Advertisement
Published: December 14th 2009
Enjoying a cup of green tea with a view.
Sunshine and happiness at ~2000 meters. The cursing part was paid off here. Humping the way to the Tigers
we're currently writing severale blog entries at the same time, but the camera is not at hand or there are bloody virusses on the computers in thehostels, so once you're reading this is probably already outdated. It was has been published when we could connectg our camera to a computer without viruses......
But besides this totally non interesting services message, Agi asigned me to write s-thing about our Humping in/around Kunming.... Its today Dec 9th and Ive got ~ one hour, as we're moving further. Kunming: big city, but pleasantly quiet and surpricingly smog is not really noticible. We came to Kunming basically to arrange stuff: Visas for Myanmar & Vietnam. Agi wanted her final Hepatites B shot (so right now she's immune for life), liquid for contact lenses, got more USD ect ect. But in itself Kunming has a few nice temples and a cool park where people do their excercises, like kung fu, dancing, spitting, snorting and whatever the chinese do in parks (which is actually quite a lot, especially knowing that their appartments are small, gyms are expensive and parks are spacious and for free).
The
Inspiration terrasse with a scruffy cat.
Our first night in the gorge we spent at the Halfway Guesthouse. It carried our approval. visas for Myanmar and Vietman could be arranged here, as we decided that Tibet and Nepal are off limits for our currrent travel. Weather conditions are not optimal. Tibet is restricted and therefore an expensive special permit is needed. So instead: Sun and tropics in Myanmar and Vietnam. From Myanmar well go to India... So said, so done. So weve arranged our visas and are hoping to receive some nice spamps in our passports withing the upcoming weeks. Alas, troubles arrived and our schedule had to be rescheduled... While in our hostel in Kunming, the Hump, we've met a Dutch couple and after some chit-chat and some drinks it was decided: the four of us are going to Tibet & Nepal.... So in a few hours well fly to Chendu where well arrange our Tibet & Nepal trip... Guess that some more clothes might be needed....
But in itself Kunming was ok for organizing , but not THAT special. Thinking of it, I think we haven't made a single picture of/in this city... But what was worth taking pictures was Tiger Leaping Gorge....
Hunting for tigers in Tiger Leaping Gorge
Ok on the map the gorge is
The gorgeous gorge at night...
second attempt to share this with you, as the initial load didn't work out that well... weird. really nearby Kunming. Most travelers here actually also end up there, but since the size of China ain't the same category as NL, LU or HU, it's in reallity a bit further.... Taking a sleeper bus to city X and from a second bus for 2 hours to the starting village. You'll arrive there and the first thing youll see there as a huge sign stating: "Yunnan provincial tourist office has close the gorge due the upgrades done to the roads in/around the gorge". Police guys were standing next to the signed and were checking. Nice! But ok, we've arranged together with 2 Americains a small private van which let us pass the closed entry and there you are: China gov says its closed, but the locals think: Screw that, we want to make money! Yes, China will become the model state of all capitalist countries!
3 days hiking in the mountains: Hunting for the Tigers. Oh, how naive we were.... our backpack consisted of 2 winterjackets, 2 long john's (warm stockings for under your normal pants), 2 sweaters and some t-shirts.... Apparently this gorge has a cute little micro-climate, so there is never snow, but on top of
Wakie wakie, rise and shine!!
And our breakfast view fitted 100% with the fried noodles. certain mountain tops. Whereas in other parts of China, the rice fileds are brown and waiting for the next spring, those in the gorge were fresh and green with growing rice plants... And there you are with your gear (jackets, sweaters, ect ect), knowing that you won't use it, but still have to carry for 3 days: Shit!!!
The first 2 days we took the high hiking trail, were no cars nor upgrades of the roads were. Quite through the bushes uphill and once after reaching the top (and plenty of cursing on the way up) enjoying the mountain views. During those days on the high trail I think we've seen only other tourists at the guesthouse where weve slept (both nights we were in total we 5 persons, the 2 Americans we've only seen in the van and the initial hike up, then they dissapeared). Somehow they were physically more advanced then us. But these 2 suckers WERE wearing their long john's during the trips and were cursing quite a bit (and I'll neverever say anymore that the English vocabulary is limited...). Passing wonderful mountain views, crossing bamboo-forests, turquoise waterfalls (Paps, no pictures of those waterfalls on this
View from the common bathroom.
Even the toilet was a tourist attraction... blog, as you might get a private waterfall screening just on all the waterfalls we'll see during our trip...). The funny / weird thing was that the guesthouses along the trail didn't know that the police stopped everybody. They thought that the police were stopping people from entering the lower trail (read: car road where touringbusses will pass in a few months) and that the higher trail was open for hikers. Not true.... We actually heard quite some stories that tourists were send back....
Having a blast on the Road
The last day we actually took the lower road, where they are working on widening the road (read: dynamite blasting pieces of the mountain and heavy-duty truck/bulldozers to remove the rocks/stones). The blasts could be heard several times a day, but anyway we decised to take this road, as local villagers also still used this road. And if they can do it, then we as well... But before we hit the landslides we went first down into the gorge in order to see the stone where a tiger leaped of the gorge/water... Nice path, great view. We saw the rock (impressive sight: huge rappids with white water). But
Trekking through bamboo forest.
We took a extra deviation to reach the second guesthouse and it definitely paid off! no tigers.... But worst of all: In case you go down the gorge, you'll also have to go up the gorge... 3 nice steep wobbly ladders with all the standard chinese safety features: None! I really loved carrying the backpack...
Bt all ok, we made it reached the road which was being upgraded. Indeed we've passed 5 sites with rocks, bulldozers and trucks. The local workes were a bit surpriced, but friendly. They stopped working in case we needed to cross a 'work site' (read: climb over the rocks which covered the road, sometime small rocks were still falling from overhead, but we made it without problems). The only problem was that we've crossed a second touristical site claiming to have the rock where the tiger leaped over the gorge... weird. So I've added pics of both and you may vote which you like most.
Adios,
C&A
Advertisement
Tot: 0.618s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 22; qc: 93; dbt: 0.1084s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
wouter smid
non-member comment
over 6 maand fietsen in de Tiger Leaping
Heel mooi deze verhalen te lezen. afgelopen weekend bij je ouders gegeten. We zijn met elkaar in China geweest. Dat heeft ons zo geraakt dat we komend zomer vanaf kumning gaan fietsen. En dan de gorge vanaf het noorden. En we hoorden al niets aantrekken van weg versperd. Gewoon door gaan. Wel dit is voor jullie al even terug. Vond het toch aardig even een bericht te sturen. Veel succes met jullie uitdaging. Wouter Smid en Mariet Hijlkema, Emmen