More Lugu Lake Pics

One of the islands in the Lake.



Overlooking Part of Lige vilage on the Lake at night.

Day 24-25 (Lugu Lake)

With only 2 days until my 23rd birthday, I thought this would be a great place to relax, and relax I did. Lugu Hu (lake) rests at 2685m above sea level on the border of Sichuan and Yunnan province. The water here is as calm as the locals. I stayed in Lige a small town in one of the lakes many bays. I spent the days relaxing with people I met in the restuarants and drifting between the islands on a local canoe of sorts. The water is crystal clear and warm, so swimming here was great.

I have spent 1 and a half days relaxing and although not quite my birthday yet I have decided to move on to Litjang, which is a detour enroute to Tiger Leaping Gorge (called thisbecause legend has it that a Tiger leaped from on side of the gorge to the other...I guess that's pretty much stating the obvious).

I was invited to spend my last night in Lugu Hu with a group of Chinese travellers and one Korean. Needless to say the night never really ended until the following day and although a bit early, made for a great birthday party. By the end of the evening, we had the owner of the restuarant singing to us and I had to try and get the South African national anthem right...and I can honestly say I can't remember more than the chorus, but at least I could put in my own words!!

Day 22-23 (Moxi to Lugu Lake)

The next few days were spent trying to find my way to Lugu Lake (Moxi-Xichang-Yanyuan-Lugu Lake). Getting a bus from Xichang to Lugu takes you in completely the wrong direction (apparently there are two Lugus' in Sichuan province). Luckly I found this out before hand.

Day 21 (Moxi - Yang Zi Gou)

For me seeing some of the snow capped mountains of China was a big deal!!! The hike in the valley was unbelievable, no signs of tourism, just forests, rivers, cliffs on iether side reaching hundreds of meters into the air and clears skies...life is good!

After just 2 hours of hiking, there she was Gongga Shan. 7556m high and in Asia, second only to Everest.

Day 20 (Moxi)

Day 20
Woke up this morning to snow capped mountains and wonton soup.

Moxi, is a small town at the foot of Hau lui Gou glacier. The Southern section of Moxi, is still as it was many years ago, with traditional wooden houses and the kind of peolpe who no longer exist in the developed world. At night worshippers burnt incence and prayer leaflets.

Was invited by the family who own the place I am staying at to have lunch with them, this turned out to be the best food I have had in the PRC so far...home cooked meal, Chinese style.

Day 17-19 (bicycle)

Well, I am not sure how to explain the following three days?

The distance from Chengdu to Luding is 310km, of which most is uphill. The weather was absolutely scorching and I ran out of water twice. Damage to my bike had me pushing the bike for most of the uphill. I was nearly run down in a tunnel with no lights (mental note...bring torch next time).

On the flip side of that coin, I have met some interesting locals, seen more of rural china than I would ever have been able to otherwise. I have explored a bat infested cave, eaten weird and wonderful fruit, slept outdoors on both nights and crossed a crumbling brigde suspended over a mighty river, which I followed for most of the way to Luding.

Day 1
It soon became clear to me how wrong my distance estimates were (although I suppose that's what you get for using an A5 size map of the whole Sichuan province, to plot a course). By 3pm I was well out of Chengdu and far away from any cities. Except for some short breaks I cycled straight through until 2:13am, the plan was to keep going until I reached Ya'an, however a snapped chain resulted in me calling it a night. And as Murphy would have it there was nothing around for miles, so I ended up in a corn field for the night.

Day 2
back on the road by 7am (chain fixed) and ready to go, reached Ya'an and continued through, however was not long before I hit the mountains (the map looked so flat, how was i to know that this was the start of the sichuan Western mountains).

Sleeping place for second night.

Day3
Puff Puff Puff...3 days on the road, absolutely broken and litterally 7 hours of uphill with a bike that doesn't work properly anymore. I reached Luding by 4 pm. Damage on the bike, the topography of this area and the time that would realistically be required to continue to Yunnan, could not be justified. I have made the decision to sell the bike and continue from here without it.

I can honestly say that the last three days have been some of the most mentally and physically challenging days of my life, BUT...

...these are the experiences that I live for!!!