"In Nyingchi, a hotel I'll never forget after just one stay.
Beside National Highway 318, the Nyang River flows quietly by. The Atour Hotel on the South Guangdong Avenue is like a tranquil inn, keeping the harshness of the plateau at bay. Stepping inside, the aroma of ******* incense mingled with a subtle coffee scent, and a greeting from the receptionist, ”Welcome home,” instantly erased the unfamiliarity of the 3500-meter altitude.
The room was on the 5th floor, with floor-to-ceiling windows facing the snow-capped mountains. As evening fell, the clouds dispersed, revealing the golden spire of Namcha Barwa, like a painting suddenly illuminated. The diffused oxygen supply operated silently, the humidifier gurgled and steamed, and two oxygen canisters and a handwritten card sat by the bedside: ”Tonight's low is 3℃, sunrise is at 7 am tomorrow, remember to dress warmly.” At that moment, I knew I wouldn't have sleepless nights.
Breakfast started at 6:30: butter tea, stone pot eggs, Cantonese rice noodle rolls, ******* pork bacon… I sat down by the window with my plate, sunlight streaming through the glass and falling on the barley bread, like a filter coating the food. At 10:00, the restaurant transformed into a book bar. I pulled out a copy of *The Dream of the Wilderness*, and as I read the line ”Different mountains and rivers, but the same moon and sky,” I looked up at the snow-capped mountains outside the window. Suddenly, words and reality overlapped.
At 10:00 PM, altitude sickness started to take hold, so I called the front desk. Five minutes later, the staff brought me a pot of hot ginger tea, two painkillers, and a hot water bottle, and also filled the humidifier. At that moment, though I was in a foreign land, I felt like I was being cared for by family.
On the day of check-out, I left my luggage at the front desk and went for a drive around the city. When I returned, the concierge had already called my car to the door, with two bottles of mineral water and a small packet of Rhodiola rosea in the trunk. As the car started, I saw the hotel's flag fluttering in the wind in the rearview mirror, as if saying: Come again next time.
In Nyingchi, mountains are faith, clouds are romance, and this Atour hotel is the place where I made my plateau trip feel like a real life."