Seeking more than Shangri-la

Part 2

Vithoon Pungprasert

The Nation

China

 After a period spent acclimatising in Kunming, we were finally in the highlands of Shangri-la on our way to the source of the Mekong River in Qinghai province. So we decided to break the journey and stay a few nights in this heavenly landscape.

  Given its altitude and freezing-cold weather, a degree of physical fitness is necessary if you are to enjoy Shangri-la. French, Japanese and even local explorers have lost their lives here over the past century. Concerned about the health risks, we had sought medical advice. We learned it was vital to keep an oxygen canister handy in these high mountains, where the thin air can bring you to your knees in minutes.

 As we were leaving for the Shangri-la trek, a Chinese doctor offered a word of advice: try to slow down the pace to allow enough time for your bodies to adjust to the new conditions. Soon after arriving, we heard of a tourist who had to be rushed to hospital in the middle of the night.

 The doctor's health advice came with a surprise: trekkers under 40 need to pay more attention to their health than those in their 50s. The older you are, the better your body acclimatises.

 All of us needed to have our blood pressure checked regularly and some resorted to taking Chinese herbs or Viagra pills for better blood circulation.

 Each stage of our journey so far had meant planning for a step up in altitude and a drop in temperature. We had come from Bangkok, which lies five metres above sea level, to southern China's Kunming, a jump of 1,800 metres. Then we headed for Dali at 2,400 metres before climbing to the 3,270-metre highlands of Shangri-la in Zhongdian county. Our destination in the peaks of Qinghai soared to over 5,005 metres.

 The temperature in Shangri-la when we arrived last November was minus-2 degrees celsius during the day, falling to minus-9 at night. From Zhongdian, we navigated a route through the mountains, taking dirt tracks that clung to the cliff tops. What lay ahead was snow, ice, whipping winds and dazzling sunshine.

 Considered by the locals as the gateway to the source of the Mekong, Shangri-la is caught in the jaws formed by the sacred Meili Snow Mountain Range. Each of its 13 sacred peaks soars above anything Thailand has to offer - once you've seen these mountains, the molehills back home quickly lose their attraction.

 Entering Shangri-la, we made our way through hillside villages surrounded by rice paddies and lakes. The locals dry their produce - vegetables, fruit and rice - on the thatched roofs of their homes as a traditional way of preserving the food.

 Five hours into the journey, we began to smell the fresh tang of a big river. But it wasn't the Mekong. We were at the foot of the snow-capped White Horse Mountain whose summit towered over us at 5,460 metres and whose flanks are wrapped by not one but two mighty rivers, the Salween and the Yangtze, known locally as the Golden Sands River.

 We stood in the thin air 3,800 metres above sea level, surveying three rivers running in parallel: the Salween (the Nu, in Chinese) flowing to Burma, the Yangtze and, there in the distance, the Mekong -- or Lancang as the Chinese know it. I couldn't wait for a closer view of the goal.

 Our journey was made easier by the network of dirt roads that offer easy access to the villages up in the hills. Running alongside them were power poles and telephone lines, piping in the modern world to these remote settlements. Almost every house we passed had a satellite dish and a telephone. Trekking into a village tucked deep in the mountains, we were surprised to discover we could check our e-mails on the available Internet service. The Chinese government, it seems, know the value of modernity.

 The TV series "Mekong … the Untamed" premieres tonight at 10.15 on Channel 9.