Next week I will be going back to Muli, revisiting my first ever trip in the footsteps of Joseph Rock 30 years ago, when I walked from Yonging (Lugu Lake) to Muli monastery.
In 1993 I was walking blind 'off the map' because there was no internet or Google to tell me whether Rock's hand drawn maps were still valid. Nowadays of course we can look at Google Earth whose satellite imagery has enough resolution to show details of cars parked at the now opulently renovated Muli monastery.
The Naxi/Mosuo villages Joseph Rock mentioned on his journey - Lijiasun/Wujiao etc - are still there, and this time I will be driving rather than walking through them. I'll be travelling with a friend - and fellow Rock enthusiast - who is an accomplished botanist with the Chinese Academy of Science. He tells me that there is now the possibility of visiting the crags of Mt Mitzuga, the mountain that stands over Muli monastery.
I am really looking forward to that. Afterwards, I hope to do a bit of hiking and camping from Muli towards the three peaks of Yading, which Rock called 'Konka Risumgongba'.
If you want to see the most up to date images of Mulki and surroundings, try the Copernicus satellite.
On this, I can see there are now some trails and dirt roads around Mt Mitzuga. The Copernicus maps are not as high resolution as Google Earth, but they are updated every week, so are much more relevant for trip planning.
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