Day 419 - Joining Pilgrims at Heavenly Lake

We woke up early, against our bodies desires, and found a driver to take us to Mengda Nature Reserve. As the guide had told us the drive to the reserve was stunning, and Adam tried his hardest to get some photos of the Yellow River and soaring red cliffs. At the reserve we forked out for the entrance ticket (it's taking some getting used to these high Chinese entrance fees again), and caught the free electric cart up to the beginning of the walk.

We ummed and ahhed over whether to take the mule trail (a nice mud track) or the people's trail (full of steep steps) and finally decided on the people's trail because we erroneously thought it looked more secluded ... unfortunately there is no such thing as seclusion in a country of 1.3 billion people!

The walk up to Tian Chi (Heavenly Lake), which is sacred for both Muslims and Tibetan Buddhists, was nothing bus typical Chinese steps, and when we popped out at the top we weren't surprised to find hoards of Chinese tourists posing for the obligatory photo at the rock carving and yelling away to each other. As usual, it's clear the Chinese don't get the concept of peace ... and quiet.

We made our way up Eagle Peak where we got a view over the lake, and ate snacks under a forgotten and aging pavillion. We then wandered around the lake, finding our own route where the walkway had collapsed, and ran into a couple of foreigners who we exchanged tips and complaints with!

As we wandered we passed several Tibetan Buddhists who were tying wool to trees along the way, and under Tibetan prayer flags, something we haven't really seen in China. We tried to find a waterfall, which turned out not to exist, before taking the mule trail back down.

Back in Xunhua we rested, internetted, ate, and prepared for our attempt tomorrow of travelling to ... well, we'll let you know if we get there!

Adlibing our third Heavenly Lake.