亚丁 Ya Ding

-4 Degree

I'm thirsty but the tube of my Camelbak had frozen. i tried sucking hard to no avail. I also try warming the tube with my hands. It works.

Walking on snow really gets me excited. Xueshan was quite mild in comparison. In the last few days, we saw snow everywhere-on the mountain, on the rock, on the stream, on the grass we walk, on the trees and on its leaves. It's truly a white Christmas. I know, if you are living in the northern part of Norway you'll probably think that I am making a fuss. The island I call home is only 2 degree north of the equator. It's sunny all year round. Almost, except for this time of the year due to the monsoon rain.

There's always something new to learn in the wild. I learn that the snow melts and become ice. Logically, I should have know that walking on ice is not the same as walking on dirt until I saw Ben slipped and fell.

The other 2 brothers trusted me to lead. Because of the ice, we had to make a couple of small detour. On occasion, if the ice covering the ground is level,we still try to walk on it with caution.

30mins into DaoCheng Yading, we were very surprise to see someone coming down. Geng was alone and we found out that he came from the other side of the mountain in Yunnan. He left a good impression-solo traveller trekking for 6 days. He share a little on his trip. At a certain stretch, the snow were piling so high,even above his knees. He thought he couldn't get out already.

At 1600hrs, we get back to where we started. I saw a man in yellow windbreaker. Not a common color for the locals. Alvin told me it's the same guy we bump into earlier. When he got to the starting point, he couldn't get a transport out. Our nice driver offer to give him a ride out. While we were in the car, something inside me told me to grab this opportunity to get to know this guy. Someone who loves outdoor and knows China wilderness well. I love trekking but not those type that are commercialise by the authority.I love non-commercialise kind of trek. It's one of the beauty of the wild where things are primitive and back to the basic.

I get to talk to him in private when we got back to the hotel. Geng told me he's taking a break from work until CNY on 17 Feb 2006. I was hoping that I can meet him in Kunming. We might be able to arrange some trekking trips near Yunnan, maybe a weeks trek.