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Published: November 3rd 2006
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Tiger Leaping Gorge
Looking back down the world's narrowest / highest?? gorge It was with great anticipation that we awoke on the Monday morning - holding Tiger Leaping Gorge as one of the potential highlights of our trip to date. We made our way through the maze of Lijiang Old Town for the last time, now devoid of crowds, before hopping on a bus to Quitoa - the start of the gorge.
Popping our heads in at Margo's - an eccentric but lovely Aussie lady who stored our big bags, made us coffee and a divine toasted cheese sammo, before pointing us up the road to the route marker that would signal our steep ascent into the gorge.
The climb itself was uphill but fairly easy at first opening up glorious views of the valley where two rivers joined, we passed through rural hamlets complete with pigs, mules, and nature's delights. The weather was extremely kind to us offering glorious sunshine which soon made us lose the several layers we had invested in to ward off the chills of altitude. Down to shorts and T-shirts we wound our way around goat tracks on the edge of cliffs that dropped down to the valley floor several hundred metres below occasionally venturing into
Tiger Leaping Gorge
Nunny points out the way to the top the shade of the mountain which offeresd us a chilling reminder of why we'd pack the warm stuff.
2 hours into the trip and we paused for lunch at the Naxi Family Guesthouse where we were treated to some cold beverages and some top tucker, and ran into some fellow travellers we'd met up with in Dali, Emily, Steve (Sleve) and Pete who we joined on the next leg of the voyage to Middle Tiger Leaping Gorge. Emily amzed us with her tenacity?? by enduring the entire trek in a pair of thongs!! While we chuckled with Steve and Pete at the the potential risk of tiger attacks and sheer amount of flora in the gorge.
We started off ahead of the three but they quickly caught us up on the infamous 28 bends which (you'll be proud to know Mums and Dads) we both walked the entire way up! Despite being made several offers of a mule en route. We referred the persistent touts back down the trail though suggesting that they look out for a English girl in thongs that may take them up on the offer...
Sure enough (and no doubt a wise decision
in retrospect) Emily mounted the donkey at the first offering and this time the other 2 boys were made to keep up, spurred on by the occasional flatulence from the mule which I believe was some form of revenge...? and the bell around it's neck which offered an increasingly distant incentive for the trailing boys. Needless to say as we sat gasping for breath (altitude you see) on one of the many bends that wound up to the 2750m summit (thats about 500m higher than Mt Kosciosko kids) the mule with a giggling Emily aboard passed us too, shortly followed by Pete who was setting a unbelievably cracking pace in pursuit of the girl and soon after by Steve who joined us and a very disorientated Israeli man in our more leisurely, but equally as arduous pace to the peak.
The final insult came when a local man with a basket of stuff on his back paused long enough at our many rest points to say a breif 'Nee Hao' before literally 'running' up the mountain. Ha conditioning is a wonderful thing...
Reaching the summit we indulged ourselves in possibly the best tasting Snickers bar ever consumed before
taking advantage of a few photo opportunities and beginning the descent down the other side to our residence for the night - the highly recommended Five Fingers Guesthouse (Thanks Gav and Sinead). As darkness approached (and quickly) we passed the popular Halfway house and searched in the twilight for the guesthouse finally stumbling through the door as the light disappeared completely.
The five of us completely exhausted then sat down to all you could eat walnuts and all you could drink green tea, in truth dreaming of a cold beer an a hearty meal. After sitting for an eternity (hour or so) wondering what the go was, the family seemily busy in the kitchen preparing the other guests and their own meals. Emily finally approached some fellow trekkers staying there who were amazed that we hadn't asked for the menu! Duh! "You young people today..." was the niggle thrown in for good measure.
So with a hunger befitting a horse and inflamed by the passive watching of everybody else get fed we pounced upon the menu ordering up a storm of some of the tastiest food ever imagined. Cold beers were served and a contented bunch of Aussies
Tiger Leaping Gorge
Not a bad place to live and Poms could only laugh at their initial stupidity.
After a short time stargazing, we were in bed pretty early that night (as you could imagine), but sleep was made restless by the howling of wolves?? the short beds, and the cold - as Nunny kept stealing the doona. At one point I ventured down to the toilet only to shine the torch into the 100 eyes of a massive black spider, unable to move for various reasons, he stared back at my every 'movement' rubbing his legs ready to pounce... as the Mexican standoff continued I was eventually able to beat a hasty departure from the thunderbox only to lie wide awake dreaming of my near escape. An interrupted sleep was capped off by the early morning and very audible hacking of Granma who had started on the pipes well before breakfast...
We eventually got out of bed and while Nunny made the most of the doona to herself, Ricko braved the showers - the water, clearly harvested from the nearby glacial runoff (yes bloody cold) and any residual sleepiness was quickly washed away.
After a hearty breaky of assorted pancakes (even a pancake 'chicken burger')
Tiger Leaping Gorge
Looking down on the crew - Emily, Steve and Pete as we watched a giggling Granma cause chaos around the yard by releasing the chicken, freshly caught for dinner that night, from its cage. Only to be scolded by the other girls. We were treated to a tour of the lovely hosts' garden complete with bee hives, walnut and pear trees and suddenly we were back on the track our arms laden with the HUGEST pears you've ever seen which continued to munch on our way back around the cliffs past a herd of mountain goats and down to the Tina's GH on the road to Walnut Grove (yes they were that big).
Here we indulged in some much deserved sunbaking and relaxing on Tina's verandah where we were entertained by the closest thing we'd seen to tigers in the gorge, some cheeky yet incredibly tiger-like stripy cats that lathered on their temporary affection when the food appeared. A strange smell kept attracting fellow travellers before we finally realised what is was - clearly the combination of Ricko, Pete and Steve's feet was distracting people from their food.
A brief stroll down to Walnut Grove on a paved road (ahh bliss) and we bedded down for the night
Tiger Leaping Gorge
Coming up 28 bends we paused briefly... for photos at the Tibetan Guesthouse which offered amazing value plus one of the most scenic toilets we'd encountered so far, we spent some quality time on the verandah where we were joined by a bloke with a British/American accent that lived in Madrid (he did the gorge in one day - freak!) and relived the glory of our trek - even contemplating another three day hike over Haba Snow Mountain to Zhongdian.
Instead we slept in hopping a minibus back to Quitoa for connections at the other end. Experiencing some phenomenal landslides, a near brush with death as our driver took the corner too fast, and plenty of Chinese tourists who seem to go to the 'tiger leaping rock' and back as their day trip. All this was capped off by warm farewells as our crew went separate ways, everyone else back to Lijiang and us to Zhongdian - onwards towards Tibet!
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The Real Skipper
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Bleeding heart....
Lady Michelle, 1st mate, My Swiss heart is bleeding! The mountains are calling me.... What a wonderful trip this must have been. This is what I live and die for! I've only been in Guilin and Yangzhou in China but this really inspires me. And now Tibet? Keep going strong! Wish I could be there with you and hi to all the ladyboys for me.