Leaping Tigers and Gorged Eagles

Trekking in Tiger Leaping Gorge

After waiting at the wrong bus stop and almost getting on another vehicle, going in a completely different direction, we finally caught what turned out to be ‘Oh-My-God-We’re-Going-To-Die’ Bus Lines, for our trip to the famed Tiger Leaping Gorge. Even the six jarring hours of near accidents and bouncing from one pot hole to another, didn’t alter our grand expectations, nor our high level of excitement.

As we bumped along, we caught a glimpse of the highest peaks of the gorge just before our entry into Qiaotou; a pretty river town at the head of the canyon. Here we noticed that the women ‘seemed’ to do all of the work, while the men sat around smoking and gambling, and making sullen faces at the frazzled tourists, as they staggered white-faced from their buses. We asked for directions and felt a little suspicious, after receiving a multitude of differing opinions concerning our destination. So, we chose the most prominent view and headed out on the lower road, to start our trek. Fortunately, we only managed to walk six kilometres in the wrong direction, before eventually returning and beginning our trek, twelve kilometres later, at 5pm.

Tiger Leaping Gorge

After about half an hour on the track, we came onto the gorge proper and our mouths fell open in surprise. We found ourselves surrounded by an awesome kind of beauty; the hills around us grown into mountains of rock that pierced and rose above the clouds, culminating in columns of jagged limestone teeth. At a maximum depth of approximately 3,790 meters from river to mountain peak, Tiger Leaping Gorge is one of the deepest and most spectacular river canyons in the world. For around 15 kilometres, the Jinsha, or Golden Sands River; a primary tributary of the upper Yangtze River, passes between the 5,596 metre Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and the 5,396 metre Haba Snow Mountain, creating a series of spectacular rapids that rage chaotically under steep 2,000 metre cliffs.

Legend says that in order to escape from a hunter, a tiger jumped across the river at its narrowest point, hence the great name. Yet, the poor creature needed a 25 metre miracle to get to the other side. I hope it could swim really well.

Tiger Leaping Gorge

An hour further down the trail, we arrived at the Naxi, pronounced Nashi, family guest house. Later we found out that the inhabitants of the gorge are primarily the indigenous Naxi people, who live in a handful of small hamlets, where workable fertile land is available. Their primary subsistence comes from grain production and hikers, both foreign and Chinese. What a special place to stay. Apart from the stunning vistas and lovely earthy, authentic architecture, we received wonderful hospitality and delicious Naxi family food; fortifying us for the next day’s trekking. Nothing could be more special than sampling the Naxi family spirit, which we found to be akin to drinking petrol from a petri dish. Astounding is the only way I could describe the hike so far. So much so that our camera fingers seemed to suffer from lactic acid, with the work-load they endured. We both feel it is worth coming all the way to South-Western China, just to experience this place.

The next day it began to rain steadily and the track became mud in the lower sections and slippery rock on the higher reaches. In some places, impromptu waterfalls cascaded and crashed over our very narrow pathways, which sometimes sloped towards vertical drops, into what seemed the oblivion to us. This trek isn’t for the faint-hearted; anyone who suffers from vertigo, might well struggle on the narrow paths and the thousand metre drops.

Guesthouse in Tiger Leaping Gorge

We met many interesting people as we tried to negotiate our way through the rain, none more wonderful than a lovely Chinese girl, who went by the name of Scarlet; chosen as her ‘English name’. At this point, the trek could not have been more perfect … then … we received a message through our Kindle that my beloved mother, had suffered heart failure and been taken to hospital, so we became desperate to get to a phone. We soon discovered that none of the land-lines in the area worked, due to the lines being down. That’s where Scarlet came to our rescue. She contacted her service provider and unlocked her phone from some kind of international block, so we could make the call. Fortunately, we were able to ascertain that my mother was in a stable condition and due to return home that afternoon.

So … we continued our trek, walking with Scarlet and her somewhat smitten friend, until we descended to the banks of the churning river, near the end of the gorge. Here we decided to take some refreshment at one of the many appealing guesthouses along the waterfront and enjoy some more of the wonderful views. This time sheltered from the rain. At the table next to us, sat several tourists. When we asked them where they came from, they said Australia, but we wouldn’t know their tiny hamlet in the mountains of North-East Victoria. It turned out to be Mt Beauty, the town next to ours. Talk about a small world!

Dog perched at the far end of Tiger Leaping Gorge

The next morning, we hitched a ride back to Qiaotou, in time to hail a bus back to Dali. This time the journey took closer to seven hours, because of a local market that closed the road off to all traffic. With just about every kilometre travelled, our experience worsened until it became the bus ride from hell. Every time our non-air-conditioned bus stopped, most of the male occupants lit up a cigarette. I could hardly breathe. Apart from our bone shaking lack of suspension, we also witnessed the results of eight major accidents; one a fatality. Over time and in a confined space, the gobbing, wild bumping, suffocating smoke, flying rubbish and scenes of death, got to me and … I think I may have raved and yelled like a Banshee. Fortunately, a night of good company, a scrumptious Sichuan hot-pot and several medicinal gin and tonics, saved my sanity.

Advertisement

The Eagle’s Delightful Dalliance in Dali

Our accommodation in Dali couldn’t have been more pleasing, being situated in a quiet area near the impressive ‘East Gate’, yet just a walk from the hustle and bustle of the central shopping area. The staff at Sleepy Fish, treated us like a part of their family; Max, Kevin, Jenny, Yun, Penny and Tang, and the two resident Golden Retrievers, Milo & naughty Vesper, made our stay a highlight of Southern China.

A lovely street in Dali

We felt incredibly relaxed and excited as we began our exploration of this ancient and historic town and it didn’t disappoint. The buildings impressed, with their mix of classic Chinese and Bai-style architecture. Beautifully carved wooden concertina panels and doorways, decorated with colourful lanterns adorned every shopfront and most residences. We strolled down narrow, interesting streets and alleyways that ran off wider paved avenues, discovering grand arches, ponds and sculptures, and calming gardens with flowing water; creating tranquil ambiance against a contrast of colourful and noisy shops.

We bathed in the light of our Chinese Shangri-La. Here we could luxuriate amongst the clamour and crush of local and ethnic shopkeepers, tourists and Chinese holiday makers, or delve into the glorious array of food, history, flora and fauna, and natural beauty of the surrounding environment.

Dali rose from a settlement into a significant town in the early period of the Ming Dynasty and is situated on the banks of the Erhai Lake, which literally means: the ear-shaped sea. This high altitude lake sitting 1,972 metres above sea level, at 41.5 km in length, by 6.9 km in width, is the seventh biggest lake in China. The lake, town and surrounding valley, is surrounded and beautified, by lush forested mountains with jagged limestone peaks.

No matter where you stand in Dali, mountains dominate the view. The whistle of the wind through their crags and forests, seems to whisper to you; ever beckoning. So, with the smell of adventure in our nostrils, we set off for the base of Cang Shan Mountain, pronounced Tounge Sen. We couldn’t, or didn’t want to find a pathway to walk up, so we decided upon the chairlift instead. We mounted our steeds and rode up through the pine forest canopy, rising close to the top of the Cangshan Range at 4,122 metres above sea level. At this point, we hadn’t considered the need for a rain coat, or even an umbrella, so, true to form, about half way to the top, the heavens opened up. Considering we still had fifteen minutes to travel to our destination, this became a problem. We arrived at the top, sodden, shivering and looking more than a bit bedraggled. The noise of the downpour on the roof made communication difficult, yet we did managed to meet a great couple from Alsager in England. We all waited for the rain to stop, so we could walk the four hour track to the top of the mountain. An hour went by and the weather didn’t abate, so we hired two very large, dodgy looking umbrellas and took the chairlift back down.

These guys had the right approach to dealing with a downpour whilst travelling on a rather long chairlift to the top of the mountain.

That evening we discovered Dali’s vibrant night life, of quaint little bars, plastic chaired restaurants and street BBQ’s. We tried a new taste sensation each day, like fried beef with green chillies, BBQ beef with chilli, a Bai potato dish called grandmas potatoes, Tibetan momos, Tibetan special lamb, jiang shang bing, which is a kind of tangy pizza bread and many varying types of dumpling. We remained in taste bud heaven, hidden away from the evils of our multi-national fat dispensing, fast-food corporations. Not one in sight … yet!

The next morning we decided to go for a rock climb. Unfortunately, our day out on the cliffs fell foul of early rain. We spent the morning waiting at Café 88, a German bakery with really good products and an equally nice host. When the sun came out, we drove to the climb, despite the road looking pretty pot-holed, rutted and soggy. It didn’t take long for us to come across a bogged truck. We attempted to help and nearly suffered the same fate, yet our escape from calamity became short lived. Moments later we suffered a flat tyre.

Mud covered our boots and pants, but we eventually got going; the atmosphere in the vehicle feeling strange from then on. A CD played a kind of funky, chilled out Jazz, which seemed odd and out of place, as we bounced, slid and bumped our way along.

Rock Climbing near Dali in China

We carried our gear up the long, steep track to the cliff face and everybody appreciated our first magic view of the lake. We rock climbed for the rest of the day with my wife Katie scaling the face like a teenager, completing every climb. I, on the other hand, lugged a body the size of an elephant up that rock face, which ultimately caused my forearms to pump-up, harden and become useless. By mid-afternoon, my knuckles seemed to be dragging along the ground. Another hour and I may have turned back the evolutionary clock and made the stretched limbs a permanent arrangement.

Swinging out over Erhai Lake, near Dali in China

We bounced and jerked our way back to Sleepy Fish feeling both tired, satisfied and excited. Tomorrow offered just as much adventure and we could hardly wait.

Sleepy Fish Eagles

In my experience, you generally get the quality you pay for, so we shouldn’t have been surprised when our cheap hard-seat ticket from Chengdu to Kunming, turned out to be ridiculously hard. The estimated time for the journey, meant 19 hours crammed on a small seat with your knees jammed under a table. To compliment this arrangement, two young men sat on the other side of our table, who we named ‘Laurel and Hardy’. Why? Because of their ability to play cards and argue for eight continuous hours without a break.

Some architecture of Old Dali Town

Despite the noise and the multitude of humanity wedged into our carriage, including people standing and lying in all the corridors, who didn’t have a seat, one heavily pregnant woman spent the night sleeping at the top of the stairs with people walking over her while she slept. Over the course of the night, we witnessed some of the most amazing contortionist acts, whilst listening to a fifty odd person choir, whose chorus of snoring, spitting and wind emissions kept us awake. I did manage to nod off at one point, but the sound of a loudspeaker woke me. It turned out to be an extremely loud salesmen with a microphone, trying to sell tiger balm. We couldn’t understand his dialogue, but even in the wee small hours, people roared with laughter.

In the morning a lovely Chinese girl called Esther, an English speaking teacher based in Bangkok, came past and struck up a conversation. She asked if we would like a sleeper for the rest of the journey. What a question? We practically ran to keep up with her. Esther, the Angel, showed us how we could upgrade on route, which meant we spent the next nine hours sleeping comfortably, a world away from the unfortunate people left in the not-so-nice smelling cattle carriage. We also very much enjoyed the company of Esther and her friends and a young man who we nicknamed Louis, because of the large array of Louis Vuitton accessories he carried.

One of the four gates into Old Dali Town

We thought of Kunming as a quick stop for us on our way to Dali. It seemed like just another busy city, until we discovered the best dumpling house in the world, in a back street. Actually, now that I think of it, almost every second restaurant we attended gained the same title. As we arrived, Lucy, the maître d’, a rather articulate girl of eleven, who spoke perfect English, greeted us and acted as our host for the evening. She asked us about our Australian universities, but insisted that she would only attend Harvard when the time came. As we walked back to our hotel that night, we were confronted with a six-story high poster of Nicole Kidman and ‘almost’ felt a little homesick!

That night we left Kunming for the mountain oasis of Dali, on an overnight sleeper. This being a relatively short trip, allowed us to arrive fresh and ready for the adventure of old cultural China. Disappointment! We arrived to find that the growth of Dali Town into a modern city, was well underway. Fortunately, a forty-five minute drive brought us to Old Dali Town. Our excitement grew as we took in the Bai style architecture and beautiful archways.

View from Cafe 88 in Old Dali Town

The taxi dropped us in a lane of concrete structures, but we soon found our accommodation snuggled between buildings. Sleepy Fish, was an apt description; peaceful and tranquil, and crackling with travellers energy and excitement. Our Bai style room provided a spacious verandah, which over-looked beautiful well-kept gardens. Wow! This would be our home for most of the next 10 days, while we kayaked, trekked, rock climbed and headed into the mountains to walk the famed ‘Tiger Leaping Gorge’.