To the South of the Clouds

(A monologue? Perhaps a Soliloquy? Random thoughts that rise and fall? But definitely not close to poetry. Random words are surfacing in my mind. Whatever this may be, I jot them down here. )

To a Small Mountain by the Jinsha

It is time I leave. It is time I pick up my pack and go. 

Time is telling me to and so I must and I will.

For that is the only thing I know. 

Time is always ready. Ready when I am. It is I who has to rise and roll.

My pack is an address of a changing destination. An address of a dream.

Dream is me. My existence. 

It is my secret soul.

Open is the sky as the mountains high

With mighty challenges and snow. 

Open is the ocean and the river deep

where together we must flow.

To a land where three mighty rivers glow in glory.

I will meet one of them

and walk along its banks and its gorges,

till I climb higher and further from its fury. 

Higher and further from the chaos,

Deeper and calmer I will be.

Closer and colder among the clouds,

Clearer and farther I shall see.

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In a couple of days from today I leave for the Yunnan province in south west China. I have always wanted to go here just like I have always wanted to travel and experience the rest of this planet. I have only 3 weeks at my disposal and very little money. Therefore it is impossible to see the vast Yunnan and feel its pulse. 

So while planning I picked up a mountain, a river and a town near it to be my pilgrimage for this trip. The town is Li Jiang, the river is Jinsha and the mountain is an unnamed, unknown one. 

Li Jiang- this settlement have been important since approximately the time of Christ, when the Naxi people settled in the area, and Baisha was the capital of a Naxi kingdom from 658 to 1107. Then the area came under Chinese control and Lijiang became the administrative center. Parts of the old town date back to this period, built during the Song Dynasty (960-1279). The town was built where the Jade River divides into three and its streams form the canals and waterways which flow along the old town streets. It is said there was a time not so long ago my native native Bengal was connected to this hidden paradise of Li Jiang through the trading of Cowrie currency. Will I find cowries in the streets of Li Jiang?

Jinsha River- Its headwaters rise in the Wulan and Kekexili (Hoh Xil) ranges in western Qinghai province, to the south of the Kunlun Mountains, and on the northern slope of the Tanggula (Dangla) Mountains on the border of the Tibet Autonomous Region. The three principal headwaters—the Chuma’er, Muluwusu, and Akedamu rivers—join to form the Tongtian River, which flows southeast to Zhimenda near the frontier between Qinghai and Sichuan provinces. As the Jinsha River, it then flows south through a deep gorge parallel to the similar gorges of the upper Mekong and upper Salween rivers, from which it is separated by the Ningjing Mountains. It forms the western border of Sichuan for some 250 miles (400 km) and then flows into Yunnan province. After a large, 200-mile- (320-km-) long loop to the north of Dali , the Jinsha swings northeast, forming the Sichuan-Yunnan provincial boundary until it joins the Min River at Yibin in Sichuan to form the Yangtze. The upper course of the river falls about 14 feet per mile (2.7 metres per km). Below Batang (Sichuan) the gradient gradually decreases to about 8 feet per mile (1.5 metres per km), but the Jinsha is un-navigable and in its upper course, through the gorges, is more of an obstacle than an aid to transportation.

The unnamed, unknown mountain- or should I say a mountain range? This lies near the second bend of the mighty Jinsha. Located due North and north east of the Haba and Yulong Xue Shan. Unclimbed range, small but unseen mountain peaks, an untraveled path. Making the perfect recipe for an explorer.

Will I be able to reach this mountain range? Well, only time will tell. 

Information courtesy: Wikitravel and Encyclopaedia Britannica