Horse Trek, Pt. 2

See Horse Trek, Pt. 1, first.

Now, my journal entries continue:

Day 3 - Basecamp
Some minor quibbles about the trip, although it has been great so far. Here they are:

1) The Tibetan horses, which are much smaller than regular horses, seem to be mistreated at times. Rocks are thrown and our guide Zhou punched one in the face today. Mostly, however, they look healthy.

2) The conditions here are filthy... not recommended for the prissy traveler (Heather, I'm looking in your direction). There are no outhoses or toilets, so TP is strewn all over the wilderness near the campsite. There's also no sink, so hands are filthy, even those preparing our food. The only water source is the near-by river/creek, which is used for horses drinking, human drinking, cooking, and washing. At least everything they cook is boiled, so the water should be okay, but still... it's gross.

3) The company offers 3 and 4 day treks to ice mountain, the only difference being that they stop for camp by the Tibetan village, but 3 days is enough, since it only takes 1.5 hrs. to get to the Tibetan village.

Day 4 (24 Sept) - 4:30 pm, Songpan Hostel above the horse trek company office

The last night in the woods was cold... much colder than the previous night. It also started to rain in the middle of the night. By morning, however, the clouds lifted and we got our first taste of sunshine in the wild! The sky was an incredible shade of blue and the hills were both green and bright red, many trees having started to change colors for autumn.

Best of all, with the blankets and pads back on the saddles, the ride back to Songpan was much easier on our bums. We took a different route back than we took in, which was fun because it included a stop at a Lamasary (a monastary for Lamas, the leaders of Tibetan Buddhism). The ride was fun, but mostly uneventful, save for the gorgeous, sweeping views of the river valleys from 3000 meters up... actually, I'm sure we passed 4000 m above sea level several times. When we got back to the town, we bought water, took nice hot showers, and will hopefully meet up with our guides for beers at 7pm. Tomorrow we go back to Chengdu for a day, then start our Yangzi River cruise through the Three Gorges area!

Day 5 - 9:45 am - Bus rest station
The long and winding road
Last night, only Zhou showed up for beers and after an hour and several 20 oz beers (which he opened with his teeth!), J and I retired for the evening. It's a shame we couldn't stay out longer, however, because he was really fun to talk with, even though he had limited english and I have only limited chinese. He regaled us with stories of a crazy Korean girl that wants to marry him and move to Songpan. He made fun of Chinese tourists and said he hated visiting Lhasa, Tibet because the people there drank too much and started fights.

Our sleep last night was rather rough because J was quite sick, but when we woke up at 5am, J was feeling much better. The bus today is the most horrible experience yet. I thought I could handle long-distance buses, but maybe I can't. Everyone is smoking and it's very cold in here. When we showed up at the bus terminal, it was almost full and 10 minutes after the bus started (and after making 3 or 4 stops in 500 feet), there was a crowd of people sitting and standing on the floor of the center aisle. This bus is filthy, and we already hit a guard rail, stopped to inspect the engine, and have had the brakes cooled with hose water twice in the last hour! We still have at least 5 more hours of this and the sores on our a$$es are not happy. We also had to pay to use the bathroom, which seems to be the norm here, but the rooms were disgusting (I'll save the description from publication, but we both almost barfed). On the plus side, we've seen many adorable children, including many small kids sweeping the water and debris off their play yard at school and an assembly outside for a flag-raising ceremony. I just pray that the rest of the day goes quickly. Why hasn't the bus started yet?!



Day 5 - 11:45am - another bus stop
Well, when the bus finally did start up again, the TV came on playing the LOUDEST, most techno-ed up versions of traditional Tibetan songs. Even with ear plugs, the noise was deafening... no joke. (By the way, it seems that busses in China all come equiped with Karaoke machines, which the bus drivers play at full blast, even though nobody seems to sing along.) LAME!


Editor's note: My journal entries end here for the Songpan trip, but I would like to mention that we didn't get back to the Chengdu bus station until 4pm, having left Songpan at 6am. We also got hit by another bus from behind, and the Karaoke was playing the whole dang time! We got no sleep and were absolutely miserable when we returned to the Loft hostel in Chengdu... it was so bad that we almost cancelled our Yangzi river cruise. We ended up going, anyway, and got better really quickly since we had a full day to kill in Chengdu beforehand. Today, 3.Oct.2006, we are in Shanghai and it has been wonderful here. More to follow on the river cruise and on SH.

-Mike.