SOURCE OF THE IRRAWADDY AND GORGE COUNTRY

In the Steps of F. M. Bailey and F. Kingdon-Ward

TAMOTSU NAKAMURA

1999 was a year of bitter experiences indeed. It had been a long incubating idea for us, a group of elderly explorers, to trace the footsteps of F. M. Bailey in 1911 and F. Kingdon-Ward in 1911 — 13. Bailey was the first westerner to have crossed the gorge country and reached Assam (India) from China. Our plan was to enter the source of the Irrawaddy from the forbidden Zayul County in SE Tibet adjacent to the border of Arunachal Pradesh in India and north Myanmar, and then traverse the three river gorges of the upper Salween, Mekong and Yangtze rivers. The main objectives were a quest for mountains in the headwaters of the Irrawaddy river and unveiling of unknown glaciated snow peaks over 6000 m in the heart of the Baxoila Ling range. We departed from Deqen in Yunnan at the end of May. Before arriving at Zayul, however, we got to know that our travel agent had not obtained a special permit for us to travel through the area strictly prohibited to foreigners. Our illegal entry caused serious trouble. The Public Security Bureau arrested us near Lhasa. The Chinese authorities imposed a high penalty on us.

But my dream to go to the source of the Irrawaddy had never faded. I resumed hatching my plan to visit the forbidden country in spite of the notorious SARS epidemic- in China. In the summer of 2003 we were granted a permit from the Army and Public Security Bureau for our projected route. The main objectives were:-

Photos 63 to 70, Fold-outs 4-7-8

1. Looking for mountains at the source of the Irrawaddy river in the Southeast Tibet.
2. Comparing Bailey's footsteps and his observations with the current situation.
3. Crossing of the five rivers: Brahmaputra, Irrawaddy, Salween, Mekong and Yangtze.
4. Gathering current information on the isolated borderland: Ridong and Mengkung.
5. Having a view of the unknown peaks, Mukong snow mountain in Baxoila Ling range.
6. Travelling together with pilgrims around the sacred Kawagebo in the year of sheep.

The Headwaters of the Irrawaddy river

The Irrawaddy river, which is one of the great rivers in Asia, runs from the extreme north of Myanmar and from the Hengduan mountains in West China generally southward and empties into the Andaman Sea. The Irrawaddy's sources separate two rivers, the Mali Kha in the west and the Nmai Kha in the east, which rises in southeast Tibet. They flow parallel southward to unite at the junction 45 km north of Myitkyina ('near great water') of Myanmar. Irrawaddy means 'a river of elephant' in Hindi. The overall river length is 2150 km. It ranks 12th among the world's 50 largest rivers if the river length, whole area of river basin and annual discharge at the river mouth are all taken into account. Annual discharge of the Irrawaddy is the 10th largest in the world.

Nmai Kha changes its name to Drung Jiang (Jiang is 'river') in China. River length of the Drung Jiang is 178.6 km, 86.9 km in Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) and 91.7 km in Yunnan Province. On the east bank, Baxoila Ling range of 4000 — 5000 m forms a watershed with Nu Jiang (Salween river). In the west, the Dandalika range of 3600 — 4000 m, which is the China-Myanmar border, forms a watershed with Mali Kha. valleys are deep and mountains are high. The region is a mostly isolated part of the gorge country.

Nmai Kha is longer than Mali Kha in terms of river length. Therefore, if we define the one true source of the Irrawaddy, the entitlement has to be honoured to Nmai Kha and consequently it should be understood that the source is located in the headwaters of Drung Jiang which is the main stream of Nmai Kha. So, where is the true source?

Drung Jiang separates into two major streams, northeastward and northwestward, at E: 98°05'24" & N: 28°17'37" in Zayul County of TAR, only 8 km far to the China-Myanmar border. The east river is Ridong He (He is 'river') and the west river is Jida Qu (Qu is 'water'). Jida Qu changes its name to Gada Qu above Jida village.

Which is the main stream to the true source, Ridong He or Jida Qu/ Gada Qu? Published information and my observations during my journey in October 2003 would hopefully help us to clear doubts on the controversial issue.

I have two books on the rivers of China, International Rivers of China and Chinese Water System Dictionary, both of which have been published in China, but there is a contradiction inbetween the two books on the source of the Irrawaddy.

The former describes that Nmai Kha (Drung Jiang) is the main stream of the Irrawaddy, it rises from the eastern slope of Mt. Raiala (5298 m) in Baxoila Ling range of Zayul County, and that the river is called Ridong He, the east river flowing down through Ridong village. The latter says that the main upper stream of Drung Jiang is Jida Qu, the west river and it rises from mountains of Baxoila Ling in Chubagong district of Zayul County.

We must pay attention to those who entered the region in early times too. As far as I know, the explorers who made an access with an interest in geography were only three, Jacques Bacot (1909), F. M. Bailey (1911), and Frank Kingdon-Ward (1930-31). Although no specific records such as accurate maps and photographs to verify the true source are available, their observations are invaluable even today. The following is a narrative of F. M. Bailey's journey in 1911.

As is seen above, Bacot thought that the headwaters of Ridong He was the source of the Irrawaddy river, Bailey and Kingdon-Ward concluded that the Jida Qu — Gada Qu led to the true source. Kingdon- Ward entered from Burma having crossed Namni la and was stationed at Jida village near Jida Qu (Kingdon-Ward's Lokong Chu), but did not reach Ridong He (Kingdon-Ward's Kalaw Chu). He would not have been able to compare water discharges of the two rivers. The question remained.

In 1993 a young American came with a French photographer and Chinese interpreter to quest and go down Drung Jiang. They were arrested at Ridong and expelled after detention of several days at the China Peoples Liberation Army's garrison. At that time the American accessed a glaciated mountain in the source, but his description is very ambiguous, as no maps and photographs are attached in his book, Yak Butter & Black Tea, A Journey into Forbidden China, Wade Brackenbury, North Carolina, 1997.

Which should be the true source, the headwaters of Ridong He or that of Jida Qu — Gada Qu? Since no detailed survey report of the Chinese authority rests with me, I am unable to come to any conclusion. In closing, however, I mention my personal opinion on this issue. The headwaters of both the Ridong He and Jida Qu — Gada Qu are located close to each other, within only 18 km from east to west according to the Russian topographical map of 1:200,000. Both of them rise from untrodden mountains 5200 — 5500 m of Baxoila Ling and run southward. Such factors as the northernmost location and the shortest distance to the watersheds of three rivers of Lohit (Brahmaputra), Irrawaddy and Salween might possibly be taken into consideration for evaluation. If the said standard was accepted, mountains of a peak called Rulong Xueshan 5525 m and range to a peak 5240 m in the headwaters of Jida Qu — Gada Qu could be recognised to be the true source of the Irrawaddy. The source is located northernmost and closest to the junction of the three watersheds.

Zayul to the Lohit (Brahmaputra) Irrawaddy Divide

Early morning on 8 October 2003 we left Rawu (3900 m) for Dema la 4700 m, a pass on Lohit-Tsangpo Divide,which is a gateway to Zayul County in the southernmost corner of Tibet. Rawu is a base to enter the Kangri Garpo East where magnificent Ruoni 6882 m, Kingdon-Ward's Chombo, that remains as the highest unclimbed peak in East Tibet and dominates so proudly. The other untouched 6000 m summits range from Ruoni to northwest. They are breathtakingly stunning.

The landscape changes on the watershed. To the west a colourless Tibetan plateau spreads while to the east a U-shape valley, headwaters of the Lohit river, the upper Brahmaptura river (Chinese name: Zayul Qu — Sang Qu) appear. We now entered Zayul, a forbidden country strictly closed to foreigners. Along Sang Qu we drove down a valley of yellow autumn leaves and beautiful conifer trees to a junction with an old trade path that leads to Yunnan province. We organised our horse caravan in a village named Sanju (3090 m) and departed with 11 horses and Tibetan muleteers. We spent the first night in a grazing hut of Minchi (3635 m) at which F. M. Bailey had arrived at on 20 June 1911. Here at Minchi a stream came in from the northeast, up which is a pass, the Ti la. The trail crosses the Salween (Nu Jiang) near Gula and reaches Zayi (Dayul) — Zogong. It was down this valley that A.K. (Krishna) had travelled in 1882. In a few days we will be on the tracks of this careful and reliable explorer.

At Minchi the trails separates to the southeast to Rishu la (Bailey's Zhasha la) and then to Ridong and the northeast to the Ti la, 4764 m. Both are old main trade routes that are used even now. To follow the Bailey's footsteps we ascended a valley partly forming deep gorge in lower part to the Rishu la, 4730 m, atop which we could stand on 12 October after having camped at a pasture Qongchung, 4180 m. When Bailey passed, by the roadside, blue, probably Meconopsis horridula, and yellow poppies were growing. We thanked God for allowing us to reach the Rishu la closely adjacent to the headwaters of the Irrawaddy. The surroundings were of brown with snow patches but no snow on the trail. To the NWN beyond the valley, the nameless veiled peak 6011 m of Baxoila Ling came into sight. To the north Yangbayisum, 6005 m, would have been seen, had the ranges in front not blocked the view. To the south a rocky mountain range on the China-Myanmar border was seen intermittently. These would be some 5500 m peaks. There were rhododendrons on the both side of the pass. These reached the summit on the eastern side. Bailey wrote 'I crossed the Irrawaddy- Brahmaputra watershed at the Zhasha La (15,600 feet), five and half miles from Dokong. I was now getting within distant touch of India.'

The southeastern side is a valley flowing down to the main stream of the source of the Irrawaddy. Descending eight hours along the valley took us to a junction with the main stream 5 km away from the pass. We found turquoise blue clear water of 15 — 30 m width running down north to south from the headwaters between a glaciated snow mountain on the left and a challenging rock peak on the right. It was the source of the Irrawaddy (Chinese name: Drung Jiang). Our muleteers called the snow peak as Rulong Xueshan (snowy mountain) that is 9 km north from a point where we were. According to the Russian topographical map 1:200,000 the height is 5525 m above sea level. The main stream separates two headwaters, one goes up directly to the col between two peaks and the other goes around the rock peak of some 5200 m to the eastern valley. The latter seemed to travel a longer distance though the headwaters, which were out of sight as they were behind a ridge. I picked up small stones for my friend. We set up tents on a pasture at 4040 m, a few kilometres up Dokong.

On the following day we left the main stream called Gada Qu (river) and entered a tributary toward the Tsong la, 4460 m, on the watershed of Gada Qu and Ridong He (river), which we crossed on 14 October. The pass was wide and flat. Two large caravans of 20 — 30 horses crossed the pass. They were carrying fertilizer, rice and dairy livestock from Zayul to Ridong. From the Tsong la we descended to a beautiful circular lake of 140 m in diameter. The trail went down gradually among dwarf junipers, rhododendrons and willows, and then tall junipers and firs. The whole scene gave an impression of being an artificial feature in a park to which a gardener had given great thought. On 16 October, we continued descending and on the way we visited a small lamasary with no monk. When Bailey had visited , a lama from Sera monastery in Lhasa was there. We passed a confluence with the main river of Ridong He. The down stream forms a deep gorge and the blue water was raging down fiercely through primeval conifer forest for some distance. After the gorge, the valley became wide and open with many yaks grazed by Tibetans. We were now near Ridong village.

In 1909 J. Bacot had come down to Ridong He, after having crossed a pass of 5300 m on the Irrawaddy-Salween divide from east to west. He claimed that the headwaters through which be had passed was the true source of the Irrawaddy. However, comparison of his map and the Russian map tells us that the stream he traced is a tributary of the Ridong He, east of the main stream which might possibly lead to the headwaters mentioned in International Rivers in China. As Bailey pointed out, the Bacot's maps are incomplete and not helpful.

Isolated Remote Lands — Ridong and Mengkung

Ridong village is located on the fertile and well-cultivated terrace of the Ridong He. We changed horses and muleteers there. Our great concern was a garrison stationed by the frontier guard of the China People's Liberation Army. We recalled the incident of an American and a Frenchman who were arrested at Ridong in 1993. But fortunately nothing happened to us. The young soldiers were Han and Tibetan, Bai, Nashi and Manchurian minorities. They were cheerful and showed no hostility. Villagers told us that no foreigners other than the American and French had come to Ridong in recent years.

On 17 October 2003 in a caravan of ten horses and three muleteers we marched to the east toward Tsama la, 4710 m, on the Irrawaddy — Salween divide. We left the Ridong He and ascended a forested valley. The last 800 m to the pass were a very steep and difficult trail mixed with rocks and lower shrubs. When we reached the summit, Mukong Xueshan, 6005 m, in the north had already been covered with clouds. Bailey had made a mistake regarding the stream he had seen. He described it as follows:

Owing to bad weather and untrustworthy information, I am unable to say for certain whether the No La or Tsema La is on the Salween-Irrawaddy watershed. From the Tsema La I saw that the stream, which I had crossed between the two passes. I could not see the actual river, and the people could not tell me whether this flowed east to the Salween or west to the Irrawaddy: It seemed to me most probable that this stream flowed to the Irrawaddy. I have made it so on my map, but it is still an open question which remains to be cleared up.

The fact is that the said stream was flowing to the Salween, not to the Irrawaddy. On the following day we crossed the No la, 4269 m, where many pilgrims were resting. They were on the way back home to Baxoi County north of Zayul after the circumnavigation of the holy mountain, Kawagebo, 6740 m. From the pass we could have a glimpse of the main peak and large glacier of the Mukong Xueshan massif.

long-cherished desire. It has been a centre of the history and culture of Tsawarong district. The village of Mengkung (2200 — 2350 m) is located on large terraces 300 m high above the Salween (Nu Jiang). 'Tsawa' means warm, that is, Tsawarong is a 'warm place'. Fields are elaborately cultivated with a well-constructed water supply system. Barley, wheat, corn, walnuts, apricots, apples and pomegranates ripen here. People are polite, decent and hospitable. There are over a 100 families — 1700 villagers. There is a primary school for the 1st — 6th grade with over 170 pupils. By a curious coincidence Kingdon-Ward arrived at Mengkung two days after Bailey had left. Mengkung was a place for which Kingdon-Ward had been looking too. In 1913 he tried again to visit Mengkung, but Chinese officials did not give him a permit.

The highlight during our stay was an interview with a 100 year old man named Paima. He is the oldest in Tsawarong. My interview is as below:-

Nakamura : How many children and grand children do you have?

Paima : 6 daughters, 27 grand children and so many to the 5th generation.

Nakamura : Did you meet foreigners when you were a child?

Paima : I did not meet, but heard that foreigners came here and stayed.

Nakamura : Did you travel to the remote places? Where did you go?

Paima : When I was 20 years old, I visited two places. One was a holy temple for Buddhists in Shaanxi Province and the other was in India, where there is a sacred land for Tibetans called 'Monkey mountain' near Kalimpong. By an order of High Lama (Living Buddha) of the Mengkung monastery I went to India via Lhasa. The purpose of travel were a pilgrimage to the holy place and trade. I carried Chinese silver coins and musk to India and brought back tobacco to Lijiang in Yunnan. I travelled to lower Zayul too.

Nakamura : Would you please talk about slaves.

Paima : I employed slaves on the trip to India. All of them were Tibetan slaves.

Nakamura : Did you remember that aircraft of the Allied Forces which crashed in the mountains of the Salween valley during the World War II?

Paima : Yes, I heard that several aircraft met with accidents.

Mengkung used to be a centre for slave trade a century ago. Bailey found many slaves of a dwarf race who had been brought from a country of the lower Salween, seven days' journey south of Mengkung. One of the women had a tattooed face. They might be Nu or Lisu and the tattooed must be Drung, but at present no such people live in Mengkung. In these days younger generations do not know about slavery and old people keep silent.

West Development Drive and End of Journey

On 21 October 2003 we said good-bye to the villagers of Mengkung and descended to a suspension bridge (1920 m) over the Salween with 7 mules and 2 muleteers. A half-day march to south took us to Zhanang (2100 m), which was located on a flat terrace 200 m high above the left bank of the Salween. It is a district centre of Tsawarong and an important crossroad. Bailey had written that it was the duty of the Trana (Zhanang)- horses and muleteers for transport — to take them to Mengkung and that these 'ula' boundaries were adhered to in those days, although we could do without changing our horses at Zhanang. When I had come in 1996, there were only several Tibetan houses, a local government office and a small lamasary. The upper villages towards Tondu la were more populated.

The last seven years have rapidly changed this village into a township and a base for the West Development Drive being launched by the Chinese government. The newly built street was a hive of pilgrims and trade caravans. Sometimes the report of blasting echoed over the valley. A motorable road is now under construction from Baihanlu to Zhanang along the Salween, a distance of about 75 km as the crow flies. Two-thirds has already been completed. The road will reach Zogong along Wi Qu. Our original itinerary was to march down a trail to Baihanlu — Gongshan of Yunnan. But the trail was impassable as the construction work was in full swing. It was very dangerous for horse caravans so there was no other alternative but to continue our trek along Wi Qu towards the north to Pitu, Beda la and Yangjing, which exactly followed the footsteps of Bailey and Kingdon-Ward.

We should have met John Nankervis, President of the New Zealand Alpine Club at Zhanag. But we passed one day earlier. His party had entered a branch valley from Longpu to the western side of Pk. 6509 m and Kawagebo, 6740 m, the main summit of Meili Xhueshan. Their objective was not a reconnaissance of Kawagebo as they abided by that promise. They climbed the low (eastern) peak of Bungxung Laka (6877 m) as shown on the Lanzhou Institute of Glaciology map. As far as I know, a Japanese photographer, N. Kobayashi is the only man to have reached the western glacier of Kawagebo. John wrote to me; 'Our trip was very enjoyable. A negative factor for us was the huge amount of rubbish left on the trail by pilgrims. Of course this was an auspicious year when there were many more pilgrims than usual'. 2003 was the year of sheep of the twelve horary signs when Kawagebo was born. More than ten times the usual number of pilgrims went around the holy mountain Kawagebo for worship on this happy occasion that comes once every twelve years.

We spent the night not at Zhanag but in a hamlet of Longpu, three hours march along a valley to north. Nicholas B. Clinch had camped there in 1993 and I, in 1996.

On 22 October we departed from Longpu and ascended to Tondu la, 3352 m, through thickly forested woods with firs and tall prickly oaks near the summit, from which we had a fine view of the Salween flowing south. Spurs on either side and up north caused the Wi Qu river to twist about forming extraordinary bends that force Wi Qu to flow in S-shape without diverting it from its general southerly direction. The pass was full of colourful prayer flags. We descended and now entered the heart of the deep gorge country. The Wi Qu gorge north of Tondu la is a landscape of natural wonder, most magnificent and breathtaking. For the following two days we marched horizontally along a trail 300 m high above the right bank of Wi Qu, crossed Tong la, 3270 m, and then through beautiful valley to Pitu, 3170 m, another rich part of Tsawarong. The ruin of a large monastery was impressive. The Red Army must have destroyed it at the time of the Cultural Revolution in 1966—75.

On 25 October the weather changed. We left Wi Qu from Pitu and crossed Beda la, 4540 m, on the Salween-Mekong divide to Yangjing. If it had not been snowing, we could have had a panorama of 5700 — 5800 m glaciated rock and snow peaks from Beda la over the beautiful valley of Wi Qu to the west. We were stationed at Tsong-ze (2880 m). On the following day, the last day of our caravan, we visited the monastery of Lagong about 1000 m high straight up above the salt wells of the Mekong in Yangjing. 70 lamas are in service there at present. The Chinese destroyed this monastery in 1907 and many of the monks were killed. It was in ruins when Bailey and Edger came here in 1911. Yangjing was the end of our journey of new discoveries in the autumn of 2003. The Gods did favour us. We could accomplish a complete traverse of the source of the Irrawaddy — the Salween and the Mekong gorge country to our entire complete satisfaction.

SUMMARY

A journey to the source of the Irrawaddy and gorge country. Members: Tamotsu Nakamura (leader 68) and Tsuyoshi Nagai (70)

Guide: Shaohong Cheng, (Tibetan 31)

Interpreter: Guo en Qiao, (Han 24)

Cook: Asong (Tibetan female 40)

Itinerary & Weather 2003 (Height in metres)

3 Oct : Rain, Kunming 1890 (air) — Shangri La/Zhongdian 3220 (car) — Deqen

5 Oct : Cloudy, Deqen (car) — Yangjing Hot Spring 2390

6 Oct : Cloudy, Yangjing Hot Spring (car) — Zogong 3720

7 Oct : Fine, Zogon (car) — Baxoi 3300

8 Oct : Fine/cloudy, Baxoi (car) — Rawu 3900 — Dema La 4700 — Sanju 3090

17 days horse caravan: Sanju to Yangjing

10 Oct: Rain, Sanju — Mingqi pasture 3635

11 Oct: Cloudy/fine, Mingqi — Chonchung pasture 4170

12 Oct: Fine, Chongchung — Rishu la 4730 — (Irrawaddy headwaters) — Bruechua 4040

13 Oct: Fine, Bruechua — Jiangkong 3995

14 Oct: Fine, Jiangkong — Tsong la 4460 — Zhalung 4020

15 Oct: Fine, Zhalung — Be-an pasture 3780

16 Oct: Fine, Be-an — Ridong 3560

17 Oct: Fine, Ridong — Tsama la 4710 — Camp 4020

18 Oct : Fine/cloudy, Camp — No la 4269 — Camp 3120

19 Oct : Cloudy/fine, Camp — Mengkung 2200

21 Oct: Fine, Mengkung — Zhanang 2100 — Rongpu 2560

22 Oct: Fine/cloudy, Rongpu — Tondu la 3352 — Gebu 2460

23 Oct: Cloudy, Gebu — Wobo 2730 — Radoun 2880

24 Oct: Fine/Cloudy, Radoun — Tong la 3270 — Pitu 3170

25 Oct: Cloudy/snowing, Pitu — Beda la 4540 — Tsongqu 2880

26 Oct: Cloudy/rain, Tsongqu — Lagong monastery — 3480 — Jada 2440 — Yangjing 2700 (car) — Yangjing hot spring

27 Oct: Yangjing hot spring (car) — Deqen

28 Oct: Deqen (car) — Shangri la (air) — Kunming

 

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