my turn
and it was tough! Alina did her best during her turn too.
The
sun was very glaring at 3+pm too. After that, we shopped around独克宗古城for tidbits and last-minute
souvenirs to bring home. I bought a packet of酥油茶 (RMB 15) and rose jelly (RMB 15)… former was
okay but latter was sweet and fragrant. Also randomly tried a butter strawberry
matcha ice-cream (RMB 8) which was nice.At
4.30pm, 啊龙sent us to丽香高铁站where we were supposed to
take the hi-speed rail back to Kunming. *He’s full name is李小龙legit lol~ think
it was because his mum liked Bruce Lee.* We enjoyed the trip partly because of啊龙too. We laughed at his mandarin and he’d
sometimes laughed at himself and us too. Though he was a heavy smoker which I
disliked, he’d share information on Yunnan and his own personal life with us
which I appreciated. Of course, he also stood by us when Alina was unhappy with
his agency.
It
was a 4 hour and 25 minutes’ journey back to Kunming on the高铁. I bought木耳肉丝饭 (RMB 36) at the station
before we departed and also a bottle of青稞酒 (RMb 170) home. *tried a vacuum-packed
lemon chicken feet (RMB 3.5) but it was not nice*
We
departed at 5.50pm and there was a big group of Singaporeans sitting in front
of us in the train. My dinner was not bad. Did not see much views since I was
seated away from the window seat. Arrived in Kunming at 10.15pm.
A
lady driver picked us up and sent us to喆啡酒店（南屏步行街店）again for our last night of stay in Yunnan. Two
of us went looking around for嘉华’s玫瑰饼but we saw潘祥记’s only. Alina was quite
persistent on finding the former one’s and we ended up walking further and
further, which made me tired and annoyed. Fruitless in the end and we only
returned to our room near 12am.
19/4/24
Fri: We had breakfast at 9am before taking滴滴 (RMB 9+) over to嘉华’s flagship store near南屏街. I bought two boxes of eight at RMB 80 and two
freshly-baked ones for RMB 5. *The山楂玫瑰鲜花饼was not a good combination though.* Got one box (10 pieces) and one freshly-baked
one from潘祥记 later at
RMB 39 too.
Walked
the area and I craved for bubble tea so bought one桃柚fruit tea with rose jelly (RMB 17) which tasted
okay. Cabbed back (RMB 9+) and I bought two packets of酸角糕 (RMB 40), which was cheaper than what was
promoted and sold on the高铁.
That
same lady driver came to fetch us at 12.30pm to go to the airport. Boarded TG 613
Thai Airways bound for Bangkok at 3pm and it took off 20 minutes later, but landed
30 minutes later than expected at 5pm. *There was a scary turbulence which
scared me.*
TG
401 was delayed slightly and flew at 8pm BKK time. The stir-fried pork rice
meal I had on board was very flavourful and we finally touched down at Changi
T1 at 10.30pm.
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