Another part of my first trip to Muli in the 1990s took me though the village of Wujiao (屋脚). This is an unusual place because it is populated by a mix of Mosuo (matriarchal) people and ethnic Mongol descendants. As you can read of my original blog, the place was a bit of a backwater and I ended up kipping on the floor of the local store.
Back then I also hiked down the river through a narrow gorge to visit the simple temple of Renjom Gompa (Ch: Renjiang Si (仁江寺), as mentioned by Joseph Rock. The place was inhabited by a single monk - Aja Dapa, and with a few local people helping out as caretakers.
[Renjon Gompa in 1994]
On this visit we drove up the gorge and stopped for a late lunch of chicken at the rather more developed Wujiao. It is now a place of ecological and biodiversity tourism - solar panels abound and there is now a posh hotel (where we had lunch). There was still a log cabin store in the spot where I'd stayed before but I think it was rebuilt. There was also a police checkpoint, this being the boundary between Yunnan and Sichuan. The cop looked at our IDs and waved us through. On the way back, he didn't even stop me when i was on my bike.
On my way back from Muli this time around I cycled back down the gorge after stopping for noodles in Wujiao - and seeing some of the local Yi women still dressed in that crazy mortar-board headress. This time the temple was still inhabited by just a single monk, and what a very nice young chap he was. He gave me a guided tour and the place looked much nicer and well looked after then the shabby simple building I'd seen 30 years ago. The monk even added me as a friend on WeChat.
Not much more to say than that, except to show some photos:
Renjom Gompa from the road [return trip]
Looking back towards the mountain pass to Muli.
With the new resident monk at Renjom Gompa
Yi woman in Wujiao
Wujiao gorge
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