Hiking the mountains

We finally arrived in Lijiang around 5am on October 3^rd. China doesn’t have a late night life like America so we got in a cab and asked to be taken to the nearest KFC. The ticket booth didn’t open till 630 so we took our time getting food and refreshing ourselves after the ride. Heading back to the station, we got tickets for 7:30am to head to Qiaotou, the base of the Tiger Leaping Gorge hike. The bus ride was gorgeous. All along the way there were cloud covered mountains along Chinese countryside. We also met Wayne, a guy from South Africa (he grew up in East London and lived outside Cape Town for 6 months), who was also planning on doing the two-day hike. He was planning on meeting up with some friends and had to go at a faster pace than we did so we parted ways after the bus. We had arrived! After getting pointed in the right direction and stopping to ask about any news on the trail (there was none) we were on our way to start the two day hike of Tiger Leaping Gorge.

Well this trip officially pointed out that I am a pansy and out of shape. The hike was absolutely beautiful. When we were not staring at our feet insuring minimal tripping, we were all gawking at the snow capped mountains surrounding us. Most of the journey included clouds drifting past letting the landscape come in and out of view. The side of the gorge we were on was the shorter side with green hills leading up to rocky terrain. We still made it to a height of 2670 meters (8760 feet) with mountain still left above us. The ecosystem was a strange range of pine trees, palm trees, ferns and lots of flowers that seemed to have impossibly vibrant colors. The first day of the hike was hard even for those of us in tip top shape. We made a couple hours of medium difficulty terrain and stopped for lunch at one of the hostels along the way.This was by far the best meal we had all week in my opinion. It was all Chinese food but had Naxi and Tibetan traits mixed in. By this time both Greg and I had been suffering on the trip with our heavy backpacks and lack of physical ability. The entire town of Qiaotou thrives off of the tourists that stumble through on the way to the gorge. One portion of this is the donkey men. Each group of travelers gets paired with a man and his donkey. They follow you through the trail waiting for the moment when you break and decide you have had enough of either walking or of carrying your pack. Well we cracked. So we hired our guy to carry Greg and I’s packs for 200 kuai. It was probably the best spent money of our trip. As the hike progressed Cliff also ended up adding his to the stack. In retrospect we would have felt bad if that man had followed us all the way for nothing so I am glad that we helped him and his family earn a living for the week. So on we went. We walked for a while until we came upon the “28 bends” a set of back and forth death traps that head straight up. We started at the bottom and dug our heels in. After about the first five or six bends we reached the first rest point – a local who was selling food and water. Looking around we saw a sign saying “Come rest awhile and get ready for the 28 bends!” We hadn’t even started yet and thought we were almost a third done! It was terrible and yet so funny. It turns out a lot of people make that mistake. Resting up for a moment we got up again and kept on trekking. Along the way we ran into Wayne (the South African) again. It turned out he took a wrong turn and wandered on the wrong side of the trail for a while. I think this was really the hardest physical exertion I have ever done in my life. With the altitude combined, passing out was a definite possibility so we tried to take it slow. It got to the point where I even contemplated the thought “If I get hurt somehow I won’t have to keep climbing….” But I did not let that mountain beat me! We all made it to the top and it was worth it. Climbing down to an outcrop you felt like you had the whole world in front of you. The Yangtze River spread out below with the rapids showing their mist even from that height. The Jade Dragon Snow Mountain shot up into the sky expanding in every direction. The sky had puffs of clouds floating along the cliff tops and the blue showed through creating contrast against the mountain edges. Beyond in the distance through the gorge you could see the rolling countryside. The moment took your breath away and almost brought tears to your eyes.

At the top of the 28 bends was also another local with her food stand. This one included bags full of marijuana. It turns out that even though drug use is highly punishable in China, Kunming is one of the largest trafficking cities in the country. It is part of the Golden Triangle. Throughout our stay near the city marijuana was a common offering at restaurants and side stalls. One of the hostels we stayed at you could make any meal “happy” for ten kuai.

Onward we went. After taking time at the top of the hike we headed down the other side of the trail. This was a very nice walk and mainly consisted of being careful you didn’t fall off the cliff. It did rain quite a bit during this part. Our donkey man tried to cover up our bags but still most of my clothes and possessions, as well as everyone else’s, got soaked. Eventually we came to the Halfway Hostel, our goal for the evening. It was a beautiful location and the owners took advantage. For instance, all of the bathroom stalls had only half walls on the backside of the building. This way while you were going to the bathroom, if you wanted, you could also be looking at the majestic mountains across the river. We had a nice meal and got a chance to relax a bit. Some of the group decided to purchase a cup full of home brewed baijiu (the Chinese word for liquor). It was horrendous. You could smell it from ten feet away and it made you want to gag. They ended up accidentally spilling a bunch on the table and the smell reminded you of cleaning alcohol. But despite all this they tried it and strangely enough most of them coughed and sputtered as it went down. Cliff was smart and added some of my orange pop to his shot and said it actually didn’t taste bad after the addition. At least now they can say they have had Chinese moonshine which is pretty cool. Dinner ended and we all went and crashed in the boys room for a while just recapping the day. I want to say how good a group we had. I think we could all spend a month together and still have stuff to talk about and to entertain ourselves with. By this time we were all exhausted so we headed off to bed and had a great night sleep.