it is a slightly cold rainy summer day here in Chengdu it's very early and I'm
headed off to see a mountain fortress we're gonna go hang out with the mountain people
today well you know the drill let's get this started roll the montage
All right! Off the bus and somewhere new! There it is - cool!
Considering where this place is, it's a little bit more touristy than I thought...but it is
something different yeah this place is located in an area of sichuan called aba and it's basically
an autonomous region for the Tibetan minorities and the Qiang minority and this part right here in
particular is where the Qiang people live and they are quote unquote the mountain people between
Sichuan and Tibet that's why everything looks like this house is all made of stone instead of
you know brick and mortar and concrete and all that stuff just like you would get in Chengdu
once you get out of Chengdu the change in the landscape as well as the culture is remarkable
once you get just north of Dujiangyan you start getting up in the mountains and once you
get around wenchuan the landscapes start to get a little bit more arid it's a little drier you
get into almost a high desert climate and then that is where the qiang people are living and if
you continue on past that it gets a little bit greener again where you get into places like Bipenggou
which was our next destination but as you get deeper and deeper into aba you can see the
cultural change you can see the styles of houses change the materials change and you can just feel
a difference in the towns as you drive through them or walk through them it is culturally very
different it's very unique growing grapes I like it well there's some right there there uh I'll
see those look fake okay some of them have fake leaves right there but the other ones the other
ones are real yeah the the vines right there yeah and when you get there upon first glance
it is super disappointing because there are a lot of people it's super touristy everything is
brand new but then once you kind of walk through everything you realize oh there's another part
you pay a small entrance fee and then you get to go actually up into the mountain into the
real the local the authentic the historic stone village it that is where things get
interesting so we're walking down we just saw this sign he said notice of the highest order
get ready for war get ready for something for the people who alright I would say that's up the
highest order man looks like they're filming a movie here yeah I recognize that equipment
costumes both at traditional KangWei costume oh okay using these were houses
that's cold oh it's a freaking complex
The village is built on two to three levels and designed in such a way as to confuse and
disorient Outsiders animators I heard this and then I discovered it myself because I
got immediately turned around and couldn't find my way to the next spot on the map it
really takes you back in time especially when it's really really quiet even during holidays
like we were there during the Dragon Boat Festival there weren't a ton of people in
the scenic area and when the people go like your imagination can really kick off this
ancient town although it's kind of been made into an attraction and retrofitted with some
modern conveniences well you can still see that some of the local Qiang people do actually still
live there it's an ancient town that's kept a few residents and lets you see the original town
mostly as it was and it hasn't torn down the whole thing and replaced with malls shopping
streets like it has in Chongqing and Chengdu and well pretty much every other ancient town
I've been to it's a place you can overlook and still imagine what it must have been like in
times past and that ability plus the ability to see something different learn more about
this country and unplug from work in the city all those make the trip totally worth it and
with that I think I'm gonna leave it there thank you all very much for watching I'll see you all next time