Tsebho above left & Gonpo above right
The "Yarlong Monkeys" cousins Tsebho and Gompo were brought up as nomads in Aba prefecture, in Amdo Tibet, and then later spent time in India, Qinghai and Gansu. Now based in Zhongdian (Shangri-la County) with over 20 combined years' of experience guiding general and specialist research/media treks and road trips, you'll rarely meet a more resourceful or knowledgeable couple of folks.
Adrian Bostock left
Born and raised in the interior of British Columbia, Canada, Adrian grew up on a steady diet of mountains and lakes. He has been knocking around Yunnan since 2001, cycling, hiking, bar-tending and recovering from said activities.In 2001-2002 he cycle-toured through Cambodia and Vietnam, part of Laos, and Yunnan. In the summer of 2003 he spent two months in Mongolia cycling, before returning to Yunnan via the Sichuan-Tibet Highway. In the winter of 2004-2005 he spent five months trail riding and touring around Yunnan, laying the ground work for
Kham Spokes.
Eric Mortensen right
One of the patron saints of Haiwei Trails... Having acquired a PhD from Harvard in raven divination rituals from Mongolia to Tibet, Eric has been in and out of this area since 1990, including 2 years spent tramping nomad country in eastern Tibet. A Tibet specialist who speaks both Lhasa and nomadic Tibetan dialects, his knowledge has gone a long way to informing HWT’s forays into the Tibetan landscapes and cultures.
Ashu above
Coming from the Hui minority village of Haba, south of Zhongdian in the foothills of Haba Snow Mountain, Ashu started off as a general all-about camp hand. Now, by dint of youthful scrappiness and enthusiasm as well as a steadily increasing reservoir of conversational English, he's worked his way up to lead guide on trails traversing his home stomping ground, often doubling up as personal chef, for smaller groups.
Adong near left
One of the two lead drivers, who heads the team on the majority of our 4WD trips. A member
of the Naxi minority from the Weixi area in NW Yunnan, though now living
in Zhongdian, he started driving logging trucks at the age of 15 - an indispensable
apprenticeship to being a good driver in these parts! A superb driver well
experienced in taking care of the needs of his passengers.
Nongbu above right
Our other lead driver, Nongbu is a Tibetan from a small village north
of Zhongdian. Like Yang Dong, he cut his teeth driving huge logging trucks
on some of the worst tracks in the region. Similarly experienced in looking
after his passengers, both Nongbu and Yang Dong are without doubt the best
drivers we’ve seen. They’re appreciated by all our clients as
good people to know and we’ve been working together now for the best
part of 7 years.
Aku left
An Yi minority, Aku hails from the outback of Ninglang , NE of Lijiang. After leaving university he taught English for a year before escaping the classroom to take up guiding, his true love. Being a fit and healthy type, he specialises in guiding treks. Superb spoken English with which to convey the mine of information about the area stored in his head, he's a natural guide with a keen interest in opening up new trails.
Whereby it's difficult to convey the staggering complexity (!) of all the characters involved in the work at Haiwei Trails, the following introduces
you to those at the heart of operations.