Tag Archives: Qinghai

Jeff’s article in the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) on the Salt Road Expedition

Click here for the article. For access to the full feature article you must sign up (free for the first two weeks). Enjoy with a cup of tea and a lick of salt.    

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Amne Machin Farewell – A Descent

Looking at the sky we see fierce white monotones and wind’s power, below in front of us on the earth lies a different story. An avalanche’s disintegrating power has rearranged the land in front of us. A brutal black surge … Continue reading

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Yak ‘Beauty’ and a Switch – Mountains’ Tales

We awake with a shudder to mountain cold and the realization that something has changed overnight regarding our ‘team’. Clear air with a hint of blue in the sky as dawn gives way to day waits…. while by the fire … Continue reading

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Amne Machin White and A Travelling Circus

Our two yak stand still in the blowing white snow; around them there is nothing to suggest a specific time-period and looking at their ice-encrusted wool I imagine a time long ago when gas-spewing, noise machines on wheels hadn’t yet … Continue reading

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Amne Machin – A Rush of White and a Kora

Amye Maqen (Amne Machin, Anye Machin) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amne_Machin), the stout, the muscular, and for much of time, the utterly hidden from the outside world…our first glimpse of it is of a snow capped wonder that appears far closer than it is. There … Continue reading

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Departure under the white

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The Jewel of the Heights

At first it is a glimmer, nothing more than a reflection that I think might be there. Shimmering heat already ripples in the morning air blurring my sightlines.  Michael’s eyes are creased studying the same spectre that I see…he is … Continue reading

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Ghosts and ‘Ka’ (Snow)

We are hunting a ghost, ghosts in fact it seems. The Salt Route that hasn’t been documented, this Tsalam that I have dreamt about and that we now seek is becoming akin to chasing vapours, or trying to track windblown … Continue reading

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Further, Higher

We have moved further southwest near Da Re (Darlag), from Maqen towards the badland-borders with Sichuan province, less than one hundred kilometres from Serthar. We’ve arrived to a town that sits squeezed along the Yellow River wedged in between auburn … Continue reading

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Golok – The Journey To….

Before anything happens on our expedition, one has to actually get one’s body to the site– and this journey is often an adventure in itself. Michael will be following me a day later in Golok while I organize, coordinate and … Continue reading

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