# Sichuan Botanical Tour, Photo Galleries II and III



## KyushuCalanthe (Jul 25, 2013)

Here's the next two photo galleries from the tour. I figure there will another two after this at least. Be sure to watch in 720p (HD) for best viewing.

Botanical Tour II

Botanical Tour III


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## Secundino (Jul 25, 2013)

Just seen II and I want to leave.... thanks for sharing!


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## Dido (Jul 25, 2013)

Great pics thanks fro sharing 

the plants are all make me dream...


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## NYEric (Jul 25, 2013)

So many nice terrestrials to lust for...:drool:


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## abax (Jul 26, 2013)

I'm so glad you made this tour and shared with us. It takes my breath away...literally. I'm too old to make such a climb and am grateful to see
even such a small part of China.


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## JeanLux (Jul 27, 2013)

Wow..., I really enjoyed these excellent photos :clap: !!!!! You did a super job there Tom!!!! Did you have time left to watch the scenery without looking through a camera lens  ? Jean


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## Clark (Jul 29, 2013)

Variety overload!

Looks like some sweet honey holes to poke around in.
The image of Snow Treasure Peak and that yak is killer.


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## KyushuCalanthe (Jul 29, 2013)

Glad you all are enjoying them. It is taking time to process the best ones. I have lots more and lots of vid. I'll be posting a live vid of Cyp. farreri in habitat on YT soon.

Northern Sichuan is part of the Tibetan Plateau's great alpine flora and so diversity is insane there for true alpine plants. I wouldn't put many orchids in that category, and none of the Cyps, except maybe C. himalaicum, which doesn't grow that far east. I could easily have taken more species pics, but honestly didn't have the time.

Jean, yes, I was in hunting mode the whole time - with each plant I started with the SLR, then moved onto a camcorder, and if I needed a macro shot vid, I followed up with a mini-cam. It was pretty intense, but I saw so much scenery I dreamed about it for weeks after the trip, every night.

FYI, these tours are not necessarily for the young or athletic. I'd say the average age was ~60 with 42 being the youngest and 76 the oldest. Everyone got to see plenty, though some of us nuttier folks were scrambling up places that in retrospect were not the safest. So, don't think of this tour as being a big mountain hike.


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## JeanLux (Jul 30, 2013)

KyushuCalanthe said:


> .... It was pretty intense, but I saw so much scenery I dreamed about it for weeks after the trip, every night.
> 
> FYI, these tours are not necessarily for the young or athletic. I'd say the average age was ~60 with 42 being the youngest and 76 the oldest. Everyone got to see plenty, though some of us nuttier folks were scrambling up places that in retrospect were not the safest. So, don't think of this tour as being a big mountain hike.



thanks for the info Tom, I just intended to ask that question!!! So I could do it ev. next year at 65 !?

(I had the planning of the trip and possible fight connections already printed out , but then could not decide ... )

Jean


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## KyushuCalanthe (Jul 30, 2013)

JeanLux said:


> thanks for the info Tom, I just intended to ask that question!!! So I could do it ev. next year at 65 !?
> 
> (I had the planning of the trip and possible fight connections already printed out , but then could not decide ... )
> 
> Jean



Go for it Jean! You won't be disappointed, that I can tell you.


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## Linus_Cello (Jul 30, 2013)

Start high altitude training? =)


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## cnycharles (Aug 3, 2013)

Checked out video 2; very nice!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Cheyenne (Aug 7, 2013)

Amazing videos, and thank you so much for sharing them. I wish I could have went. I thought about it. So many nice plants. In your journey did you get to see any paphs at all?


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## KyushuCalanthe (Aug 7, 2013)

Cheyenne said:


> Amazing videos, and thank you so much for sharing them. I wish I could have went. I thought about it. So many nice plants. In your journey did you get to see any paphs at all?



I highly recommend going on a tour with Holger and Wenqing. They will take to amazing places. I'd say that I went to four separate edens during the tour, and I don't say that lightly. No Paphs since we were only in northern Sichuan. We did see hundreds of Cyps and uncounted numbers of smaller terrestrials, mostly all in flower.

Look for more vids to come. I'm working on a C. tibeticum vid now.


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## biothanasis (Aug 11, 2013)

great videos Tom!! :clap:


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