Photography by Richard D. Fisher and Maria Gates

Traveling up Cangshan Mountain with the south gondola immediately brings you to the breathtaking Qingbi Stream.

Qingbi (Clear Green) Stream with it’s Green Dragon Pool derives from a mountain spring gushing out from the bottom of a rock, and the water forms a pool in the shape of a big basin
in three tiers.  This stream received it’s Poetic Name of “Overlapping Green Basins” from poems written during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

Overlapping Green Basins Waterfalls  (Qingbi Stream and Green Dragon Pool)

The Magnificent Cangshan Mountain 13,495 ft (4,122 M) also known as Diancang Mountain, lies like a protector west of Dali City, and meanders north to south.  It’s 19 Peaks create
18 breathtaking and world class canyons each with 18 streams that water fall between the peaks, and flow into Erhai Lake via the Dali Dike.

Erhai Lake sits at an altitude of 6,410 ft, (1,972 m) and resembles a crescent silently lying between  the water sources of Cangshan Mountain (Mt. Diancang) and Dali Dike.  It is dubbed  “Pure jade amidst mountains” since ancient times for it’s purity.

Float through the air and clouds up into the majestic Cangshan Mountain, and enjoy the captivating evergreen trees for as far as the eye can see.  The ride lasts long enough to get lost
in the towering peaks.

“Dark Mountains embrace green waters:  Mountain scenery sets off the lakes: Flowers are in full blossom all year round, and fragrance widely spreads” is an ancient poem written for this wonderful, eye melting sight.

The Great Gorge of Cangshan hosts beautiful streams, waterfalls, pagodas, walking paths and the gondola to enhance the experience of being in one of the finest canyon gorges without having technical skills.

The Great Gorge of Cangshan goes into the vastness of eternity it appears with the eye.  A feast for all of the senses.

Waterfalls cascade down from pool to pool in another one of the 18 canyons of the most impressive Cangshan Mountain.

WIND AND FLOWERS  Reflecting two of the famous four sights of Dali-wind, flowers, snow and moon.

A sensual waterfall that appears out of nowhere from the delightful canyons that seem to not end as they meander north to south.

Two Beautiful sights, a waterfall and a canyon beauty.

On the West side of the Cangshan Mountain sits the largest and most spectacular and grand gorge of all of the 18;  SHIMENGUAN (Stone Gate Pass: Shimen Pass) which is formed by two 1,050 ft (320 M) steep high peaks in the shape of an huge gate, hence its name. The highest peak of Cangshan Mountain, Malong Peak, creates this amazing gorge with the Snow Stream that flows through the gorge creating 119 waterfalls and pools along its path. This historical gorge witnessed the southern expedition of Kublai Khan, the founding emperor of the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368)

The Shimenguan gorge is home to Bai ethnic Families still living like the times of Kublai Khan.

A local beauty enjoys the magnificent sight of Shimenguan.

The Geothermic Kingdom of Hot Springs is the largest hot springs in Asia, and may be the most beautiful. Set in a valley surrounded by mountains, and so big you could get lost inside; there are pools of all temperatures and sizes, pools shaped like giant hands, pools with caves, pools filled with skin purifying milk, and one that claims to cleanse your heart and soul. An hours drive out of Dali.

Dali, Yunnan, China

Erhai Lake crescents the valley and can be seen from Cangshan Mountain through and between the numerous canyons.  The lake is dotted with thousand year old Bai villages that continue to function as they have for all of the past centuries.

Viewing Erhai Lake and the famous Dali Three Pagodas through Canyons on Cangshan Mountain.  The thousand year old Bai villages around the lake are so friendly, yet most visitors only experience the touristy villages.

Old Dali with Peach Tree Blossoms in December, 2010.  The colors of the Peach Blossoms consume the eye palette and bring one into a state of pleasant nirvana.

The Butterfly Spring Park in Old Dali is rarely seen by tourists.  This hidden secret amoungst the locals makes the park an escape to peace and tranquility.

Old Dali and it’s unforgettable Cangshan Mountain with 18 Canyons and waterfalls is so easily accessable.

Dali Guide to contact for tours:
Yang Qing
Ph#  +86 13577268401
Email:   yang661983@gmail.com

Teng Chong, Yunnan, China

Tengchong, an new center for Green Tourism or Eco-tourism travel.

In western Yunnan, China on the Burma border TengChong county has 23 nationalities, most predominately the Han, Dai, Hui, A’chang, Lisu and Bai. During the “New Stone Age” people lived in this fertile valley and evolved into the early Han Dynasty state called “Dianyue” or “Elephant Riding State”. TengChong was a major stopover, supply, and resting place for the southern Silk Road traders in silk, tea and highly prized jade.

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/silk-road/southern-route.htm

Tengchong has been a frontier protection zone for China through many time periods but played a key role in the “Anti-Japanese War”, or what is more widely known as WWII. During this time period the Tengchong people and main Chinese army joined forces with the American Air force, the so called “Flying Tigers”,  who were flying what is called the “Burma Hump” to expel the Japanese. Therefore, Tengchong people and American have a long and enlightened history together. Today Tengchong is still a destination for the “Flying Tigers” and their descendents who fondly remember, working shoulder to shoulder together, to rescue and save many the crashed American high flyers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Tigers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hump

TengChong has always also been a very famous retreat for artist, philosophers and religious thought and practice, principally Buddhism and Taoism. It is a place and people who prize for themselves and their guest moderation, and hospitality.

http://www.megaessays.com/essay_search/Taoism_Buddhism.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoism

Today, Tengchong is the center of cultural and natural tourism.  Equally, now seven 5 star resorts are finished or nearing completion. It now has a golf resort, a number of very well furnished hot spring retreats and spas and plans for more in the near future. It has a new completely modern airport and the new “freeway style” road is scheduled to be completed by 2012. It is the gateway to the NuJaing River and it is planned to be a gate way into Burma, it is hoped, soon. Downtown Tengchong in 2010, is under complete renovation, which according to current Chinese national development standards, will be finished so very soon, perhaps in one year or so.

A view looking west of the TengChong Valley from Gaoligonshan Mountains.

September-October 2009

The Tengchong valley has a unique geological history that provides for it’s very rich soils. The  “volcano barrier waterfall” pictured below was an intrusion that stopped up the Tengchong river for a time.  A large lake built up behind this “volcanic barrier” and deposited very fertile sediments that almost filled in the lake. Eventually and slowly bit by bit the lake water overtopped the volcanic intrusion allowing the river to flow toward the south again. The lake drained bit by bit leaving behind the rich sediments for agriculture and now only the so called small marshy lake called “north sea” or more properly Baihai Lake Wetlands is all that is left of the original lake that filled the entire valley. This agricultural fertility stimulated the TengChong vallies early settlement and is one of the primary reasons for it’s importance today.

This waterfalls in virtually in downtown Tengchong and now the center of a 5 star commercial development. October 2010

The “Charming Ancient Town of Heshun” is one of the major tourist attractions and is the famous home town of many overseas Chinese. May 2010

The “Lil Dog” of Heshun-Guards the town today. Please do not disturb the tranquility here. 2009

Mystical school girls climbs the stairs of Laifeng Forest Park Hill in downtown Teng Chong.

The Hot Sea Tour and Resort
Is in a deep and mysterious canyons with many pools, geysers, and steam vents and is about 10km to the southeast of town on a paved road. There are many accommodations and healthful baths found in this region.

It’s called Hot Sea, OK?

Yufeng Mountain

Yunfeng Mountain,  a shrine for Taoist is 60km northwest of Teng Chong and has a cable way half way up to the top.

“Tabacco Drying Tower”,  Village life at the foot of Yunfeng Mountain. September 2009

Cherry Blossom Valley Hot Springs – A Natural Canyon Hideaway
This is one of the best trips from TengChong for the nature lover and hiker has rustic accommodations and good food available. This canyon is located in the Gaolingshan Mountain nature reserve  and has “many pink wild cherry blossoms everywhere in the valley…falls gushing from the steeps of the mountainside swiftly drop down like flying dragons…the drips splash in all directions like pearls…” What beautiful local language. The reader can go and judge for themselves if it is all true. Cherry Blossom Valley is about 20km east of TengChong 20km along a cobble stone road.

“Jade-dragon like flying falls” and a “a natural oxygen bar”, and also, what would be a tourist area without a few local “canyon beauties” to spice up the views?

Tengchong Water Bufflo to market in late September 2011

Gaoligonshan Mountains

These mountains are called locally by many names, green labyrinth, green gene storehouse, spontaneous museum,natural arboretum, a shelter for rare plants and animals. It is ranked as a class ‘A’ nature reserve by the World wildlife Fund in 1992.

http://www.globaltrees.org/bigtree_rhododendron.htm

These mountains produce some of the finest and most highly prized teas of China. This is a photograph of a shaded tea producing grove especially made for the cultivation of Japanese tea counisers  of the finest taste requirements. some tea trees here are many hundreds of years old and there is so much demand for their produce that the trees can hardly keep up.  so some of the teas from this volcanic mountains can be perhaps the most expensive in the world, it is said.

Yunnan is a treasure land of China for developing the tea industry. All the tea-producing areas of the province are located at elevations from 1,200 to 2,000 meters. The annual mean temperature ranges from 12°C to 23°C, effective annual heat accumulation is between 4,500°C and 7,000°C, and annual rainfall is 1,000-1,900mm. The monsoon season is concentrated in May through October, during which the rainfall constitutes about 85% of that of the whole year. The  monsoon coincides with the hottest months, and there is a very high value of effective rainfall. In the dry season which starts in November and ends in April, There are sufficient sunny day. There is adequate sunshine, and the tea trees have a long growth period. Under normal conditions, the tea-leaf plucking period may last for 8 to 9 months. The tea-growing areas are generally covered with red, yellow of brick-red soils with the pH value ranging between 4 to 6. Comparing with other major tea producing countries, the climate of Yunnan is more suitable for growing tea trees. Therefore, Yunnan has rich varieties of tea trees and excellent tea species.

This history is so interesting 4 links are provided for the reader to enjoy the extensive history and this cultural resource to humanity:

http://www.tuochatea.com/history_of_yunnan_tea.htm

http://www.tibettravel.info/chamdo/tea-horse-road/history.html

http://www.tuochatea.com/ancient_tea_horse_road.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_tea_route

Rice Harvest in Mangbang 30km east along the main road from TengChong. This is an exceptionally beautiful terraced canyon/valley that never sees any tourist. So the local people do not know quite how to respond to visitors.
Maybe some day it will be fitful for tourist and a tourist attraction like some other major terrace complexes elsewhere in Yunnan, China and southeast Asia. If hospitality is provided to visitors, then tourism will very likely benefit the local economy much.

“Great to hear that you are putting Laotian Canyons on the world map and introducing new words to Sanskrit dictionaries in South east Asia.”

“It would be a bit presumptuous for us to put any new words in the Sanskrit dictionary, but we were told by local authorities there was no word for canyon in the Laotian dictionary. What I have found world wide over the past 25 years is that there is often not any geographical distinction between Canyon and Mountain topography. In this, new discoveries and new concepts can emerge. Can anyone advise us of a word in the Laotian or Sanskrit languages for canyon?” Richard D. Fisher May 5, 2010

“Journey to a Paradise Found”

by Luisa Hommerich

Whomever wants to feel the enchantment of a small paradise called Muang Ngoi Neua has to go there by river. No road ever carried any friend, foe or foreigner to the little village on the Nam Ou River in the North of Laos.
Just board in Nong Khiaw and the journey begins.

A Sea of Green.

Countryside of dreams.

Eco and Cultural tourism at it’s best.

Family Tropical lifestyles.

Childhood pleasures.

Karst topography of the Nam Ou River Canyon.

Even Lao water buffalo have itchy noses and find a way to scratch them and brown nosing is a worldwide tradition?

After leaving the high-season hustles of touristy Luang Prabang, the experience of floating along the river towards Muang Ngoi in a long pointed motor barge may be like a catharsis. Observing children playing jolly games at the banks, buffalos protruding their heads out of the water, while sensing the fresh winds and the pounding of the waves might inspire contemplation, an exercise of calmness, or even meditation.

Or, as in our case, the little boat might get so stuffed with young sun-tanned adventurers that it seesaws like being on the brink of capsizing.

You might have to persevere on hard, hurting wooden banks for one long hour, crammed together like sardines in a can. The dressy Italians in front of you might twist their mouths askew as you touch them with your legs accidentally, due to shortage of space.

Though, as the boat lands in Muang Ngoi, the squeeze is quickly forgotten. The green of the giant karst mountains fills up our thirsty senses. Palm trees caress the simple dirt road, the river winds through the valley in beautiful loops, pleasing the eyes. Tranquility immediately saturates the visitor’s mind.

For centuries, life in Muang Ngoi had been only affected by the gentle pace of the river. Fishing for dinner, panning river stones hoping for gold, spending hard days on the paddy rice field were activities which had given life its daily frame, its traditional routine.

Still in the afternoon, people take their daily refreshing bath in the river after finishing work here. Still, every evening, they observe the shadow of the mountains languorously bowing over their scattered huts and homes.

With one tiny difference: Muang Ngoi today is a prime example for the development of positive tourism in rural regions in Laos.

It had all began about ten years ago. Besides flotsam and jetsam, stones and fishes, the river one day also carried the first strangers ashore. Pale, mammoth foreigners with huge Jack-Wolfskin backpacks and soul stealing Olympus cameras stranded at the shallow banks of the Nam Ou in search of their personal paradise.

The first encounters with the visitors must have been strange. Different worlds may have collided, paradigms may have clashed. “Is this going to work out?” the village elder may have asked himself.

After some years, people got used to it. Restaurants and Guesthouses nowadays decorate the little road like colorful oddities and have become the inhabitant’s main source of income.

Quietly and constantly, tourism has brought Muang Ngoi income over the years.

Once being an adventurous insider tip, this sleepy patch of earth has finally developed into a relaxing waypoint at the Lao banana-pancake-trail.

Even so it is remarkable how the tourist growth seems to nestle into the peacefulness of the village, how harmoniously the pancake smell contrasts the fragrances of coriander and sticky rice.

A misty day, the mountains loom in a distance, covered with green velvet.
Clouds gather at the blue grey sky, subtly threatening.

It is in the air: The rainy season, insistently adjured by the Lao with New Year water ceremonies and rocket festivals beforehand, is about to return.

The mountains will be washed clean and will be given their lushness back. The grey and blue Nam Ou will be churned up and will rediscover a healthy reddish earth brown, ending as well the touristy high season.

In Khamla’s restaurant, mother, grandmother and daughter are sitting already well sheltered under a bamboo roof, peeling carrots, waiting for the rain. “With the time we found out more and more what foreigners like to eat”, says the mother, pointing proudly at the English menu. “Now we can make a living on running this restaurant.”

In the shelf, unchilled chocolate bars melt in their plastic wrappings. The village does not have electricity yet. A whiteboard advertises “Muesli with Fruits and Yoghurt”. They have learned all these tricks from Luang Prabang, have imported all these products from Vientiane.

In the night, the first thunderstorm of the year devours Muang Ngoi. I go outside, disturbed in my dreams, and the brutal beauty of the storm hits me like a slap in my face. Lightening perfuses the sky like white spectral veins. For instances, it creates negative images of the karst landscape. The central mountain looks even more stunning for the blink of an eye – a monstrous black outline cut into a white rainy sky.

The rainy season just arrived. Now the stream of visitors will be cut off a bit. The original village life will recapture Muang Ngoi now.

In Muang Ngoi, which never had any road access, there is one single car now. Some months ago someone had firmly claimed that a car would be somehow useful to cultivate the village’s rice fields. So they got a pickup from Luang Prabang. One man was on the wheel, thirty on the back, bushwhacking all the way to Muang Ngoi through the jungle with machetes for hours and hours.

The first rain just fell, and now that the rice planting period is about to come, the villagers of Muang Ngoi will try out their new four-wheeled trophy of modern spirit to plant their traditional source of living. It is just one of the fruits of an ambivalent miracle named tourism in Laos.

We bid a half million “kip” ( 60 USD) for this prime riverside property, and are still waiting to see if our offer is accepted.

The lineup of the usual, beautiful, eco tourism suspects crammed like sardines in a can, we motor up the river in our long pointed narrow wooden barge bobbing back and forth.

Slash and burn agriculture dominates the local tropical rainforest, the house used
to guard the maturing crops from raiding wild life is newly constructed..

Canyon beauty of the Nam Ou River Gorge..

The “Huck Finn” family of the Nam Ou River playing in the tropical aquatic paradise.

This girl’s smile reflects her inner spiritual happiness and not the dangerous and difficult job of panning for Gold in the middle of the river.

The “Grand Canyon” of Laos, as a new discovery of canyon topography.

The author: Luisa Hommerich entertains on our river trip with her vast knowledge of eco and cultural tourism of Laos.

You will notice the brilliant red-stained teeth and lips of the local women. Betel nut is the cause. Green betel nut is a nut that grows in the tropical climates of South East Asia and is popular in the South Pacific Islands. It is chewed as part of social occasions or as a part of everyday life. Betel nut has a mild stimulant effect and in addition to reasons of tradition local people chew it for stress reduction, heightened awareness, and suppression of hunger.

Akha in Northern Laos

The Akha in Laos are concentrated in the higher areas of the high plateau of Phongsaly (close to the Black River and Vietnam) and Luang Namtha Province (bordering Sipsongpanna, Burma, and the Mekong River) interspersed with Mien, Hmong, Khmu, Htin, Lisu, and Lahu. Some were displaced during the Vietnam war, in which they were involved in fighting the Americans or the CIA Hmong groups led by Vang Pao, and in conflicts between the Pathet Lao groups (Dassé, 1976; Cooper and Tapp, 1991). People calling themselves Akha in Laos are called, in Lao, I-ko or Kha Ko. Other names given by outsiders include: Puli, Pussang, Oepa, Oema, and Kopien. The number of Akha in Laos can be estimated conservatively to be between 92,000-100,000, but might well be higher (Lao UNESCO Committee, 1996; Duy Thieu, 1996).

Akha women wear the wealth of their families as coins on their colorful daily dress. Akha also have no written language and make up for it with very animated verbal communication.

The Akha

In the last 200 years the Kor or Iko (preferably called the Akha) have relocated to Laos , China , Vietnam , Thailand and Burma . They came from Kuaichao and Yunnan (modern day China ) to escape war and to cultivate the land. This traditional hill tribe has a population of just over 90,000 in Laos alone; they count over 15 different sub groups. The Akha have no written language, therefore communication becomes highly important. Akha men can usually recite their genealogies 60 generations back! This ability is what has helped link clans together over five nations.

The Akha usually live in remote valleys near mountain tops, 1000 meters above sea level and higher.
They mainly grow rice, maize and cotton. Some sub groups are known to grow indigo, vegetables, peanuts, sesame, and soybean. During the month of December the new cotton is spun into thread for the women to make crafts. Jewellery for the traditional headdresses, clothing, and neck-rings are (or rather used to be) made by the Akha men. Unfortunately traditional handicraft-making is steadily decreasing, as particularly Akha women have to work extremely hard and long hours which lets them prefer to buy cheap imports (plastic and aluminium goods) rather than making handicrafts by themselves. Increasingly, handicraft-making is seen as a necessity for poor families (the vast majority of Akha are extremely poor) who cannot afford to buy the imports.

As the menu shows, the Muang Ngoi people have learned that the tourists enjoy free range meats.

The Nam Ou meets the mighty Mekong at the ancient capital and modern tourism center of Luang Prabang.

On the Nam Khan River, the elephant Keo enjoys her daily swim with her girlfriend, Maria and her care taker, Chanty.

Photography by Maria Gates & Richard D. Fisher

Lost Canyons of Central Asia

By Richard D. Fisher and Maria Gates
with Fan Xuejiao

March 2010

The deepest canyons on earth which are located in the eastern rim of the Tibetan Plateau are experiencing tremendous evolutionary changes. Since 1986 our non-profit organization, Wilderness Expeditions Ltd. has been documenting these changes. Now with the rise of China the changes are escalating at breath taking speed. Here is our first installment detailing these changes first hand and for the first time.

Chapter 1

Lancang Jiang/Mekong River Gorge

On the way to the Mekong we pass the famous “Great Bend” of the Yangzi River which now has an over look for tourists. The name for this place in Chinese language is the “Moon Turn”.

Mt. Meili Snow Mountain, also know as Mt. Kawakarpo, the highest peak at 22,112 ft. (6,740m) in Yunnan Province forms the western rim of the Mekong Gorge. Mingyong Glacier which was 12km at length in 2007 is shrinking fast and is closely monitored.

Famous peach blossoms of the Tibetan Plateau signify the beginning of spring March 2010.

Yanjing Ancient Salt Terraces of the southeastern plateau created by salt springs.  Into ancient times up until 100 years ago Yanjing’s wealth grew incredibly because this was the only source for life sustaining salt in Yunnan and surrounding areas.

The salt pans
Salt mining has been the main industry in Yanjing for a very long time. There are no written records of when it all started but there were references to wars started due to disputes over salt resources in this region. Yanjing’s salt-mining technique is unique as it capitalizes on the long hours of sunshine and strong wind along the Mekong River (Lancang Jiang)  to dry the brine.

The salt pans are along a curve of the Mekong River (Lancang Jiang), clinging to the hillside. The reason that the pans are concentrated near the bend is the strong wind generated as the river flows south around the bend. These are multiple levels of wooden platforms covered with dry clay and supported by round wooden stilts. There are supposedly around 3,000 such platforms, each measuring about 5m by 8m on both sides of the river. The sides of the platforms are about six inches high and this is where the brine is spread out to be evaporated leaving behind layers of salt crystal.

The brine is collected from a few wells on the river bank, dug a few meters onto the river bed. Apparently this is the only place in the world where salt is collected from river brine; all the other salt fields are either from sea or lake brine. Farmers collect water from the salt wells in wooden barrels carried on their backs. These are emptied into salt ponds in their own courtyards and left there to allow the brine to concentrate. The brine is then poured onto salt pans where the water is evaporated by a combination of hot sun and wind- it takes 2-5 days to dry, depending on the facing of the pans against the wind.

There are different qualities of salt being produced here. The top layer of the salt collected is the best quality, normally for human consumption. For some unknown reasons, the salt produced from brine on one side of the river is red while that on the other side is white. Hence the villages on the banks are also known as White and Red Yanjing respectively.

Salt is produced all year round, though the busiest months are during spring when the wind conditions allow the brine to dry faster. There are lesser activities in the summer months due to the frequent rain.

The Population – Culture Diversity
Yanjing town is divided into two parts- Lower Yanjing and Upper Yanjing about 5 km apart. Lower Yanjing appears to be the “original” settlement while Upper Yanjing which is further north is newer with a higher population.  The salt pans are situated between the two settlements but the cliffs are so steep that the river and the salt pans along a stretch of the river cannot be seen from the towns at all.
Lower Yanjing has a huge Naxi population, equaling that of the Tibetans; this is the biggest Naxi settlement in the whole of Tibet. The Naxi’s are generally farmers who live and farm higher up the gorge whereas most, if not all of the salt “farmers” are Tibetans. The Naxi’s here are distinctly different from their more numerous compatriots in Yunnan. The Yunnan Naxi’s speak a Naxi language and are Tibetan Buddhists. In fact all of the population of Lower Yanjing is Buddhists.
Upper Yanjing is slightly different. Around 80% of the population is Catholic, brought to this part of Tibet in 1855 by two French missionaries. Catholic faith flourished around here but never quite spread to other parts of Tibet (except on the other side of the Meili Mountains along the Nujiang but within Yunnan). One can often see a local Tibetan donning a crucifix on his chest but apart from that, the Catholic Tibetans do not look any different.

These facts are provided to us by our Tibetan Guides

Loading the small yet enduring plateau ponies for salt transport through the remote canyonlands.

The Tibetan women harvesting wheat for their village work with smiles and laughter.

In Yanjing, all of the above chores are performed by the womenfolk. Only when salt is collected on the pan, is it the men’s turn to collect the salt into bags and transport by mules and ponies to higher up the river gorge to be sold.

Red Salt Terraces

During the spring months, the salt acquires a slightly reddish tinge as a result of the flowering season and the wind conditions; this is supposedly higher quality salt and is known as Peach Salt.

Pure Saltcicles are formed by the salted brine liquid trickling down the inside of the straw shaped saltcicles and forming drops at the bottom of the straw shape to increase the length.

Miss Fan, our beloved, critically needed and most useful student translator, crosses the Yanjing Salt Terraces Bridge

Salt Workings almost ready for harvesting.

Gateway to the great wilderness of the Mekong Gorge Narrows.

Trapped in the canyon by hundreds of rock slides. The following is an email sent just after this time period.

Dearest Family and Friends,

So sorry not to have responded to your so kind emails.

We have been trapped in a canyon in a survival situation for the past week. Very bad conditions with landslides coming down all around including on top of our vehicle. Due to our wonderful driver and the grace of god we survived.

Please send any and all messages right away as we will be moving again in a day or so.

Love you so much,

Richard and Maria

Life goes on despite harsh conditions. The Chinese script on the motorcycle windscreen reads “guest welcome”.

Photo safari to the construction site of the first Hydroelectric project across the Mekong River.

Our Team at the beginning of Canyonlands documentary March 2010.

Comments welcome and appreciated.

Look for our next chapter update on the Nu Jaing-Dulong Canyons in late May 2010 at www.canyonlovers.com