He who never tries never knows, and when we stroll past a young Chinese hitchiker who wants to improve his English what better chance is there to explore the world of free transportation. Despite the fact that we are attempting a mere 25km, a blip on our friends epic 2200km to Lhasa, the forbidden city in Tibet, the 3 of us walk and talk for an hour or so sticking out our thumbs and best smiles with each passing vehicle. We are excited and surprised when someone slows down not only to gaze at the white folk but also to offer us a ride, except that they are headin in a different direction, 'They go to big ice' sighs our no-named friend as they pull off. 'What?' we both exclaim as we explain to him that our destination Mingyong is in fact the areas glacier, oops.

Within a short space of time a van halts alongside us, and with enough space to take us the 20km to the ticket booth we climb aboard. As usual you cannot see the goods without paying the entrance fee, so the ticket office is still a few mountain curves and a 6km mission from the office. The fee is a little crazy at 85 Yuan but not in comparison to the same fee in order for you to attempt a 2 day hike to a remote village in the opposite direction. The heat is intense despite that you're are about to encounter Chinas lowest 'big ice' at 2300m, within 3km we manage to hitch up to a second ticket booth, just in case you have managed to paraglide over the first.

Enveloped by trees you begin a 2 hour walk (300m up) via slim muddy pathways made all the more slippy by large quantities of mule crap. Of course there is the option to rent an ass to haul your ass up the hillside, of course there is. But this is also a pilgrimage site and it is not uncommon to see groups of elderly ladies, giggling amongst themsleves with their miniature prayer wheels a spinning, the red fabric unwinding itself from their hair as they throw a rock onto the pilgrimage stone pyramids.

You know youv'e reached your destination when the trees part to reveal an avalanche of prayer flags. There are patient mules munching on grass and a basic hut that sells instant noodles, all set upon a backdrop of a spiny white glacier. Wanting to reach closer and closer you delicately push amongst the flags and forestry in what is the most beautiful and soothing part of the hike until you can go no further. No further happens to be a bridge that used to lead to the glacier but has been left unrepaired by the same people who have built two offices with which to make sure you have payed your fee. What a cliché. There is a sign which says 'Danger of Avalanche', but merely just means danger of neglect, whats worse is that the glacier is partially blocked by the lookout post you cannot reach. Settling further back the views are sublime once more and the beauty of grand scenery is once again spiritualised by the presence of the prayers lined up on the colourful flags. The sun pours through the few patches of clue sky to ignite the 12 km long glacier that is retreating at an average of 50 meters per year. See it now is my only advice, as traditional China slowly slips under construction so does this sight retreat to the Mekong river below.

Theres still the long route back to consider and as we refuse a mini van for 150 yuan it begins to rain, pac-a-mac to the rescue once more, wrapped around our day bags while wearing the hood, very stylish. With no luck hitchhiking we stroll the 6km back to the ticket office marvelling at the slow disappearance of the ice field, the beautiful villages that scatter the steep hillsides and their accompanying vineyards and small farms. Prue especially is in her element and the hour slips by as we follow the course of the glacier river until it joins the muddy Mekong.We realise that we are beginning to run low on daylight hours and continue hiking up out of the valley as we keep a keen lookout for hitching potentials or mini vans while also looking at plan B options of shelter should night fall catch us up. Taking breaks from the height gain we rest our shoulders and legs by sitting on the side of the winding road and watching the scenery reappear from behind clouds. As dire as our situation seems with less than an hour of sunlight left we are calm and content when all of a sudden a minivan stops beside us. We are invited inside by a Korean who has chartered the ride, earlier on while hiking we had crossed paths and given him encouragement on how much more hiking he had to go. Our spirits soared along with our vehicle who mounted the steep valley with little more ease than ourselves. But we summited in perfect timing as for a short time the company of mountains were cloudless and we could finally see the immense peak of Meili (also known as Kawa Karpo) at 6740m in the most picturesque and dramatic setting. What a perfect ending to our month in Yunnan who has rewarded us time and time again. We intended to take another trek while based here in the north but we see no gain from all we have already experienced, but our 2 nights were more than worth the return trip from Shangri la. From now on we are en route to Sichuan, but first a few 5000m passes to cross.