Saturday, September 06, 2014

Abing (Aben) - the beginning and the end (梅里雪山外转)

Isn't that an OMD tune, the Beginning and the End? I met Andy McCluskey once in some crappy bar on Bold Street, might have been the Raz. Really embarrassed myself, gushing about how I liked the first album but spouting my opinions about music in general. Just like I did at the Ministry in 84 with some bloke out of Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Ah, the 80s. You had to be there.

Meanwhile, this is Abing - the premature end of my trek with the kids a couple of years ago, but now I've got to work out  away of getting there and beyond to Chawalong, to start my next trek. It's just over the border in Tibet and there are prominent signs at the border along the scary road from Bingzhongluo saying "Foreigners Strictly Forbidden". According to the Chinese blogs I've read, there's a police checkpoint just beyond Abing at a place called Quzhu, just before the big landslide next to the Nujiang  river. The usual plan is to sneak past it at night. Hope I can find someone to give me a lift past the place on my trip. If you're looking for a blog that documents every single step on the way of the Kawa Karpo outer kora (waizhuang, 梅里雪山外转), here you go ... (it's in Chinese)


2 comments:

Zak said...

Yes, the 80's were great.

Was in Cawarong last September. There were indeed road being constructed all the way from Bingzhongluo including one just before the Quinatong Gorge (outside Bingzhongluo) and one at the Abing confluence. In Cawarong proper there was a big police station in the "new" part of town. You could find jeeps and trucks going on the roads leading towards Markham and Zayu

mutikonka said...

Thanks Zak. Yes I hear there is now also a big new 'motel' in Chawarong' to serve the many 4WD tourists coming up from Bingzhongluo.