Tiger Leaping Gorge

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In order to get to Tiger Leaping Gorge I first went to Shangri-la and stayed a couple days. The place was a basic tourist stop. It was a bunch of new old buildings and there were about five different stores. Not five different buildings, just each store sold the same thing. It had one monastery that everyone went to. They had pictures of it done, but it looked like they were building from the foundation up in the middle part. You are suppose to pay 85yuan to see the place. The person I went with and myself just walked around the police stop. Not on purpose, its just we never planned on taking the bus and that is where they were stopping people.

Early one morning I made why way to the gorge. After some initial confusion on which bus I should be on, I arrived and made it to the start of the trail. There was a sign saying the place was closed, I assume due to weather conditions. I didn't read it, someone that I had met earlier gave me the gist of the sign. All you have to do is tell this guy what country you come from and you walk by without having to pay the 50yuan entrance price. I assume they wanted to know what embassy to contact in case I never came back, since they were not going to be taking responsibility of my body after warning me with that sign. The gorge itself was a bit harder than I expected. Lonely Planet said it wasn't easy, but I figured that is because they are catering to the middle aged traveler, and they couldn't possible mean me. On the second day I finished at the last hostel on the bottom road that usually calls you a mini bus to take you back. Well the day I went the lady said it was too dangerous and the waterfalls had created landslides. I knew this had happened, but everyone else said that you simply walk over them and get in another mini bus. She said I had to walk back to the halfway point and then walk down. That is where I started the day, not exactly what I wanted to hear. I did this telling people I met on the trail, as others had told me and some walked to the bottom road anyway, as I had to see if it was true. When I got to the halfway mark, I got a mini bus and I finally reached the beginning. I saw some of the people who in fact got a mini bus from the lady at the hostel who told me it was impossible. They said all the landslides had been cleared. I was a bit upset to say the least, but figured going back to her hostel to tell her wasn't worth it.

After getting my things from the first hostel on the trail I caught the bus to Lijang. The place was really just a larger Shangri-la. It had the same new old buildings and it had a variation of about seven stores. The place had a much more touristy feel as well. I bought a bus ticket and left the area in desperate need of doing laundry. I chose not do it in Lijang because it was so cold and wet that one person had his clothes drying for four days, and I wanted to leave this place much sooner than that.

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