Contents:
Into the Forest
Forest Dwellers
Rainstorm
White Water Terraces
Into the Forest
We wake up early in the morning and the seven of us set out into the forest to meet the native people that live there. I carry my big pack with all my stuff, not realizing how steep the trail will be. We climb up though the forest for four hours, from an initial elevation of 2600 meters (8500 feet) to a final elevation of over 3800 meters (12,500 feet), a total elevation gain of 1200 meters (4000 feet). No one else in the group has a big heavy pack like mine, but I am still able to keep ahead of everyone and am one of the first to reach our destination.
The forest here looks much like that in the Olympic or Cascade mountains of Washington State, with big trees, hanging, beard-like lichens, moss, and rhododendrons. However, the mountains here are much bigger and the trees can be found growing at a much higher altitude.
Forest Dwellers
Around noon we reach our destination, a meadow in the forest with a stream running though the middle, four or five ponies, a dog, and several one-room log huts. In the middle of each hut is a wood fire for cooking, but there is no chimney or smoke hole of any sort, so the smoke just escapes though the cracks in the walls and roof.
In the middle of the forest, so far from civilization, the people here must eat whatever they can get. This means consuming lots and lots of wild mushrooms. We have lunch in one of the log huts, eating wild mushrooms and meat stir fried over the wood fire; it's a simple meal, but delicious indeed.
I use a length of bamboo pole to make a little waterwheel that turns in the stream. Everyone is quite impressed by my skill!
Rainstorm
After lunch we set out to return back down the mountain. It pours down rain the whole way and the path becomes a muddy stream; we get soaked and cold. Once we are most of the way back to the village, we stop in an apple orchard and eat some apples and warm up a bit in the log hut of an old mute man. His hut is crammed full of chickens and chicks, but they all run outside in fear when we enter, little chicks hiding under their mothers' wings for protection.
We continue down the mountain and finally get back to Baishuitai around evening. I dry off and wash the mud out of my clothes. That wacko girl is still around, of course. She likes to refer to me as her husband for some reason.
White Water Terraces
The next morning we get up before 6:00 a.m. to go see Baishuitai (White Water Terraces) itself, the famous mineral formations behind the village. These terraced pools are formed from minerals deposited by the stream flowing down the slope. The terraced pools are pretty, although pretty much the same as the ones in Yellowstone National Park. However, these ones are deposited from cold water, instead of hot spring water like those in Yellowstone.
We run into Linn and Leah again. The nine of us all board a bus for Zhongdian, which is supposed to be a good place to visit. We get there in the afternoon after a long ride through the mountains.
