Advertisement
Published: October 22nd 2005
Edit Blog Post
Feet blistered and scabbing....three days through the gorge ended in success! On a wet, gray morning we left Margo's cafe - bellies full of muesli, fruit and yogurt and a spring in our steps. Gerry recruited 3 British travelers to join us in our trek the night before. Clair, a 28 year old failed entrepreneur (in the nightclub business), and Dave and Andy, two young guys who just completed a 3 month expedition through Borneo, completed our 5 man hiking crew. Our packs weighed down with strange Chinese snacks and water, we tackled the gorge ferociously...errmmm..everyone but me. As it turned out I was the weak link; struggling behind the team trying my hardest to catch my breath as we ascended. Yes, I said ascended..up, up, up we climbed into the clouds. We watched the villages and houses below us spread out and become small dots in the landscape. Local men leading less than hearty horses appeared out of no where trying to coax us onto the back of the poor animals. When I say "us" I really mean "me". I fell further behind as we hit the heart-attack inducing 28 Bends. One man in particular kept shouting at me every
time I paused on the trail. Pointing to me and then to the horse, I was sure he was saying something like "GET ON MY HORSE!! If you are having trouble now you are NEVER going to make it!!" But I kept on and made it to our lovely lunch stop the Tea-Horse Cafe. The horse man disappeared an we hiked on. The more we hiked the deeper the gorge became. We were quite literally hiking on the edge of a mountain. The views were unparalleled. On the side we were trekking the vegetation was green and lush. Looking across the gorge we were met with a sheer mountain. Looking down we could barely spot the brown rushing waters of the Yangtze River. One slip in the wrong direction and we could become one with the gorge forever.
We arrived at Half-Way Guest house long before dark. This gave us ample time to rest our trail-weathered bodies and re-fuel. The service at Halfway left MUCH to be desired...but we couldn't ask for more in terms of social atmosphere.
We passed the evening hours away on a wooden deck overlooking the gorge, chatting and ordering meal upon un-savory meal. Sitting on
Lots of cuties in Dali!
I love her pretty pink feelers! old tree stumps, and shivering in the cold night air we got to know our fellow trekkers. The oddest of the bunch was dressed in what appeared to be a purple fuzzy carpet. His steel blue eyes and long wavy golden hair made him look like David Lee Roth... or someone famous. He sat silently in the corner until the American woman from Arizona decided to retell the story of "the Dude's" life to us for entertainment purposes. It will be recounted here for the same purposes - improvised in parts I cannot remember:
A fanatical Christian and bodybuilder in LA, the Dude got a simple ticket for not wearing a seat belt. Having no time or money to pay the bill he forgot about it and a warrant for the Dude's arrest was produced. Continuing to dodge the bill the Dude thought nothing of it until the police attempted to pull him over for speeding. Not wanting to be arrested, the Dude decided to run from the police. The car chase ended badly (as they all do) and resulted in the Dude being severely beaten (whilst quoting parts of the bible) and arrested.
After getting out of prison
on the road to Dali
The best bus trip yet!! he found himself a broken man. He turned down his grandfather's offer for him to continue his booming lingerie business in Hollywood and decided to pursue music. Living with his mother and at his rented "studio" in a seedy part of town, he hit hard times. Perhaps the hardest when his car engine was stolen. Stolen by a midget, it was. The Dude spotted the little bugger in a parking lot one day and decided to make him "pay" for it. This included a highly dramatic chase through a supermarket. But the midget disappeared through a back alleyway as the Dude made a failed strategic move to deflate the tires on the midget's car.
The culminating events brought the Dude to seek a more comfortable life abroad. He now splits his time between the islands of Thailand, playing guitar at Full Moon parties, and Amsterdam.
Throughout the evening we were entertained with story after completely detailed story of the Dude's life and times. Including highly detailed visits to red-light districts around the globe, which all left us silent and totally uncomfortable.
The next morning we left for the second leg of the trek. Crossing perilously dangerous waterfalls several thousand
feet high we had a warm sunny day on the trial. The last portion of the hike was very slippery and I took a very animated tumble - dirtying me up good and loosing my precious step counter. But we made it down to the road and took a 3 hour rest stop at Tina's G.H.. Further down the road was our destination for the night, Sean's. Between the small girl there who kept spitting on the guys and the Dude who showed up in dressed in banana yellow and bright pink shoes we had another good night.
Day three was fairly uneventful except for our mini hike down to the gorge and the drive back to Margo's. The lower road was surprisingly just as dangerous as the trail above. Our lives were completely in the hands of the old guy who drove our mini-bus. Flying at top speeds over massive landslides and waterfalls which flowed over the road, we were all relived to reach the Gorged Tiger.
I had misplaced a painting I bought in Yangshou on the bus to the Gorge. And, had asked Margo to find it for me. Upon my arrival back at the cafe I found out the painting had been located and then stolen - complete with a heated argument between Margo and the shady bus driver lady. Nice to know my $20 painting caused so much drama and excitement. Goodbye beautiful, red cherry tree painting!
Our group of 5 got along surprisingly well during the hike and we decided to go to Dali City together. We chartered a bus and had the most pleasant bus ride of my entire trip thus far - which included a double rainbow.
Dali was great! We stayed at the best guesthouse. Our dorm beds were mattresses in an old Chinese house. The walls of the house were covered in giant abstract paintings with funky lighting. There was a pool and free internet! Gerry and I found it hard to peel ourselves away from Dali - a quiet, quaint little town on a hill. But no lingering...next stop, Beijing!
Ps- If you ever meet the Dude, you will know... Treat him kindly. He's had a wild life.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.094s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 9; qc: 56; dbt: 0.0673s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Uncle Jeff
non-member comment
Pics
Can't wait to see your Pictures!!