14/10 sanba/baishuitai: hike 5 min up to ...
Trip Start
Sep 04, 2002
1
13
35
Trip End
Mar 28, 2003
Sanba,
China
Monday, October 14, 2002
Hike 5 min up to the Limestone Terraces, past the large sign indicating: "The terraces naturally arrange themselves into the following 5 scenes: silvery bubbles threading up the water, water mirroring the skies, fairies' paddy fields, fairy comes to human world, dragon frolicking in the limpid water".
Despite this it turns out to be a very interesting site. Over the last few years wooden walkways have now been laid around the entire site. At the upper end is a spring, emanating from a small round pool, surrounded by a rock enclosure. This is said to be the site of the origination of the Dongba religion, and it definitely has a certain air to it. I evade the old man trying to sell me incence (to offer in prayer), instead offering my orange to the mountain. There is loud ironic laughter as I leave, when the orange is discovered.
The terraces make up for in beauty what they lack in size. Over the millenia the lime has deposited to form perfect semi-lunar structures of varying size overlapping and cascading down the hillside (some as large in area as a medium/large swimming pool). The top of each is bordered by a low lip of deposit, and this forms a shallow pool, a brilliant irridescent turquoise/green in the sunlight. Water constantly flows over every square inch from the spring above, and the lime glistens and sparkles with it. Imagine this against the mountain backdrop, with clouds wrapping over a nearby saddle and down the side of the wooded slope. Cows bells tinkle from the trees above, as they graze on the slope. Really, I am not exaggerating one bit!
Back down to the Inn for a large lunch, and then a repeat of the previous day's rise-and-fall round the mountains, to the village of Haba (but today only 30km!).
Stop just above Haba, on the opposite side of the valley, to just sit and gape at the village nestling in a hollow below the 5900m (?) snow-capped peak behind it.
Arrive at the Ha1ba1 Xue3shan1 Ke4zhan4 (Haba Snow Mountain Inn) at 4pm. Picturesque little village of wooden buildings, stones holding the roofs down, ducks, pigs, dogs, little children playing in the dirt. Meet Xiu Lan, the owner of the Inn. She is full of energy and very friendly. The Inn is a double-storey structure, with the rooms overlooking a central courtyard. I lay my maps out on the concrete and sit in the sun, absorbing the silence, munching on free apples and nuts.
Dinner is rice, shredded pork with chilli, cabbage, and various other things. Very filling. I sit in the light of a gas burner (no electricity) with Xiu Lan, her daughter (?) and an uncle. As is usual with the Chinese in Yunnan, interaction is very relaxed and natural, and it's great just watching and throwing a word in here and there.
Later in the evening I get my first chance to do some star-gazing, sitting in the dark courtyard. Finally some use for that bloody little book I've been dragging all over the place. Great end to a very pleasant day.
(Entered 29/10, Jinghong)
