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May - June 2002: This travelogue documents my 2 month solo trip to China.

China, month 2

Jennifer Radcliffe
2005-11-12 09:59:40

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Songpan, Sichuan and Ice Mountain

I got to Songpan last night and am spending the day adjusting to the altitude (we climbed about 2000 meters from Chengdu!) before the horse trek tomorrow. Songpan is a great town; for the first time I really, really feel like I'm in China! Before now I've always been in cities, and this feels more like a village, undeniably China! The bus ride through the countryside from Chengdu was marvelous, we climbed high into green and jagged mountains and stopped at interesting little roadside villages, which had food and Tibetan style stuff for sale... I even saw a couple of guys walking around with yaks! I can't wait to get my photos online! The scenery around this area is spectacular.

Songpan is a lively, bustling place with Tibetan style clothes and goods for sale in the markets.. people's style of clothing is very different here, much more colorful! There are emerald terraced hills surrounding the city, and the city itself has lots of wooden houses with tiled roofs... makes for very interesting views! In addition, Songpan still has remnants of its history as a walled city - there are tunnels which can be gated on either side of the town, with lookout pagoda-style buildings on top. It is so neat!!!

Tomorrow me and a group of travelers will go on a 4 day guided horse trek to Ice Mountain. We will camp along the way, and have an opportunity to hike to the top of the mountain by foot once we get to the basecamp. The guides take care of all our camping equipment and food (as well as the horses), and all this costs around $8 a day!! Amazing! I am so excited, I think this is going to be a very memorable experience!!

It's so funny, I left the States a month ago today, and am starting the fifth week of my trip... I thought two months would be a loooong trip ...