Saddle Sore
Having enjoyed my best night of sleep, (perhaps I was so exhausted that it just seemed that way), I tried to sleep in. Not Dicky wouldn’t allow it and came screeching into our tent to in an effort to extract us. It worked.
After another great vegetarian breakfast we were packed up and headed to back to town. We had given in. We succumbed. We just couldn’t take Sergio another day. He really worked hard at staying miserable. We also justified our conceding with two weak justifications – we didn’t really want him to die and we would still get a fifth day in the brush after a night in a bed after a shower.
The way back was uneventful except for it being the day that Jon turned in his man card. He just couldn’t stay on his horse anymore. After watching Evan’s horse plummet down a hill and never having established a real trusting relationship Jon was quick to dismount when we came across some snow. Too treacherous. Dicky helped Jon with his Chinese as he explained to Jon that yesterday he was a boy, nan hai, but today he was a girl, nu hai. Jon was completely resolute in his desire to walk and only remounted when things became quite level and wide. It was also quite windy but not as clear as it had been the day before. At one point a horse with a man in a suit came rushing up the mountain at us as if he was in a hurry to sell us insurance. Quite a sight.
We were back in Song Pan before 1pm and while we were thinking about some great food at Emma’s, our guides still felt obligated to provide us a midday meal. Not Dicky took us to his home where we ate our fill of great noodles. We really lucked out with our guides.
We then headed to the Traffic Hotel that had been beyond our budget just a few days before but now offered the promise of hot showers in the room. It was essentially a hollow promise but luck of the draw put me in the shower first. Despite being ill, comfort did not seem to be Sergio’s highest priority and he opted for the cheaper out of the way dorm style room. Evan opted for a nap so Jon and I went to walk about in Song Pan. We walked some real backstreets and eventually found our way to a game of pool. We also found our way to some bai jiu and got back to wake Evan a little later than planned. Sergio had to be up real early so the remainder of the evening was spent eating and relaxing at Emma’s.
We had made, already typical for us, arrangements to leave a bit later than most the next day. This allowed us to sleep a little long and then eat a great breakfast at The Song in the Mountain or, as I suspect it is called, Sarah Yang’s. Either that or it is called, The Place Next To The Trek Office. Whatever. The walls were plastered with testimonials for the vegetable pizza so we resolved to come back that evening to try it.
With our share of sun and sunburn we delayed our departure to buy cowboy hats. We were serious about this. Well, except for Jon’s big head.
An easy day, we trekked for just a couple of hours to a Tibetan monastery. A very interesting and solemn place with old women that seemed to be making perpetual laps spinning prayer wheels in their wake. After wandering on our own for a bit we were taken in by a young monk. He was maybe 10 or 12 years old. He took us to a couple of locked temples that were beautifully painted by him. He directed us in the finer points of kowtowing, or kneeling, and allowed us to take some great photos.
Eventually, we headed back to where Dicky and Not Dicky had begun cooking lunch with some guides from another group. With the other group still at the temple grounds we decided it was the best time to present our guides with a gift, li ping, of a bottle of bai jiu each and a carton of cigarettes to split. They seemed pleased. Lunch was typically vegetarian and typically awesome.
The other group readied themselves and headed back and we were told that unless we wanted to play we would as well. We decided to play. I got on my pony, who wasn’t thrilled at this idea, and headed to the nearby creek. Once across the creek, my plan was to head up the facing mountain but Not Dicky put an end to my unaccompanied trek. So, head back it was. Even though we were only three, four horses were sent out which allowed us to actually sit in the saddles and ride the horse. Our clever guides took advantage of this spare horse situation by alternating turns riding and at one point they both rode.
The end of the calendar week and the May holiday meant that a few groups were heading back and it wasn’t long before we joined up with a large group of Chinese tourists. We were by then on the downhill side of the return which meant we were walking. Well, most of us. Not Dicky was carried by Jon for a bit much to the amusement of the Chinese tourists.
Back in Song Pan and with our hotel waiting we decided to clean up before the veggie pizza. Freshly showered we headed to get a shave and a haircut at a place that Mike Lee recommended. For 10rmb we got a shave, a haircut and an upper body massage that went for at least half an hour. Like a bunch of girls at a spa weekend we then went for a foot massage, (40 minutes), followed by a full body massage, (40 minutes) that left us both in pain and drained. Good times.
We stumbled our way to the veggie pizza before retiring for the night.
