Lijiang; Tiger Leaping Gorge

Left Ruili on an all-night bus. It was a luxurious bus with beds. I met an Indian jewel-trader from Burma on his way to the jewel market in Dali. He had a bag full of jewels. It was like something out of a 19th century adventure novel. We were stopped twice by the army, each time for nearly an hour. They came through and searched everyone's documentation, then searched several peoples' bags. Looking for contraband, I’m sure. Or maybe for illegal immigrants from Burma? It was my first such encounter with the People’s Liberation. I should add that they did not seem very interested in me, and did not search my bags.

Arrived back in Dali at 6 am and transferred immediately to a smaller bus bound for Lijiang.

Lijiang is certainly a pleasant place. The Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Old Town is a pedestrian-only maze of cobblestone streets, winding alleyways, and traditional architecture of the Naxi ethnic group that lives here. Little canals and streams meander throughout, crossed by picture-perfect bridges. At night the city is illuminated by the red glow of lanterns. Lijiang is a mirror image of the traditional China that dominates the geographical imagination of many outside China. Which is why it's also a tourist zoo. The place is literally mobbed by tourists. Every single person in the Old Town is either a tourist, or a local catering to tourists. Every shop is selling things to tourists. There’s no pretending that we're off the beaten path here. This IS the beaten path. It's still a fun place to be, though. The street patterns are so convoluted, it's easy to get lost, and that's all part of the fun. You can hardly blame all the tourists for wanting to be here. I'd say the tourists are about 90% Chinese and 10% foreigners. My hostel is about 90% Israelis (as is seemingly every other hostel in Yunnan province) but I've also met travelers from Spain, Japan, Australia, Wyoming, West Virginia, and Idaho here.

I'm staying at a terrific hostel run by a matriarch named "Mama". Mama does everything around here. She cooks, cleans, and runs the place. She single-handedly cooks breakfast and dinner for everyone here. The whole hostel gathers together for a feast every evening, costing just 8 yuan a person. Mama never seems to worry about sending anyone the bill for food, or lodgings. It's all on the honor system. The place is as laid back and friendly as can be. There are also about a dozen cats, kittens, dogs, and puppies living here.

We're now 2400 meters high, or about 7500 feet high, and for the first time in my trip the weather has actually been cold. It was so cold yesterday, in fact, I went out and purchased a jacket for 65 yuan. I also bought a new compass and flashlight to replace the ones I lost. Did you know the compass was invented in China? Now you do!

Today I went on a bike ride to Baisha village about 15 km north of Lijiang. 5500 m mountains rise on either side of the valley but the peaks were enshrouded by clouds. In Baisha village I met the famous Dr. Ho. People have apparently come from all over the world to seek treatment from him and he has cured people of cancer using his ancient herbal remedies. He is the spitting image of the wisened old Chinese man with the wispy long white beard and knowing visage. His army of assistants ushers all visitors into his clinic, which is plastered with newspaper clippings from all over the world featuring the doctor. Apparently, he has been written up in Time, Newsweek, the New York Times, and just about everywhere else. Michael Palin stopped here on one of his BBC travel documentaries. The assistant didn't hesitate to show me a signed letter and photograph of Michael Palin. He then served me the doctor's patented "health tea".

I met three people today with awfully similar academic interests to mine: a high school history teacher from the US, a human geography student at Cambridge, England, and a masters student at University of West Virginia studying transportation economics.

I also made some Chinese friends, tourism marketing majors at a university in Kunming here in Lijiang conducting surveys of tourists. At first I participated in their survey, then they invited me out on the town, and we went out two nights in a row.

The World Cup started last night and even though China isn’t fielding a team, everyone here (Chinese and foreigner alike) seem to be following it. The U.S. lost their first game, against Czech Republic. No one seemed too surprised.

TIGER LEAPING GORGE

I'm now back from the Tiger Leaping Gorge. Practically every backpacker who comes to Lijiang also goes to the gorge. Lets Go calls it a "backpackers' rite of passage". So I was hardly unique in my desire to join in. It was definitely a great hike though. Everyone calls it a "trek" but I think that word gets stretched a lot out here. It wasn't really any more strenuous than climbing Mt. Tamalpais, which rises practically in my own back yard back home. But it was still a worthwhile expedition.

The gorge was carved out by the Yangtze River. The trail runs parallel to the river, but high up on the steep northern ledge. The northern side is steep and green and dotted with terraced farmland and the occasional village. The southern side of the gorge is a near vertical slope, upon which rises the massive Jade Snow Mountain Peak, 5500 meters high! That's something 16,000 feet. Very difficult to place all this topography in perspective with the naked eye. The mountain rises about 3000 meters above the river below.

I spent the first six hours hiking with Eli, an Israeli who has been traveling the world for the last couple years. When he isn't traveling, he installs cell phone towers in Israel. There's about 2500 feet of climbing at one point, called the "24 bends" but other than that the trail is mostly flat. The terrain includes pine forest, farmland, smaller shrubs and brush, and rock outcrops. Across the gorge, the lower part of the mountain is lush and green, but as it rises it turns into solid gray rock, stained white where temporary waterfalls crash down the nearly vertical drop. The very top is enshrouded in clouds but we are lucky and there is no rain. I spent the night at the Halfway Guest House, a hostel in one of the mountainside villages. Soon, the guest house filled with a friendly crowd, including two Scots, two Irish, another Israeli, a Serb, and (to my surprise) six Americans. It was the most Americans I'd seen in one place since I'd been in China. Anthony was there. And Merri and Julie, who had just finished studying abroad in Beijing. They both speak Chinese. Scott, working on an architecture degree, also just finished a year in Beijing, and is traveling with his mother. We had a great evening talking and drinking beer up on the mountainside with the most incredible view of the Jade Snow Mountain rising up in front of us.

This morning the ten or so of us set out together to finish the hike. We passed an impressive waterfall crashing down the mountain and crossing our trail, giving us a little shower. At the bottom we reached the road where we planned to take a bus back to the entrance to the gorge. However, as it turned out, there was a major landslide last night and the road was closed to through traffic and probably will be for at least five days. We could either travel several hours in the wrong direction and circle all the way around. Or we could scale the landslide by foot. We naturally choose the latter. It was easy to see how the landslide was an obstacle to road traffic - huge boulders and loose rock and gravel were piled up several feet on top of the road. In addition, a waterfall flowed down right along the course of the landslide. We climbed over hand and foot, praying the rocks wouldn't move while we were on them, and we lived to tell the tale. On the other side a Chinese man in a truck was waiting to take us (at an inflated price) to the entrance of the gorge. The road is narrow and precarious and hugs the cliff the entire journey. In several other places minor slides had littered the road with rocks and debris. In some places it looked as if there were no road at all and our truck was simply driving across a landslide. All the while, just inches away the gorge plunged several hundred feet below us. I think we were all glad when it was over, but I'm not sorry it happened. Life's little unexpected adventures make the best memories.