The Gorge - trek day 2

Day 2: nothing to do with day 1!!! It was pretty much flat and downhill. But the fun only began once we decided to go down and trek on the paved road to the ferry. We trekked for 2 hours until we got to Tina's Guesthouse for a Naxi sandwich lunch - in all honesty, more of a western concoction than anything exotic; a sandwich is a sandwich. We then took off towards the ferry. When we asked how long it would take, we got varying replies. However, we had to be in Daju, the village on the other side of the ferry crossing, by 18:00h to catch the 3 hour bus that would take us back to Lijiang.

We were told that it was 17 km, then we were told it would take us 7 hours! Incredulous, we started off on foot. And after 2 hours walking pretty quick down the road and not having gone that far by the looks of things, we decided to hitch a ride to the ferry post. At the rate we were going, we'd still be walking to the ferry post three days from now. Below is a picture of the guys who picked us up. We were sitting on the back of a random vehicle, atop bags of wheat and rice, or so we think. We must've saved about 2 hours walking. 30 Yuan poorer, we were dropped off in the middle of nowhere and assured that crossing the fields, we would eventually get to the ferry crossing and eventually Daju. hmmmm....

Not believing a word and starting to plan our night camping in the middle of the fields, we managed to make ourselves understood via sign language with the local field workers, who assured us we were following the right path. We eventually got to the edge of the cliff overlooking the river and saw the ferry at a distance......METRES AND METRES BELOW! We had to make our way down the steep path to the edge (not too bad) where we met with three locals, their 2 cows and their spare donkey, also waiting to cross. The crossing was spectacular, if not my own personal nightmare inside cause I was getting closer to the other side where I would have to trek BACK UPWARDS what I had descended previously. Not only that but on a time watch cause we only had 20 minutes to spare before the bus!!! One of the 80year old locals and his donkey passed me on the way up - embarrassed at my obvious lack of fitness, I thought, surely, he must do this everyday!!! I was still mortified. I did make it somehow. The human body, the human spirit and the need to survive prevailed like never before in me at that moment!

But when we got to the top, the bus had left ... many hours before!! and there was no other bus until the following day. Pablo signed his way with a local who led us for another 45 minute walk up to the town to figure out either a place to stay or a rather expensive chartered taxi ride back to Lijiang. After much negotiating and a few hundred Yuan less, we managed to get a guy to drive us up the "snow mountain cliff" to Lijiang. Now this van was also something else.....I'll spare you the details but just picture a 2.5h drive at 50km per hour uphill on a gravel road climbing a mountain.

Mom....you called me when we were already safe on the main road and only 20 minutes from Lijiang! It was wonderful to hear your voice! We made it safely and decided to get all dressed up and celebrate our magnificent adventure, and survival!

Tiger Leaping Gorge - trek day 1

The first pic is the view during our 1st day of trekking. The 2nd pic is the path on the 2nd day!!

Tiger Leaping Gorge is much more than what "the book" described. We did it in 2 days because Pablo had to catch a flight back on Saturday. Most people, the wise ones, do it in 3 or 4.

I thought I was fit for it and as it turned out, I am not sure whether the lack of sleep and the hangover from the previous night are to blame. But on day one I felt like I was a Ducados chain smoker with altitude sickness trying to climb the Himalayas. Of course I don't smoke, I am in China and this wasn't high enough for altitude sickness. We were at 2600m trekking alongside the 1st bend of the Yangtze river. We were really lucky cause the weather was awesome. However, day one was a 5 hour long trek, non stop!!! AND, it was all uphill. But wait, not just a bit of an up hill trek. It was a pretty steady up/hill slope for 3 hours. AND THEN, when you thought it couldn't get any worse, IT DID! We came across a local Chinese man who rents his donkey for those about to perish from exhaustion, and asked where we were on our obviously off-scale map. We thought we'd already passed the 28 bends - the trail turns into a 90 degree steep-as-hell winding path with 28 bends, although I think it was more like 128 but whatever - and alas, he made it quite clear we hadn't even started the 28 bend climb. I thought I would lose it and was pretty close to calling my International SOS card rescue number to request a helicopter airlift outta that place! As it turns out, Pablo, my knight in shining armour, helped me make it, by carrying my little rucksack, which only weighed about 4 kilos but felt like it weighed 40! He also trekked more slowly so I wouldn't feel so unfit and like I was holding them back on their pace. I also met Erin, from Wisconsin, along the way. She's teaching English and had decided to trek with her colleague Jesse, who had passed us 5 minutes before. I was relieved to find she also stopped for breath every 9 steps uphill.

I cannot even begin to describe to you the feelings and thoughts going through my head...in that spectacular scenery that I couldn't quite enjoy as much as I would've liked on the 1st day. Instead of looking around me and taking in all that beauty, all I could look at was the floor, the space for my next step and think about my pounding heart that seemed like it would break free through my chest. Of course, when is started getting dark and we had but 40 minutes left to arrive to our mid mountain retreat, the Tea Horse Guest House, things all of a sudden turned on the bright side, we got to the summit and then it was pretty much straight and partially downhill from there. 6 or 7 lines doesn't do the climb justice but I'll have to tell you the tale in person when I see you next. We arrived at Tea Horse, exhausted, only to find Erin & Jesse, Eric the Swede, a 70 year old Canadian bloke, and a few others, smoking the fresh marihuana that was growing wildly everywhere!!!!! I confess I couldn't even move by the time I got there and my chest was so worn from the heavy breathing and pounding heart, that the thought of smoking anything was the last thing on my mind. So I put it in my tea instead!!! I don't think I put enough in there for a proper effect, or maybe I was too tired to notice it. I did however manage to take my dusty, sweated, originally white but now turned dark brown socks and sweater off to shower in a hut in the middle of the forest! It had a solar panel so I managed to somehow survive the 5 minute clothing removal process before I succumbed to the glorious haven that is a hot shower in moments like these. OH THANK GOODNESS!!! So then I had a warm bowl of apple and banana rice porridge, which tasted like heaven.....and off to bed.

Waking up the following morning was nothing short of bliss. We were in the middle of the forest, surrounded by fresh air, mountains, marihuana smell galore and a blinding sun to welcome us to our glorious trek on day 2.