Gaoyuanhong

The tale of my Sichuan travels is written as a continuous story and starts on the entry "In Chengdu" on Nov. 5th, 2008. For context and continuity, feel free to start back at that point and read on forward first if you have not already done so.

"Gaoyuanhong" (高原紅) refers to the characteristic red cheeks that folks living in high elevations tend to have. At Songpan and Ruoergai, the phenomenon was especially noticeable.

Here is the son of Hago Tenzin Wang Yal (啊郭 邓真旺甲), with gaoyuanhong:









Some other examples:





However, it's not just a phenomenon limited to kids, though perhaps it is easier to see on them, since their skin tends to be lighter. Here is Ms. Liu, who helped reinforce my pack through some fine stitchwork when it was about to fall apart:





She mentioned gaoyuanhong may take weeks (maybe 2-3 on average) to develop the first time, but may take years for it to go away even when you go back down to sea level. Plus, once you are back to high elevation, it only takes a few days for it to come back if you happen to lose it.