Apple had been away looking at new routes on the Sichuan-Tibet border for a couple of weeks with two of my friends Robbie and Jeff, but I hadn't really spent much time with them so on their return a trip was planned (in my absence) to the Sichuan-Qinghai border at Jiuzhe where there was a lake and national geo-park. Not quite sure why we had to travel so far (four days driving for one day of walking!), but it was a very nice trip none the less.

I returned from a caving trip on Sunday night (a day and a half after Apple and the lads got back -- they had to spend the night in a hotel since I'd got both sets of house keys!) and so spent most of Monday washing ropes and getting the car serviced. Collected the car about 7pm, packed, ate, and then finally set off for a night's driving at 10pm. Planned on staying in Wenchuan, but on arrival told that foreigners could only stay in the expensive hotels for "our safety from the Tibetan people." Drove on for another half hour to Xuecheng where we were quoted a low 80RMB for the four of us and then only charged 50 a few minutes later. Finally in bed by 3pm.

Tuesday was mostly spent driving. Robbie took a stint which gave me the unusual opportunity of sitting in the back of the truck. The back seats definitely bounce around a lot more than the front ones and rear facing ones in the centre do. Not sure that there's much I can do about it, but I suppose at least it explains why the brackets keep breaking (that and the fact they appear to be made out of tinfoil). Found a great Muslim restaurant in Aba and continued on, arriving at the lake a while after dark. No one manning the park entrance so we lifted the barrier and drove through, camping a few metres from the car park.

The GPS reported our height as only 4000m, but a clear sky plus the fact I only had a thin cotton sleeping bag made for one of the coldest nights ever. Spent most of the night awake and shivering despite wearing all my clothes. The original plan had been to zip my bag to Apple's down one (my down bag being "missing in action" somewhere), only to find that the zips didn't match...

In the morning could see the lake and surrounding hills -- very nice, but not sure I see the Chinese fascination with every single lake being an automatic tourist destination. They should try visiting the Lake District some day! Planned to climb one of the surrounding ridges and stay high as long as we dared before cutting down and rushing round the lake before dark. Apple and I made it to the highest peak (4700m) before turning round and heading back to camp, Robbie and Jeff descended the other side and circuiting the lake just before dark. After the cold of the previous night I still managed to get sunburn across my face. One of these days I'll learn that snow reflects UV light...

Dinner was shared with a guy from Gansu who, after a stint of Yak herding had managed to get a job as a "security guard" for three glass walled tents which were let out to customers over the summer. He worked from October to March for 10 Yuan a day, free food and accommodation and (the real reason we shared our dinner with him) a stove with as much yak turd as he could burn. Maybe it doesn't sound like much, but it all went in the bank because there certainly wasn't anything for him to spend his money on.

This night was a bit warmer, but still wide up in the middle of the night because of the ridiculousness of going to bed at 8pm for the second night running. Breakfast when it was light enough then most of the day in Aba finding Nangyi Monastery. On the way visited Gelden Monastery. In a town full of monasteries this is easily the biggest - apparently covering 1.8 square km. After several wrong turns (not helped by the fact no one we asked could speak Chinese and we didn't speak Tibetan) finally found the elusive Nangyi Monastery. This is a monastery of the older Bon Religion, rather than one of the variants of Tibetan Buddhism. I'd like to give you a list of the differences, except the only real obvious difference was that the pray wheels turned anti-clockwise and the monks were all on holiday. Remind me to leave the cultural tours to Roland!

We spent the night in Ma'erkang mainly just because I'd never been there before. Certainly a large modern city but nothing special to recommend it, especially since we had to pay the foreigner tax of double priced rooms again. When will these second tier cities learn that there's no such rule about foreigners only staying in designated hotels any more?

Made it back to Chengdu in record time, early enough for Jeff and I to go out drinking until 5am anyway. Roller Disco the next day as well, but that's another story...