Blogs from Tiger Leaping Gorge, Yunnan, China, Asia - page 4

Randonnee magnifique et parfois dangereuse dans les montagnes bordant les eaux de la Jinsha. L'ascension est rude mais le panorama a la fin en vaut le coup! Nous n'avons pas toujours suivi les sentiers indiques, ce qui nous a mene a un joli lavoir ou nous avons passe un apres-midi a se baigner dans l'eau de la montagne et a bronzer sous un panorama exceptionnel. Beautiful but sometimes dangerous treck in the mountains along the Jinsha River. Climbing was hard but the view on the top was worth it! We did not always follow the indicated paths which lead us to a nice fountain where we spent an afternoon bathing in the mountain's water and taking the sun in a fantastic panorama.... read more

Day 31 It’s hard, in today’s China, not to ruminate on the rule of communism. My views are shaped by visits behind the Iron Curtain in the 1980’s. Oppression, iron fist rule, officious police checkpoints, travel restrictions, a cowering populace, no entrepreneurial drive, no merchandise and a host of other shadowy and dark adjectives continue to shape my views. Even China on a visit in 2002 seemed some of the above. Now this country has reshaped itself and it’s me that needs to reshape my expectations of communism. I have struggled to align the economy with the governing system here. Slowly I understand, it’s time to unfasten them in my head. There is no communism, as I knew it, here any more. Economically, this is a strongly capitalist and strongly commercial country. Since the day we ... read more

Per and I set of for Tina’s hostel at 8.30, Tina’s was a 90 min walk away, some of it quite challenging but nothing on the 28. From Tina’s we arranged a minibus with 4 others to take us back to Jane’s where we would organise transport to Shangri-La. When the minibus picked us up we had no idea of the white knuckle ride ahead, the bus ride back to the hostel is on a dirt road full of potholes with no safety rail to be seen anywhere, one wrong move and its goodnight. I was sat in the middle of the rear seat on the bus, every bump we hit I banged my head on the roof before slamming down onto the metal bar running along the seat, there was almost no cushion on it ... read more

'Either we go fast and almost certainly drive over the edge into the gorge, or we go slow and almost certainly big boulder fall and crush us'... not the words you want to hear from your driver as you career down one of the deepest gorges in the world! Unfortunately that was the situation with which I was faced when trying to get out of Tiger Leaping Gorge in China's southwestern Yunnan province. Tiger Leaping Gorge is spectacular. Hiking the high trail made for a pretty strenuous two day outing and the infamous Tiger Leaping Gorge path is described as being to China what the Inca Trail is to Peru. The ancient trial passes through beautiful remote villages and along steep scenery with stunning 5000 metre snow capped peaks towering up each side of the gorge ... read more

In alten Zeiten wurde ein Tiger von einem menschlichen Jäger verfolgt. Die Jagt führte sie an einen tiefen Abgrund. Für die Raubkatze schien ies das Ende zu sein. Doch dann nahm sie allen Mut zusammen und sprang mit Hilfe eines Steines an der engsten Stelle über die 25m weite Schlucht und entkam so dem Jäger. Seither nennen die Menschen diese Schlucht die Tigersprungschlucht. Die Tigerspungschlucht führt an über 5000m hohen Gipfeln vorbei und ist somit eine der tiefsten Schluchten der Welt. Ungefähr auf 2000 - 2500 m Höhe führt an nicht immer einfacher Wanderpfad entlang. Tief darunter fließt der mächtige Yangtze. Der längste Fluss Chinas bzw Asiens und der drittlängste der Welt ist hier noch weitgehend ungezähmt und frei von dem Gift chinesischer Millionenstädte, das er tausende von Kilometern weiter westlich bei Shanghai ins Ostchinesische Meer ... read more