16/7/25
Jonathan slept well this time. Frankie had an unusually fluctuating body temperature. It was an icy cold start to the day. The perfectly clear sky and packing away the condensation covered tent made our fingers freeze. We wore every item of clothing we had as we set off down the valley. Today’s walk should be downhill. The approaching Sun made the gorgeous rocks glow. It was annoying, but nothing was as majestic anymore. An incredibly beautiful place, but after being immersed in mountainous terrain it wasn’t as overwhelming.
Once the Sun reached us, or did we reach the Sun, we took a break for around 40 minutes. Taking advantage of the rays to dry our tent. Warmth had the incredible ability to make us feel relaxed. We were almost down by the river again. The steep falls leading us to a flatter basin.
At the bottom of the basin we came across the first old settlement. Clusters of stone built houses. Their traditional roofs long gone. We were wrong. As we descended, yet more perfect snowy peaks appeared in front of us. We saw quite a lot of Chinese hikers. Often they would have their faces entirely covered. Not just sunglasses or a buff, but some kind of weird sticker across the bottom of their face and/or a face mask.
A group of pack horses came up the path. A Tibetan man in a leather jacket. He immediately stopped and started taking pictures and videos of us. A young Chinese man tried to translate for us what was going on, but he didn’t understand either. Perhaps they were going to try and stop us getting out at the northern end. We had little choice but to keep going. It wasn’t like we could go back over the pass!
As we continued to wind down the valley, the paths rocky demeanour made it hard work for us. Our tired weary feet were crying. The heat began to rise as we got closer and closer to the large snowy peaks ahead. It really was a beautiful place. A rising star in tourism. The route had only become popular in the last few years. Mainly with Chinese people of course. Because they’re the only ones allowed. We felt lucky to have visited before it became even more crowded.
We had about 8km to go to get to the main road. The Singaporean people had told us they had been driven quite far in. We hoped for an easy track out. Assuming of course we were allowed out. We were feeling the strain and had pretty much had enough. We just wanted to get to our end goal.
Up ahead a massive car parking area appeared. Horses grazing in between the vehicles. Green fences indicating land ownership again. We wondered if this was where we would be stopped. As we approached we discussed the ridiculousness of the restriction on foreigners. Who were the arbitrators, the Tibetans or Chinese?
There was no one to stop us there. The track was now a rocky road. It followed the river for 6km. We regretted not accepting a lift from a man in a black SUV, his daughter in the back, after another kilometre. The road was unbelievable drudgery. Apart from some yellow chested birds there was nothing here. Our feet were aching beyond belief.
Not a second too early we saw the barrier at the end of the road. A primitive blockade. We ducked under the barrier. In a little office was the very man and his daughter who had offered us a lift. Now they seemed less than affable. The young girl was taking photos of us. We returned fire. They were displeased, it was apparently a one way street as far as photos were concerned.
We were now stuck on the road in the middle of nowhere. Mobile phone signal had returned. DiDi didn’t find a car. Only one thing for it. The road was downhill towards Kangding. A truck driver refused our attempt to hitch a ride with a wave of his hand. Next to the road was a large army, or police base. A car pulled out of the gates and we tried our luck. The police officer was happy to help.
We jumped in the snazzy electric car. He zoomed us to Kangding. Overtaking everything en route. We had no idea where to go in the city. It was a ‘long’ place so we requested to be dropped off at the ‘tourist area’. He took us most of the way up. We walked another few hundred metres to a hotel.
Having only one set of clothes, we washed what we could. We’d have to make do with dirty trousers. Our feet were agonisingly painful after our rocky descent. We were now at a mere 2500m in a huge city. Delaixi Vegetarian Restaurant was the only suitable eating establishment we could find. A mere 8 minute walk.
The restaurant was self service hotpot. We had individual saucepans. Frankie had mushroom, Jonathan had spicy. There was an area of foods including faux meats. It was thrilling to have real, hot food again. We were in there for a while munching away. Afterwards we walked down the Food Street. Not to eat, just to observe. It was a bustling city with thousands of tourists. Colourful lights. Singing and dancing. Of course we were the only westerners. We enthusiastically took photos with people.
We plodded back up the fast flowing Zheduo River. It was a cascading beast that flowed right through the town in a tight canal. The same river we’d walked next to earlier. Now it was tamed but still ferocious. It felt a little triggering to look at. We went to bed far too late. It was 11:30pm by the time we shut our eyes.
Surly They Won't Make It 