China: Day 9&10.
Our trek was coming to a conclusion and the comfort of Zhilam Hostel was at the forefront of my thoughts that morning. This is a combination of the last two days of hiking. The one day we just hiked directly back to our first campsite so there weren't too many breathtaking images that I hadn't already seen. During the entire time of being out in China's vast countryside I hadn't showered or cleaned any part of me other than my teeth and mind! To say the least, I was revolting in every definition of the word. My hair was greasy, hands brown (either from dirt or the sun), feet blistered, skin peeling, nails long, and did I mention my hair was greasy? I felt like an animal and the sweet taste of the delicious carrot cake, scrambled eggs and toast, chai and any of the other incredible food that the hostel offered was a strong motivator to keep hiking.
The last morning of tenting our campsite was overwhelmed by fog! You couldn't see the tent next to you it was so thick. Fortunately, it started clearing up before breakfast and provided for some incredible images. After we packed up camp we were on our way to where the bus would pick us up and bring is back to Kangding. Once we arrived back at Zhilam Hostel the first thing on my agenda was taking a nice hot shower and sitting down with a cup of tea while sorting through the gigabytes of photos from the hike. If you haven't picked up on it yet I am highly recommending Zhilam Hostel as a place to stay if you are ever remotely close to Kangding, China. It is clean, well maintained, has comfortable beds, hot showers, friendly staff, and ran by amazing people with food you just can't beat. But back to the story, shortly after starting to sort my photos, I remembered I didn't have enough flash portraits so Zach and I begrudgingly grabbed the flash gear to get our final portraits. The one is of a Zhilam Hostel staff serving up some delectable cake and the other is of Abu; a staff member for Extravagant Yak Travel Company who lead us on the prestigious hike up to 4950 metres and was just an incredible guy. Oh, and another China exclusive I would recommend is Extravagant Yak Travel Company. Just go to their website and see all the phenomenal tours you can go on. The service these guys provide is truly phenomenal and the experience will be with you for a life time!
This is the last entry of the China Blog series and for those of you who have taken the time to read even one of them, thank you! I hope you enjoyed it and that my writing was not too boring or that my images were too amateur. I just integrated a video page on my website where you will find a short video I made while on the trip as well as some of my other work. It gives a great overview of what we did and some of the highlights for us Digital Media guys. This summer many more adventures are approaching and I can't wait to share them!
