A Touch of Tibet at the Entrance to Shika Snow Mountain 石卡雪山
When I was planning my trip to Yunnan, I naturally consulted with my trusty Lonely Planet China book, I made the decision to start from the north of Yunnan and work my way south to the capital. So far so good. However, there was a mountain that I wished to visit. The name was Meili Snow Mountain. I would have been a great adventure to go there but it was quite far and not to mention, quite high as well. Since I was travelling alone, I had second thoughts about visiting the place, although there were some tourists in my dorm room who were visiting, it would require a lot of physical effort on my side. I don’t know if they will be carrying me if I happen to faint from altitude sickness, okay, they probably would, but I didn’t really want to take any chances.
Visitor’s Center at Shika Snow Mountain 石卡雪山
I ended up foregoing that chance and instead settled for a more convenient trip to Shika Snow Mountain. The Shika Snow Mountain isn’t as holy as Meili Snow Mountain but it supposedly has great views of the surrounding area. My driver and I entered the grounds. I had to pay for my entrance while he got a free pass, though he needed to convince the staff that he was a local since they weren’t that familiar with him. Somehow, the entrance fee was lower than what was advertised, I didn’t question that though and just went in. There wasn’t much to see from the visitor’s center as the top of the mountain was shrouded in clouds, doesn’t look good. Maybe it would be much clearer on the top like other mountains I have visited. It was still early in the day and there weren’t a lot of visitors, yet.
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