Songpan was the fourth stop in our overland journey
between Lanzhou and Chengdu. From Langmusi southwards
however the road conditions deteriorated somewhat! Ultimately, we decided to
forsake the erratic local bus services and hire a jeep-taxi for the 255km trip
to Songpan. This meant we could complete two days journey in one - we wouldn't
have to spend the night at the midway point of Zoige.
Immediately south of Langmusi the tarmac disappeared and we bumped and ground
our way up a 3580m pass, scattering the sheep as we went. We were glad to have
decent suspension...
The road crossed the vast Aba Grasslands, home to the nomadic Goloks.
Their encampments were dotted around the flat plains - huge yakhair tents and
herds of sheep and yak. Our taxi was a flashy-looking 4-WD landcruiser (we
filled it with one other passenger to ease the expense a bit). The cost was
worth it though. At one point the road was closed due to road-surfacing works up
ahead - between 0700 and 1800. There was no other way round and it was now
10.00am. Luckily some enterprising Goloks had set up a scam involving us handing
over 50yuan (about 3.5 GBP) to secure us offroad access to their bit of
grassland and a route around the blockage. At the time it felt like highway
robbery, but in retrospect...well worth it!
That wasn't all. We made it to Zoige by lunchtime, but again the road ahead was
blocked. This time there was a way round, but it involved a 100km detour on
roads which became steadily worse due to subsidence and rockfalls. Just as we
thought our troubles were over when we regained the main road, the road surface
took a further turn for the worse and the final few hours down to Songpan were a
weary succession of bumpy and very dusty tracks. We made it though, after 10.5
hours. Who knows how long it would have taken on a public bus?!!
After a recovery day we booked ourselves on a two day horse trek from Songpan to
the Er Dao Hai hotsprings in the lovely Mounigou Valley. The route
involved climbing up and over a steep mountain ridge. Every so often we'd have
to dismount to let a heavily-laden yak train to plod laboriously past.
One of the beautiful lakes of the Er Dao Hai. The walk up to the hotsprings took
about an hour.
A rare family portrait halfway up the valley (above left). The springs weren't
all that hot (21 degrees C), but they were certainly fizzy with carbonic acid -
Ali had to come out early after noticing an unhealthy stinging in his trunks!
Back at camp we sat around the campfire before retiring to our tent. Freshly cut
springy branches for a mattress, a saddle for a pillow and your favourite teddy
bear - what more could a tired wee girl ask for!?
Edie certainly enjoys her food. Breakfast was pumpkin and potato soup with deep
fried bread and a mug of 'horse tea'.
Back on the road again for a short distance, before heading back over the hill
(by a different route) and so back to Songpan. We had our morning break at this
lovely chorten near Shang Zhai Cun.
Three more views of our return route. From the col we had a hazy view of Xuebao
Shan (Ice Mountain), a 5588m peak over to the east. Then it was back down
the hill, past terraced fields of barley and beans to Songpan.
The
next day we completed our 1100 km overland route to Chengdu by bus. Then
by train to Kunming and one final bus journey to Simao. That was
our summer.
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