Despite the attack on my sinuses I feel like I am on holiday’s! Travelling is working you know, all that thinking, planning and problem solving, anyway that’s a big thank you to Jenny and Vince for letting my brain have some time off. I knew they were holidaying in China and wanted to see them while they were here. When they asked if we wanted to join them for a hike (they are really accomplished hikers) I didn’t think twice about arranging a couple of plane trips to quickly cover some ground to join them. We arranged to meet in Lijiang at the very western part of China for a three day hike of the Tiger Leaping Gorge of the Yangzi River. As this is getting very close to Nepal there was a lot of similarities, for starters the trail was mostly well marked and plenty of tea houses stocked to please international hikers. Being a gorge, we didn’t have to cope with altitude and the tea houses could mainly be restocked by road so the prices were reasonable and the trail wasn’t jammed with traffic. Jenny and Vince had already organised bus tickets so all we had to do was fly in and get up early the next morning for the 3 hour bus journey to Qiaotou. After a hearty breakfast we headed up and couldn’t stop taking photos. We finally got to the dreaded 28 bends which I must admit was pretty steep and slow going but the good news is that was the hardest 90 minutes of the hike. That night we finished at Tea Horse Guest House and though we had to wait until 7pm for electricity the shower was hot and the electric blankets were ready to go when the generator kicked in. After dinner we sat around a fire and swapped stories with about a dozen other hikers, always good sources of information and interesting. Another early start and the trail was a lot flatter though we were up high and it got quite narrow in places, I loved the waterfall especially but just look at the photos to see the wonderful scenery we were being treated to. Breakfast was at the Halfway House and as promised we dined overlooking the gorge. By lunch we were in Walnut Garden we had finished the hike, Nick was very quick to order the Vegemite Baba, I suppose two months is just too long to go without some things. Being a group of four meant we could very easily hire a car and driver for 400 Yuan ($60) to take us on the scenic 2 hour drive to Baishuitai to see the
Limestone plateau then back to Sean’s Guest House with no electricity for the night but we did get a no electricity discount on the accommodation. So again we got up to hike down to the Yangzi River before breakfast and spent ages down there until our stomach’s demanded that we come up for food. We had missed the 11am bus by then so hired a minivan for 120 Yuan to takes us back to Qiaotou and while we were waiting for a bus another minivan driver offered to drive us to Lijiang for 120 Yuan.
As soon as I was reunited with my luggage I delved into my medicine bag to quell the sneezing and catch my running nose, I think it’s working. Everyone spent some quality time with the washing machine and then the four of us wandered the cobblestone streets of Lijiang in search of our last meal together. Jenny and Vince left early this morning to make their way back to Chengdu then home to Perth. Nick and I are just enjoying the leisurely pace of Lijiang for the day before heading off to Shaxi. So back to work for me.
