Thursday, August 26, 2010

Yading

Another week and another host of uncomfortable minibus rides brought us from Litang to Daocheng and then to the Yading Nature Reserve

One of my friends, always in search of the most spectacular and seemingly most remote places in China, had been talking up the Yading Nature Reserve. It's a relatively new nature reserve and she wanted to get a look at it before it eventually gets overrun by the hordes of Chinese tourists like so many other Chinese tourist sites.

Arriving in the village outside Yading, we certainly seemed to have arrived before the crowds (and the accompanying material comforts that come with them). Our guesthouse was certainly "rustic" enough.

We stayed in what was essentially a converted barn. We were told that it was the only one in town that had running water. At night, we could hear small animals crawling though the wallspace, cats and mice we were told. I keep mental tabs on the worst accommodations to date and I think I can safely say Yading is the new title holder.

Our payoff was the opportunity to hike the spectacular nature reserve. With scenic lakes, snowcapped mountains, and a hiking trail that rises to as high as 4800m above sea level, the views were at times breathtaking.



At other times, the steep inclines and thin mountain air just left you gasping for breath. There is an option to ride a horse to the top of the trail for 300 yuan, an option that the intelligent one among us (not me) decided to take. For anyone planning on making the trek out to Western Sichuan anytime soon, take the horse!


In the end, the views were amazing and the tourists were few and far between. Only a week prior, I had never even heard of Yading, never slept in a barn, and my only notion of mountain lakes came from pictures or television. Thanks to my friend, I can now check all three off the list.

1 comment:

  1. wow, the real shangri-la, they say.... hmmmm that ought to be on the list for the next trip to shangri-la zone.

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