Shangri La and Tiger Leaping Gorge

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Last weekend, we had to interrupt our travels in Yunan to go to Xiamen (an island city on the coast of China near Taiwan) to attend a friends funeral who passed from a tragic accident the week before. I appreciate everyone's support in the past two weeks. After a weekend of celebrating his life, Jules and I were back on a plane to Kunming and then immediately on to a night bus to Shangri La (the mythical city portrayed in the novel Lost Horizon). I knew from the moment I arrived, this was the city in China that I had been seeking to discover ever since I arrived. The mood of the old city was so relaxing and surrounded by mountains, it is indeed a quiet little paradise. The city has not been overrun by Chinese tourists (as in the case of Lijiang) but instead has just enough visitors to find interesting people to talk to. The city itself has many Tibetans living here and it is common to walk along the streets and see several old women in the colourful Tibetan garments.

We booked a hostel from Kunming because it had a nice flier and promised loads of services, however, as most things in China go, it was only an appearance. The lady on the phone from the hostel failed to mention to me that the hostel was still under construction when I made the reservation. No restaurant, internet or showers, but they did offer us a room for 20 Kuai ($3). We decided that we wanted to have some luxuries (as in showers) and the chance to meet other travelers. So the lady showed us what she thought was the best hostel in town and we were satisfied.

One of friends from Hangzhou had lived in Shangri La for 3 months earlier in the year, and suggested that we go see his friend who ran a travel agency there. We met with the travel guy who was really awesome and suggested a bunch of treks that we could do all over the Shangri La area. Jules and I were really psyched about this and decided we would talk about what we wanted to do that night and then come back the next day to plan. We decided on trying to go hike to a remote village and then pick up the travel guy's jeep and drive it back to Shangri La the next day. However, the travel guy said, "Did I say you could do that... Oh no way. Sorry guys, I must of been really high yesterday when I said that. That jeep doesn't run so well and I don't want you to get stuck out in the middle of nowhere." Alas, he was sober enough that day to help us plan a trek into Tiger Leaping Gorge going through the back way. This experience basically can give you all the tone of what Shangri La is about... total relaxation and big dreams but with little follow through.

The night before we left for the gorge we decided to go out on the town. Most bars close at midnight in Shangri La, which is a god save because it means you can be active the next day. Also, the hostel's all close there doors at midnight, so if you come back later you have to wake up the staff, which is a little rude. So it was approaching midnight and Jules and I were going to be good boys and head home early, but a Chinese girl named Cici said we could all go to a bar she was managing (long story of it was her boyfriend's bar but he left her for another girl and said she could stay and run the bar for a month). So about seven of us go to this bar which was amazing. Cici's exboyfriend was from a rich and powerful Beijing family, and they bribed the government of Shangri La to build an extra high house to have a deck looking over the whole old town. We soon discovered that Cici did not know how to make any drinks, so sh asked me to help tend bar, which as we all know is one of my favorite things to do in life. Although I quit drinking early knowing that being hungover and bus rides are not a good combination (something Jules found out the next day), we still stayed up to 4am talking and me experimenting with different drinks. Jules and I didn't want to bother the nice hostel employees so Cici allowed us to crash on the couches in the bar. Sleeping in a bar, brings back old times...

50 Km (30 miles), 2 days, 2 slips, 1 drunken tour guide was our experience of the famous Tiger Leaping Gorge. This is by far one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. As Jules said, "It's like the Alps, but everything is bigger." We started by taking a bus to a small bus to a even small town called SanBa, where as the travel guy told us to either find a bus or hitch a ride to another town an hour away called Haba. After 3 hours of sitting on the roadside avoiding little Chinese children trying to sell us anything from apples to grilled corn, we found a minibus to take us to Haba. The minibus was taking two Chinese couples to visit Haba because the town is at the bottom of a mountain that is about 5400 meters high (about 19,000 feet, and climbing this mountain was another one of the travel guys "high" ideas). As we start the journey to the bottom of the mountain, the driver speeds along the narrow mountain roads. He goes so fast that I saw something I have never seen before in China, a Chinese person put on a seat belt. Jules being from the Alps was used to the crazy driving, but I was scared to death. Something about driving on the wrong side of the road, at 50 mph and with a 300+ foot drop on the side of us just did not seem like fun. The only comfort to me was the driver was not that young, meaning he has been driving this root for quite a while and survived. We make it to Haba in what must of been record time, and wait at a really nice hostel for the Shangri La travel guy's friend, Ashu, to show up to take us to his village where we would stay for the night.

I will digress for just a moment to talk about the ethnic make up of Yunnan. Although they are all Chinese (One harmonious society according to Beijing), there are so many ethnic groups that live together in Yunnan. In fact, just traveling from one city to the next, you can go from Han culture to Tibetan or Naxi. Besides some of the most gorgeous scenery in China, Yunnan has some of the most interesting cultural experiences as well. So Haba, is a Naxi town, which are one of the predominant ethnic groups in Northern Yunnan. The village that Ashu lives in and where we were staying is a Hui village. The Hui are Muslims who originally comes NingXia, which is Northwest part of China. However, through many wars over the past couple hundred of years, many of the Hui have had to move around as refugees. In the 1930's due to a Southern warlord waging war, Ashu's village settled in Yunnan and the Tibetans were kind enough to let them stay.

The village is only about 300 people and about a twenty minute walk up the mountain from Haba. We stayed with Ashu's uncle who ran a small inn. They cooked us a nice dinner of Yak meat, potatoes and radish stew. The village was awesome to just walk around and look down at views of the valley below.

The next morning, Ashu's cousin came to pick us up to guide us into the gorge. However, he seemed a little under the weather from the night before and tried to tell us the hike into the gorge was too dangerous because the river was too high. He wanted to charge us the same price just to drive into the gorge so we could start the hike there, which would be pointless because the whole purpose of us going to Haba was to hike into the gorge. Having been in China for a year now, I know that when you make a deal, sometimes it doesn't go to plan. Some Chinese believe foreigners are easy targets to be ripped off and they try to get as much from us for as little effort as possible. So I have learned you have to fight for what you want. I called Ashu who told his cousin that we should go down to the river and check it. This "river" was five feet wide with stepping stones. So, Jules, our hungover guide and I started our trek into the gorge.

After climbing a small hill, it was an easy hike down into the valley where the gorge let out. It was simply one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. Along the way, we walked by some small Chinese children on their way to school. As most Chinese children, whenever they see a foreigner they love to say "Hello!" (Some grown Chinese love to do this too). However, after we exchanged hello's, the school children then said, "Good morning teacher." This I found hilarious because from whatever English they have learned and used, they must only say good morning to their teacher, so they think the whole phrase can be used with any foreigner.

We reached the bottom road of the Tiger Leaping Gorge and said goodbye to our intoxicated guide (who brought a bottle of sprite and Baijiu, a Chinese rice alcohol, with him as water on the hike). Tiger Leaping Gorge received its name because there was a legend that a Tiger leaped from one side of the gorge to the other. As amazing as this story was, I was more concerned of running into a Tiger along the way. However, Jules assured me that there weren't any tigers there anymore. So we start out on our trek which was supposed to take three days; however for several reasons we had to shorten it to two days. First, money. There are no ATMs in these mountain towns so cash rules. I asked Jules the night before how much cash he had, and it seemed together we had enough. However, I asked before we went out the bars and as stated above, we sort of had a late night. So we realized once we got to Haba we only had enough money for staying one night in the gorge, meaning we had to hustle. Second, my health insurance was going to run out in the middle of the trip, which I don't mind so much, but my parents would. So we needed to get out in two days so I could renew my policy.

To get it done in two days we needed to cover 30Km the first day and about 20km the second. For me, this is intense. Hangzhou has been an oven all summer and the gym I belonged to did not think A/C was a requirement for exercising. So I basically spent the summer eating, drinking and generally being lazy. This hike would would make me regret my sloth-like lifestyle. We first wanted to get up to the high path and just walk along a flat path for most of the way. However, since we were doing the gorge backwards, there were no signs. We weren't exactly lost, but we didn't know where we were. There was a sign on the trail for a hostel called the Ancient Path Guest House. It pointed up and said 10 minutes. We decided this might be a fun detour and a place for lunch plus they could show us where the high path was. 30 minutes later of an intense uphill hike, we made it to the guesthouse. I was dead and fell down in a seat. After lunch, they pointed us in the direction to get to the high path, however, as I find with most of the directions that I receive from Chinese people, it did not take us to where we wanted to go. Instead the path led us all the way back down to the road where we had started two hours earlier but just a half mile up the road. This meant that my poor exhausted self still had to hike another 4 miles to get to the guesthouse for the night. We found the right path and started out. All we had to do was get up the mountain and then it was flat. However, the path just kept on going up, switchback after switchback. Jules, being the super Frenchman that he is was charging up the mountain while I was basically crawling behind him. I had a rough time on the way because I slipped and scraped my knee and had thorns tear up my ankles. At one point, I yelled up to him if we were at the top. He looked down at me with a face I will never forget. His face was full of empathy and he said in his French accent, "Josh, I am so sorry, but there is still more up to go." Then he shrugged and continued on, leaving me pounding my fist into the ground.

Finally, we made it to the top, but as we were rounding the bend, every single muscle in my legs cramped and I fell to the trail. After 10 minutes of stretching, we decided to move on towards the guesthouse which promised warm showers. However, this is where the hike got fun. The trail turned into a three foot wide rock ledge with a rock wall on one side and a straight drop into the gorge on the other side. Jules and I looked at each other and we both knew that it would be the end of me if my legs cramped up during this part. So slowly and carefully I trekked along praying to God to not let my legs cramp again.

Finally, we made it to the hostel called halfway house at around 5. All in all we had hiked for about 8 hours and made our 30km with detours. I ran into the shower and stayed there for a half hour or so. Once I was feeling a little better I could appreciate our location. It over looked all the middle part of the gorge and was simply amazing. Actually the toilets there, or holes with water running down the bottom, had you staring right into the gorge as you were doing your business. Best toilet view ever, although squatting with my cramping legs was not the most comfortable thing I have done. We met a bunch of other travelers coming from the other side of the gorge and exchanged stories on how each of our hikes were.

Although I have described the hard parts of this hike, I failed to mention at every moment you could look out at the gorge and see some of the most magnificent scenery I have ever seen. Both mountains on either side of the gorge were too high to see the top because of the cloud level (one being Haba mountain and the other called Jade Dragon Mountain). Steep cliffs on both sides go straight down to the river below. It was just breathtaking at moments. Unfortunately, the Chinese government has decided that a damn is needed for hydro power and they are going to flood this beautiful gorge in about five years, so you better get there fast!!!

The next day, the weather was rainy and cold, so we decided to set out early so we could get back to blissful Shangri La as early as possible. The trail was muddy, full of horse poop (and horses for that matter) and very steep. Luckily, even after taking the wrong trail a couple of times we made the 20KM hike in about 4.5 hours and found a bus back to our paradise. All along the way, I had been telling every backpacker I met that Shangri La was one of the best places I had been in China. Many of them took my advise and followed Jules and I to Shangri La. However, on Sunday morning when I woke up, the weather was rainy, meaning none of the outdoor activities were possible. I was pleased because I was extremely tired from the previous days hikes, so I thought I could catch up on my emails, read, relax and eat some good Tibetan food. However, the electricity was out all over the city. No internet, no hot food, and nothing to do outside because of the weather. Suddenly Shangri La became less than paradise and the poor backpackers that listened to my stories of grandeur of this little mountain town were less than happy. But we made the most of it and just relaxed.

The following day the power was out again and it was raining, so we decided to go to a natural hot springs. This was a perfect way to end our time in Shangri La.

We took a night bus from Shangri La back to Kunming, the capital of Yunnan. Although we had taken a number of night buses already on this trip, this bus was special. Usually the sleeper buses have three beds across with a top and a bottom. Although this maximizes the passengers comfort, the bus companies decided that they could fit more beds. So Jules bought two tickets which were on the top beds, but when we arrived there was a bed in between both of ours where there should have been the aisle. Luckily, we ran into a french girl who was on the bus. She had a ticket for the back of the bus where there were five beds all connecting. She decided to plop right in between Jules and I and it turned out to be a bearable ride.

Right now we are in Kunming for the night and tomorrow we are off to a city called Qingdao, where there is a beer festival and plenty of beaches.

I'll post pictures here or on Facebook at the end of the month, til then hope everyone is doing well!!

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