Red Rock Trek 002 - Red Trail Revisited June 9-13

Day 1

Songzanlin Lamasery stands a coupel of kilometers outside Shangri-la, formerly known as Zhongdian in Chinese or Gyalthang in Tibetan.

A crew from Tianjin TV joined us for this journey.

The Tibetan village of Shimaigu, two kilometers from our first campsite at the foot of Mt Yaha. The darkness looming in the distance swept over us two hours later in a storm of rain and hailstones.

The camp before the storm.

Day 2

Breakfast time.

Camera crew Xiao Liu and Xiao Wang freshen up before the day's labours. The horse team have already broken camp in the background.

Part of the horse team （which was mostly mules, actually）. They came from Shangjiang on the other side of the mountain. The men were a mix of Naxi and Lisu.

Day 3

Work starts early for theTV fellas.

It rained for almost the whole day as we came down the mountain. It was a tough trek. The trails were slippery and the river swollen - at this point the only option was to wade across.

Day 4

The whole team: eight mules, three horses, 11 gents from Shangjiang plus the horse team leader, Mr Ding （standing with Yang Xiao in the center）.

First sight of Fuku and the first vehicular road since starting up Mt Yaha on Day 2.

Day 5

We like guests like Wang Xiangdong, who volunteered to get up at 6am to do the dishes.

A change of campsite on this occasion, as heavy rains the previous afternoon meant the beach site was probably waterlogged.

Locals make their own rafts for fun and fishing.

Midday break as the weather smiles on us during  the final day.

Cheers! We lashed the boats together and picnicked our way home...