the adventure

After a flight up north to China and then an almost 10 hours bus ride, Tiina and I reached our destination for our latest travel adventure. A little town called Song Pan situated in the mountains next to Tibet.

This is where we last Thursday morning sat up on "our" horses. And as we sat up, the sky, that had been heavily grey and rainy the last 24 hours, cleared up and the beautiful sun came out, and that certainly also cleared a few worries regarding slippery mud paths and cold wet clothes from our minds too.

From there on it felt like we were one with nature. Surrounded by nothing but snowy mountain tops, trees with leaves that were just starting to spring out in their most fresh light green colour, the sound of the clipper-clop from the horses as they walked on, the birds flying high up in the sky, the furry yaks munching on grass and bushes, and that fresh mountain air. Absolutely marvelous! And such a beautiful way of rewinding and recharging the batteries...

I kept on filling my lungs with that freshness over and over again and the smile on my face just wouldn't fade away.

We sat up our camp in a valley next to a river, where we were fairly sheltered from the cold winds, but as we had a big fire going and big yak fur coats on the cold didn't bother us too much. Not until it was bed time in our little tent anyway... Then it was cold, really cold! Consequently we had a sleepless night, but that's all part of the beauty of adventures...

The next morning our guides took us on a long beautiful horse ride, through little Tibetan villages, green meadows, rivers and forest covered mountains, to a mountain called the Ice Mountain. 4000 meters over sea level and with an amazing view. Absolutely stunning!

We were definitely tired, a bit sun burnt, but very happy when we returned to our camp, and we sat down by the fire and told a few stories.

The sun rose the next morning to warm up our frozen bodies. And believe me when I say that I needed the sun more that ever that morning (but that's an other story...). However, we set off through our breathtaking surroundings and life just felt great!

It was with pretty sore bums and legs we said good bye to our very hard working and very cute horses later that afternoon. But also with very big smiles on our faces.

I know that I just told you in my previous post about asking for too much..., but I just must say:
Oh how I love traveling, adventures and new beautiful experiences.