eleven days through the wildest corner of china, the part almost nobody sees.

pandas in chengdu, then straight up onto the tibetan plateau at 3,300 metres, prayer flags snapping in the wind and butter tea in a local home. then we walk the tiger leaping gorge high trail, one of the great treks on earth, cut into a cliff between two snow mountains with the river roaring two thousand metres below, and we sleep out there on the trail.

after that it softens into yak meadows, a stone village under jade dragon snow mountain where a naxi family teaches us to make tofu by hand, and slow free days in lijiang old town.

we finish on a wild, crumbling stretch of the great wall with no crowds and no railings, watchtowers running off into the hills as the sun goes down.

chengdu
nov 24 to 25 · 1 night

a gentle start at 500 metres. just enough time to shake off the flight, walk around taikoo li in the evening and sleep well before we go high. we spend the next morning with the pandas, early, while they are still busy and awake.

shangri-la
nov 25 to 28 · 3 nights

we fly up to 3,300 metres and slow everything down. songzanlin monastery in the morning light. an afternoon in a tibetan home, learning butter tea and tsampa, sitting with people who have lived up here their whole lives. a sunrise at pudacuo, mist coming off the water, larches still holding their gold. in the evenings, the old town of dukezong and the big prayer wheel turning against a blue sky.

three nights here is on purpose. your body needs the time, and so does the place.

tiger leaping gorge
nov 28 to 29 · 1 night on the trail

the high trail, from tea horse to halfway guesthouse. six kilometres, four hours, with plenty of room to stop and look. jade dragon on one side, haba on the other, the river running far below. we sleep out there and wake up inside it.

lijiang
nov 29 to dec 2 · 3 nights

softer days after the mountains. wenhai lake with its yaks and open meadows. yuhu, a stone village sitting right under the snow peaks, where we make tofu by hand with a naxi family. a morning up at jade dragon snow mountain.

the last day here is yours. sleep in, wander the old town, sit by the water, go back to whatever caught your eye the first time. no plan.

beijing
dec 2 to 4 · 2 nights

hutongs and small streets on the afternoon we land, prince gong mansion, a slow walk along shichahai. then a whole day at jinshanling, the quiet part of the wall, staying up there until the light goes. we finish with the forbidden city and the temple of heaven, then evening flights home.