Tiger Leaping Gorge 19-20 Jan

 

Had a great sleep last night, 6 hours straight. Had Brin, big American girl as room-mate. I actually woke up at a reasonable time and surprised the Poles with my presence in the dinning room, as I had the option of leaving at 13.00 instead of 9.30. We got collected by the driver I have seen many times ferrying people to and from the hostel. Couple of hours ride and another minibus change brings us to the start of a narrow tarmac road. As told me by the girls there are a number of gus with donkeys that start talking to us and following us on the way.

 

I had already decided to have a donkey (Mule) all the way so within a few hundred yards negotiate 100 Y for the trip, very good deal as it turns out.

 

The girls are determined to walk as much as possible. we also have 2 spanish girls with us, so I head off quicker on the Mule and am at the various stopping points some time ahead of them.

 

the polish girls were supposed to have left the previous evening and I am surprised to see them when I returned from a walk showing the Kiwis around town. They had managed to take someone elses backpack by mistake mainly because Ola had been carrying what she thought was Kasias backpack. So they returned from airport missinng a flight to Beijing.

 

I am impressed and very grateful to the mule and the mule handler, he is actually carrying my backpack while the mule is carrying me.

 

The inclines and declines can be as bad as 65-70 degrees, and there are lots and lots of boulders to negotiate. You sit as forward on the saddle as possible and hold onto the front and back metal handles in the saddle when you are going down and to the front one while going up. You also lean back and forth as appropriate.

 

The labour of these pack animals are incredible, and I am sure I am having much better view than the girls, you cant afford to take your eyes off the track for too long. A little surprised at the guy grumbling when the mule takes a short breather every so often, dust rising as his breath (the mule's!) hits the ground.

 

I buy some lollipops at one of the stops and continue to dish them out for the next 2 days (I bought a job lot at the first hostel we stayed overnight), this tends to keep my coughing under control too.

 

I am taken back by being offered Ganja at one of the stops, it is hard enough to stay atop the mule while not under the influence. I settle for a coffee and suggest the woman gives the ganja to my mule instead.

 

The Poles had only gone part the way when they had done the gorge few days earlier and shortly after passing that spot, all the girls take mules too. (the poles were actually annoyed with themselves as the remainder of the trek wasnt as long as they had expected). Along the way we come across the Korean chap who taught me Chinese chess at the hostel and his girl friend. They take a photo of me and later tell me that it is on the desktop of the hostel computer, this is the only photo I can upload at the moment.

 

At the very top an enterprising old lady supplements her fruit selling income (which is very little because of the number of stops we have had by then) by charging 5Y if you decide to take a photo after passing under this branch she has tied to block the way to the scenic spot. The drop is pretty amazing, afterall this is the deepest gorge in the world by some margin.

check it out on the net.

 

There is a possibility that it might disappear though as there is a likely plan to build a dam to provide the water and power needs of the area.

 

we lose our 4 and 2 legged friends at the top and head over the brow to descend. There are some fantastic waterfalls and I do have a partially dressed shower in one which is nice and cooling, I am lucky it is January, temperature must be 27 ish.

 

At the hostel we stay, I take my own room with electric blanket provided too, but the bathroom (!) facilities are still outside. Quick shower before meal. the girls look cold. a group of Koreans extend an invitation to their table when they realise we are staring while waiting to place our meal order. the girls are hesitent and the opportunity is lost. Next morning however I did manage to share their breakfast which is rice porridge cooked in the juice of the chickens they had the previous night, very nice. There seems to be Korean menus around this area, there must be lots of visitors I suppose.

 

The staff are very nice and keep putting sticks and stuff on the fire burining in this big vat between our table and the Koreans'. we havent managed to sit indoors which is lovely and warm and is the shared area with the kitchen. I do manage to get some seats in the morning thoguh. we are given Tibetan tea in the morning, strange butter, milk and salt drink!

 

 

I am tempted to stay next day, the mountains are fantastic to look at. while enjoying the sunshine after breakfast I have a short stroll in the yards and partly witness the slaughtering of a very large pig. This seems to go on for some minutes and the animal is screaming. she is unable to move as ropes pulled by a numebr of men are stretching her limbs and her neck.

 

Later as we are leaving I can hear a simlar scream behind us and can imagine the scene.

 

The plan is to make it to Tina's, a hostel, and from there make our way by minibus. It is a hard push and when we get there, there is one minibus which a korean group seem to be taking. we have a well deserved rest while Kasia is discussing transport with the receptionist. the spanish girls meanwhile decide to leave with the minibus which seems fair as there isnt enough space for all of us. about 10 minutes later the Koreans reappear, it seems that they had changed their minds and the spanish girls have left in a mostly empty minibus while we have been waiting inside! nice one.

 

After various attempts at organising transport, all undertaken by Kasia, bless her as she is the only chinese speaker (aside from Isabel one of the spaniards) also involving lots of introjections (throughout the trip by Anna), we decide to take another few hours walk. There are lots of roadworks and it doesnt look as scenic as we hoped and we head back to Tinas. However on the way I suddenly spot Colin, an English guy we met in the hostel, coming our way. Big but very sweet guy with a little lisp, University lecturer. He has the only Lonely Planet (travellers bible) in the group and informs us that the next hoste is not so far away and since it is still about 5 p.m. we can have a reasonable walk.

 

About two hours later we reach our objective and the hostel we settle in to have a beer manage to overprice themselves out of the market. Colin manages to find a cleaner and cheaper hostel about a 100 yards down the road which also does decent dinner later.

 

The rooms are en-suite at 50Y, walls very thin wood and not terribly quiet but it doesnt take long for all of us in adjacent rooms to be dozing off with Anna providing the snoring role.

 

Next morning we leave 8.36, we have an estimated 4 hour walk. I have carelessly dished out my dried apricots yesterday on the way to the hostel and now travelling without any supplies (I remembered my trusty lollipops later!) and we are informed by some roadworkers that the next shop is 7 Km away. Most of these labourers including women live on-site in tents and I am pretty sure if I had the language skills a meal would not have been that far away as I saw one women chopping up some meat, but the girls are a little less direct than I am so we walk on. Luckily though a restaurant happens to be not that far away (we asked for a shop not a restaurant!) and provides us with some meals and coffees at very good price of 42Y, she could have asked for twice that and would have been paid it too.

 

The 4 hour max walk turns into a 5 hour push including a ferry crossing over the river, no chance of negotiation here!

The littel dog that despite our attempts to send him back, has accompanied us for the last few hours sees us off on the ferry and the ferryman informs us that this is the dogs routine .

 

When we arrive at our destination it appears that the minibus actually left at 13.00 and not 13.30 as we thought (we arrive at 13.36). Earlier I lie to Anna as she wants to know what the time is as she is anxious to get back early enough to exchange money for their trip and expenses tomorrow, this has been getting tiresome.

 

Kasia goes into action trying to organise transport again, the earliest option is going to cost us 300Y and will leave in about 2 hours. I manage to spot some local kids around a snooker table inside the backyard of a shop and get ourselves a few game lined up to while away the time.

 

some of the kids are actually pretty good despite the interestingly slopping and wobbly table. one of the boys is pretty confident and lippy character and we are having some fun. I find it great when kids are not affraid to speak their minds and dont look down-trodden.

 

The minibus eventually turns up, meanwhile Kasia has disappeard on a little exploration of her own and Anna is getting anxiou and noisy, again. Before we left the man who made some phone calls for us shows me a 1000 note Korean and in response I show him a $1 bill which he takes a fancy to and asks if he can have it. I am happy to exchage it for 6Y but the deal does not go through.

 

We collect another guy on the way trying to get to Liajing, a dutchman. The driver is small of stature and later when he stops to collect a much bigger man, his son, also walks with a walking stick and a big limp. He can hardly see through the very dirty windscreen specially when the sun is against us, so he tends to slam on the brakes at intervals when he is suddenly blinded.

 

Back at the hostel we settle down to Mammas feast accompanied by a number of beers. i am informed that Kasia has a bottle of Vodka in her case but this never materialises on the table.

 

I teach what little I know of Korean rules Chinese chess to Henrick (Swedish guy, big) who goes on to demolish me for 3 straight games! later I ask and am showed the chinese rules and then severly beaten by the cook (I think he is Mammas son, the three girls are sisters and all have a good resembleance to Mamma). I dont think these people sleep a lot. The dinning room is emptied about midnight but there is lots to do afterwards around the place, and in the morning they have to be up pretty early to prepare food and see the guests who might be off to some interesting site.

 

The girls are leaving to Keonming in the morning, 41 Y 7 hour bus trip, which with hindsight I should have also taken, but hey who is planning?

 

I get my old bed in the 3 bedded room, now shared with another guy, but the night is cold.

 

I have sort of decided that late night beer, large meal and chinese cigarettes are not terribly good idea for sleep but somehow keep forgetting this little detail. This means I have a restless night, so what is new, and cough merrily through the night.

 

I get up 10ish, organsie my various bags (4 in total now!) and make enquiries about getting to Yungshau which is lovely apparently. I have to go through Keonming, flights are going to be 1017 Y ($140). I get a train ticket from the station, which I end up not using.