Where In The World Is Evan?

In the morning Jon had recovered adequately, however, Sergio (an alleged hypochondriac) had started to have second thoughts. Claiming that he needed to recover from his recurring cold before having to return to work–personally his priorities seemed a little backward–he announced he wasn’t going to come. After a little persuasion he was back on board with the promise that if his health deteriorated further we’d all head back together.

After a leisurely Western breakfast we met up with our two local guides. Spying the horses from afar Olen and I noted to each other how the overloaded ponies we could see were obviously our pack horses and that the riding horses must be stabled elsewhere. Unfortunately this was not so. It soon became clear that to cut costs we were expected to ride the pack-ponies while the guides were to walk alongside–a significant undertaking as we were to be climbing up and down mountains for five days.

The initial ascent out of Songpan left everyone feeling a little precarious atop our midget horses, due mostly to the sheer gradient and exacerbated by the ridiculous amount of luggage that separated us from the wooden saddles beneath. After rounding the top of our first minature mountain we descended the other side on foot (it not being safe to ride down such a steep trail). On the other side we rested shortly at the fringe of a small Tibetan-esque village before heading off to conquer the larger, adjacent mountain. This ascent, however, proved too taxing for our horses and we dismounted to climb the last few hundred meters to the top, where, almost collapsing from the altitude, our waiting guides offered us all cigarettes!

Shortly afterwards we descended part-way down the other side of the mountain and set up camp. After a brief rest and a little lunch, Olen, Jon and I left Sergio to sleep in the tent while we headed down the mountain on foot to go swimming (at the suggestion of our guides) in a local mineral spring lake. Interestingly, however, the mineral lake was comprised of glacial-melt water running down from the picturesque ice-capped mountains, visible in the misty distance. As we stood around the almost frozen water (about 2°C!) we all agreed that we would make good on our commitment to swim. After building a fire out of rubbish left around the shore of the lake (this is China remember) we stripped down to our underwear and prepared to get in. At this moment a large group of Chinese tourists arrived to interrupt our peaceful tranquility. Obviously amused by the almost naked foreigners standing around they decided to stay and watch us swim in the lake (as well as take photos). Olen and I had a sudden loss of nerve, however, but finally entered after Jon jumped in for the third time and threatened to start swimming laps.

Returning to camp we feasted on vegetables smothered in oil, chilli and MSG (the main constituents of our diet for the next few days) and sat around drinking baijiu and smoking pot. Retreating to the tent some hours later, as rain and then sleet started to bucket down, Sergio and I secured the best sleeping positions. Jon was the last person into the tent and was so charged with the difficult task of closing the tent flap. Due I suspect to the considerable amount of pot he’d smoked he somehow devised a plan to avoid getting his hands wet from the rain–putting them in his shoes and crawling to the edge of the unfloored tend. His plan, however, came a little unstuck when he was heard to holler “How do I close the door? I don’t know what to do!”. Between hysterical fits of laughter (I was crying and trying desperately not to lose bladder control) we managed to instruct him to use his hands. “But my shoes are on my hands!” he hollered back, while his head was repeatedly buffeted by the heavy sleet. In the end we made so much noise that one of our guides woke and came to Jon’s rescue. Shortly afterwards the tranquility of the tent was disturbed again by Jon screaming “Stop grinding on me!”, as Sergio repeatedly gyrated his groin into Jon’s body in an attempt to gain additional room and blankets in the rather cramped tent.

After such an intimate start to the night I’m sure you can all imagine how well Sergio and Jon got on as the temperature dropped further and it started to snow…

Check out the Songpan photo gallery.