On our last full day in beautiful Lijiang we went on another trip. This time to Tiger Leaping Gorge.
Set off quite early again to travel to Tiger Leaping Gorge (虎跳峡) a canyon on the Yangtze River. It is around 60 km north of Lijiang and forms where the river passes between the 5.596m Jade Dragon Mountain (Yulongxue Shan) and the 5.396m Haba Mountain (Haba Shan) in a series of rapids.
We had acquired a map of the region, with hand-drawn hiking trails and guest houses, in one of the bars back in Lijiang’s Old Town and were ready to trek for a good few hours to explore the area. On the way however, after finding out that the new, more direct route was closed for reasons unknown to us, we ended up in a traffic jam quite near a village – caused by hundreds of vehicles also trying to take tourists, although mainly Chinese tourists, to the same preferred destination. So in an effort to keep our spirits up we got out of the car and started wandering along the road towards, what looked like a market, in the middle of the country side.
People were mainly selling vegetables, which had been freshly picked from the fields… evidence of this was clear from the look and smell of the produce, but also from the women in the fields nearby carrying huge baskets full of vegetables on their backs. The fields around the market were covered in ‘Vicia cracca’ (presumably grown for its nitrogen-fixing properties), plunging the landscape into a vivid purple in amongst washes of green and white from the sweet peas (which, here, are plated for consumption, not merely for its wonderfully scented flowers) and the ocher coloured soil, which reminded me of Africa and parts of Australia.
An hour or so later, the traffic jam had finally subsided and we were once again en route to Tiger Leaping Gorge. The gorge is inhabited primarily by the indigenous Naxi people, who live in a handful of small hamlets along the river side, and their primary subsistence seems to come from grains, tourist trade and tons of strawberries – did have another pit stop on our way and could not resist the lush, red fruit, which tasted like real strawberries, not like those horrible things that are sold as strawberries in the supermarkets back home, but actually taste of water. The Beatles’ ‘Strawberry field for ever‘ springs to mind.
Finally arriving at Tiger Leaping Gorge (a good 3 hours after setting off), the most extraordinary landscape unfolded around us, as we ascended towards our final destination: a small guest house near a descent to the bottom of the gorge. After having officially been opened to tourists in the early 90’s, several trails and roads, additional to the hiking trails, have been carved into the rock to transport tourists up and down the gorge. Normally a great adversary of this kind of exploration and sightseeing, I would have refused to partake in such a ‘MacDonaldisation’ of such beautiful scenery, however, seen as we had already spent too much time getting there and in an urge to explore at least a bare minimum, we took a bus to take us to the descent.
A nice, yet hurried lunch of vegetable rice and banana/chocolate pancakes later, we were on our way to find a small, very steeply descending trail which would take us to the ‘middle rapid’. According to our guide book, legend has it that this is where a tiger once jumped across the gorge to escape a hunter and thus the gorge got its name. Although charming, most places in China have these kinds of stories and derive their place names in a similar fashion and thus one is left to question their authenticity after a while.
Nevertheless, the views were stunning, the waterfall on the way down a definite bonus, and the changing flora, as we got closer and closer to the bottom, simply fascinating. Clematis, mimosa, ferns, passion flowers, euphorbia … all embellish the sides of the trail, clinging onto the edges by firmly rooting themselves in small crevices.
Finally at the bottom of the gorge, the view of the rapids were breathtaking. Again, reminded me of Africa and my whitewater rafting along the Zambezi. Spent a good few hours there before attempting the ascent back to the guesthouse. It was quite hard work, and secretly we were wishing that Chinese tourism had spoilt this place enough to have built a gondola to take us back to the top. However once back there, I was glad that people, including ourselves, are still willing to persevere and can enjoy this place without help.
Once back in Lijiang, we returned to the old town for dinner and a well deserved cold beer. Spent the morning of our last day aimlessly wandering the streets one last time, drinking Yak yoghurt and soaking up the relaxed holiday atmosphere, before heading to the airport to fly back to Shanghai and embarking on the final leg of our holiday.
Beautiful Lijiang – a final farewell! Or should I say – au revoir – see you soon!
Mama findet alles von Dir ganz toll!