Tiger Leaping Gorge
Monday, December 1st, 2008This 2 day trek through a gorge close to Lijang has become one of China’s top things to do. And its not for Chinese tourists either, there is no paved road and music, just a gorge and a path. I took a mini van from the guest house with a Dutch couple, Lois and Sieber and 2 hours later we arrived at the beginning of the walk and proceeded to follow the yellow and red arrows marked along stones.
(Lois taking some photos)
The first days walking took a leisurely 7 or so hours, the first part being mostly up hill as we climbed to the top of the hill along the edge of the gorge, amazing snowy mountains were along the ridge on the opposite side and far below we could see the brown river gushing along. It was really nice weather and a great day for walking, while it was up hill it wasn’t too bad and we soon made it to the top up the difficult ’28 Bends’ part of the track.
(Corn drying in the sun and our lunch break)
Along the way we passed women selling fruit and marijuana (??) and a few guesthouses, one where we stopped and had lunch. It had beautiful views of the mountain and it was just nice to be out of the noise of cities and towns and finally being somewhere in China where there aren’t a million people. There are tiny villages along the way so not totally remote and down below you can still see the road but nice enough.
Finally we arrived at the half way guesthouse which is incidentally, about half way. It was a beautiful stop and after we dumped out bags we sat on the roof to catch the last of the sun and enjoy our snickers bar and a beer. It was really one of the nicest places I’ve stayed in China and it was in the middle of a gorge! Soon after we arrived we were joined by Phil and Tomer from UK and Israel who had walked the day just behind us. There were are a few other people at the hostel as well but us 5 ordered a massive dinner together, had a few beers and played games all night. Down in our dorm room we had to deal with mice running around all night and actually woke to find one had got caught in a trap and dragged itself to the middle of the floor and was still trying to get away…not cool at all.
(Me and Lois relaxing at the half way point)
The second day turned out to not be so hard, we all walked along the ridge for a bit then down to a guesthouse where we could leave our bags then continue right the way down to the bottom of the gorge. The path down was very steep and a little dodgy in parts but we made it to the bottom right on the waters edge, huge rapids and massive boulders, it was really amazing and sad to think that there are plans to damn it and it will all be gone in a few years.
(Our little trekking group)
After spending some time at the bottom we began the long climb back up which was the hardest part, especially once we got in the sun and had the heat as well! The climb up included a very steep and scary ladder attached to the side of a cliff, a little worrying but we all got up and finally made it back to the guesthouse where we had some lunch and then relaxed in the sun waiting for our transport back. I was continuing on to Shangri-la while the others all heading back down to Lijang. So I was dropped off and said goodbye to the others while I waited on the side of the dusty road until a bus pulled up going my way. Jumping on it and avoiding the entire bus pressed against the window staring at me, I went the 3 hours north to Shangri-la, as close to Tibet as I was going to get.
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