Paved roads made visiting Metog much easier

Since 2008, I have made four trips to Metog county in Nyingchi city, Xizang autonomous region, and have witnessed the remarkable improvements in transportation and the local people's lives.

In 2008, I had to spend two weeks trekking in and out of the remote area, which had no paved roads until 2013. Along the way, I traversed two mountain passes with an elevation exceeding more than 4,200 meters, making the journey quite arduous and challenging. I had to hire two local people as my porters.

In the winters of 2020 and 2021, I made two more trips to Metog — the last county in the country to be connected by highway — by driving a rented car.

The 117-kilometer Zhamo Highway between Bomi county in Xizang and Metog allowed only one-way traffic. I had to plan my trips carefully, as traffic regulations only allowed motorists to use the road to enter Metog on even-numbered days and leave on odd-numbered days. Despite this, both trips were pleasant and uneventful.

During my most recent trip this month, I planned to meet with a group of scientists who were doing a comprehensive bird survey in Metog. An ornithologist from Chengdu, Sichuan province, and I were part-time participants — we could only stay for half of the survey — and had to find our own way to reach the county seat of Metog, which is named after the county.

To reach Bomi from the Nyingchi airport, we used a mobile application to join a carpool. The driver charged each of his five passengers 280 yuan ($39) for the five-hour, 260-km journey.

Upon arriving in Bomi, our colleagues in Metog helped us find a driver who resided in a township in Metog but had business in Bomi on the day of our arrival. Because of the one-way road traffic rule, he needed to return home the next day. For a fee of 250 yuan per person, we secured a ride into Metog.

"Here, most people drive domestic-brand pickup trucks," one of our colleagues said in a text message. "Be prepared — the ride might be a little bumpy."

It was snowing, and the 4,300-meter Galongla Mountain Pass straddling the boundary between Bomi and Metog is known for frequent avalanches in early spring. We were worried.

A car came to pick us up at our hotel. Instead of the pickup truck we were expecting, we encountered an imported luxurious four-wheel drive vehicle. The driver, a member of the Monba ethnic group, was familiar with the local road conditions. We met heavy traffic caused by the snowfall on the way to Metog, but there was no real trouble.

While staying in the county, we explored several areas that were previously inaccessible to me thanks to the presence of paved roads connecting every village within the expansive 31,000-square-kilometer area — nearly twice the size of Beijing.

Some roads seem to be chiseled out of the sheer cliffs. It was scary to drive through.

However, we found well-built settlements, with new houses featuring red tiled roofs, winding corridors and roofed courtyards at the end of the roads.

During our bird survey, we visited Shyirang, a village a few kilometers away from the disputed China-India border area, to buy instant noodles for our lunch.

In 2008, I attempted to visit the village from Drepung township, but abandoned the idea after learning that it could only be reached by a day-long trek.

We found a grocery store in the village that was run by a senior couple from their house. After we paid, the host gave us our noodles, a bottle of hot water and let us sit around two Tibetan-style tables that we pushed together in the roofed courtyard to have our lunch.

Despite the rain, it was delightful to enjoy a meal in the expansive sheltered courtyard. The hosts left us to our own devices and retreated to their sitting room to watch TV. In the courtyard, I noticed a large shoe cabinet containing over 30 pairs of various footwear, including slippers, sandals, rubber boots, leather shoes and sneakers.

It was evident that the residents of the house possessed a keen sense of fashion and had the means to acquire them.

On another day, while en route to Jangshing village, I encountered Drapa, a Monba villager who was driving a pickup truck. He pulled over in front of us and inquired about our presence in the forest. As it turned out, he works part-time as a forest patrolman for Jangshing and is responsible for monitoring strangers in the vicinity of the village.

The 31-year-old told me that nearly every family in his village owns a car. During the off-season for farming, he seeks odd jobs in the county seat of Metog or even in Bomi. Thanks to his car, he is able to transport his two daughters daily to and from their school in Drepung nearly 7 km from Jangshing. He and his wife are also able to make occasional trips to urban areas for shopping.

It was obvious that people there truly enjoy the convenience afforded by the presence of roads and cars.