Day 39 & 40, Yading Nature Reserve: (by Amy)

On the first day in Shangri-La Village I slept a lot then read my book in the sun in a little park with picnic benches and a waterfall. In the evening we decided to ask the guesthouse owners about our route ahead (about which I had become increasingly anxious after what had happened to the MAIN road on our previous route). 

We were invited into their lounge and given Yak milk tea and walnuts then there was a big discussion where everyone looked at our maps. The general consensus was that the quickest route to Shangri-La the city was a bus route not on our map. It was unpaved and crossed a whopping pass well over 5000m and another 4000m one. The alternative seemed to be to go far north to the city of Daocheng and around about 200km further. They weren't sure about the quality of these roads. They weren't sure about places to stay or buy food on the route not on our map. I left the discussion feeling more nervous than ever. 

The next day after a rather sleepless night (for me) we headed to Yading National park. You have to buy entrance tickets in the village then get a tourist coach 30km over a pass to the park. It was a gloriously sunny morning and the views in the park were some of the most spectacular I have ever seen. We wandered 9km up to the Lulong grasslands on a metal walkway which was under construction. It was a bit of a health and safety nightmare with loose panels and people drilling and sawing the metal with no eye protection as the tourists tentatively hopped by. 

We had lunch in the grasslands looking at the amazing snow capped peaks. After an hour or so the weather closed and they disappeared  into cloud as it started to rain. We quickly hiked back to the bus.

After discussion we had decided not to go off piste but to follow our original route North towards the city of Daocheng hoping a cut through the mountains on our maps existed. Chris was confident as he had satellite images of this section.