"Day 1 of Songpan Horsetrek" Top 5 Page for this destination Songpan Travelogue by bellatrix

Songpan Travel Guide: 24 reviews and 157 photos

We met up with our guides and started the trek around 9am. I haven't been on a horse since I was a kid, it was a new experience! It was neat sitting so high up, the world looked different from up there!

Songpan horsetrek

Of course I got the most unruly horse in the bunch! He started to gallop off as soon as I was in my saddle, surprising me and my guides. I could tell it was going to be a long four days! And I was right. I got the horse who always wanted to pass the other horses, and who tried to bite the other horses when they tried to pass us... whenever we came up to a secondary trail, he was always trying to take it, leading us away from the group and making the guides yell and whistle at us, and he insisted on running up and down hills, making it very hard to hang on. Very challenging! I started calling him Punky, since he thought we were in the rodeo or something. Funny!

Kids in a rice field, Songpan horsetrek

Man and baby, Songpan horsetrek

The scenery on the way was awesome. We passed through Tibetan villages with houses similar to the ones in Songpan, wooden and stone with tiled roofs, and tall red prayer flags here and there.

Songpan horsetrek

At one point we climbed a mountain and as we rounded around, we got a stunning view of Ice Mountain and the valley below.

Songpan horsetrek

In front of the prayer flags, Songpan horsetrek

There was a mass of faded and wind-battered prayer flags sitting on top of a huge mound of rocks. The Tibetans have a ritual of placing a rock at the base of the flags and walking around 3 times, while holding a prayer in mind. Several of us did this, and of course took part in the obligatory photo shoot.

At about 1 in the afternoon, we reached the place where we were to camp. Our guides set up our tents and made us lunch. Later in the evening we sat around the campfire and listened to them sing Tibetan songs, and we smoked and drank Tibetan firewater, which is the strongest stuff I've ever tasted; it's something like 60 proof and one sip gave me a slight buzz and made me feel warm inside. I really enjoyed listening to their songs, they were so melodic and lilting, and truly beautiful! Every now and then after they finished a song they would ask me to sing an English song, and I couldn't think of any. They kept asking, so finally I got my mp3 player and me and a Dutch girl listened to Sheryl Crow's "Leaving Las Vegas" until we had the lyrics memorized, and sang it to them. The song is sang kind of high, and we were way off key and everyone laughed at us. It was funny!

The stars were so bright, and even with the firelight we could see a million of them, and our hearts were warm as we sang and smiled together... it was a truly wonderful night!

Page Updated Mar 28, 2003
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Comments (8)

victorwkf Jul 5, 2006 at 9:38 AM Report Abuse

Good tips and breathtaking photos of songpan and surroundings! A lot of people only go to jiuzhaigou and they are missing out on other aspects :)
kinaly Jan 4, 2005 at 9:29 AM Report Abuse

I will visit Songpan next week but I had no idea on what it looked like...thank you for your wonderful pictures...I feel I already want to be there. Happy new year
DrewV Jul 3, 2003 at 2:45 PM Report Abuse

Terrific travelogues! This is exactly what VT is all about! Sounds like an incredible trip and a magnificent way to experience China.
Confucius May 3, 2003 at 9:41 PM Report Abuse

Songpan now appears in the destinations database. You might want to move your pages there. Your Songpan horse trek tips are worth 6 stars.
globetrott Apr 11, 2003 at 3:35 PM Report Abuse

an excellent page with brilliant pics ! - and the very best part is in the travelogues ! excellent work, Jenn !
Velocity Apr 5, 2003 at 6:40 AM Report Abuse

Interesting page...very beautiful pictures! Well done!
RobDavis Mar 31, 2003 at 6:01 AM Report Abuse

Great page, too bad I can't rate travelogues! :-)
manoj252 Mar 29, 2003 at 3:00 AM Report Abuse

looks amazing! four days on horseback!