The Songstone

  Delicious sinful unctuous pata yar!

You know it's not a major route when your plane's like this

3000 metres up. Effective oxygen 14%; important to control your breathing here. Not quite Tibet; as close as I can go, travelling alone. The largest prayer wheel in the world. I don't approve of superstition... Seems to keep the locals happy though, and tourists flocking in. Harmless enough, I s'pose.        

Time to move on. A bus to Tiger Leaping Gorge, one of the world's great sights; photos can't do it justice, but I took some anyway. A word of caution: having taken thirty minutes getting down, I scornfully refused the easier path back up... To cut a gruesome tale short, I entered Tina's Guesthouse on a horse, exhausted and my wallet light. Still, at least I made the bus to Shangri-La.                

Trekking at Lashi Lake; the Ancient Tea and Horse road/trail. Wonder the poor brute coped (I weigh in at a 100 kilos plus). Whickered as I approached, greeted my mounting with a ripping fart. There is a thrill to mountain paths, 2 metres wide, 300 metre drop with just a pony's hoof between your life and death. The lake itself, where I had booked a kayak. One look at me, and a headshake: 'Too big, you'll sink.' Instead I got the VIP: a gondolier.                  

Easy to ridicule, and Victor Mair on Language Log has done for years; sometimes translations here are poetry: