Songpan Horse Trek part 6 Camp life

Day 1...DJ Latoison just as the rain turns into snow. DJ road his horse all the first day up over the ridge and down to camp but unfortunately got altitude sickness later that evening and had to return to Songpan with a car that we called up to camp. Our camp was at about 3300 m and we had ridden over a pass that was around 3800 m. Songpan is a little lower at just over 2800 m. DJ returned to Chengdu the next day by car and is feeling just fine now. You never know who will have a problem with altitude sickness, it can hit anyone. It felt good with so many children along that we had easy access to the main road and a quick escape back to Songpan in case of an accident. 

Emy uses her mother (me) as a big, comfortable camp cushion. 

Life at camp was - I suspect - a large part of the fun for the kids - not just the awesome horseback riding. We spent three days on the trek, riding for an average of 4 hours a day, just enough to keep everyone excited, have their fill of riding but also not get too bored for the youngest children. Or too tired for the horses. The rest of the time was spent poking about at Erdaohai (Day 1), lazing about in the sun at Wuzuogou (Day 2), making bows and arrows, whittling sticks to roast marshmallows on, exploring the surrounding woods, playing cards, playing Chinese shuttlecock (jianzi),  joking about etc etc. Time flies when you're having fun!

Burton, Emy and Charles hanging out with the horsemen (conversing in Chinese!).

Quote of the day: "We are going to go hunt horse chickens!" Isaac and Burton with their homemade weapons. Horse chicken, maji in Chinese, Capercaillie in English, tjäder in Swedish, Lat. Tetrao urogallus are protected in China. We saw them in the woods and crossing the paths. We saw quite a number of beautiful birds: common pheasant, dove, quail, common kingfisher, ruddy shelducks (Tadorna ferruginea), Lammergeier, eagles, blue-eared pheasant, river chats (Chaimarrornis leucocephalus), blackbirds and crows. As for mammals we only saw pikas, small chincilla/mouse-like mammals with very short tails. Not a panda in sight of course, hihi!

Paddy, the tea expert himself with a handful of macha, "horse tea" (and of course his preferred drink a bottle of beer in his left hand). We were served horse tea ( a very poor quality tea that is almost tasteless and upon which the Chinese have since the Song Dynasty built an entire trading economy with the Tibetans) until the horsemen realized we actually preferred boiled water which we could use to make coffee or chocolate or whatever we liked. 

Maya, Emy, Isaac and Zoe playing a fierce game of WAR! All the while shouting expletives like "camel puke!", "horse turds!", "goat farts!" and so on.....

Everyone shouted Hurrah! when rice was served on day 2. Emy's rice-eating record is seven bowls in one go in Chengdu.

Mifan laile!

Charles and Burton chow down. Later in the evenings we roasted hotdogs and wonderful sausages we had brought up from Chengdu. Fantastic!

Sausage time, big interest on the part of the kids. Meat and marshmallows seems to be what kids prefer most. 

Evidence of adults having fun too, we preferred wine, whiskey, coffee, crackers and sausages over the marschmallows ;-)

Mesmerizing heat from the campfire kept us warm in the evenings before we had to crawl into our cold tents. It also thawed us out in the morning and coaxed the reluctant kids out of their sleeping bags. 

Emy Booz tucked into her sleeping bag for the night. She is sleeping in full clothing because of the cold in early May  (0°+). The trekking company provides very basic sleeping bags, pads, blankets and tents for all trekkers but the sleeping bags are: 1) very thin  2) very dirty 3) possibly full of ticks (Paddy killed one) 4) very smelly. The tents are small and short (ok for me!) but keep the rain out. Because it was still early in the season and we had a transport vehicle that could drop off stuff at camp most of us brought our own sleeping bags and extra pads. In summertime the equipment provided by the trekking company should be enough for those staying in the Munigou area (most going to the Ice Mountain complain bitterly about the cold, even in summer, if you're planning on heading that way bring a bag, the trekkers provide Tibetan coats). Those who are picky about hygiene would do well bringing a sleeping bag liner. You can make a pillow out of your clothes and stuff them in a t-shirt. (22 years ago they didn't have tents. I slept out in the open and in my own sleeping bag and woke up covered in snow. Little did I know then that one day I would have a great daughter like Emy and that she would sleep in the very same sleeping bag that I had used all that time ago!)

Maya L playing with her DS by the fireside. Remember to keep those camera batteries warm or the cold will quickly zap all the umph out of them!

All photos ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

Songpan Horse Trek part 5 Zhuzhuhai Wenquan (Hot Springs)

Burton and Charles had the crazy idea that they would take a dip in the "hot" springs at the top of Erdaohai. The spring (also known as Zhuzhuhai or "boiling pearl lake") is heavily sulphuric (smells like rotten eggs), said to be good for curing all kinds of skin diseases and is not all that hot (only about 20°+, the surrounding air was under 10°+), but in they went....

...Burton a little earlier than he expected, ladi-ladi-dah and then he slipped on the top step and in he went!

Then you couldn't stop him...

....Paddy couldn't resist either.....

....neither could Charles Dupont. They look like too little cold macaques in a Japanese onsen. 

©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

Songpan Horse Trek part 4 Erdaohai

Like one of the websites say, Erdaohai is a place of "small miracles". Here the surrounding forest is mirrored in the turquoise waters of Erdao Lake. Few tourists come here and compared to the absolutely stunning, almost overwhelming beauty of Jiuzhaigou and Huanglong which consequently attracts thousands of tourists each day, Erdaohai is intimate, cosy, magical and wonderously quiet. Truly a small gem in itself. 

The entire Munigou Valley is about 160 square km large and has two major scenic areas: Erdao Lake (Erdaohai) and Zhaga Waterfall (Zhaga Pubu) situated in two small parallel valleys. The waters of these two areas gather together and drain into the Min River (Minjiang). It is now listed as a World Biosphere Reserve, World Natural Heritage as well as Green Globe 21 by the United Nations. We made camp about 1 km below the entrance to Erdaohai Scenic Area which is a 3-4 km long chain of beautiful seasonal lakes with wondrous turquoise waters and marshland located at the top of Munigou Valley. The lake in this picture (Lover's Emerald Pool, elev. 3404 m) at the beginning of May still doesn't have much water. It is made up of nine dissolved, fallen lakes and is a typical seasonal lake. Even though this was the May 1st holiday we only met one small party of four Chinese tourists leaving the park as we were going in. It was completely quiet and pristine, utterly perfect and magical.

Spanish Moss dripping with moisture from the recent snowfall. 

Erdao Lake (Erdaohai) is a "fallen lake", one of over 400 mineral lakes in this area. It is surrounded by sunken pits, deep cravasses, hidden caves and the largest outdoor stalactites in China. Luckily these dangerous holes are surrounded by wooden railings so you don't inadvertently fall in. 

Lhatses, large wooden arrows collected into clusters and tied together by white silk khatas  and prayer flags, evidence of the Tibetan and Bön religion that is predominant in the Munigou Valley.  Erdaohai is sacred to local Tibetans and they come here twice annually to put up new flags, arrows and khatas, paying tribute to the lake. 

Light bottle green. Gradually, as the weather warms up and the lakes slowly fill with water the colours will shift in shade and hue. The colours are very different than at Huanglong or Jiuzhaigou. 

Wooden walkways (about 2.5 - 3 km up and same down again) connect the lakes in a loop. 

Roots calcified in the mineral rich water. 

Marshland. 

Erdao Lake (Erdaohai) with large cave and overhang. Erdao means "two eyes" and the color of this lake is the strangest green-blue. It is around this lake that you see most of the sink-holes, caves and crevasses. In the autumn this lake will have filled almost to the top of the cavern.

Info:

Entrance fee to Erdaohai is 50 yuan or 70 yuan for Erdaohai and Zhaga Pubu together. Children over 130 cm are half-price. Foreign pensioners over 65 half-price. Children under 130 cm free. You can visit both areas easily in one day by car or bus but the horse trekking company no longer has horse treks to both areas due to disputes between villagers in the Zhaga Pubu area and the horse trekking company in Songpan (it all boils down to a question of money and who isn't getting a piece of the tourist pie). 20 years ago I rode to Erdaohai, camped by the lake itself and then rode over the mountain between Zhaga Pubu and Erdaohai, trekked down to the waterfall, then continued by horse back to Songpan in the same day. No longer. 

All photos ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

Songpan Horse Trek part 3 Arrival at Camp

We left Songpan at 9.45 and arrived in camp at precisely 1 pm. Our camp is about 1 km down the road from Erdaohai Park in a little grassy area beside a river. There is a camp house which will be used as  a cook hut. Meng Jun quickly instructs us: drinking water upstream (which they boil for our tea), toilet area downwind of camp in the bushes. 

Itchy, itchy! As soon as the saddles are off (and that is quick) the horses all roll on their backs. 

Got to get things settled as quick as possible, there's lot's to do, we are a large group and the weather might turn bad at any moment. The men do it efficiently, quickly, quietly and with lot's of laughs. They work very well together. 

The horsemen go quickly up into the forest and find (or chop down although we didn't hear anything) a nice tree to use as a tent ridge pole. It is quickly sheared of its branches using a huandao (lit. "bend knife") that serves as a sort of gigantic Swiss Army knife/sword/hachette/adze for the mafu and almost anything they need to fix. 

The ridge pole is hoisted into place and "simsalabim" we quickly have a tent. They know what they're doing - it's going to rain soon and the tent is important. They also quickly pitch all of our sleeping tents and lay out our bedding. 

Wooden saddle and Tibetan saddlebag. 

Our small bus arrives with Catherine P and Sam G (3 yrs old, a little too young to ride), all our equipment from Chengdu and all of our extra food goodies. We are 24 people in total, all living and working in Chengdu. This is a family trek with small children along so we are quite content to camp near the road, with easy access back to Songpan in case something happens (which does, altitude sickness). We have all brought sleeping bags with us and could have hauled all this extra "junk" with us on more horses but no need when we already have a vehicle that can just drop it off. Mr Su then drove back to Songpan and stayed there in a hotel for 3 days, playing mahjong with other drivers! Even though we were not far away from a major thoroughfare we only saw 3-4 cars a day pass by. If we had wanted to we could have camped in other areas away from all roads, the campsite varies with the trek and customer. 

Meng Jun gets the fire going, we are all breathless with anticipation. Soon we'll be breathless with asphyxiation and smoke inhalation!

Air hole-cum-window. 

Maya getting warmed up in her Tibetan chuba (zang zhuan). Warm but stinky....

Something wrong with the fire! Wood too damp or what? We all the flee the tent as the smoke pours out. After a while though all problems are solved and we spend a cosy evening propped up against  makeshift, very comfy bolsters made out of thin branches draped with saddle blankets. 

Tuva and Thilien enjoy the snow, something we see only about once a winter in Chengdu. 

Rain turned into SNOW! Much nicer and more romantic, the wooded mountains of Sichuan quickly faded away into the mist. Luckily both the rain and the snow only lasted a short while so after a quick "fika" (coffee and tea break) we could all happily walk off to visit Erdaohai Park about 1 km up the road from our camp. We didn't see ONE drop of rain again until we got back into Songpan again. Perfect.

Philippe B out in the snow taking a picture of me taking a picture of him...

Roasted marshmallows! Some of the kids had never eaten these before, but if I'm not mistaken, everyone of them quickly became converts to this very American tradition. 

All photos ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

Songpan Horse Trek part 2 Ride over mountains to Erdaohai

The Songpan Wild Bunch! Left to right: Staci Latoison, Bob L, DJ Latoison (10 yr), Heidi W, Ingrid Morejohn Sr (75 yr), Tuva A (6 yr), Emy Booz (10 on May 12th!), Paddy Booz, Thilien B (8), Emma (Li Guirong), Philippe B, Emma's mother, Burton Booz (12), Arnaud D, David Li, Maya L (10), Isabelle D, Zoe D (9 on May 9th!), Charles D (11), Ethan G and Sam G (3 yr). Missing: Juline B (6), Benedicte B, Isaac G (8), Catherine P, Kattis and Nicklas A and Ingrid Booz Morejohn. We don't have any proper riding helmets for the children, so they are wearing their bicycle helmets.

Our horses arrive at 8.00, loaded up with our tents, sleeping gear and food. They aren't particularly big horses but not small ponies either. Saddles (wooden or leather) are underneath all the packing, making it both comfortable but also a bit of a high seat. The tack varies in quality from very simple leather straps and ropes to finely braided ones in Tibetan colors.

Emy Booz gets her stirrups adjusted by our "mafu", horseman Meng Jun. Meng Jun is the leader of the horsemen. He is Hui Muslim and has been riding horses by himself since he was 4 years old. Emy is riding one of his horses, Niu de hua, "Fast and slippery". I ride his other horse, Hei Ma, "Blackie". Blackie is the lead horse, very aggressive and strong and I have a fun three days holding him back and sometimes letting him go too, in a full gallop. We couldn't be happier! It's been Emy's dream for a long time to go on a really long horse trek.

We leave Songpan at 9.45 and quickly make our ascent of the mountain range just to the west of the Songpan Valley. Emma's Kitchen and the horse trekking office (Ma Dui) are only about 100 feet from the path that leads up the steep mountain. We all ride. But some of the mafu walk, others ride their horses. The sky is heavy with grey clouds and rain is an ever present threat. We pass wooden houses with flowering crabapple trees in their gardens and everyone's spirits are high. In the beginning the children's horses are led by the mafu. Some of the children ride the horses on their own, others like Emy here share the horse with the mafu.  Eventually when the mafu see which children are capable of handling the horses on their own the children are allowed to hold the reins themselves. In the picture here: Ethan G, followed by Emy and Meng Jun on Niu de Hua. 

Up, up, up we go!

The pass on the mountain ridge above Songpan, about 3800 m above sea level, slightly higher than Lhasa in Tibet. Below us is the city of Songpan and the Min River. In the distance are the high mountains that surround Xuebaoding (hidden in clouds), the mountain that towers over Huanglong. 

The rain that poured down on us in Songpan last night became snow up here on top of the mountains. We are a regular wagon train, with 21 foreigners from Chengdu riding and 11 mafu. 

Nicklas A in the foreground with the valley of Munigou in the background. We still have a few hours to go. After riding along the ridge of the mountain for an hour or so we begin our descent. Because of the rain and slippery, muddy paths we stay on the horses. The descent is quite arduous for the horses. We ride through brambles and thorny bushes. All photos ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn