Daju Village

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Tiger Leaping Gorge, the Jewel of Yunnan.

The gorge is about 40k in length but seems much longer when it is cycled since it is up and down all the way with some quite steep hills demanding low gears. The middle of the Gorge is where the rock stands in the centre of the Yangtze surrounded by a ferocious current of water boiling up everywhere and is the rock onto which it is suggested that a tiger once used as a stepping stone to escape across the river. There are 400 steps down to the edge of the river but you can be taken down by some tuffies in a Sedan Chair if you are a bit tired, lazy or rich. At this point you can take photos along with a mass of other Chinese tourists, some of whom want a photo with a Westerner. Once you leave this area and head down the gorge there is very little traffic and riding is a pleasure taking in the beautiful scenery, which is nothing short of breathtaking. The mountains reach up above you and there are mountains on top of mountains. Every bend is a photo opportunity and it is as well that we are digital and not confined to 24 and 36 shots on a film, as in the 'Olden Days'. Tina's cafe for a very good lunch and then down to the ferry further down the gorge by following a very rough dusty track. Unfortunately I got into a deep pile of dust and toppled of the bike in a dust storm resulting in a bit of skin loss on my elbow. A squirt of water and some savlon and away again. The ferry moored against a rock and we carried our bikes down through the soft sand. Once across we had to carry the bikes up several flights of steps and dirt track several hundred metres to the top of the river's edge. There we met our guest house owner who was there waiting for us in his van. We followed him in a cloud of dust to the accommodation, which has been modernised a little since my last visit in 2009. Our room had a shower and toilet, which we volunteered to share with the two other rooms on our level. The guest house is very pleasant with an open yard for drying maize and peas and there is a yard covered in vines, providing much needed shade. Surprisingly there is WiFi, which is more then the average hotel in China of much larger size. We are tempted to stay here a while longer but the 45 km hairpin mountain climb awaits tomorrow.

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Photos

Daju
Grandma sweeping up rice

Daju guest house
The new rooms

Kitchen
Preparation of our dinner