The loneliest road in China

Sat, 02/18/2012 - 06:00 — Anonymous by Kit GilletWang Wenxin, my
61-year-old guide, slows to a halt.  The midday sun is now high in the sky
and we have already been walking for five hours, sometimes following clear
signs of the 1,000-year-old paved road, at other times carefully trying to
trace the correct route among the trees and streams. It's not an easy task.
Once an important supply route for caravans of mules carrying exotic goods to
and from southwestern China, the ancient trail we have been following for
close to a week through Yunnan's Gaoligong Mountains has long been
superseded by other roads. Now largely abandoned and unkempt, its paving
stones are long overgrown with grass or are missing completely. Trees lie
strewn across the path and few markers can be seen that hint at the rich
history of the road.read more