Yunnan 2001 - trekking into Sichuan

It was never our intention to trek into Sichuan from Yunnan. Sichuan is always suppose to be a train ride away... Along the mountainous route, we do not really know if a road existed. But the answers we got from locals has always been "hundreds of years ago before the rail begins, there has been trade between Yunnan and Sichuan. Where there is trade, there is a road!" What a logically answer, we thought. Tiger Leaping GougeBefore the treacherous jounery, we side track to trek the full length of the lengendery tiger leaping gourge, passing by wonderful scenery of the changjiang diyi wan...This is where our van dropped us and this is where we start leaving the concrete road and begin trekking uphill. The time is 8am. Our target is to reach our halfway house before nightfall or risk getting lost in the wilderness. Really not much photos taken on this trip, I was literally sobbing and crying all the way. This is damn difficult and tiring. My body is exhausted. I cannot get a grip on the steep slopes. Our guide kept pushing us along, saying that we will never make it with our speed. Across the valley, the mountain face is collapsing into darkness at an incredible speed... My heart is urging me to give up at every step but it is obviously there is no way back... our only transportation is at the other end of the mountain range days later. The first day has not even ended and I am regretting every single minute.

Looking back, I cannot see where we started. Did I really walk this far? Wail!!!!! Honestly, I dont remember any scenery. All I remember is looking at my feet counting "one, two, three, four... one two, three..." while tears swell up in my eyes blurring everything... Our guide has been the nicest person, chopping down bamboo to make me a walking stick, running off to pluck sweet pears and peel for me to eat, patiently answering my "are we there yet" query for the hundredth time... But I am inconsolable the moment he asked me to walk.Reaching halfway house is the happinest thing I remembered. I believe I recovered from my embarrassing wailing fit. Someone should have just given me a slap and tell me to get a grip!

I remember one terrible stretch that is an impass. A small teahouse was collecting money to support some respectable teacher to build a proper walking path... even in this wilderness, some chinese can still attempt to cheat you of your money!!! DAMN... After another half a day of trying not to fall into the gourge and die, I parted with triple the amount and told our guide to pass to the teacher to please speed up the road building project...

No way up. We have a choice of skirting the dangerous cliff face in a single file for 5 hours or climb the "heavenly stairs" up the cliff. It was a neverending way up with no safety harness on shaky iron rods built into the rocks. (actually, shaky because I was trembling and cannot proceed... scary shit)Always had a soft spot for rivers till this day when my trekking destination requires me to cross one river. Rivers are... a huge obstruction. How to cross? I no longer like riversMoving further away from the lower tiger leaping gouge, the harsh rocky landscape ease into grass lands and highlands... We have access to other ways of transportation besides our legs - jeeps and horses... the latter gave me blue black on my inner thighs that took more than a week to recover... a few hours on horseback does much more damage than days of walking. Caution my frens.

Lugu LakeThey say this is paradise for men... Lugu lake is where the Mosuo people live. They form a matriarchal society with no marriage. Men stay in the women's home as mates and the intimate relationship lasts as long as they like. Children are brought up by women, using the surname of their mothers. Women operate production and management, and hold the principal position in the society, forming a modern day 'woman's kingdom'.

Oh yah, back to why we came here. They say Lugu Lake is in the middle of Yunnan and Sichuan. We arrived at one end of the lake - the Yunnan side. The task is very simple. We looked across to the opposite side. That is Sichuan. Great!!! If we walk clockwise, keeping the waters to our right. How difficult is it to reach Sichuan, RITE? The problem is.... when do we know when/where to stop? We stayed at First Guesthouse. Houses here are no more than 2 storeys high to make it easier for the men to climb up to women's chamber! Owner reminded Stan not to lock the window to his room. He never knows if any Mosuo gals might take a fancy on him and take some proactive action. We shared a whole lamp with the rest of the travellers that night. All of them are here for a guided day tour. They will return to Lijiang the next day.I dont think this is a commonly trekked route so we have no info. This is the BEST map we discovered. We traced everything. The first Sichuan village is the number seventh village from our starting point. Simple enough. Let's trek.High altitude sickness or food poisoning? I was giddy and vomitting on day 2. Trekking and getting food and shelter is not easy. Meal means knocking on doors of villagers we passed by, asking them to cook watever they have. We pay around $2 per meal to villagers. Trekking an unchartered route is also not easy. There is no road. Damn it. And we cant walk near the lake, there is no path... We can only cross mountains.

I was too sick to walk any further. Luckily for me, we finally found roads... and managed to flag down a car which is willing to take one of us in. I know it is dangerous to hitch hike with 3 unknown men, but I was way too sick to care... At this point, Stan and me parted. I hitch hike a few hours to the 7th village while Stan promised he will meet me there once he finished walking... I waited a long long time...