Mt. Khawarkarpo Trek, China
Many of my articles include the words - "trekking" and "hiking". Don't let these words scare you away...the majority of these places can be visited "culturally", giving you a chance to see most of what we saw, minus the sweat.
Mt. Khawakarpo, is located in Northwest Yunnan Province, China, and considered a "Holy Mountain" by Tibetan Buddhists. The area is culturally Tibetan with some of the highest biodiversity in the world. There are fertile highlands, charming villages both high in the mountains, and down along the watershed tributaries of the Mekong. View image
Our tour company in the States has since closed down shop, but the local tour operator was Khampa Caravan. Take a look at their website, they offer many different trips . Once again, we planned this trip for just us, but Khampa also runs package tours. It is a lot less expensive when you travel with a group.
The planning began...
How to Get There? - Airplane - We used Air China and flew from Beijing-Kunming (overnighted there), then on to Gyalthang. Keep in mind, domestic air is always subject to change.
When we visited Gyalthang about five years ago, it was called "Zhongdian"..."Zhongdian" was changed to "Gyalthang," and now it is called Gyalthang or "Shangri-La". It's difficult to keep up with all the name changes.
What to see? The center of our journey was part of a Kora ( a "Holy Trek"). The complete trek (around the mountain) was too strenous and long for us. This is a major pilgrimage site for Tibetans who walk for days, weeks and months to get to the Mountain with its "Holy Waterfall."
You can also ride horses for part of our trek (read continuing articles), and jeep to other villages.
When? October, 2004 is when we went, but anytime in the Spring and Fall would be good. You are at high altitude which makes the sun extremely intense - hot during the day, cold at night, and very harsh Winters.
Did we want to camp or Tibetan home stays? It sounded interesting to stay in Tibetan homes. We were assured that they were very clean, and since there would be no toilet facilities either way.....a home stay it was.
More tomorrow....
