'Mugecuo' is Tibetan language, Tibetans call all lakes 'cuo', and Mugecuo means 'savage sea'. The mountain ridge in the east of the Hengduan Mountain is called the Snow Mountain Chain; Mugecuo just lies to the northwest foot of the Hengduan Mountain belonging to Snow Mountain Chain. Good scenery shall make people feel peaceful in the heart. Though Megecuo is only scores of kilometers away from Kangding, a 'city of love song', its altitude ascends from 8,398 feet to12,139 feet suddenly. It was extraordinary cold in the morning, every grass leaf covered with frost.
In a broad sense, Mugecuo is actually a very large region with 21.8 miles in length, 602 miles in width and 135 square miles in area. The landform is terraced. Seven-Color Sea is in the first layer, its curved lake surface looked as if the new moon, hundreds of birds twitter, grass and trees on the bank emit faint scent, and aquatic plants in the lake nearly grow out of the water surface. Thanks to the capricious combination of reflections of peaks around the lake and rain mist Seven-Color Sea presents various colors such as red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. This is the reason for its name.
The 'Drug Boiling Spring' lies in the second layer, which is only 1.9 miles away from Seven-Color Sea. In face, the spring is made up of over twenty erupting springs of high temperature different in size, the smallest one is only as large as a cup and the highest water temperature is up to 194 degrees Fahrenheit. There are many microelements favorable to human body in the water, so it is high quality nature mineral water. As the spring water has no foreign flavor, it can be used to make tea. There are different spring mouths such as eyesight-promotion spring, stomach-strengthening spring and so on. Each of them has unique curative effect on the treatment of ophthalmic diseases and gastric diseases etc. The local people regarded the spring water as the 'divine water'. In the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911), rulers of Kangding often sent bailiffs to the boiling spring to take water; they believed they could prolong life by drinking such water. It is nice that some boiling spring will decrease the temperature and become warm when they flow to the down stream with the water temperature just about 104 degrees Fahrenheit when mixed with cold water, so it is comfort to dunk feet in such spring water. The nature always makes unexpected creations; this time it changes water into the vapor and then into the gentle mist floating in trees.
Finally come to the third layer, i.e. Mugecuo in narrow sense. Autumn is the most beautiful season of the Savage Sea. The Sea seems to be the background of a row of low snow mountains far away, but it actually lies in the bottom of the middle canyon formed by valleys on both sides of it. The color of the water is pure blue, which is as clean as the sky. It doesn't dazzle so you can stare at it for a long time. Around the lake stands larches in a large range that have become yellow from green. They have tall and large crowns, and each of them is a pyramid. Every tree is so symmetrical, great and beautiful whatever you look at them. You wouldn't hear any sound even you come to the lake, maybe this is the so-called 'great music without sound', and you feel more peaceful. Walking along the bank of the lake, your tenebrous mood in the noisy city would become bright like the lake.
The most characteristic of Mugecuo is that various types of scenes could be found in it. A large area of virgin forest is in the south, while there is the Gobi in the north where even grass couldn't live. To be more peculiar, there is a long sand beach in the middle of the Savage Sea, which divides the lake into two parts. The sand is fine and soft, strong horses walk leisurely in the sun. The land of Kangba is a zone of transition both in natural scene and human culture. Being different from forthright and greathearted Tibet, Kangba is both rigid and elegant. It is a place abundant in scenery elements. You will see eerie light permeating through cloud layer on plateau, while you can appreciate limpid lake just as you are in the south of China. Even it has a very haggard name, Savage Sea is a natural born female with gentle and cute manner. Of course she is more clear, natural and free than those enchanting women for she needn't dress up.
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