Lijiang - Haba Xue Shan - Chengdu, June 17-25
After our good times in Rilong, we debated where to go next. We finally settled on Jiuzhaigou, bought our bus tickets, and boarded the right bus---only to find out that the bus wasn't going to our intended destination but instead, back to Chengdu, because the road was out. We then re-assessed our options and chose to head south to the Yunnan province, where we went to Lijiang and then climbed Haba Xue Shan.
Road construction on the way back to Chengdu.
Amy in Lijiang.
Kittens at Mama Naxi's guesthouse.
Amy. We drove through the Tiger Leaping Gorge on the way to Haba Village. The Gorge is a popular guesthouse-to-guesthouse trek. There is some serious relief here, with the Yangtze River at about 5,000 ft and the mountains at 18,000 ft.
Aaron's vertical panorama of the gorge.
We were dropped off in the village of Haba, and we wandered our way towards the mountain, which was enshrouded in clouds. When we asked villagers for directions, they pointed towards the peak, but not the way to hike. It started raining, and we could only hope we were heading in the right direction. Our expectations weren't high for getting to climb this mountain.
When we camped that first night, we could still see Haba Village right below us.
Sunset clouds.
Ferns.
Not long after we started hiking the next morning, we were passed by some men with horses (and a girl with an ox) who, when we said "Haba Xue Shan?", indicated that they were also headed there. We were able to follow their tracks all the way to basecamp, which was a relief, since we finally knew we were heading the right way.
The sky cleared up for about 5 minutes, and we got our *only* view of the summit, 17,800 ft. Basecamp was at 14,000 ft.
Aaron at camp.
A view back towards the gorge.
Another view of mountains across the way.
More mountains (picture taken through our binoculars).
A party was just finishing climbing the mountain when we arrive d---the horses we'd followed were going up there to carry their stuff down. We asked what time they got up to start climbing and they indicated 4:00 am, so for some reason we got up really early also (not THAT early) and were hiking by 5:30. It turned out it was so dark, we couldn't see where we were going at all. We found a little flat spot, curled up and took a nap, and started hiking again when it got lighter.
Amy. It was raining, and we were soaked. It rained all the way up to 17,000 ft (we were so equatorial).
Aaron.
Aaron. We were in terrible visibility the whole way, but fortunately we were able to see the tracks of the previous day's party, so we found our way without any trouble.
Amy.
Aaron near the summit.
Aaron and Amy at the summit (really, I swear it is). The views from here are probably amazing, but we didn't see them.
Aaron heading down.
Aaron's crampon, equipped with a high-tech anti-balling system.
Amy hiking down.
Aaron, finally drying out his pants from the rain (and a few butt glissades).
Amy.
Aaron.
Aaron.
Amy.
Aaron.
The view from basecamp the next morning, with the mountain still in the fog.
Haba Village on the way down.
We stopped at a swimming hole for a cold, cold dunk.
The narrow streets of old town Lijiang.
View of old town from a hilltop temple. An earthquake hit Lijiang about 10 years ago and while the modern buildings were devastated, the architecture of these older buildings was such that they were spared from destruction.
Amy wandering in a detailed stone courtyard.
A shiny stone street in the old town.
More Lijiang.
Aaron looking at paintings by an artist in the old town.
We wandered into the modern section of the town, and were struck by a view of craggy peaks just outside of town.
We laughed at what looked kind of like a "No Trumpeting" sign becuase we'd been woken up that morning by a bugle.
Aaron at a huge farmer's market.
Spices.
The Yangtze River, also from the plane.
View of the mountains from the plane. I *think* Yulong Xue Shan is in the foreground and Haba Xue Shan is in the background.
When we got back to Chengdu for the final time, we rented bikes from Sim's and hit the roads. It wasn't too bad---Aaron and I were each almost killed only once.
Amy.
Aaron eating breakfast at the Beijing Airport. You can see his choice of breakfast (sauteed greens) and my choice (chocolate croissant).
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