Little Sheep | Snowy Travel Memories in Shangri-La

A few days ago, I heard it snowed in Shangri-La. Aruna took the eight of us to Xiaozhongdian to see the snow. After buying ingredients at the Shangri-La farmer's market, we returned to a herdsman's home in Xiaozhongdian. By the time we got inside, it was already afternoon, and snow pellets started falling outside, one by one, tiny and small. I, Yanzi, Wangwang, and Xiaomin went out to gather firewood. When we came back, we added the firewood to the stove. Aruna and He Chen were busy in the kitchen. We got the fire roaring, and the chill in the room quickly dissipated. Everyone gathered around the stove, chatting, eating, and drinking. I was sitting closest to the fire, and I felt my face was as red as a monkey's butt.

He Chen started shouting beside us, saying that we were now like a little wooden cabin in the snow, like a scene from the movie and novel "The Asama Sanso Incident," and also like a team-building activity for the Cangshan Hiking Family.

I immediately thought of scenes from horror movies: a small wooden cabin in the snow, nine young men and women, fearing that one person might be missing or one too many. "Haha! These are all just imaginations," everyone joked.

When we were full and about to doze off, we drove to Moon Lake to feel the cold air, the snow, and the peaceful silence with no one around. Everyone seemed especially excited to see the snow. Xiaoqi, Hanhan, and He Chen kept talking nonstop around us, their voices surrounding us from all angles, casually "attacking" everyone with words. The three little dogs we brought, Dangeng, Tuotuo, and Xiaoxi, were already going wild in the snow. Aruna and Xiaoqi started rolling snowballs in the snow. Yanzi was wearing a white down jacket with a red scarf, standing in the snow, as beautiful as the heroine of the Japanese movie "Love Letter." Xiaomin's outfit was plain but harmoniously matched the surrounding snowscape. Wangwang was beside her, taking photos and complimenting Yanzi on how beautiful she was. Xiao Li wore a very cute knit hat and didn't speak much, with his hands behind his back, quietly watching everyone play and mess around. From a distance, he looked like an old man.

I don't know who started it, but everyone began grabbing snow from the ground and having a snowball fight. It eventually turned into a chaotic brawl, hitting whoever was caught. He Chen was pressed to the ground, and everyone attacked him with snow. When we were tired of playing, we lay down on the ground, looking up at the sky. The clouds were moving fast, and for a moment, time stood still. It was very quiet, and lying on the ground felt pretty good.

After the walk in the snow, we were ready to head back to the accommodation. Hanhan said he wanted to drive and race through the snow, so we waited nearby. But his car broke down; the four-wheel drive just wouldn't move, and it got stuck in the snow, unable to go anywhere. Xiaoqi took his car and started showing off in the snow, drifting in circles on the spot, round and round. According to Wangwang, it felt pretty exciting. We took out the tow rope prepared beforehand from the trunk, connected the two cars, and successfully left Moon Lake.

While warming ourselves by the stove, Wangwang suggested playing Texas Hold'em. Several of the team leaders didn't really know how to play, but they were willing to join in. Everyone held twenty sunflower seeds as chips, and we started the game without fully understanding the rules. In the end, the winner was Aruna, who won 40 yuan, the MVP of the game. By then, the sky had darkened, and everyone went back to their rooms to rest.

The next morning, things started to get surreal. We originally planned to drive to the mountains for a walk. At that point, Xiaoqi was in trouble: his car wouldn't start. Maybe it was too cold, or maybe the engine was too cold. We tried various methods—jump-starting, priming the fuel, pouring boiling water on the engine—but nothing worked. After struggling for most of the day, we still couldn't get the car started. It wasn't until 2 p.m. that we found the problem: the fuel line wasn't delivering fuel. Only then did we decide to find a repair shop, and eventually decided to call a tow truck to take the car to Shangri-La for repairs. After some negotiation, we settled on a price of 400 yuan. After discussing among ourselves, those of us who had things to do the next day would leave first in Hanhan's car back to Dali, while the rest would stay with Xiaoqi to get the car fixed.

I, Hanhan, Yanzi, and Xiaomin decided to leave first. Halfway down the road, we passed the Baihanchang Service Area and thought we'd stop to use the restroom and take a break. Before the car had even come to a full stop, we heard a gurgling sound coming from the front hood. When we opened the engine cover, the radiator was overheating and boiling over, and the coolant was bubbling like boiling water. We quickly turned off the engine and tried to wait for the liquid to cool down before setting off again. Hanhan joked that it must have been caused by He Chen changing to low-temperature coolant, and that it was all He Chen's fault.

At that moment, we ran into two older guys from Beijing who looked experienced. They told us that we should start the car, turn on the fan to dissipate heat, and let the car ventilate to cool down faster. So we obediently started the car and turned on the fan. Within less than two minutes, the radiator leaked, and coolant gushed out, spilling all over the ground. The green liquid dripped down constantly, like alien blood. The two seemingly experienced guys saw the situation getting serious and told us to turn off the engine again, then quietly drove away. Now the four of us and three dogs were dumbfounded. There was no way we could continue driving. So, in a different place, the same thing happened to us as before. We squatted on the side of the road and called repair mechanics one by one. We even came up with a bad idea: if it came to the worst, we could drive 17 kilometers to an off-highway repair shop. But as soon as we started the car, it leaked again. For safety, in the end, we also called a tow truck.

So now, two cars had broken down one after another. At that moment, I somewhat regretted not checking the car's condition carefully before setting off. At least they had it easier going to Shangri-La; being broken down on the highway was pretty bad for us.

Then we saw a tow truck carrying a car stop at the service area. We thought we could ask this driver to take us to a repair shop, since at least we were heading in the same direction. So we quickly went up and talked to him. The driver said he could do it for at least 500 yuan, but he couldn't carry people; among the four of us, he could take at most two, plus the three little dogs. The remaining two definitely couldn't be left on the highway. Then we asked a bus that had just stopped, heading to Lijiang. We explained our situation, and the driver agreed to take two of us to Lijiang, but each person would have to pay 50 yuan, and we would have to cover the highway toll for the tow truck.

In the end, we decided to just call a regular tow truck for 700 yuan, which would take all four of us and three dogs to a repair shop in one trip. This was my first time riding in a tow truck, and it felt quite amazing. The view was great, like the view from a big truck driver. With that, everyone relaxed again. Hanhan joked, "I once saw a meme online where a driver pretended to be asleep while the car was moving, as if he was sleeping while driving." As he said that, he pretended to be asleep. That meme was really silly.

The two groups were in different places but in the same situation. It was like a comedy of errors on the road. The first group left, but unexpectedly, no one escaped. Looking on the bright side, they went to Shangri-La to play, and we went to Lijiang to play, which wasn't bad either. When we arrived at the repair shop, the Shangri-La group had already sorted things out. Ours was a bit troublesome. Hanhan's car model was too rare, and there were no parts available; we had to wait three days for parts. I knew that if we wanted to return to Dali that day, we'd need to find another way.

Yanzi found a reliable ride-hailing driver who specialized in the Lijiang-Dali route. It cost 80 yuan per person. At that moment, all four of us just wanted to get home early, take a hot shower, and lie in bed. While waiting on the roadside to get in the car, we looked like vagrants, carrying large bags and small bags, and walking three dogs. Along the way, Yanzi told us about her past experiences in Lijiang. We finally arrived in Dali at around 9:30 p.m.

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