Selected Photographs from Our Journey Finding David Sneddon
Selected Photographs from Our Journey
While we searched for David in the Yunnan Province in September 2004, we took scores of photos. We include the following selection of photos to give the reader some insight into the persons, places, and experiences we shared during our search for David. For space considerations, we have included only photos relevant to our journey from Qiaotou to Shangri-La and our finding that David disappeared in Shangri-La on August 14, 2004.
David's Diploma from the Beijing University of International Relations.
Copy of one of the placards we wore. We used the photo from
David's Diploma to create these placards before leaving for China.
Jane's Guest House where Jane reported to police from Diqing prefecture that David's backpack was found.
Left to Right, our interpreter Charlie Chen, Jane, James Sneddon, & Michael Sneddon.
On the "High Trail." With our thirty years of backpacking experience we found the trail to be only slightly above average in difficulty. We met young school children walking to school, men herding livestock, and women carrying bundles for the marketplace in Qiaotou.
This view from the "High Trail" looks Southwest, back toward Qiaotou, a small village hidden behind the ridge and situated by the confluence of two rivers. This is not a primitive area without humans. Several villages are scattered along the trail and their inhabitants cultivate by hand the terraced fields up and down the mountain.
Two employees of our Tibetan Guide, Sean, report talking with David around 10:00 AM the month before our visit.
The local police had placed "missing" posters in strategic places along the trail. The posters show the most recent photo of David we had before we left the States—the picture from his Beijing Diploma.
Walking the streets of Shangri-La. Wherever we went, adults and children saw our placards and came to talk or walk with us.
Shangri-La, looking east along Tuan Jie Jie Street. On the far corner across the street to the left is the Korean Restaurant, theYak Bar. Continuing east scarcely 100 meters beyond the Yak Bar is the Diqing Tibetan Area International Youth Hostel where Ms. Liu Miao reported David stayed one night. From the hostel one can travel another 40 meters to the Snowland Restaurant, where Dorje, a local guide, reported having met and talked extensively with David.
Shangri-La: close up of Yak Bar, a restaurant that served Korean food.
Ms. Zhang Xiao Fen, owner of the Yak Bar in Shangri-La, and one of her employees review photos of David and discuss their encounter with David.
In the Snowland Restaurant of Shangri-La, a local guide, Dorje, and Ms. Liu Miao report their interaction with David Sneddon. Dorje discussed at great length David's desire to visit a remote village but David's decision to not go due to the expense for a single person to hire a guide.
Shangri-La: Snowland Restaurant and Coffee Shop.
Diqing Tibetan Area International Youth Hostel where David probably slept Friday night, August 13, 2004 before disappearing the following day. Youth from all over the world travel inexpensively as "trekkers" from hostel to hostel, seeing sights, meeting people, and making new friends. Information posted on the Internet allows them to locate and compare different options.
Shangri-La: these women barbers from a shop on Ha Ping Lu, just a block north of the Diqing Tibetan Area International Youth Hostel, reported meeting David when he came to get his hair cut.