In between the villages, the slopes are covered in rhododendrons and the peeling, papery trunks of silver birch trees.

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Ahead of them a horse whinnied in the timber and then, through the brown trunks of the pine trees, only a little sunlight coming down through their thick, almost-touching tops, he saw the corral made by roping around the tree trunks.

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Even at the bottom, the trunks of the spindly, shag-topped trees are thin enough to wrap a good hug around, yet hard as concrete.

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As you head up the mountains and the forest advances to the edge of the country roads, you can easily make out the ownership markings of individual bamboo trees written in black Chinese characters on their trunks.

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