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.
? Jean
