Day 21 – Tiger Leaping Gorge and Yulong Jade Dragon Snow Mountain

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Sin got up early today to hit the gym. Surprised he has energy left in him as I am completely exhausted. I woke up to find almost 400 e-mails on my Blackberry that had not reached me these last few days in the mountains. Following a Western breakfast, and leaving my car behind, we headed for Tiger Leaping Gorge and the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain with it’s 9 peaks. What can I say about Tiger Leaping Gorge except it has a great name that raises expectations only not to deliver. The Snow mountains surrounding the gorge however are breathtaking. We took the Landcruiser up the valley to a secluded farmroad that led us to the start of our trek. Apparently this particular trail takes 3 whole days to complete, but time was not a luxury we could afford, so we hiked up a couple of kilometers, then had a fight over whether or not to continue to the top using donkeys before ultimately giving up and returning to the car. On the trail, we found a table that I adopted as my own. I could have spent a whole day on my table just gazing at the breathtaking 9 peaks of Snow Mountain. On the way back, we stopped to view the first bend in the Yangtse River, a bit of a non-event aside from the rare white Yak that was being handled at the site.

Returning to home base in Lijiang, Sin ordered a hamburger and some roast chicken in our hotel restaurant whilst I had a Dijon Carbonara. Yes we are wimps taking timeouts on local food, but I think Sin is suffering a little from Yunnan Tummy. He says that this was the best hamburger he’d ever tasted.

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