August 24 - Red Army Relative on the Road

For the first time, we have been joined by someone with a family connection to the Long March. Just before we left Litang, 27-year-old Hu Xi arrived as our latest Guest Marcher. Her granddad, Zhou Renjie, was commander of the 16th Regiment of the Red 6th Army Group - the vanguard force during this section of the Long March.

Hu Xi studies in Switzerland and had no marching experience at all. Her grandfather was 21 when he was made regimental commander just before the Reds pulled out of their Hunan base in November 1935. Like most of the young men and women who joined the Communists in the early days, Zhou Renjie came from a desperate family background. He was one of 14 children - and the only one not to starve to death.

The trail from Litang begins here at Ke'er Lamasery, which overlooks the town from the north. The pass above Ke'er Lamasery is around 4,400 meters above sea level - a tough test for Hu Xi on her first day's march. But in fact it was Yang XIao who keeled over at the top. After his recent horse-riding accident, his back was still aching and - so he claimed - this made him vulnerable to altitude sickness. So while I went to ask for directions from the yak herders on the mountainside, he and Hu Xi both fell asleep. When I returned, it was just in time to see the mules disappearing over the horizon - despite being roped together, they had worked out a nice two-step that took them a very long way before I finally caught up with the rascally pair. 

Here they are, just before we set off from Litang. With Huami on the left is Tseden, whose wife and mother also helped look after the mules while we were in town

And this is where we lived - the former home of the 5th Jiamuyang Living Buddha, now converted into a very nice guesthouse by Apei and his wife. Apei actually makes most of his money from trading 'chong cao', the medicinal wild herb that many Khampa Tibetans rely on for much of their annual income （and which costs several lives a year as rival districts fight over chong cao foraging areas - a gun battle took place in Daocheng just before we reached town, leaving at least eight dead）. Chong cao was selling for up to 70,000 yuan a pound in Litang.

For anyone travelling to Litang, this is a man you need to know. Zheng Xueyou, 37, runs a little restaurant on the main street, which is easily recognizable by the hand-written English signs pasted up on the windows. Zheng is a peasant from outside Chengdu who has been cooking since the age of 12, and who is firmly dedicated to study - whether it be English phrases or new recipes. He is one of the nicest, most helpful people you could ever hope to meet （some take advantage of his generosity, but he carries on in the same Lei Feng spirit）. But most importantly, he has the only fresh coffee in the whole of Kham!

We were glad to get out of Litang, which had been tense for days after hundreds of special forces and armed police moved into town. I won't write about why here, but you can Google a few articles if you want. Just note that, in fact, only one person was arrested, not the 'hundreds' RFA claimed. There was no let-up in the rainy season - our first two days on the road we covered only six kilometers.

This is our campsite on Day 2 out of Litang, a grand spot but there was better to come...

Just below the last mountain of the Long March - this section of it, at least. This glorious spot was far below the main road on the old trail, now barely visible and kept in use by just a handful of loggers and mushroom-hunters. The pass was 4,547 meters above sea level.

Hu Xi gets an early-morning wake-up call. These ladies were on their way to dig for matsutake mushrooms when they spotted Hu Xi's tent and unzipped the flap to see what creature lay within.

Slightly later in the morning at the same campsite. This is about 40 km north of Litang and still 32 km short of Junba, which Mr Zheng （above） warned us was the most notorious nest of bandits in the whole of Litang （three Junba men attacked a bus and killed eight tourists a few years ago）. Yet not only was this trail marvelous, one of the most beautiful treks of the whole Long March, but the people were among the most obliging we have met anywhere in Kham. We've had stuff stolen in Litang and subsequently in Xinlong, but Junba was a treat all the way.

Huami is such a lovable mule we'd like to take him home, but he will have to find someone else to scratch his chin in a couple of weeks. This is close to the top of the highest mountain between Litang and Xinlong, which measured 4,611 meters at the point we crossed.

Shajima, on the other hand, is not lovable at all. He kicks Huami whenever there is food around - yet cries if we take Huami away from him. A typical bully. A monk offered me 800 yuan for Shajima in Litang. Even though Shajima cost 3,700, I was sorely tempted by the offer.

Sonam Zhuoma carves prayer inscriptions - this job is usually a male preserve.

Hu Xi delivers a few last thoughts on her Long March experience before heading back to Beijing and thence to school in Switzerland. She didn't think walking this trail had any particular meaning because of 'Long March spirit' - for which she had no feeling. For her, it was significant simply because her granddad had walked it. Zhou Renjie died in 2000, not a revolutionary hero but a beloved old man who liked to win at cards.

And no sooner had we parted from Hu Xi at Junba than more Guest Marchers showed up - a whole 4-wheel-drive-load of unexpected visitors. Above are Da Lu and Yanzi, both originally hailing from the lovely city of Kunming.

And this is Huang Zheng, who had been talking about marching without ever doing any for the last three years. Note his very clean clothes. 

I'm not sure how long they planned to march, but after spending one night in ad hoc lodgings at the home of a young singer named Zhaxi, they announced their imminent departure for Ganzi and Dege.

This was bad news for Yang Xiao, whose back still needs a bit of TLC.

But the fleas at Zhaxi's home must have made up their minds. Our friends forgot to pack the bug spray!

Poor Huami has to grin and bear it, though. Now we're off the high pastures and into the Yalong River valley, the bugs are back in force.

Villagers at Tade get together to build a new home. Workers also come from other villages for the princely pay of 30 yuan a day （actually, that isn't bad at all - road workers here get 15）.

The Geri Bridge across the Yalong River.

And a similar structure at the village of Langduo, on whose 'bazi' （the Tibetan version of the village green） we camped.

In Xinlong County, this is what the houses of the relatively well-off and Living Buddhas look like - a particularly distinctive style we've seen nowhere else.

There's lots more recent photos in the last two reports, for which I haven't written the words yet. Click 'More' below to take a look...