A Bit of Horse Play

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I know that this update is long overdue, but there is an extenuating circumstance. About a week ago, my computer went completely haywire. I initially thought it was a software problem, but now I am pretty sure that it is a severe hardware problem, so it has been sent back to the States to see what can be done. However, that has slowed down my updating and while I'm pretty sure that I've lost all of my photos from the past few months (other than those posted here and a few sent to my mother). On the bright side, I feel quite unencumbered and free, which is making life more fun on the road. Well, on with the fun stuff.

Beginning on the first of May, China begins its May-Day holiday. I was aware of the holiday prior to leaving on the trip, but had thought that it lasted a couple of days and wouldn't interfere with my travels. However, as the holiday approached, I was made to realize that in fact it was a one-week holiday in which any and every Chinese with the financial means to travel would be traveling. Consequently, tickets for trains, buses and hotels would be very difficult to come by.

This left me with a bit of a problem. Where could I hide out for the week, avoiding the crowds, but still doing something more interesting than being stuck in a big city? I decided on going on a four-day/three night horse trek in the north of Sichuan province, which left from the town of Song pan. It was a very good decision.

I left Chengdu on Sunday, April 31 for the eight-hour bus ride to Songpan...a bus that left at 7 am. I think I've tried to describe Chinese buses before, but I'll try to do them justice here. A North American will think of a long-distance bus in terms of Greyhound coaches, but that is rarely found in China, and I've yet to see one in the west. Most of the Chinese buses are small and at least 10 years old. They tend to have around 30 seats, which cause the average 4-year old to feel cramped and in need of more leg room (ok granted, I'm no where near average in size, but people much shorter than I have complained about the crampness of the buses). Another problem is that there is rarely enough room for the entire luggage under the bus, so the aisle of the bus is usually crammed with luggage of all sorts. In the end, any trip over 2 or 3 hours can feel like running a marathon. And as something to look forward to...I've heard that buses in SEAsia are even worse.

Anyway, the bus made it to Songpan and I and the other foreigners who had decided to hide out in this area during the holiday (quite a few when all was said and done), were ushered to the horse-trek office, put into groups based on how long we were to be out, and then set free to explore a bit until 9 the next morning.

My group consisted of four others who were on the same bus as I and then three guys who we would meet the next morning. Perhaps unsurprisingly, all of the others in my group were English teachers in China (as they had the same holiday as everyone else and wanted to get out and explore). There was Don, a mid-50's Canadian, who taught in China during the school year and then returned to Canada in the summer to lead canoe trips in the north. There was Claudette, an older French-Canadian woman, also teaching English, despite a heavy accent, and who seemed to take great pleasure in almost anything we did. There was an Irish couple, Eamon and Trish, mid-20's and lots of fun. Finally, there were three friends, the guys to be named later, Ben (Aussie), Nick (Canadian) and Ryan (American), who lived in various places in China, teaching a little, but spending lots of time learning the language.

Anyway, that's the cast...except the most important members where our guides. We had four and I never really got a clear answer on names. They were all Tibetan (we were in an area of Sichuan province that was annexed from Tibet in the early 1950's by China and given to Sichuan), friendly, funny...quite like the image of cowboys in the west. The 'bossman' was older, maybe mid-50’s; rugged and constantly worried about the horse he'd put me on. I may have lost weight over the past few months, but as far as he was concerned, I was a giant that was crushing his horse. Now horses may be a bit of an exaggeration also. There was one good-sized horse in our group (ridden by the bossman of course), a few smaller horses (large ponies really) and then an assortment of donkeys. I was on one of the smaller horses and between the equipment and me under my rear; it did struggle up some very steep trails.

Another member of our guides was a younger man (anywhere from late 20's to late 30's), who spoke a bit of English and was the prankster of the group. I think he was a bit of a ladies man as well, as anytime he was in range with his cell phone, he attempted to call someone, so I surmised he was setting up rendezvous with his various girlfriends.

The third member of our guides was a strong, silent type in his mid-40's to early 50's. He was all cowboy and it was fun to watch his skill. Finally there was the woman, a mid-30's Tibetan woman, always in traditional clothing, who seemed to do most of the camp work, but seemed to be kept apart from the men at most times.

The first day, we were each partnered with a foreigner (I with Ryan) and one of the guides (the bossman for me) and we set off from town, up a steep slope and over a ridge to another valley, where a small village was located. This was the bossman's village, but we stayed for only a short time. We then crossed a stream and headed up a side valley, which continued, fairly steeply, up for the next couple of hours. We finally made the summit, were told to dismount, and then we walked down the other side of the mountain. When we reached the bottom, we were told that we were at our campsite for the night.

I mentioned before that the three younger guys had been studying Chinese and Ryan and Nick were actually quite proficient. The problem was that Mandarin was not our guide's first language either, so there were times when conversation became difficult. However, I would have gotten to know little about our guides without Ryan and Nick being able to converse with them.

Anyway, the guides set up camp, shooing us away whenever we tried to help, and left us to explore the area a bit or just relax. By this time, another group had joined us, so instead of 8 foreigners, we were now 16, although the guides kind of kept us separate in our camps (which weren't 10 feet apart). The camps were pretty basic...they cut trees to make tent poles for our canvas tents, while they slept near the fire under a large tarp. The food was basic and mainly vegetables, but it was hearty and filling, which is about all I remember of the first night's food. What I remember was freezing during the night. We were camped at more than 3000 meters above sea level and it was very cold. To make matters worse, everyone but Ryan and I had sleeping bags, while we were given heavy blankets. But we were better off than the guides who slept in their heavy jackets and basically in the open.

I was awake very early the next morning and joined the guides by the fire in an attempt to restore some warmth to my frozen feet. We at a lovely warm breakfast stew of pumpkin and potato that was slightly spicy and finally managed to get me completely warm after freezing during the night. We broke camp and left about 10 am and rode for about 3 hours before we came to another village, where we stopped at the local 'store,' a tiny shack, where the guides and many of the others grabbed some beers and took a break. We soon learned that we would camp near the village for the next 2 nights in case the weather turned really bad.

Ryan and Nick also started negotiations for a lamb to be brought to camp for dinner that night. The guides had mentioned this earlier and if we were willing to pay western prices for it, we could have a nice mountain lamb for dinner that night. We tried to tempt the other group into sharing with us, but they weren't willing, so seven of us in our group went in on it (Claudette is a vegetarian). While not cheap (about 100 RMB each= $12.50), it was a wonderful experience. We made camp pretty early and spent the rest of the day lounging around the stream and waiting for the lamb to come. Everyone was starting to get worried, when it hadn't arrived by dinnertime and still nothing by 7 pm. But it finally arrived...live. The young guide (Stud) took it out away from camp, slaughtered and cleaned it in less than 10 minutes and had it roasting on a spit shortly after.

In the end, it became more of a late-evening snack to go along with copious amounts of beer, baijol (very nasty rice wine), and an assortment of other drinks. Stud put a spicy glaze over the lamb which went really well with the beer and the evening turned into a party with singing and laughing around what turned into a bonfire (Yes even I had to sing, although reluctantly as I lost a game which required it. I did a short rendition of Simon and Garfunkel's "Cecilia").

The next morning, despite more than a few heavy heads, as many of which resided amongst the guides, we set off on unburdened horse for "Ice Mountain" a several hour ride up some very steep hills. By the time we reached the summit, we were at more than 4300 meters above sea level and I was feeling a bit short of breath...been away from Colorado too long, I guess.

We spent about an hour looking up at the summit, which, having just re-read James Hilton's "The Lost Horizon," the mountain reminded me of his description of the "blue" mountain that led to Shangri-La. Funnily, a spot near where I am now (in Yunnan province) is said to be the "real" Shangri-La. During our time near the glacier, the horses had been driven back down the mountain, so we had a steep hike down the mountain to reach camp again. Eamon and I stuck together, and were back down about 2 hours later.

That was our last full day and most of spent it relaxing after our hike. Luckily, the night before had been mild, so we didn't freeze like the first night. However, clouds were looming over camp and when thunder started to echo down the mountains, we knew we were in trouble. It began raining just before dinner and continued for quite a while. It stopped during the night, which was good, because I don't think the tents could have withstood a real storm.

The next morning we were up very early again as the guides wanted to get us back to Songpan in good time. Unfortunately, the rushed us a bit too much and we weren't able to explore a nice Tibetan temple that most of us would have liked to see more of. But it was nice to be back in "civilization" get showered and get some western food at Emma's Cafe, a great little cafe in Songpan.

I was back in Chengdu by Friday afternoon (and another 8-hour nightmare of a bus ride) and relaxed for the next couple of days at Mix hostel...that is until my computer started causing problems. It was a race on Monday to ship it back before my mid-afternoon train, but I managed to get it done.

I am now in Lijiang, in northwestern Yunnan province, where I plan to stay for a couple of more days. Hope to have an update on this area soon.

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Photos

Nick
Howdy Doody comes to China...after a drinking binge

Comments

[taeyoung]

hi joel~~
well well well~~ it seems like you're really having a good time travelling around Asia...~ I really enny you!!~ i will go to the States this Summer to stay one year in San Francisco doing some research. hopefully i can see you in the States, if not in Tibet!~~