Qiaotou - Tiger Leaping Gorge

Local woman at the start of the descent on day 3
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From Lijiang we took a minibus (3 hrs) to Qiatou, the starting point of our 3 day hike in the Tiger Leaping Gorge.

From Lijian's Yulong Xueshan Mountain in the east, to Zhongdian's Haba Xueshan Mountain in the west, the Tiger Leaping Gorge is the longest, deepest and narrowest gorge in the world. The gorge acquired its name because, according to a local legend, a tiger once leaped over its torrid rapids...

We checked into Jane's Guesthouse (she is a man...), and enjoyed her apple pie more than anything else there! The location of the guesthouse was ideal and we took in sunset over a cup of coffee. What a great way to start the trek!

Tiger leaping Gorge
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Up early the next day as we had a long and heavy day ahead. After a good breakfast we started our walk into the Tiger Leaping Gorge. We walked for about 2 hrs and enjoyed the great views into the canyon. From our first stop at Naxi guesthouse we continued to what is supposed to be the hardest part of the trek: the 28 bends: a steep uphill climb for a good 40 minutes. We were both feeling very much out of shape and greatful for the orange along with the great view we had at the top. Mind you, we bought the orange from a lady who, every day, walks from Naxi guesthouse to the top, with a basket full of fruit and drinks...

J having a beer in Bendiwan Village..
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After this walk the rest of the trek seemed easy. About 4.5 hours of leaving Jane's guesthouse we arrived at Halfway guesthouse in Bendiwan Village, a great guesthouse with the most amazing views of the Haba Mountains (including from the bedroom).

Here is where we met some really nice people, in particular a couple from Australia (Charlie and Rowena). Everything was good about the place, the food, the room, the atmosphere and its location.

The next day we hiked up the mountain behind the guesthouse, together with Charlie and Rowena and a Israeli couple. In the afternoon we had our first beer since Tal's arrival in Bangkok. There was no better place to enjoy it than here..

More stunning views
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On day 3 we continued the walk through the Tiger leaping Gorge towards Tina's guesthouse. From there we started our descend into the gorge (Da Sheng Gou ravine). About 40 minutes later we reached the Yangtze river, at some places the river was really dangerous with a strong current, resulting in rapids.

Of course we had to climb all the way back up, not the easiest thing to do with the high temperatures and steep climbs (and the fact that both J and Tal suffer from vertigo...). Especially the 'dangerous ladder' was a challenge, a steep iron 90 degrees ladder up the mountain with the Yangtze river far below...

View of the mountains - early morning
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After a great but exhausting day we took a minibus back to Qiatou from where we took a minibus back to our hotel in Lijiang.

These past 3 days have been part of our highlights of China and we strongly recommend people do this trek when in China.