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Published: February 8th 2009
When I started my vacation I knew that I had approximately three weeks to travel around China. The route was from Wuxi to Guilin/Yangshuo (in Guanxi Province), then to Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, and Tiger Leaping Gorge (all in Yunnan Province). TLG was the last stop on the trip, but it was the place I was the most excited about getting to.
My friend and I arranged a mini bus to take us from Lijiang to Qiaotao (2 1/2 hours, 50 RMB each) to begin the hike to Tiger Leaping Gorge. When we arrived at the ticket gate we were greeted by a very enthusiastic Australian woman named Margo who owns the Gorged Tiger Cafe and a guesthouse. She gave us a map, a place to store our excess bags, the use of a very Chinese bathroom, and some information about getting to the trail head.
Getting to trail head felt like it took hours! It was quite a long ways away from Qiaotao, it wasn't very clearly marked, and the trail was constantly uphill. It didn't seem to matter because we wound through villages and rice terraces and walked along the gorge and could see Yu Long Shu Shan
(Jade Dragon Snow Mountain) next to us. It probably seemed to take hours to get to trail head because we kept stopping to take photos. The scenery was already stunning and the adventure had only just begun!
That day in late January was quite warm and the sun was blazing. We were glad to have brought along sun block and for some reason I packed an umbrella and used that to keep the sun off. I felt quite Chinese hiking with an umbrella! The path was steep and rocky and after hiking for about 3 hours we made it to Naxi Family Guesthouse. We were hot and tired and ordered some Chinese style vegetables and rice. The food tasted so good at that point! We needed our energy for the 28 bends that was coming up next. The 28 bends are a series of switchbacks that wind up the mountain. The ascent to quite a high altitude and will leave even the most athletic people gasping for air (like us!) It was exhilerating though to make it to the top and it was nice to see the rest of the way to downhill at a nice easy gradiant that
didn't grind too much on the joints. That night we stayed at Tea Horse Guesthouse (120 RMB for a room with a bathroom). The food there was much better than Naxi Family GH and there was plenty of it. I had a veggie omelette, a pancake, and bananas smothered in yoghurt. The servings were nothing to scoff at and the food was cheap. It was a good reward for a hard days work! Not to mention the scenery from the GH was phenomenal. It felt like there was a painting hung up and I was just an actress in a house on the set. The mountain scenery across the gorge was so real that it was unreal (if that makes sense).
The next day we hiked to Tina's Guesthouse via Teacher Zhang's trail. Only take Teacher Zhang's if your joints are good. It was quite a steep, slippery descent down to the road. From the road we made it to Tina's Guesthouse for lunch. The place is quite large and commercialized, but the food was good, cheap and hot. We were told that the trek down to the Tiger Leaping Stone was only 40 minutes away so we excitely
Triumphant Shadow Pose
I just had to play with the sun!wolfed down lunch at headed for the stone at about 2:30 in the afternoon. No one told us that the whole 40 minutes was nearly a vertical drop down to the stone! It was steep, slippery, rocky and narrow and we were already tired from two full days of hiking. All the pain went away when we got down to the Tiger Leaping Stone. It's famous because a tiger is supposed to have leapt across the gorge from the stone to escape a hunter. When you se it, it's just a big stone, but the gorge and the rapids where the stone lies are brilliant. We were there at a time in the late afternoon where the sun and clouds were playing with shadows on the mountain walls across from us and the sound of the rapids below us made the trek worthwhile. It truly was the highlight of the whole trip! The hike back to the top did take about 40 minutes. It was steep, slippery, and rocky, but it was doable and I felt rejuvenated after seeing the stone.
That night we stayed at Sandy's GH (40 RMB with no bathroom). We were only people there since
Tiger Leaping Gorge
Having a rest at Tiger Leaping Stone. it was during Spring Festival and the owner was away having a baby. She left the GH to her husband and sister. The room was good but the showers were really scary. There were huge daddy long legs staring down at me from above and I was afraid they would jump on my head at any time. I couldn't take my eyes off of them! Other than the dodgy shower situation, the food that night after hours of hiking (again) was some of the best on the trip. We had Naxi bread with honey, eggs and tomatoes, rice porridge, and pancakes. Good stuff!
We decided not to bus back to Qiatao from Walnut Grove but rather hike back. We wanted to stay on the mountain as long as possible since it was Spring Festival and the rates at GH on the mountain were reasonable and the air was fresh and we were having fun! So the next day we decided to check out the waterfall and bamoo forest that we missed because we took Teacher Zhang's trail down. The hike through the bamboo forest is good but turning around to see all the bamboo we just hiked through was
Tiger Leaping Gorge
This is at the gorge in the late afternoon. even better. I didn't realize there was so much bamboo on the mountain!
The waterfall was a good place to break. The water was crystal clear and there was deep sand…it felt like I was at the beach. I could have chilled out there all day!
After crossing two dodgy, wooden bridges we started up the trail again. The problem is that it was a trail but it didn’t look like anyone had been on it. It was steep, slippery, and the most nail biting, cliff hanging, edge of your seat trail I’ve ever been on. We were literally using our hands to climb up and trying to get some traction. I remember grabbing onto twigs of bamboo and being thankful that it’s sturdy. The scariest part of the trail was that there were no footprints (ALL the other trails had foot prints) and only goat droppings. If you could see how the goats graze on the side of the mountain on cliff faces of about 20 degree angles then you would know that a goat trail isn’t promising! It was so steep that we couldn’t even stand up straight. Straight for us was standing at a 45
Unreal
This is like one of those posters you see in offices with words of wisdom and encouragement. degree angle. At one point my friend pointed out a HUGE handprint on the trail. It was the only sign that anything other than goats had been on the trail. It was twice the size of a human hand and we joked that it was a Yeti print. Now you know it’s a steep trail if the Yeti has to put his hand down! At one point I didn’t want to keep going. The trail was steep, scary, narrow, and slippery. When I looked down it was a straight drop down the mountain…no kidding. Then the word of my favorite philosopher Rambo came to mind “Live for something or die for nothing.” I decided that I had to keep going for all the people who would never get to do anything like that or see the things I was seeing. We kept going and eventually came back down a different side of the mountain and ended up safely back at Tina’s Guest house. We felt like true trailblazers after that trail!
We had lunch at Tina’s and ascended (again) to the Halfway House to stay the night (120 RMB with a bathroom). It was only 2 ½ hours from
Energy!
I had to include some food. This was dinner at the Bridge Cafe between Tina's Guesthouse and Walnut Grove. It's a pancake with banana cooked in and chocolate shavings on top and rice porridge. Yummy stuff! Tina’s but it was straight uphill and it was steep and rocky. I’ve never seen such steep, rocky trails in my life. It was good stuff, though, because most mountains in China are just a series of steps. These were all natural mountain trails and it was GREAT! Oh and a side note; Be careful at the guesthouses, especially Halfway House. The water dispensers in the rooms are filled with tap water and are not bottled spring water. The hot water dispenser is hot water, but not boiled. If you want water for coffee or tea it’s best to go to the kitchen and get properly boiled water.
Stayed at Halfway House that night and started out the next day (day 4) and hiked to Naxi Family Guesthouse (120 RMB with a bathroom and the best room we stayed in on the mountain). We arrived at NF Gh pretty early in the afternoon and chilled out there for the afternoon and stayed the night. The room was so nice, but the food could have been better. The family is nice and they are certainly trying, but they need to spruce up the menu a bit to keep up with
Paper machet?
It looks like a cardboard set on a movie, but it was REAL! the other guesthouses.
The next day we woke up early and headed for Qiaotou. It was a sad day to be leaving the mountain. The air was so clean and the weather was beautiful the whole time. We actually saw blue sky and white clouds and air felt clean and fresh. We didn’t hear the honking of car horns or hear stupid “hellos” or have to worry about finding a hotel to stay in. Life was so easy and simple. It’s the best memory of China I will have and I plan on keeping it locked safe!
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