The long and winding road

On to the last stop: Deqin, up near the border with Tibet (as well as Myanmar and Sichuan) and at waist level to the 6740m Meili Snow Mountain. In Shangri-La we had been staying at about 3000m elevation, cold enough for hotels to provide electric blankets and high enough for even leisurely walking to make some dizzy. We were to get to Deqin, 550m higher and 180km away, via a 5.5-hour bus ride that would ascend to 4300m en route.

The road from Shangri-La to Deqin is not overly treacherous, at least if one is familiar with it and driving under good conditions, in a small, well-tuned car, at reasonable speed.

My tourmates and I were in a 38-passenger bus that travelled in and out of pockets of rain, with a bus driver who was making his first trip north of Shangri-La. On the upside, our journey had previously been delayed about an hour because said driver had found problems with the brakes that he felt needed to be fixed before we headed even further into the mountains and away from civilization. So we figured that at least he was pretty conscientious.

More about the ride, including oodles of pictures, over here, where there's more room.