30/9 Lost again!

Friday 30 Sept Lost again!

Turns out her name is Yeti (no kidding) a very lovely 30 year old nurse specialist who is here on 8 year contract with Dutch missionary group, living and working in Shangrila(yes it really does exist). Did we latch into the gold vein here!! We went for brekky over the road and had a custom ordered meal prepared for the Chinese rates. Then we walked what turned out to be 5km to where we crossed the river by a slightly rickety bridge and set off uphill :(

Most of the way towards the first of the towers I had my first breathless turn and decided to wait on a rock in the shade while the youngsters swarmed up to the towers. More of that later but, after 5 minutes, I felt much better and walked up to the lower towers, feeling quite good. The view was actually better from further away so I headed back to where I had sat down. Trouble was the paths all looked the same and I couldn’t see the rock I had been sitting on. A bit of this way and that, and I eventually just asked where a bridge was (believing there to be several) and they pointed me in what I was sure was the wrong direction. In short, I was sitting in the gutter in the shade of a truck near what I belatedly recognised as the right bridge, updating the blog on the laptop we had taken on the hike (as you do) when they came down and rescued me. We cheated and shared a taxi back to town and then watched in awe as Yeti instructed the chef in executing another Chinese meal with noodles, rice and garlic-riddled dumplings. Still a bit bland for me but she says the Dutch like it like that. Then it was all go to try and book a minivan and rooms for tomorrow in Tagong, 3 hours away and up at 3600m. All a bit chaotic but would have been infinitely worse without our resident Chinese expert. We are going to share a minivan and some sort of accommodation with Paul from Melbourne, whom we met yesterday. Had a lot of fun watching and interacting with resident 15 month (bare-assed) baby. Got him to wave and clap and raise arms while he was drinking his bottle. Closed the day with a banquet for 5 concocted by Yeti for a total $21. (with another new Aussie friend who had just arrived in town – Duncan) The editorial committee is divided over the taste – to me it was like emptying the salt and pepper pots into a bowl of food but at least it wasn’t bland.

Janine writes:  We walked the 5 km to the Tibetan town of Soupa whose claim to fame is dozens of towers scattered among the houses around the valley.  They are between 700 and 1200 years old and were used for storing valuables, and general items.  Also used as a warning signal which I believe they lit fires in the top section thus setting off a chain of fires over the valley warning of invasions.  Entry doors to the towers is very high off the ground. Only one tower has the internal floors and is suitable for climbing?  Yeti and I located it and once again her language skills came into play.  So we got to go inside the home up 3 floors, getting a glimpse of the interiors of the home,

 onto the 1st roof section where corn, chillies and peppercorns were drying.  Up the first set of ‘steps of death’ (a tree trunk with angled steps cut into it – nothing to hang onto but the truck) onto the next section of roof then towards the tower.

 Here we had an old metal ladder crossing over a very deep gap between house and tower, I let Yeti go first.  Once inside we decided we didn’t want to go any further as each level had one of the ‘ladders of death’.

 But, we encouraged each other with, ‘we came here to see the towers’ and ‘we would be upset if didn’t do it’, so we kept going up, with much giggling.  Our main fear was that we wouldn’t be able to get back down as there was really nothing to hang on to as you got to each level and had to scramble onto the floor.  We triumphantly made it to the top,  took photos of the view and began our decent.

 It was easier than we had imagined with a little assistance required on a couple of the more tricky sections.  Set off back to where we left Chris only to find he had gone missing again.  Why does he never stay where I leave him?  Should I chain him to a tree?  A few Coooo-eee’s with no response.  Then Yeti once again came to the rescue asking a passing local if she had seen a foreigner, eventually we worked out that he had gone downhill.  Each of the locals that we passed kept telling us that the old man with the white beard had indeed gone that way and we eventually found him sitting in the gutter near the bridge.  It was a lovely day, full of laughter and happiness in a beautiful setting.  Such friendly people in this town.  Local women in very colourful traditional dress.  Great architecture and spectacular mountains.