tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55941501453108288392011-12-20T20:37:35.107-08:00Through this Blog you can find reports and pictures on travelling and hiking through Sichuan. The trips reported on this Blog were mainly made in the mountains of Kham, Amdo, Ganze, Aba, Minya Konka (Gongga Shan) and Siguniang Shan of Western Sichuan. For further details and queries please contact me by email: ---wstourix@gmail.com---ROLAND & SICHUAN TOURShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02439884634397633989noreply@blogger.comBlogger191100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5594150145310828839.post-86011728822870132772011-12-20T20:37:00.000-08:002011-12-20T20:37:35.117-08:00

This autumn we had the chance to take our kids into the mountains to do some camping and exploring near the Wolong Panda Nature reserve. They really had a lot of fun near the stream: Collecting stones... ...having picnic... ...playing in the bamboo undergrowth and forest. Here we found some extraordinary mushrooms.   We even had to cross the stream for quite a few times. Luckily nobody got

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This 5 day trekking tour (7days from Chengdu) included a nice ascent of a 5000m peak in the northern Minya Konka Range. The only thing we had to pay attention to were acclimatisation issues. Here is the first glimpse towards Minya Konka for me since quite a while. One week before getting to the high mountains I have been on Mt. Emei. On its top you usually can view this great mountain range in

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This year in August I had the great opportunity to explore the area around Taktsang Lhamo (chin. Langmu Si) in order to look out for Griffon Vultures. The area mostly consists of rolling hills with a lot of pasture land around. Only a small area of rocks behind the monastery features a different landscape. These cliffs are home of more than 100 individuals of vultures, including Himalayan

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This post shall publish a selection of pictures from a 23day round trip from Chengdu to Qinghai and Gansu in June 2011.  Our trip started on the famous Sichuan Tibet Highway - the G318. After a dangerous 8h ride (the Ya'an - Kangding always is dangerous) we were rewarded with a stunning view towards the Lamoshe Massif from the first high pass behind Kangding. The G318 splits in Xinduqiao. The

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Thought I should compile some of my most favourite pictures of last year - of those which anytime make myself dreaming of the freedom underneath the endless Tibetan Sky. This is the Lhamo She Group (chin. She Haizi Shan, 6070m), a northern split of the Minya Konka Range. My favourite view towards the high rugged mountain range near Ganze. On the left of the picture you can see a very

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This image resembles the typical scenery of Ganze County: juicy grassland foiled against steep and rocky mountains up to 5992m. With 5992m Mt. Kawaluori is the highest peak around Ganze. It also is the most eastern peak of the Mt. Chola Mountain Range, a thin mountain range that stretches for more than 200km from the Sichuan/TAR border to Luhuo County. Here is a masterpiece of herders art:

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Mt. Chola is the heart of this marvelous trekking tour. By the way: There is a funny story about this name: Chola (speak juola, letter "j" as in jungle) is just another name for snow mountain, given by local Tibetans. The Chinese phonetic transliteration for CHOLA uses two characters: Que Er, and written so on offical maps. Hence, many foreign guide books use the literal translation of the

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This trip was just a quick survey for trekking tours in this area, and end of March is a pretty cold month especially at night. However, it was a brilliant and successful 3day hike to a series of lakes and remote monasteries. Here is a panorama from the area. This photograph was taken from a pass of the G318 National Road towards Litang. The first moments of the hike part began with a stunning

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This winter (January 2010) I did my first trip to Tibet proper. Though intensive traveling through Amdo and Kham, this was a completely new experience, not only because of the required Tibet entry permit and the related hassle. Temple building at Dengsatil Gompa The first days, of course, sightseeing in Lhasa has been on my schedule. Here is a photo of the Lhasa's old town Barkhor - the place

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The Lhasa River and the Yarlung Tsangpo host thousands of ducks in winter. Most common were Bar-headed Geese and... Ruddy Shelduck However White-tailed Eagle also showed up sometimes. The Lalu Wetland Nature Reserve reaches almost in the centre of Lhasa. Unfortunately, it recently serves as deposit for tons of plastic waste. Other birds in and around Lhasa were: White-winged Redstart

ROLAND & SICHUAN TOURShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02439884634397633989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5594150145310828839.post-19050650961362750202011-01-26T07:38:00.000-08:002011-02-01T10:15:32.087-08:00

In the beginning of December 2009 I was with Meggie and Sid on a birding trip to the North of Yunnan Province. Our aim was a high altitude wetland where a big part of the Black-necked Crane population is spending winter. On the way off Chengdu we found this pair of Common Kingfishers, obviously having a quarrel... Our first stop was at Mt. Laojun Shan near Yibin. This mountain still offers a

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Since the Chinese government closed down blogspot.com, it is hard for me to post any new reports and pictures on my Blog. Abroad it is much easier to find a way to get around this censorship and eventually I am able to begin to work my journeys all up. In 22.July 2009 and 15.January 2010 there were two nice solar eclipses over Sichuan which I could manage to observe with my own eyes. The first

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This post shall give a short introduction of one of the most sovereign mountains of the area between Gyarong and Kham: Mt. Zhara Lhatse (5820m) (in Chinese: Yala Shenshan) He pops out behind the rolling hills of the Tagong Grassland and the eastern part of the Tibetan High Plateau. But actually he still belongs to the rough and bizarre mountain range of Danba/Gyarong. He appears very sovereign

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Birding trip in Sichuan, May 18th - June 14th 2009 This trip was an extensive birding experience through the main bird habitats of Sichuan. Although May and June usually are the best months to go bird watching in Sichuan - in terms of birds and weather, this year we had to fight with really untypical weather for this season: Days of rain and snow! We started with the traditional bird sites in

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Minya Konka is Tibetan and means “Snow Mountain of the Minyak Region”. He is the sacred mountain of Minyak which, in ancient times, was a huge and powerful kingdom. The Minya Konka Range is a division line between the hilly grassland of the Tibetan High Plateau and the country of humid narrow gorges which spread along the Sichuan Basin. Therefore, this mountain range has two completely

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For years it has been my dream to hike around the impressive mountain range of Kawa Karpo — one of the holiest mountains in Tibetan Buddhism. Its main peak is the Mt. Kagebo with a height of 6740m. Due to religious reasons as well as varialble climate in this area all of the five summits are as yet unclimbed. The mountain range is placed in the heart of the UNESCO World Heritage Park of the “

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Autumn at Mt. Genyen – a trip you will never forget The summer is too rainy and the sight is not often clear, and the winter is much too cold. Thus, the best seasons for travelling are spring and autumn. Spring is the season when all gets green and the birds are lively: ideal for bird watching. And Autumn features the most beautiful colours and the best light for photography. Mt. Genyen (

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Two Days in November in a side valley of Minya Konka: Towards the foot of Mt. Edgar Big Boulder It has been the fourth time that I climbed around a huge boulder which blocks the marvelous valley that leads to the foot of Mt. Edgar (6618m). However, it was the first time with no rain but with blue sky. Though the time for the previous trips were all chosen out of the rainy season, I have had

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This Image Of The Brown Parrotbill Was Donated By A Fine Supporter

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