Leaping Tigers

Ahhh, the joy of Tiger Leaping Gorge. It is fabled as the world's deepest gorge and brings tourists to the region from far and wide. Personally, I saw a picture of a friend relaxing with the most awesome background and was green with envy. I had to go.

After an early rise we were packed into our minibus for a two hour ride to the beginning of the gorge. Like any good journey, there was much anticipation as the sides of the valleys got deeper. This was amplified by the lack of decent information we could extract about the gorge. How steep was it, what was the terrain like? Anything but hand-drawn maps were impossible to come by. We wound up mountain pass after mountain pass. We waited.

At the drop off point the view was okay, but no better than many other mountain passes I had been to. What was all the fuss about?

From Hadyn's Travel Blog China Dump 2

A hole seemed to occupy all the anticipation which was there before. Disappointment must have been evident on my face after some of the most fantastic scenery in Bhutan. I had traveled for over two days for this? Surely not.

As we began to climb we realised that there was a sharp right bend at the beginning. We were not in Tiger Leaping Gorge.

The wait was worthwhile..



Wow.

The single width path slowly wound up the side of the valley, each turn exuding gorge-ous scenery. Pun most definitely intended.



Our group was of mixed ability, but everyone was in high spirits. With the scenery getting steadily better, even to most inexperienced hikers pushed themselves to the next hill to see what beauties would be shown. Refreshment stops were offered regularly by locals, with beer, coke, water and dope (!?) being offered at almost any turn. Sometimes the locals wanted a little more though, which did mar the best viewpoint – as they attempted to claim that walking onto the viewpoint path would require a payment. When we refused the payment (which was around 10 pounds) they got really angry and threatened to throw a stone at one of our group. We weren't impressed – it was time to move on.

That evening we arrived in the hostel at our approximate half way point, about 6 hours after setting off. Here we were to rest for the night, enjoying the company of many random trekkers who had taken the same path. Unfortunately we weren't able to stay at the same place that Michael Palin stayed during the filming of “Himalaya” due to renovation, but we did visit it the next day.

That evening as we relaxed with our running hot water, beer in hand. It felt satisfying, but somewhat strange. During almost all multi-day treks I have ever done, there was no rest bite after a hard day's trek. No beer unless you carry it, certainly no hot water. Don't get me wrong, it was excellent to have these facilities, it just didn't make it feel like you were in any way remote. We were treading the well-trodden path, and whilst the scenery was excellent, it would have been superb if it felt somewhat more remote.



What was excellent though was the company. Or group seemed to gel really quickly and at the end of the first day we already felt like old friends. As we sat in the open courtyard playing cards and eating our evening meal, the lights when out as the generators spluttered and ran out of fuel. For a few special minutes the sky was illuminated with millions of different constellations. Now it felt better.

The next day we continued our trek, splitting up into two different groups. In the faster group we decided to trek like the hare, stopping often to take photos before walking at a fast pace to catch up lost ground. This continued until early afternoon when we arrived at the final stop where the minibus would pick us up. Here we ate and then decided to try and fit in the 300m descent to the water's edge, where the story tells us that the tiger leapt from one edge of the gorge to the other, with the assistance of a rock in the centre. Like all stories, this was probably invented in the late 1980's to attract tourists. Certainly if he had managed to make the leap (which would have required a very athletic tiger) the ascent would have been impossible. Either way, the journey down and up would be fun.



With time running short our party of five began the steep descent before making the bottom within 40 minutes. With our legs already tired from two days' trekking it was now time to make the ascent – and we only had about 70 minutes before out bus left!

To break up the steep incline, we all decided to take one of the more rickety ladders on the way up. Just to add to our trepidation, it was labelled as “Dangerous Ladder”.



With a length of 30m and a slight overhang, it certainly didn't feel as safe as I would have liked, especially due to the high winds which whipped down the valley, but we made it all safe and sound. I was especially proud of one of our group, who had been finding the trek a little hard on the legs and really dug deep to make the ascent as fast as they could. You know who you are – so well done!

With a few minutes to spare at the top, we took a second group photo, with everyone looking rather elated. It was certainly a worthwhile experience, one I would recommend to many.



On the way back, I agreed to spend a couple of days exploring Lijang with someone from the tour. Lijang is a very touristy but also rather nice little town which was the staging point to the Tiger Leaping Gorge.

Over the coming days we explored the city to varying degrees of success.

Initially we decided that a partial hike and cable-car trip up to a glacier would be an ideal idea. We hopped on the local bus as it wound its way over to the base of the mountain. Then we died. Not literally, but almost. It was over 23 pounds for the privilege of setting foot on the mountain, and almost 40 to take the cable car up to the glacier. That's certainly a lot of money in any world, let alone China where accommodation was averaging 3 pounds a night.

From Hadyn's Travel Blog China Dump 3

It was time for plan B. Off to the bike hire place we went and there soon ensued some cycling fun across to a local village known to be very picturesque. The bikes certainly weren't a carbon fibre Cannondale, but they got us from A to B, even though stopping was slower than we would have liked.



On the way back, we then took in some more scenes, including the “classic photo of China”, before taking in a local courtyard filled with all the large dogs in China. Here we spent the next two hours exchanging various card games as we watched a collie dog slowly drive everyone crazy by hitting a coke bottle just out of reach before barking and whining until someone put it within lead range.



Later that evening, we discovered that both of us knew a mutual friend very well who had studied in the same university. Chances were that despite knowing each other for over three days, we had probably met in a party three years previously! It's certainly a small world.

Before departing we took some time to take in the local Chinglish and explore the less touristy side of the town.

If you were ever likely to contract any bird diseases (H1N5 anyone?) this would be the place. The stench of the killing grounds was potent, although the freshness of the product being offered was not to be questioned. Once the bird was chosen, it's throat was slit before being slung into a bin. Once dispatched, it was then taken out of the bin and placed into a centrifuge device which skimmed all the feathers off. The whole process from death to serving must have taken less than three minutes!



After some good time spent together, it was time to say farewell to my friends in Lijang, with my imminent departure to the Chinese capital, Beijing. The great wall and my American Chinese Historian friend beckoned...