The Wobbly Bridge

I woke up in the morn and it was still dark. The sun doesn’t get up till about 8 am and when you are in the gorge it’s a little later. I have fruit and bread with me and so I sit out side my room and have breakfast. I was hoping for a cup of tea but I have no kettle either. After breakfast I get ready and pack. I put on the same smelly clothes from yesterday, well no point putting on clean ones when I didn’t have a shower. I went down to reception to complain about the hot water. She said ” 5 mins and it will be OK because the water is heated by the sun” It will be more like an hour or two before the sun shines on this part of the gorge. She gives me water and some chocolate…………no comment.

The view while having breakfast

The track is a lot easier this morning, most of the work was done yesterday and so today should be an easier day. The scenery of course is as spectacular as ever as you move through the gorge. When I get to the next small village I see the Halfway Guest House and I know for sure that there was no way I would have made it here last night. They would have found me lying in a heap somewhere if I had attempted it.

I buy banana pancakes covered in honey and some black coffee to give me some fuel. This is a big place and the folk here seem to a lot more friendlier than my hotel.

The path here is very different as it begins to wrap around the edge of the mountain and I come across quite a lot of people coming the other way. Mind you there was a group of Japanese dropped off at the Halfway Guest House to do the walk that I have in front of me. I meet a group of Japanese coming the other way and one women was absolutely terrified. She couldn’t look at the drop at the side of the very narrow path.

This part of the walk was a lot easier but it was also a lot more dangerous as you are on the edge of the mountain and you have to cross a few waterfalls which make it very slippy underfoot, but I am glad that I have my stick to give me that little bit of confidence.

Finally I see signs for Tina’s Guest House, this is where I have decided to spend the next two nights. It’s now time to head down the mountain and this can sometimes be more dangerous than going up. I did slide on me arse once, but no damage thankfully.

When I get here I have another room with a view. We are right on the edge of the gorge. I eat, I shower although it takes at least 5 mins before the water gets warm. It feels so good to have a shower after such a long time. I do a washing to get rid of the dust and the sweat which has accumulated. I sit down and then go back for more food. All this walking certainly gives you an appetite.

Tomorrow I will walk down to the river and stand on Tiger Leaping Rock, well one of them.

Happy to have finished Tiger Leaping Gorge

It was about 9.30 when I left Janes’s Guesthouse to start my trek. I was looking forward to getting started because it was quite noisy due to the amount of civil engineering work that is taking place. They are blasting a road through the mountains and building a bridge across the gorge to make it easier for the millions that will no doubt come in the future. I heard 2 blasts as I walked up the gorge.

The walk up the main road to the start of the Gorge walk is quite far and you have no choice but to share it with these huge trucks that are fully laden coming down this very steep hill and of course the empty ones are heading up. The dust they kick up is dreadful and so I was quite keen to get onto the path.  But finding the path

was a little bit easier said than done.

I came across the this house with a message on the side and so I asked them and they pointed me in the right direction. I’d been walking up this hill for about 45 mins before I even got to the start of the path.

This was it. It started off quite easy, but I had a very large backpack on which was not particularly heavy at the start but after an hour or so I was beginning to regret bringing my thermals and everything else, but they had predicted cold weather and I was not sure where I would be staying yet.

The path continued up and was not so easy at times and then it began to widen. Underfoot it was dust and gravel and so you still had to be careful. My old boots are two years old and I have been saving them for this trip because they are very comfortable and this of course will be their swansong. The higher you go the better the view of course and also the terrain changes and I come across a goat herder with his goats of having lunch.

His office is quite spectacular. When I reached a small hut I stopped for a breather and also to check on the route because it was not so obvious here. I was joined and then passed by a young couple which made it a little easier as I could follow them, hoping of course they knew the way.

I made it to the Naxi Guest House for lunch, this is where most people will stop. I’d been walking for 3 hours which is quite slow by all accounts. The food was good and the local Yunnan coffee was just what I needed. I went to the loo before leaving and you have to be careful you don’t fall into the trough and end up down the hill somewhere.

After here it was onwards and upwards and the dreaded 28 bends. It was getting steeper and a bit rougher underfoot and then the path began to snake up the hill. I deliberately decide not to count the bends because I did not want to know how much pain I might still have to go through.

Thankfully as you continue along the path you have these signs to guide you. I’d been walking for what seemed an eternity when I came across a small hut and the women was selling food and supplies. The sign on the side of the house, which I forgot to capture, said “fuel up for the 28 bends” I thought Fuck Fuck, really………”I haven’t even started the bends yet” The sun had moved into the gorge by now and was beating down making the experience all that more difficult and tiring. Mind you there was one thing on the menu that might have helped, she was selling Cannabis.

I had bought a bamboo stick from a woman previously and I’m glad I did because this is where it began to come into it’s own. Using both my hands to give me purchase as I slowly made my way up the 28 bends. My legs were beginning to tire and my energy was running low but at least I still had the scenery for inspiration. I stopped many times catching my breath but it didn’t matter when the view is this good. A young couple that had passed me at the start of the bends were telling me they wanted to get to the Halfway Guest House but there was no way I would make that one. My only choice was to make it to the Tea Horse Guest House.

At the top of the 28 bends there is another old woman selling drinks and supplies. She tells me to sit and rest and I don’t need any encouragement, I’m knackered. We have a chat and she tells me that she has to walk 2 hours back to here home every day and this means she has to walk up and down those 28 bends. She doesn’t look it but she must a lot fitter than me. She also tells me that if I want to take a picture of the gorge here I must pay here 10 RMB, which I do because I thought if she has to make this effort every day and there has not been many walkers this day. A lot of the people I spoke to really grudge having to pay these small tolls that you may incur along the way but I thought what an effort just to get here and so I gave her 10 RMB for the view.

I asked her how far I had to go to the Tea Horse and she told me another 90 mins which I was not happy hearing. It was still onwards and upwards and so I got back on me feet and headed off once more. My back pack felt as if someone had stuck a few lead weights in while I wasn’t looking.

It was nearly 5 pm when the Tea Horse came into sight and it was such a relief to see it. I just wanted a hot shower and food. I checked in and at 158 RMB a bit expensive but I guess they can when you are the only place for miles. I paid it and then went for a bowl of Yak meat and rice and a beer.

I met a young French couple and we chatted over dinner until the sun went down. When it did all the heat went too and so we all went our separate ways. I was really looking forward to a hot shower and so I got my kit off and headed for the shower. No hot water, fuck it I’m going to bed. I’ll put on the electric blanket. Fuck it, it’s not working. Thermals on and then sleep.

I woke up in the middle of the night listening to the windows rattle and the door thump. The wind was howling through the gorge. I got up and fixed the door and then back to bed.

So I had one of everything. It’s nice to see the Cannabis is reasonably priced.

Even if I had been a little fitter I knew this would be a difficult day. I’m knackered but I made it to the halfway point and I’m in my hotel. This is the view from my room. 

You have to be skinny to get through these people barriers, I would estimate about 300 mm wide a the most, just as well I’m skinny. Definitely no short and fat folk, which come to think of it I, did not see in Shangri-la…………………………..

A small dusty town on the highway from Shangri-la to Lijiang. I’m staying at Jane’s Guesthouse tonight before I start my two day trek through Tiger Leaping Gorge. This is the main reason why I have come to Yunnan. This town is very dusty and I’ll be pleased to move on in the morning, although it is a little warmer. So I’ll have an early night and get up bright and early. The weather has been great today, sun and blue skies and it should continue over the coming days. 

The previous night I could here scratching and scurrying coming from somewhere. It was hard to say if it was above or below. I woke up at 4am this morning and felt something moving on my ear, I have no fucking idea what it was but I flipped my hand across my ear and felt no contact with anything but the scratching and scurrying continued a little longer.

Maybe the room is just haunted………………

After reading the book “Lost Horizons” I think my vision of Shangri-la was a little skewed to say the least. There is a monastery but I did not go. It’s now quite the tourist attraction and I went to the visitor centre and then decided to return. My Hotel or the Cozy Inn as it’s called is OK but there is no heating in the room and so it’s not that cosy, although the bed has an electric blanket. I’m not sleeping well as I feel I have a weight on my chest due to the high altitude.

The skies are blue but you can still smell the wood burning fires and so at times when you climb up a hill or steps your lungs are still clawing for air and so even although it looks pristine it ain’t. The altitude has quite an effect on your breathing at times and the smoke just doesn’t help.

Two years ago there was a large fire which destroyed much of the old city and so many of the places are shiny and new, but they have been built in the tradition Tibetan style. Many streets are still under construction and so maybe in a few years the old city might look old again. But you don’t have to walk too far before you come across the modern world which is full of designer clothes and Nike stores. As I say my vision of Shangri-la has been slightly distorted by reading a book that was written almost 100 years ago. But tomorrow I will be heading down the hill to Tiger Leaping Gorge to start my trek. But even so I think it’s worth coming to for just a few days if your in the neighbourhood.

I brought this packet of crisps from Suzhou and when I reached here it was ready to explode because of the difference in air pressure. The sun cream that I brought poured out when I took the lid off and the rolling ball in the deodorant leapt out too. My body feels like bits are also trying to escape.  My poor heart is thumping in my chest and just won’t relax; I half expect to find it beside me when I wake up in the morn. So I thought that adjusting to the higher altitude would be quite easy but I feel that it will take more time here to do that. As night falls once more I feel the headache returning and my stomach is also not too happy. But I am also looking forward to a slightly warmer climate.