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Published: June 22nd 2007
LIJIANG - May 29
I don't understand how smoking can be permitted on buses. Well really it's not cause there is a no smoking sign but do the chinese listen?...of course not. So of course I got the combo of smoker and hoarker sitting beside me, dumping his ashes and spitting his hoarks in the aisle. Disgusting. He also had a hard time picking something out of his nose. Now I don't know if it was snot or just some nose hair but holy mother was that ever annoying. I had to look away and out the window cause it was totally irritating me but even then I could still feel the vibrations of his actions - fingers in nose and yank. Sheat! Everyone on the bus was chinese 'cept two other foreigners and when I said "ni hao" they all smiled and laughed and this one chick started talking to me in chinese. I was like I don't understand and supposedly she asked if I spoke chinese...obviously not! So then I think I was the butt of the their discussions at least for a little while. Whatever. Stopping for a bathroom break, another nice gentleman paid for me
to pee since I didn't have any change on me. Another communal squat but at least with dividers. The scenary was beautiful however, the vomit smell I got every so often from the bus took away from it. I wish I took some photos out the window but I was too lazy to dig through my bag for my camera. There were acres upon acres of rice fields with hundreds of workers in various stages of planting or harvesting. It was pretty amazing to see that grand scale of things.
Arriving in Lijiang, I went to find a phone to call Mama's Naxi Guesthouse cause they provided free pickup. It was strange but quite comforting to hear english announcements at the bus station. Mama's Naxi GH isn't anything special-dorm room wise but it's Mama and Baba that make the place and what they provide. I was shown a dorm room with 4 bunk beds with Japanese dude, and what ensued was not of my doing. He asked if they were co-ed dorms, seeming like he had an issue rooming with girls, it totally wasn't me but Mama thought I had the problem and was directing her.....to be honest I
Old quarter wagon wheels
Reminds me of Canada's Wonderlandcouldn't even understand what she was saying but she ended up putting me upstairs in a 3 bed dorm with this other dude. Ha. Whatever. Paul (from Missassauga, Ontario), who I'd met in Hellish Hanoi was still at Mama's so we caught up the tales of Sapa and the horrible sleeper bus experience. He seemed to have a worse one where he almost got into a fight with the bus driver. Hehehe. Already thinking about where I will be going after my first 30 days in China are up, possibly Singapore again, Paul informed me that Tiger Airways had a cheap flight from Macau to Singapore on the 17th. We went to Mama's Naxi GH no. 2 (I think) to use a working internet connection to check out other flights. Paul left after awhile and when I was ready to go back as well, I totally got lost within the maze of the old town streets. Goddamn the streets look all the same. Well I made it back with the help of one of Mama Naxi's minions. Paul showed me the Old Market Square but I wasn't very impressed. I mean I love the traditional Naxi architecture, cobblestone and wood
structures. What I didn't like was the how touristy it was, how all the shops sell the same tacky souvenir shit. As Dali reminded me of Banff, well Lijiang, at least the Old Town Market Square reminded me of Canada's Wonderland, a huge amusement park in Ontario. Too many people, tourists - chinese tourists with their damn red or orange tour group hats. You don't find the thousands of tourists on the streets of the Old Town which is nice. I liked finding my way through these streets because there was always something interesting to look. For me, I love taking pictures of doorways and windows that have character. Returning to the GH, I met some other people, Mark and Chrissie (newlywed british couple), Rob and Jillian (Scotish couple-who taught english in China), and Anya (Dutch girl - who I recognized from an internet shop in Kunming). Finally, I was able to hand off my Vietnam guidebook to Mark and Chrissie as they were heading that way. Dinner was at six o'clock and I was told you cannot be late or else you will feel the wrath of Mama😊 Dinner is fuckin' awesome for 10RMB ($1.40CAD). There is no menu.
You eat what is served but there is so much selection even I was impressed since being a vegetarians and all (hahaha). Your rice bowl is constantly being filled, and food keeps on coming out. There were many different dishes to suit everyone, including several veggie plates, tofu dishes, and meat dishes. Normally I try not to eat at the GH were I'm staying but this was totally good, affordable, and traditional Naxi style. My stomach was none to happy and I could feel this was going to be the starting some bad stomach problems.
TIGER LEAPING GORGE - May 30-31
The next day, the bunch of us including another group of travelers, a shit load of Isrealis were heading for Tiger Leaping Gorge (TLG). Breakfast at Mama Naxi's was 3RMB ($0.42CAD) was a choice of either banana pancake (but not really a pancake, this was way thicker - baba bread) or baba with egg & tomato. I got the egg and tomato dish and really shouldn't have eaten the bread because that just made my stomach worse. Right after breakies, we were herded into 3 minivans, since there were a shit load of us and takin' to
TLG.. We stopped for a photo of the Yangtze River, I think, which was just an introduction to the beauty that was to come. Getting back into the minivan, we loaded up on sunscreen. Others were applying outside the van and this homeless dude (I mean he looked homeless - quite dirty) was just starring at them. Eventually he went up to Rob and did the motion of wiping his hands over his face. So Rob gave him some sunscreen and the dude was so happy. He applied it vigoriously to his face which looked like it hurt. This guy was beyond any type of skin care but he was happy. Oh "monkey man" you will be missed. 2 hours later, we were at the admission gate. It was Y50 (~$7) but if you were a student it was only Y25 (~$3.5). Stupid me, I brought with me every other type of card except student card. I had a choice, give either my Ontario driver's license or my health card. I tried my luck with the health card but nope she didn't go for it. She was able to read "health" and didn't buy it. Boh well. Next time I'll
try my license.
Start time was around 11am and it was bloody hot. At first I wasn't too happy about starting the hike with such a large ass group, talking about the Isrelis. But it became apparent that like our group, there were stragglers and strong hikers so not everyone stuck together. The views right off where pretty freggin' amazing. Everyone was pretty much blown away. Someone told us that the first 2 hours were boring and nothing to look at but I don't know what the hell they were talking about because the views were gorgeous. I thought that hiking in TLG there would be some peace and quiet but of course we had followers, guys with horses that everytime we'd stop would ask "horse?" Hmmmm sounds awfully familiar to "moto?" We totally weren't having any of it and were pretty much ignoring them. I wonder how many people actually give in to these guys. Although they would come in handy if you feel and sprained or even worse broke a leg or arm but I'm sure their rate would go up in emergency situations! It took us about 2 hours to make it to the first resting/eating
place, Naxi Family GH. I wasn't too hungry but of course getting the menu, we ordered quite a bit of food and all shared. It tasty!! Anya was the straggler in our group and joined us later in the lunch and told us to continue on without her. We didn't like to leave a "man behind" but she kept insisting so we did. Back on the trail, we were psyching ourselves up for the much talked about, much dreaded 28-bends! At one point thought we were concuring the 28-bends cause we were going around several bends; however, our hopes were dashed when we reached this house where this woman was conveniently selling cold drinks and snacks and she told us we haven't even gotten to the bends yet! I even made a joke earlier about how these probably weren't even the bends but the pre-bends to the actual bends...boy did I call it. Ha. So we continued on our way and soon noticed when we did get to the bends however we did have difficulty deciding what exactly defined a bend, was it just the little bend or was it the whole straight section of the first part before the
bend, then the bend, then the next straight part up til the next bend? We didn't really figure it out but we decided to stop every 6 bends to take a rest. Chrissie told all of us to go ahead since she (and Mark) would be resting at every bend😊 So Paul, Rob, Jillian, and I worked our way to the top and in fact the 28-bends weren't that bad! I thought the first 2 hours of the hike was the worse because of the sun and hardly any shade. Of course, at the top there was another woman selling goodies and some dude claiming to have a "beautiful" view of the gorge from this rock outcrop, only for 8RMB!! No need to pay for that view when you had such a better one everywhere else! Crazy man. I can't describe enough the views that TLG has to offer. And it's very surreal to be walking on the side of the mountain, through various different landscapes, forests, rocks, grass, etc. Saw some wildlife on the way, mainly lizards, snakes, butterflies, and birds. We encountered this crazy shepard lady that was carrying a knife. Well she didn't exactly do anything crazy
but the look in her eyes were kinda freaky. We thought maybe the rocks that we were throwing earlier might have killed her whole herd of goats on the mountainside and now she was seeking revenge. We did pass several lone goats that appeared confused and lost. Maybe.......
Rob and Jillian were smart cause they brought with them some snacks, a package of Oreos. They kindly shared with the rest of us and I don't like Oreos normally back home. I don't know when the last time I ate an oreo but these were delicious!! Paul also had some candy peanuts. It was a nice break to rejuvenate us for the last leg of the first day trek. Our goal was to make it to Halfway House GH, and we did by 7pm.
While the others went straight for the beer, I on the other hand went straight for the shower. And man did it feel sooooooooooo good! About 30mins later the group of Isrelis came along with Anya. Our group was back together again! We decided on a shared dinner thing again and ordered up tons of food and had to reorder some more. The food was delish,
especially the sweet and sour chicken!! Another couple joined us for dinner too, Jim and Jayme. They both teach english in Fuzhou, Fujian province. So I was chatting them up getting more information about it. It sounds promising considering that they are looking to hire new teachers for the new school year in September. Jim did suggest that I get my certificate in teaching english as a foreign language because although having a masters degree helps, the teaching cert. makes all the difference in getting the good job. I got his card and told him I'd definitely be in touch. Everyone beat, we headed to bed. However, no sleepies for me since there were snorers in the dorm and the damn door wouldn't shut tight so it kept banging. I got up around 2am having to use the toilet and I was awe struck with the view of the night sky and the shadows cast on the mountains. The Halfway House GH has the best views cause you bascially step outside your room and you are looking directly at the mountains, so close you could almost touch them. I couldn't go back to sleep with such an amazing view. I
grabbed my camera, knowing I wouldn't get any good pics but just in case. Mark was up as well and we just sat and took pics, taking in the scenery. The moon was so bright, it wasn't a full moon but it was pretty damn close. Paul soon was up as well and the three of us just sat on the couch outside and admired the moment. We forced ourselves to get back to sleep knowing we had another full day of hiking. The flies buzzing and landing on my face was my alarm clock and so was everyone else's too. We all had pancakes for breakies, mine banana while everyone else's was chocolate then we were off around 8am before the Isrelis but who were close behind. Halfway House GH was a good place to stop for the night, beautiful views but the staff seems super stressed all the time.
Day 2 didn't disappoint in scenery either. We were walking on trails that were obviously carved out of the mountainside. How they did it and how long it took beats the hell out of me. But it's pretty wickey! We past several waterfalls but one where we actually
had to walk over the slippery rocks. Hahaha. Everytime I did something dangerous like that, or getting close the edge of the cliff to take a picture, I would think of my mom who hates heights and I could hear her yelling at me to get back. Hahaha. Funny. Anyhu. We got down to where the trail meets the road and where Tina's GH is conveniently located around 1pm, I think. We had a little rest with some drinks and figured to call Mama to pick us up at 5pm back at Qiaotou which met we had 3 hours to 4 hours to hike to the actual gorge then make it back to Qiaotou via the road, which was blocked by 2 big landslides. We might have been pushing the time factor, when "Tina" told us it would take 3 hours to do the gorge hike but whatever. We headed down a marked trail that had the sign "Tiger Leaping George"....why not? Well it felt like we were not going in the right direction but we continued on. By this time my knees were starting to hurt cause of all the downhill treks and my toes were feeling a little
crushed, well mainly my baby toe....I think I must walk weird. Stopping for some shade and a little break, another herder pointed us in the opposite direction he was going laughing all the while. We took his help and came to a home and a marked trail where of course, you had to pay 10RMB. I don't mind so much cause it's the locals that built the trails and maintain have them, well so they say. We were getting a lot closer to the Yangzi River.....from all the downhilling we did. A lady met us and took us to the actual gorge where a tiger supposedly leapt from over gorge (hence the name) but I really couldn't picture how exactly a tiger could have done so with no where to land on the other side of the river. Oh well maybe that is why it's more of a folkstale. It was pretty impressive the gorge, it was very loud and the water very strong. I couldn't imagine falling in!! Looking around I noticed the famous ladder that has to be climbed to reach the top of the mountain. It looked so far in the distance but still very vertical! Heading
back up, we were actually given a choice of either paying (yes more costs involved) 10RMB to take the ladder route which was shorter or 15RMB for the non-ladder route but was longer. Everyone was opting for the ladder way cause it you just had to do it but Chrissie was worried about her strength and not being able to make it. She eventually decided to do the ladder way but looked a little worried. Well there wasn't any need to be cause there was actually another two options. There was a double arrow indicating the "safe path" or the "dangeroos ladder". Myself, Rob, Jillian, and Mark opted for the adventurous "dangeroos ladder" way while the others played it safe. Yup the ladder was flippin' vertical and I wondered how the hell it was affached to the mountainside. Well I soon found out and wished I hadn't. Rob and Jillian went first and took it really slow. They looked really awkward climbing but later when I asked them about it, they are afraid of heights! Hahaha. I went next with Mark taking up the rear. I had no trouble and didn't think about certain scary things, like what happened if
the ladder came detached from the mountain.....seriously there is nothing you could do except fall with it. Anyway, I tried not to think of that until I saw how the ladder was held to the mountainside.....by vines and big branches.....I mean there must have been other key buidling materials that I happened to miss as I ascended but ya I seemed to have missed those. That is when I kinda started to get this panicky feeling in my chest but not even seconds later I was safely at the top. YAY! There was another mini ladder but not like the other one. More bends and uphill later, most of us were at the roadside again. Once the others joined us we headed back to Tina's for some much deserved lunch. We knew we weren't going to make to Qiaotou in time to meet Mama so we took our time enjoying the food. All the food has been so delish on the TLG trek...maybe cause you get so damn famished that anything would taste great. I wanted to walk back at least partly along the road, going back to Qiaotou but we ended up paying for transport at each damn landslide.
I guess Anya was really hurting cause she refused to walk anymore and offered to half the fare while the rest of us split the difference. I was a little annoyed cause I had to take the ride unless I wanted to walk on my own and meet everyone several hours later. The drivers were asking stupid prices too. Whatever. I sucked it up, payed and let it be....after being a little quiet for awhile. Hehehe. The landslides were pretty decent. The first one we had to cross close to the cliffside (mom wouldn't be happy😊) but the other one wasn't. The drive between the 2 landslides, the driver had to stop because more rocks were still falling, albeit small ones but they could inflict a lot of damage to the vehicle or one of our faces if it smashed through the window. As soon as there was a break in the fallage, the driver gunned it and sped across the danger zone. We all laughed about it later.
LIJIANG - May 31 - June 1
Back in Lijiang around 8pm, way past Mama's dinner, we figured we'd go out and eat but Baba told us to head
to the dining house cause they would serve us dinner! Sweet! I wasn't very hungry but again, food is there in front of me, I must eat! This was the best feast yet at Mama's! We joked to about hopefully they'll serve sweet and sour chicken and they did!! It was a nice end to such an amazing 2 day trek!! TLG was fuckin' rad and everyone should do it! Sleep came fitfully that night.
Next day, I had to figure out how the fuck I was going to get the Chengdu from Lijiang. I didn't want to spend another day here so I had to make some decisions. The options were:
1. Heading north on a 4-5 day bus journey through harsh, high altitude regions. Good thing would be to see the Tibetan regions, in southwest Sichuan but too long for my liking.
2. Back track to Kunming and taking an 18 hour train ride to Chengdu. Hate back tracking and involves taking a sleeper bus. No thanx!
3. Take bus to Panzhihua in Sichuan where you can catch a train but I've heard that you aren't guaranteed to get a train ticket.
4. Flying directly to Chengdu,
taking an 1 hour. More expensive.
Well the best looking option was number 4....hells ya. And when Mama Naxi called to find out about flight costs, she quoted me a lower price from the first time I asked her before going to TLG. Rob and Jillian were in the same predicament as I was but they too opted for the flight. So the cost of was 580RMB ($81CAD). Totally worth it I think! Save in hassle and time.
Flights booked and our beds reserved at Mix Hostel in Chengdu, I felt a lot better. I heard some familiar voices coming from a room marked "private". Astrid and Jacob opened up the door and we all had a good largh. I didn't think I would still be in Lijiang when they got here from Zhongdian. It was good timing though cause I asked them about whether it was worth the trip. From their response I decided against it. Maybe some other time. We caught up over the delish breakies. The lot of us went to see if we could sneak in to the Black Dragon Pool Park because the 60RMB was too expensive for our liking. Some guy said it
was possible since he did it. Well we tried and failed. Boh well. Instead we ate some cheap stall noodles, which I happened to spill the sauce down my legs. I then tried these fried potatoes on a skewer but you sprinkle with chilli flakes and this other spicy powder (recommended by Astrid and Jacob). Damn was that good. So simple and so good. I bought some bakery goodies for the plane. Didn't do much else. Dinner wasn't the greatest. Oh ya my stomach issue was solved today!! YAY! Except that it was having the opposite effect now but at least no more bloating. We all went out to a bar, Sexy Tractor (don't ask) one last time as a group. I didn't get anything but when I saw Astrid eating a snickers it looked very good. I got one too and I haven't enjoyed a chocolate bar like that in a very long time. I haven't had a chocolate bar since being home, I think. It was good.
Saying our goodbyes to everyone but probably seeing Astrid and Jacob at least one more time, I was heading to the airport for the midnight flight to Chengdu. The flight
was delayed but when we finally boarded and were in the air, Rob, Jillian and I all agreed that it felt strange to be flying. We should have been busing or training it, not doing the high class flying😊 It was a nice, comfortable change and the fastest traveling I've done between cities. Sweet deal!
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Mags
non-member comment
WOW
And I thought hiking in the Rockies was hard! How long was the ladder that you had to go up?