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Songpan
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The journey to Songpan was a nice short 9 hour trip on the bus. It flew by and we arived in the bus station and decided to also stay in the bus station. There is a hotel/hostel upstairs - we managed to get a room for 50 which is what you would usually pay for a hostel so it was good value. We are here to do a 4 day horse treck but Olga wants to see the place 1st so we wont go tomorrow but the following day. Day 1 was spent eating and drinking Lipton tea and we got a fairly early night as there is nothing to do here in the evenings.
Day 2 was a good day, we went out shopping for warm clothes, the tempreatures here are 15oC and we are expecting minus tempreatures up in the mountains so i bought some trecking shoes for about a pound and 3 pairs of really warm socks, also a hat and gloves. Olga got some hiddeous thermal things, hat, gloves, army shoes and some socks which were bigger than her legs. We then spent the afternoon in a tea house sipping tea, playing cards next to the river with all the locals playing Majong - it was a realy nice afternoon. We coldnt sleep in the evening again so stayed up chatting but tomorrow we go on a 4 day horse treck.
We left at 9 and made our way on the horse up to the 1st rest stop - we generally went for abot 7 hours a day, i only fell of once when my horse decided to run through a tree knocking me off, it wasnt bad its just i got my foor caught in the stirrup so was dragged along a bit - no damage done for once though. Although the days were gloriously hot the evening were so unbelievably clod, the 1st evening after the treck with about 5 Chinese guys, an American girl, a girl from Bristol, the two of us and 4 horse riders we had a nice meal of noodle soup and then we sat around the fire, it was something special, outside i have never seen so many stars and there was a load of tibetan singing from our treck leaders - they were amazing. Olga and i stayed for a while but it was getting too cold so we went back to the tent as well as the other two western girls and attempted to sleep -3oC under canvas which dosnt stop the wind, 5 blankets, 4 t shirts, fleece, coat, gloves, hat and the warmth of Olga still didnt help enough - it was harsh!
Day two was the journey up to ice mountain, we all set off and after about 3 hours were at the top, i went off with a chinese guy called Gordon to climb over the ice a bit, got some good photos and then we made our way back to the same camp point. my horse was exeptionally well behaved unlike most the others so i was pretty happy with it. In the evening we were invited to a bit of a celebration, it is the 1st day of the Chinese holliday when the whole population of China all goaway for a week. The American girl went to sleep so i wondered over with Olga, Gordon and co and the Bristol girl fearing the worse. We al sat in a tent with no fire and watched kareoke for a bt, i had a beer to fit in although i didnt want it as it was SO cold! after 30 mins of awkwardness we were all called outside where a massive bonfire was blazing, all the people (about 25-30) were all dancing around it so we joined in - it was very funny as there are strict moves you should do but we made our own up - it was really good fun. Then once warmed up i sat by the fire and a young boy and girl joined me, i invented some games involving cardboard and we spent an hour or so playing - it was really cool as they spoke no English and me no Chinese but it is amazing what you can get accross when you need to - this was the 2nd amazing night on the treck but unfortunatly it was followed by the freezing tent again.
We decided o turn the 4 day treck into a 3 day as it was too cold and we had done it all so the 3rd day was an 8 hur horse treck back - my favorite day on the horses as i was getting full control of my horse. We got back, checked into the same hotel in the bus station and got a pizza and then sleep. Tomorrow we are off to Jiuzaigou national park to see some lakes. More thumbnails ...
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