In Yading for three weeks - back in November

Jambeyang - end of the Yading trek, originally uploaded by jiulong.

I've taken my Rolleiflex and a few rolls of 120 film to Yading. Hoping to do the outer kora again - this time in autumn (nicer colours, more people?) and at a more relaxed pace. See you there!

Random photo: Mosuo women at Renjom Gompa monastery, near Yongning

These two ladies were at the tiny Renjom Gompa monastery, which is located half way between Yongning and Muli monastery. The monastery sits atop a hill just down the river from Wujiao, which is actually a settlement of 'Mongolian' descendents of the Genghis Khan invasion of Yunnan many centuries ago. I stayed here overnight while walking from Lugu Lake to the old monastery at Muli (Wachang town) in 1998. This photo was taken with my treasured Leica M3 camera with a slightly foggy Summicron 50mm lens.

Random photo: horse carving on stone en route to Gongga Shan

I came across this engraved stone on a high ridge above the Yulong Xi valley while trekking from Kangding to the monastery below Gongga Shan in 1996. It was with a pile of mani stones, but I don't think many people would ever come across it as this was in a very remote, unvisited spot, literally very much off the beaten track. We only came across it because one of our horses had wandered off and we climbed the hillside in search of it. Not sure why it was put there. I wonder if it is still there?

Yading outer kora: the difficult bit

This is a picture taken looking back from 'the shoulder' - the pass that skirts around the cliffs below the south side of Jambeyang. It was a steep and fraught scramble up a scree and snow slope - I didn't like it! It felt a lot steeper than it looks on this photo and I was petrified that I would lose my footing and slide/roll down the mountainside and over the edge (not shown) into the abyss. Glutton for punishment that I am,  I will be facing this again in a few days when i return to Yading for a second time, to do the kora in a more leisurely fashion.

Random photo: Muli in the green days of summer

This picture was taken with my old Leica M3 and colour print film, now both sadly departed.

Random photo: 冲古寺 temple interior, Yading

The ornate interior of the Chonggu Si monastery (冲古寺), Yading

Random photo: Chonggu monastery, Yading

This is where I'll be starting my Yading outer kora trek from in a couple of weeks.

Trekking partner(s)? Yading, October

 I'm planning on going back to do the Big Kora at Yading again in early October. Three peaks (Chanadorje, Jambeyang and Shenrezig), seven passes (or is that eight?), spectacular alpine scenery, very remote, and mostly at altitudes of 3000-4000m. After whizzing round on our first 'blind' trip (we did it in four exhausting days), I'm planning to do it in easier stages this time, taking around seven to eight days in all. Will give me chance to savour the experience and use the knowledge learned on the first trip to avoid those silly mistakes and misplaced fears. Doing it in autumn should be interesting after our bleak and freezing experiences in May - warmer colours and more people about, perhaps, as this is supposed to be the time when the local Tibetans do their pilgrimages - so the pilgrim shelters may be operating. If you're interested in joining me, I'm looking at arriving in Chengdu around the 10th October (after the rush of Golden Week). Trip should take two weeks max. If you want to read about our last trip to do the outer kora, here's the long version and here's the short version. Contact: mutikonka[AT]gmail.com or @mpwoodhead on Twitter

Random photo: Crossing the Doker La pass from Yunnan to Tibet

I think I posted this photo before but this as a recent higher res re-scan of the original 35mm slide. We have just crossed the Doker La and I am looking back (terrified) as we descend the steep and precarious switchback trail descending into Tibet. These guys are some strangers who are presumably doing the pilgrimage around the Kawakarpo Kora circuit.If you look closely you can see a rope running diagnonally from the pass at top right to bottom left. This is put there to assist pilgrims in descending when the pass is snow and ice bound. To descend by the path at such times would be suicidal.

Random photo: Shenrezig, here I come

In a couple of weeks I hope to be taking off to Yading, and will do the full outer circuit of the three mountains Chanadorje, Jambeyang and Shenrezig. Here's one I took of Shenrezig on our last trip three years ago.

October trek, Plan B - by mule to Minya Konka

Back in 1995 or thereabouts I took off from Kangding on a four-day trek to the Konka Gompa, the little monastery near the glacier emanating from Gongga Shan. It was a pretty remote spot back then - no bike track over the Tsemi La. I went in October and as you can see the weather was pretty cold. I hired a guide in Laoyulin and he took me on horseback to the monastery via the Djesi La pass and Yulongxi valley before crossing the Tsemi La. A very interesting trip and one that I hope to repeat next month if I have the time after doing the circuit of the Yading three peaks.

Random photo: Nujiang kids

These were the Nu minority kids we saw at Dimaluo while staying there on Christmas Day. Little scamps, especially the one on the left with his Chrstmas fir tree decorations.

From the archives: Joseph Rock and the king of Muli

This is Rock with Chote Chaba, the lama king of Muli. Not sure who the other European is, but it may be William E. Simpson, a missionary who acted as Rock's translator for a brief period. They parted ways when Rock found him to be too much of a do-gooder.

Random photo: hiking in the snow near Yubeng, 2002

After my failed attempt to cross the Doker-La in April 2002, we visited the Tibetan mountain hamlet of lower Yubeng, where we spent three frustrating days waiting in a wooden shack for the weather to clear. It didn’t. It rained incessantly and fog blocked out any views of the surrounding mountains. We had nothing to do except sit round a fire that gave off little heat and hope tomorrow would bring better weather.

When the third morning dawned grey and wet, we tried to  beat the encroaching cabin fever by hiking through the deep snow to see a sacred waterfall and a ‘magic lake’. It proved to be a miserable hard slog with slushy boots and we saw very little. Yubeng didn’t feel like Shangri La. 

Lesson learnt: don't visit this region in early spring - wait until May!

From the archives: Joseph Rock near his home at Nguluko, Lijiang

Joseph Rock chose to live outside the town of Lijiang. Presumably he wanted solitude in order to devote himself to his botanical efforts and scholarship. What an amazing setting, beneath the great Jade Dragon Mountain! I presume he lived in a fairly modest courtyard house in the Naxi style. The building pictured here looks a little more rustic and presumably belongs to a farming family - the walls are made of packed earth (as they still are in many Naxi villages. It bears little resemblance the the stone- walled courtyard house that is now touted as his former residence.

As you can see, building styles hadn't changed much when I first visited the area in 1990:

Random photo: worshipping an effigy of the moutain Kawakarpo

It was at the Fei Lai Si monastery just outside Deqin that we got a glimpse of the “peerless peak” of Miyetzimu (Meili) that Rock described so rapturously as “the most glorious peak my eyes were ever privileged to see. No wonder Tibetans stand in awe and worship it. It is like a castle of a dream, an ice palace of a fairy tale, or an enormous mausoleum with gigantic steps and buttresses all crowned by a majestic dome of ice tapering into an ethereal spire merging into a pale blue sky.”

By 2002 the viewing area for the mountain had become a tourist trap, with hawkers selling joss sticks and other offerings to be made at one of the many shrines. The tourist route also included a visit to the Minyong glacier that lies beneath Meili Xue Shan.

Instead, we opted to travel the same route back down into the depths of the Mekong canyon, but turned left at the river to visit the hamlet of Yubeng. At the junction of the road near the Mekong we stopped at a small Buddhist chapel, called the ‘Jungle Temple’. Inside, there were effigies of Buddhist deities, but also evidence to confirm Rock’s observation that the local people also worship the mountain itself as a deity.

Random photo: Nujiang river

Random photo: Mundon village, Yalong canyon

Joseph Rock passed through Mundon (now known as Mongdong)on his way to Minya Konka (Gongga Shan) from his base in Lijiang. It took him 'five terrible days' to cross the canyon.

Random photos: Christianity and Buddhism in Kangding

A missal on a pew at the Catholic church in Kangding. Meanwhile, across the street ...

Bells and chanting texts at the Anjue Si Buddhist temple in the centre of Kangding

Random photo: doing the circuit of the three peaks at Yading

This was taken on day 3 - crossing the fifth pass on over Yetchetsura valley towards the lake Russo Tso. Contrary to appearances this was one of the easiest sections - compared to the 'hell' of the cliffs!