Wild Lands of Tibetan Ganjia + Baishiya Karst Cave

An ancient city lured us – but the isolation seized us. So after van-camping at mud wall ruins, we drove the next morning towards the horizon of ragged cliffs.

VIDEO: Travels in Gansu in Tibetan Ganjia

dusk octangle ancient city tibetan ganjia gansu china — Octangle Ancient City (the 2000-year-old city of Bajiao Cheng: a 12-sided mud-wall fortress shaped like a Buddhist Mandala) viewed from a hill-top platform on a bleak day – don’t be fooled by the beautiful dusk light as icy gusts blasted us to death! I could barely keep my camera straight.

Tibetan Ganjia – Monastery & the Living Goddess

That second day, we halted in a Tibetan monastery village.

And later on another hillside, we met a friendly monk at the temple of the Living Goddess, who showed us around – however, no photos allowed.

mountain and grasslands of tibetan ganjia in gansu china — **Tibetan Ganjia** – TOP: That “horizon of ragged cliffs” and surrounding elements seen on our 3rd day in Ganjia – still cold but at least some sun. I shot these aerial landscape perspectives on my DJI Mavic Mini.

On the first day, waves of icy winds were flowing over this cliff like slow-motion waterfalls. BELOW LEFT: “Temple of the Living Goddess”. RIGHT: River-eroded landscape facing towards the ancient fortress.

When I asked of the Goddesses’ whereabouts – via Wei in Mandarin – he replied she’d died 9 years ago but that her reincarnation was due to appear next year.

tibetan village scenes ganjia grasslands in gansu china — Tibetan monastery village amid the mountain and grasslands of Ganjia in Gansu.

At the lower monastery, a baby goat besotted with Wei kept running after her and bleating._^(*1) Meantime, the other goats watched, and wondered what the fuss was about.

symbols tibetan monastery ganjia gansu china — Elements of Tibetan Buddhist structures at the monastery village in Tibetan Ganjia.

On another hillside, vultures gathered around the carcass of a baby yak; fighting and prancing around the feast.

arid landscape scenes ganjia gansu china — TOP: Austere landscape of Tibetan Ganjia in Gansu Province in western China; vultures feast. BELOW: People enter a section of broken wall at Bajiao Cheng / Octangle Ancient City; shepherd and sheep.

That second afternoon and evening, we spent in a river valley in a grassland of long-horned sheep, overshadowed by those humps of the ragged horizon – now hiding a sacred cave (which we’d explore tomorrow).

snow mountains octangle fort ganjia gansu china — Second morning, it was calm, so I got this drone shot before the wind appeared. Looking at Octangle Ancient City – as it’s called nowadays – seen about 800 meters away (before I lost the transmission signal and had to get it back safely). NOTE: that “Horizon of ragged cliffs” in the distance that would be the journey today.

Baishiya Karst Cave

Hell, not what we expected. Sacred cave or not, it was a mission into an abyss known as the Baishiya Karst Cave ( 白石崖溶洞 ).

But it’s also home to the earliest hominin fossil ever found on the Tibetan Plateau, (found by a monk in 1982) proving that humanity arrived in this high-altitude, low-oxygen environment around 160,000 years ago.

Today, the cave remains a place of meditation for monks and Tibetan reverence and, according to legend, Baishiya Cave is over 50 km long – reaching to Qinghai Province.

sacred tibetan cave ganjia gansu china — The mountains hiding a sacred cave – a quiet place of pilgrimage for Tibetans from Gansu and Qinghai Provinces. The entrance – this part of the cave was fine and partly lit, but after this it plunged into a narrow, slippery, dark crack.

Anyway, ancient and sacred or not, I didn’t go in much deeper than 100 meters – pictures above – before it descended into tiny darkness (not wanting to trash my hand-held DSLR camera – no bag with me; I wasn’t prepared).

Didn’t even have my head lamp. Duh!

Wei went further. Holding her iPhone as a torch and stuffing my action camera into her jacket, she accompanied a Tibetan family, baby tied and shrieking on mother’s back. They went deeper.

And I could still hear the baby crying …

They came out 30-40 minutes later, exasperated, all with muddy shoes and trousers. The elderly Tibetan chief lay gasping and mad, nearly dead – like having a heart-attack as two young male members of family consoled him .

Wei said it wasn’t worth it, despite a monk explaining what this or that rock formation – may have – resembled. _^(*2)

van life camping ganjia gansu china — Our 3rd day at our 3rd location in Ganjia grasslands in Gansu. TOP: Wei gazing to a slice of our vast 360 vista – an afternoon looking to the cave-mountains, grassland dotted with sheep, the Tibetan monastery village and river ravines, and in another direction – high snow mountains and the Octangle walled fortress. BELOW: At this viewpoint, we van-camped the night here, having beer and baijiu with spicy, fried Yak meat snacks and the next day, a breakfast of toasted garlic-bread and milk tea.

Notes:

(*1) – Documented on a video she posted on Chinese social media. (The goat had colored ribbons tied to it; apparently it was gifted from a villager to the monastery. Now, it was to be untouched – not eaten, to be allowed to live a long and happy life.)

(*2) – Likewise a video on Chinese SM.

Travels in China – 2020