Napa Lake （纳帕海）below the garden
On rainy days, I take this path home
Hyoscyamus niger （莨菪）
Cyananthus delavayi （蓝钟花）
Gentiana forrestii（苍白龙胆）
Cute leaves of Viola rockiana （圆叶黄堇菜）
the one and only V. rockiana in flower
V. rockiana in fruit
the bird-watching tower overlooking Napa Lake My first night at Jietang (aka Shanggelila or Shangri-la, by which it is known today. Jietang was its original Tibetan name) Alpine Botanic Garden was quite miserable - after a weary 8-hour bus ride, there was no hot water for me to take a shower, and the night was cold.
The next morning I woke up with a headache - a sign of altitude sickness. To go to the main building of the garden from the dormitory beside the nursery where I was provided lodge, I had to walk acrosss a wet grassland, climb over a fence preventing the intrusion of grazing buffaloes and yaks, and finally trudge up a muddy path through the woods. Owing to the high altitude (3,390 m) of the place, I had to walk slowly and gasp for breath every few steps. Fortunately my situation improved gradually during the day. Although the canteen food (half-cooked rice, veggies cooked in GMO oil, etc.) was quite an attack to my stomach, I feasted my eyes on the wonderful array of wild and planted flowers and the fabulous view of Napa Lake which is just below the garden.
Due to my extended stay in Dali, I missed the chance to join the garden's field work team to do some botanical explorations in the surrounding areas. My voluntary work, once again was to help them with some translations. After all, it was the rainy season and we had to stay indoors quite a lot of the time.
On the 14th, I spotted my first violet of Jietang near the relics of a temple (a sacred site of worshiping for the local Tibetans). It was the delicate Viola rockiana. It had long finished flowering and most the plants I saw had dispersed their seeds, leaving empty capsules as a sign for me to distinguish them from other violet-leaved look-alikes. Later on I found 2 or 3 other species of violets in the garden and its surroundings. But without their flowers, I was not able to identify which species they were. According to the Flora of Yunnan, there are 56 species of violets in this province, which has long been renowned to be the "Kingdom of Plants" and a paradise for plant hunters.
It was very sunny on Saturday (August 16). I went into town in the afternoon. On the way, I had a glimpse of Songzanlin Temple（松赞林寺）tucked in the green mountains in the distance. The whole temple glittered under the brilliant sun, looking otherworldly. It was a dazzling view!
The old town of Jietang is much smaller, compared to those of Dali and Lijiang. I wandered around and indulged in some little tourist's pleasures. I stayed the night in a small inn converted from an old traditional Tibetan house.
I spent the whole Sunday morning in Songzanlin Temple. It was the first Tibetan Buddhist temple that I have visited. I did not have any enlightening encounters with any master lamas, as I had highly anticipated; but I did have a few interesting botanical discoveries, including this outstanding plant with an extraordinary name in Chinese: 莨菪（天仙子）
Heavy rain on the 25th and 26th flooded the entrance to the nursery. My commuting between the main building and the nursery became even more adventurous...
On September 2, I finally spotted the one and only V. rockiana in flower on the side of the path leading up the mountain behind the garden. This lonely little late bloomer with delicate leaves became the second yellow-flowered violet on my record of violet sightings in the wild.
The weather is getting colder as the villagers start to harvest their highland barley and euphorbias begin to turn read. Before long the grasslands will become a sea of red. The black-necked cranes are expected to come soon to winter at Napa Lake. I wish I could stay here and wait for them, but alas the Moon Festival is calling me home...
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