The 28 Bends of The Tiger Leaping Gorge

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Our next adventure was to head to the Tiger Leaping Gorge. The gorge one of the deepest in the world, measures 16km long and is 3900m from the Jinsha River that cuts its way through to the top of the Haha mountain. We were determined to do this 2 day trek as we have read that surprise surprise the Chinese want to build at least 8 dams along the Yangzi river. Once the proposed dams are completed the dams will flood more than 13000 hectares of prime farmland, force over 100,000 people to relocate and wash away local culture, history, unique architecture and indigenous plant and animal life.

So we said our goodbyes to Shangri La and Noah’s cafe by having one last pizza and BLT and headed south on a bus for 2 hours to Qiaotou Village where we disembarked got hassled by locals before finding Jane’s Guesthouse up a little road. We paid our 50yn entrance fee to walk the gorge and checked into a double room ensuite at Jane’s for 80yn a night. We were toying with the idea in setting off on the first day but torrential rain put a stop to that idea so we enjoyed the rest of the day chatting to the other guests and eating and drinking.

After an awful night’s sleep - RATS in the roof and walls!!! We had breakfast (the world’s biggest omelette, definitely not more than the 3 eggs it said it was going to be) and headed off following the sporadic red arrows along the gorge.

The first two hours were hard as we were consonantly ascending but the second two hours were horrendous. This part was called the 28 bends and was so hard. From the beginning of the walk we were going up 2,650m in 4 hours of steep rocky paths. After about two and a half hours into the walk we got to a little lady selling drinks and ganja. We took the drinks but left the ganja, feeling rather surprised to see it being sold so freely in China. This little lady then showed G a map of the walk and pointed out where we were. This was not where G thought we were, which was half way up the 28 bends, it was in fact just before the 28 bends!!!! Deciding not to tell T and demoralise the both of us we continued on up hill, sweating and stopping for breath every 5 minutes. Once Tony said according to his calculations this is bend 28, looking up to a monster of a hill to go, it only felt right for G to tell Tony the bad news and that we had only just started the bends!!!!

So after 4 hours from when we started we finally made it to the top and we rewarded with fantastic panoramic views of the gorge.

An easy 1 hour walk down took us through bamboo forests and eventually to The Tea Horse Guesthouse, our home for the night. The two couples we had met the night before were already there (having set off earlier than us, might we add). So for 50yn we were shown our double room with shared facilities. The shower was interestingly cold and full of bugs (only later did we find out that they turned the heat on after about 6!!!!) and the toilets, with their very own ganja plants next to them, were squat with no doors, so we had to remember to keep coughing until we had finished so no one walked in on you in a precarious position!!!! The views were AMAZING by the way!!!!

We spent the rest of the afternoon drinking and eating with the aussie couple we met the night before, before heading to bed early for a well earned rest.

The next morning we rose to the chatter of a load of Belgium’s sitting right outside our room having breakfast. After an hour of trying to ignore them, we got up ourselves and ordered our breakfast before heading off at 10 with the aussie couple, Callum and Sarah. We made good time to the next main guesthouse - Halfway House. Where we pelted around the cliff to find a waterfall in our path. We precariously past it, G taking what T reckoned the most dangerous way, G thinking the best way to prevent feet getting wet!!!! All in all it took us 3 hours of mainly descending which meant no stops to catch our breath!!!!

Once we got to the other end at Tina’s Guesthouse, we called Jane who sorted out a taxi back to her place (80yn for a minibus that can fit 7) so we could pick our bags up and head to Lijiang. The road back was really quite stunning, apart from the bit that went right through what looked like a current landslide with rocks still falling and a 200m drop into the gorge the other side!!!!!

So Tiger Leaping Gorge - Done by G & T and highly recommended before it disappears for good!!!!

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