Guro and Caroline Blog

Tiger Leaping Gorge

Me blog me blog me blog!! (shoving caroline to the side)
So... in my little red shoes I was ready to tackle the tiger.
Staying at Janes turned out to be a great thing. She looked after us very well, fantastic dinner among others, and even made us take a photo of the directions so there was no way we could get lost. Clever as she is, she also refused to serve us breakfast before eight. She said it was because it is too cold before this, but we reckon she just realised that there was no way we were going to be up before eight anyway...
We wandered off between rice terraces, mules and tired tractors. Took a right before the naxi village. Did some Kung Fo fighting on a cliff. Photographed flowers, scenery and ourselves. Had a lovely cup of tea with the naxis, sitting next to their drying corn in a pretty courtyard.
Then came the challenge - the much feared 28 bends! surely about 2 meters up for each meter forewards. Struggled our way up, but think we started counting a bend too early. Or we might just have done an extra bend. Fantastic view from the top though! Where a little woman had blocked off the most scenic point and was charging 8 yuan to pass her... Clever.
On the way down Lizas knees started hurting badly, so the 2 vets prescribed a walking stick which the engineer quickly made from a tree. All working together very well by now :)
The walk is just beautiful. Every turn present a new gorgeous scenery, and compared to everywhere else, you hardly meet anyone apart from a few goat herders and muleowners. The mules would be following us for a short while hoping that one of us would give in and get a lift... But we walked it all!! Stopped for lunch at The Tea Horse, and stayed the night at Halfway House. Had apple pie there, as recommended by Michael Palin. And visited the toilets with the worlds best view!
The nest day we walked all the way down to the gorge. A days hiking in a fashion that is completely unnatural to a little viking. Spent most of the time going down, before we had to go back up again! Have to admit the reward was fantastic though. Sitting next to the river, watching it hurle passed us with impressive force.
The climb up was quite entertaining too, involving several ladders and signs showing you the dangerous path vs the not so dangerous path....
Well up we got to Seans guest house and he managed to get ten of us into 1 car back to Qiaotoa. Luckily it only lasted for 90 minutes. Was very cozy!
The four of us + Aya from Syria upgraded to a jeep back to Lijiang from there :)
Dinner time!! Have realised travelling is all about eating. Wake up and plan the breakfast. Eat it and plan lunch. Plan dinner at lunch time and find your way there. Great!! Will tell you more soon, lots of love from us

posted by Guro @ 12:15