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Published: June 27th 2006
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That's some porch!
Looking out from the Xiangcheng Lamasery. We've now made it into the Yunnan province, and are nicely nestled in the picturesque and peaceful old town of Lijiang where we are recovering from a gruelling journey across the Sichuan-Tibet Highway and through Tiger Leaping Gorge. We left Chengdu a little over a week ago and headed West towards Tibet and our first stop, Kangding, or Kang-ming as it should be called. Beautiful setting, and the town is carved in two by a ferocious torrent of a river, however the town itself has nothing to offer - grim concrete blocks and squalid living conditions. You can imagine how happy we were when we arrived at the bus station at 6.30am the following morning to be told that the only bus out that day was full. But as so often happens when you hit rock bottom, things uncannilly take a turn for the better. After whiling away the day sorting out future travel arrangements, etc., we happened upon a saloon-style little backstreet bar called "China's People's Outdoors". What started as a quiet cup of cha later turned into a full-blown "celebrity-Westerner friendship-beer fest"!! We tried our hardest to pay for our meal and to reciprocate with some beers of our
own but all they really wanted was our phrasebook!
The next day our journey into Western Sichuan and up onto the Tibetan plateau began in earnest. Eight hours of rocking and rolling aboard a cramped and ageing minibus through dramatic scenery and over countless high-altitude passes (c. 4700m) and we arrived in the wild west of Litang. Despite Alasdair's claims of fitness, he couldn't even climb the stairs in the guest house without pausing for breath. Alison's cast-iron lungs seemed unmoved by the altitude. Although we hadn't officially crossed the border into Tibet, Litang is unmistakenly Tibetan. Bright colours, prayer flags and Tibetan monks adorned every street. Litang is situated in open grasslands surrounded by mountain peaks and is a curious mix of dirty, dusty hicktown atop a lush mountain plateau. Possibly its most endearing feature is the friendliness of the people we met there - definitely pay a visit to the star of the show, Mr Zheng, and sample his potato pancakes.
Xiangcheng was our next stop. Just off the bus and we were quickly snapped up by the proprietor of the Tibetan Guesthouse. We were initially sceptical as she led us away from the pristine hotel nearby and
up through a path/refuse tip. However the house was stunning - a typical Tibetan-style house from the outside, inside it was ornately decorated and beautifully maintained. We met some lovely people, including an Israeli couple and two North-American cyclists. This meant bikes, bike-chat, bike maintenance and one very happy (and envious) Alasdair! Although not as high as Litang, Xiangcheng gave the impression of being more mountainous. We took a walk up to the Lamasery in glorious yet incredibly intense sunshine. The colours of the buildings and the surrounding countryside together with a vividly blue sky and perfect light-quality combined to picture-postcard perfection.
From Xiangcheng, we rattled through Zhongdian to Qiaotou, the gateway to Tiger Leaping Gorge. After 12 hours on buses and arriving in the pouring rain we were pretty strung-out. Fortunately, on arriving in Qiaotou, we were easy prey for Margo at the Gorged Tiger Cafe who fished us off the street out of the rain and before we knew it, we were dry and warm, and wolving down chilli con carne and chicken curry! The gorge trek the next day started off a bit wet but gradually cleared, which meant we got the full experience of mist-filled valleys,
cascading waterfalls and towering peaks. Looking across the gorge to the mountains on the other side they appeared menacing as they towered over us.
We stayed at Tina's guesthouse above the middle gorge where we were generously treated to dinner by some Hong-Kong tourists and their comical Dali guide, Harry. It may have been the first time the Skye Boat Song has been heard in the valleys of Tiger Leaping Gorge, as we quite literally had to sing for our supper! The following day we exchanged the high trail for a two hour near-vertical descent down to the stone from which the gorge takes it's name (it is from here that a tiger allegedly leapt across the mighty Yangtze).
Exhausted but full of happiness and many incredible memories from our 7-day adventure, we are now soaking up the cafe-culture and easy-life of Lijiang. We are staying in the old town which is a jumble of small bungalows and canals but to our absolute delight, unlike Pingyao, the old-town restoration has been done carefully and tastefully, and the streets, restaurants, guethouses, shops, (and toilets!) are all immaculately clean. We plan to head to Dali tomorrow and then on to Kunming from
where we fly to Hong Kong on Saturday.
Bye for now, we're off for cakes and coffee from Don Papa's (the French bakery?!).
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The staff may have stolen my jacket when I was having a pizza in Don Papa's. Please watch your belongings if you eat there.