Zeng Glasses Inn
Panoramic view of Zeng Glass Inn
The entrance of Zeng Glasses Inn
There are no inns available in Lage, the end point of the first day of hiking, and the few original inns have long been abandoned or demolished. We took a bus from Lage to Khanmi, and the car took us back to Lage the next day. We then set off from Lage, pass through the virgin forest, and hike to Khanmi. So we have to stay in Khanmi for two nights.
Zeng Glass Inn is located in a dense primeval forest. It is a simple house built with wooden planks. Behind the house is a roaring mountain stream with constant rapids. This is a must-go place for hikers in Medog. Because of this, Zeng Spectacles knows exactly how many people hike in Medog every year. After returning to Guangzhou, I saw Zeng Spectacles in a documentary introducing Medog. It was a film produced by CCTV. The Zeng Spectacles in it were several years younger than the "real thing" we saw.
The inn has two floors and about ten rooms. The second floor has been contracted by the heads of the engineering team who are building roads here all year round, and we live on the first floor. There are three to four beds in each room, which is a bit crowded. Due to the continuous rain, the bedding on the bed was a little damp, but it was still clean. Lying on the bed, with the roaring mountain stream behind the house as my pillow, I slept very peacefully.
Guest room corridor
Somewhat crowded rooms
Message from a traveler on the board in the guest room
The restaurant of the inn is still very spacious and is also our activity venue. The surroundings are hung with flags of clubs from all over the country who come to Medog for hiking.
Sunny, who has a medical background and is a returnee from Germany, is giving LK a Western medicine massage. Sunny, like me, is also an undergraduate student in the 80s.
The quiet Sister Hua and Zeng Glasses are taking selfies. Sister Hua's drinking capacity is not ordinary. A pound of Moutai is just for rinsing her mouth, and she will not drink anything other than Moutai. If you switch to other liquors, you will feel dizzy after half a pound.
The restaurant is the most spacious and is a place where travel friends gather to eat. The kitchen is at the back of the house. There are several fire pits extending from a stove, just like a water pipe connected to several faucets. They are used to cook rice, boil water, make soup, and stir-fry vegetables. The strong fire will not be wasted at all.
Zeng Jing was cooking for us in the kitchen. No matter how many people stay, the total number of owners and employees of this inn will always be one person
Behind the kitchen is a drying room filled with drying firewood. Our soaked clothes, shoes, and backpacks were placed in the drying room. After one night, all the wet things were almost dry. Putting on warm hiking shoes in the morning, another wave of happiness surged into my heart. It’s just that all kinds of shoes can only stay dry for half an hour. After you start hiking, the first mudslide or waterfall will make all hiking shoes surrender and return to a wet state.
We put all the wet clothes, shoes and backpacks in the drying room to dry
On the first day, when we walked down from Duoxiong La Mountain, we were already soaked to the skin. Zeng Glass has been hosting travelers for 20 years and has very rich experience. He had already boiled hot foot-washing water, and the firewood was set high in the drying room, waiting for our arrival.
Like vicious cold ghosts, the group of people took their soaked clothes and shoes into the drying room one after another. The moisture evaporated by the high temperature immediately rose in the small drying room, and a warm atmosphere suddenly filled the air. Then everyone went to get the footbath and put their cold feet, which had been frozen for a day, into the boiling water. Then, we all felt like we were in heaven.
I'm crazy about Medog
Before setting off for the Lee Locust Forest, when I was sitting on the wooden bench of Zeng Jingyan Inn, waiting for the boss to serve breakfast to everyone, I felt that my visit to Medog was crazy.
After the hike, before returning to Guangzhou, I took a trip to Lijiang, where a group of CEO class students held a party.
My classmate Sister Dabao said that she was going to take the test for a pilot’s license. I said smoothly: "If you get your driver's license, I will jump out of your plane." This is of course a joke, but skydiving is definitely a dream I want to realize in the future.
I used to think that I was considered very old in the outdoor team.
Normally, people at my age should stay at home and live their whole life. Get up early and take a walk, buy groceries, come back to cook, drink tea, take a nap after dinner, and then find a few friends to play at the card table. After dinner, I watch the news from Yangma, and then go to bed early. Or like most of my classmates in high school and college, they take care of their grandchildren at home, dance square dances, or go fishing, and join a tour group in their free time. Old men and women go out of China together and fly to Europe, America, and Southeast Asia.
However, I have entered the state where I am now called a madman.
Climbing Wugong Mountain in May, I climbed cautiously on Haohan Slope. Another group of trekking friends came towards us in the clouds and mist, climbing hard. I gave a thumbs up to a white-haired old lady who climbed up to me, and she told me that the oldest person in their group was a 78-year-old lady. I couldn't help but be in awe.
Travel friend Manxia, when I was sitting on the small bench in the inn, she was trekking on a difficult road in western Sichuan, crossing from Changping Valley to Bipeng Valley and over Siguniang Mountain, reaching an altitude of 4,619 meters above sea level. The Duoxiongla Snow Mountain we climbed was only 4,237 meters above sea level. Manxia and I were separated by a whole Baiyun Mountain. On the plateau, even if the distance is just one meter, it may be a peak that can never be crossed!
I told LK that I want to go to Mount Siguniang this time next year. LK, who has always been very confident in me and gave me firm answers every time, was a little hesitant this time. "You still need to exercise more," he said.
I will not take fearless risks. Respecting nature and following nature are the basic qualities of outdoor people. However, I am determined for Siguniang Mountain. Either next year or the year after that, before I reach my sixtieth year, I will go to the top of Siguniang Mountain.
Crazy can be at any age!
A person always has to go crazy for something he wants to do but dare not do.
I will regret the things I did wrong. However, what I regret the most is doing something I wanted to do but didn’t dare to do.
I don’t want to regret it. This is one of the reasons why I came to Medog, and it is also the most important reason.
Travel through virgin forest
From Lage through the virgin forest back to Khanmi, the whole journey is 26 kilometers, descending from an altitude of 3237 meters to 2118 meters. As the altitude gradually drops, in the last two hours or so of approaching Hanmi, we will enter the leech area. This is a preview of the entire trek through the leech forest on the third day of hiking. Only when we haven't seen the swarms of locusts yet, our teammates don't take them seriously.
Considering that many teammates were physically exhausted when crossing Duoxiong La on the first day, the team leader LK gave everyone two options, one is to walk the entire distance, and the other is to walk most of the distance.
As everyone expected, Fangfang, Nana and KK, the Three Musketeers, decided to walk the entire distance, while the remaining people walked most of the distance. Sister Liang strained her leg muscles while crossing the Duoxiong La Pass, so she stayed at the inn to rest. In order to prepare delicious food for everyone, Brother Yun also stayed here and could take care of Sister Liang.
Brother Yun is cooking for everyone. We all think that his chef level has already reached the special level.
We took a car to Lage. In the car, brother Zhao Johnson first noticed a leech on his body, and then everyone else also had a leech on his body. Three thin leeches emerged from my knee pads and were twisting on my thighs, trying to find a crack through which they could get into my body. We have no idea where these locusts came from. We just took a group photo among the rocks at the entrance of the inn before getting on the bus. The weeds covered with locusts were all a certain distance away from where we took the photo. Could it be Flying onto us? Or was there a bunch of locusts hidden in the car? This question makes everyone very confused and puzzled.
We arrived at the starting point of the halfway point, and the Three Musketeers, who decided to complete the journey, got off the bus and stopped for a while. Fangfang screamed and jumped out of the car, her face turned pale and she almost cried. Apparently, she was also attacked by leech in the car. Along the way, she was most eager to see the leech and vowed to fill a bottle with the leech and take it back to Guangzhou as a gift for her son. She also wanted to take a close-up of the leech. At this moment, she probably regretted what she had said.
A simple road was built from Lage to Khanmi. In two or three years, from Linzhi to Medog, you can enter the Duoxiong La Tunnel from Pai Town, and then pass this road directly to Medog County. It will no longer take two days to make a big detour from Bomi. With this simple road, locals no longer take trails over mountains and ridges. The roads through the primeval forests have gradually become deserted. The moss has grown several inches high, and only the shadow of the trail can be vaguely seen.
moss in the forest
The troops were divided into two groups. The guide Gesang led the Three Musketeers all the way, and the leader LK led the rest of the way for most of the way.
The loyal and honest guide Gesang, his appearance and character remind me of my grandfather who has passed away for 36 years. They have too many similarities. The same reticence, the same loyalty, the same hard work. Gesang has a very smart and beautiful daughter who is studying in college in Guangzhou. Because of his name, we also know that in Tibetan language, all beautiful flowers are called Kelsang flowers, not just the Brazilian chrysanthemums that are commonly believed today.
In the primeval forest, there are giant trees and lush grass. Suffering from the stiffness of my writing, I cannot describe the beauty of nature.
Enter the virgin forest
Being in the forest, people look very small
Walking through the primeval forest, there are often no roads
The endless forest sea spreads out in front of us, lush and dense. The trees were silent and stood tall like philosophers. The branches of the big trees were covered with long moss. The crisscrossing branches are thick and strong, like pairs of big open hands supporting the green leaves resting on the branches. Layers of dead leaves scattered on the ground, laying a thick layer on the faintly visible path. Countless wild flowers bloom on the ground, as well as mushrooms of various shapes and colors, especially bright in the rain.
From time to time we were still blocked by mudslides and waterfalls, or blocked by fallen trees. The road was very slippery, and in some places it was no longer possible to see where the road was, so we had to cut through thorns.
LK leads the way in front, and we follow behind. We take every step carefully. Each person is like a reptile, with two hands, two hiking poles, two feet, and a butt, all becoming indispensable limbs for forward movement. Especially when going downhill, the role of the butt is often greater than the "six limbs". Sitting on the rain-soaked ground or slippery stones and sliding down, safety is guaranteed. Even so, no matter how experienced the old donkey is, he will still fall on his butt and squat on such a "road".
I fell down and squatted on my butt while going downhill.
Donkey Sachiko’s wrestling posture is much better than mine
The construction of highways has made the trails intermittent. We walked through the forest for a while, then returned to the road for a while. After finding the path of the path, we returned to the forest again. Back and forth like this, we walked about sixteen kilometers.
The rain was getting heavier.
LK suddenly asked everyone to look at his eyes, and he felt something strange. Only then did everyone realize that a leech had gotten into his eyes. Sachiko took out the salt she had prepared and sprinkled it on LK's eyes. The locust gradually bent its body and rolled down from his eyes.
Do you see a black leech in your eye?
Before coming to Medog, I learned from some introductions on the Internet that the leech here is seamless and easy to get into the eyes. The same experience happened to me on the third day when I was walking through the grasshopper forest. Now that everyone has seen it with their own eyes, it still feels a bit scary. The lower you go, the more locusts there are. The rain was also getting heavier, making the road more difficult to travel.
A pickup truck passed us and Sachiko gave a thumbs up. The driver felt the beauty's charm and stopped the car. A group of us climbed into the pickup truck and returned to the inn early.
The Three Musketeers on the other side completed the entire journey and returned to the inn more than three hours later than us. Their descriptions were also filled with thrills.
Fangfang of the Three Musketeers in the Primeval Forest
The loyal and honest Gesang was forced by the Three Musketeers to keep walking through the virgin forest. Once he returned to the road, he urged Gesang to quickly find the path. Some roads had been completely washed away by mudslides and waterfalls, and there was no way to walk. So Gesang found fallen tree trunks and built a temporary single-plank bridge. After entering the locust area, Kelsang was a little scared. He was not afraid of locusts, but of snakes. Gesang said that where there are locusts, there must be snakes. But under the power of the three female swordsmen, they had to enter the primeval forest again and again until they completed the entire journey.
Gesang built a single-plank bridge with trees, and Nana was preparing to cross the bridge.
The snake that Kelsang was afraid of did not appear when we walked through the leech forest on the third day. However, despite all the precautionary preparations, there were hundreds of locusts on each of us, and everyone was bitten with blood. All this will be discussed later.