Trekking around Langmusi

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The hills were alive with the sound of me struggling up them

Okay so last night we did't make it to the disco, in fact we didn't even make it out for dinner. We were locked up. In the hotel. When we checked into the hotel we asked the question of hot showers and the reply was that they were not available unless we paid an extra 5yuan each, then they would fire up the heater. Also not available was the heater in the room, but we did have electric blankets.

We agreed to the extra charge for the chance of a hot shower but the hot water would be ready at exactly 8pm, so we had to be there, especially considering they fired it up just for us. So after writing yesterday's blog it was about time to go and have a shower, but when we went inside they shut the roller door and locked the front door, hmmm. We showered and then got dressed to go out for something to eat and maybe a few beers at the disco/bar but when we went downstairs to the front door no-one could be seen and everything was locked up. We were imprisoned. For the next few hours we were holed up in our room eating biscuits, drinking tea, reading books and chatting while the temperature in the room dropped. By the time we headed off to sleep it was absolutely freezing in the room, and when we woke up the windows were frozen inside the room. It was a very cold night, which was actually made worse by the electric blanket as I woke up hot and thirsty a few times before I eventually turned it off but in the end it wasn't a very good night's sleep.

Anyway when I eventually woke up this morning I was tired, cold and very hungry. There was a estuarant recommended in the LP that we had a look at yesterday and noticed that they served apple pie, so we headed there for breakfast and were treated to a fresh home-made apple pie which was delicious. Then the walking began.

Our first walk took us up high above the town and monastery on the Gansu (northern) side of the town where we came across another skly burial site and this one was pretty mcuh what I had expected the first time but still slightly disturbing.

We then crossed town and headed behind the monastery on the Sichuan (southern) side and entered Namo Gorge. We walked right up into the Gorge following the source of the White Dragon River which flows through town. We spent a few hours trekking in the Gorge and followed the source of the White Dragon River as far as we could but as it is winter and as we went further up it was frozen, so walking on the ice was slippery and a bit risky at times as the ice cracked under foot. It was lots of fun though, the Gorge was absolutely silent and it felt so nice to know that somewhere in China there is nothig but anials and silence.

Nevertheless, it was pretty tough at times, especially when climbing: Pierre says that if Lagmusi is 3300m above sea level then we probably got up to about 3700m today, the highest I have ever been (so far). At one point we stopped to have a break and snow started to fall, only lightly but it was snowing for a little bit which added to the atmosphere.

Now I am tired and hungry (considering apple pie and biscuits was all I ate today) but we have booked ourselves in to the restaurant where we got the apple pies this morning as she is quite famous for her massive yak burgers. Seriously some of the photos showed these burgers to be about the size of a dinner plate so that should satisfy my hunger.

Tomorrow, who knows. I ight stay another night but I am getting nervous about going to Tibet this late in the season so I wouldn’t mind heading back to catch the train asap.

Thanks for the comments and for reading, I am glad that people are enjoying it.

P.S Sorry about the bad spelling, it is inevitable on these shitty Chinese keyboards.

Matt out

END TRANSMISSION

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Photos

Snow capped paks in Namo Gorge
The furthest peak, right in the iddle was where we hiked up to and then a little to the left. We though that there would be a pass that we could cross and then come back down into the town, there wasn't.

Comments

[MikeV]

Burgers...
Sounds fantastic and your walk up the river looked great. I hope your Yak burger was to your expectations but more importantly if they were locked up at 8pm I hope you got in to your room when you got back from dinner and the 'disco'! Look forward to hearing that you did get a bed albeit cold. Dx

[davinci1490]

Namo Gorge
Namo Gorge looks so amazing in winter. Love the photos you took on those mountains! breathtaking shots! thank you for sharing :-)