Tiger Leaping George

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The main attraction in Lijiang (besides the town itself) is Tiger Leaping Gorge. A gorge 900 meters deep and at some points, the width of a four lane highway. The TLG trek is about 25 kilometers over two days with a significant vertical climb (and descent).

For the trek a group of people from Mama's organized and hired a minivan to get us to the starting point. And so, three hours after leaving Lijiang (an hour of which was due to what seemed to be the most disruptive road construction possible - there was just no road) we found ourselves facing a sunny day and 900 vertical meters of climbing. The group consisted of yours truly, Hadar and Ayelet (I imagine you notice the Israeli sounding names), Joanne, the sunburned Northern Irish girl (her own words) and Liz, the Northern English girl ("I'm not from Wales!").

While gearing up and getting some water, we were approached by another woman, who asked if she could join, since it's no fun to almost trip over yourself in the trek if there's no one else to witness your clumsiness (I added that part. No clumsiness on her part...). She turned out to be called Michelle and she was from Singapore. What followed in the next few days was a lively discussion about Singapore, Israel, China and the cultural, political and social differences between them. But mostly it was just a lot of fun. Of course, it's always nice to have a Mandarin speaker around to make life easier and for that we are all indebted to her.

At some point, while discussing something about Singapore, I had a sudden flashback. I managed to unnerve her by humming the Singaporean national anthem, a feat not so common for Israelis or any other nationality, but quite understandable if you're a seven year old watching the only TV channel in Singapore in 1984 (no pun intended) and watching the clip of the flag being raised and the anthem being played while waiting for the Smurfs to come on. I used to do that quite a lot back then...

The trek itself was exerting, but on the plus side, it's a luxury trek compared to the South American ones I've done. There are guest houses along the way where you can stop for the night, have a meal and more importantly, a hot shower. Ok, I'll rephrase. A not-cold shower. Of course we did not reserve beds ahead of time and so we ended up spending the night on the floor. Actually it was quite comfortable as long as you changed position every 20 minutes in order to avoid completely numbing any one particular side of your body.

All in all, a great trek, very recommended. The sights are really beautiful, no matter what people say about how standard and uneventful the trek is. In that sense, boring is good. The last time it became interesting, I found myself visiting the doctor in Puerto Natales to get some pain medication for a throbbing meniscus and trying to conjugate the Spanish verb for "hurt" in it's different forms. I will never forget the words for "Knees" and "Pain" in Spanish ever again. But I'm really getting off track...

Anyway, see you on the next trek...

Cheers!

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Photos

My trek buddies
My trek mates with some gorgeous scenery behind us.

When the going gets rough,
The horses get going... The horse guides kept up some massive psychological pressure to let us know that we wouldn't make it and should make use of their services.

Quite the view
Overlooking the gorge

Dinner at the guest house
Having dinner at Tea Horse Guest House

Dinner by candlelight
There was no electricity anywhere in the gorge that night.

Tucking in
Getting ready to go to bed on the living room floor of the guest house.

By the dawn's early light
Just before the sun comes up at the guest house.

Group photo
Standing over the percipice.

Comments

[Michelle]

Great time!
Hi Yair, It was great meeting you and the rest of the trekkie buddies on the Tiger Leaping Gorge - this page really brings back fond memories! Have a great onward journey!