A Couple Days Almost in Tibet

Current location: Zhongdian, China, also known as Shangri-La.

I'm on a backpackers' tour with Intrepid travel, a New Zealand-based company known for responsible travel and extensive touring throughout Asia. My tourmates are mostly Brits and Aussies, but our leader is a woman originally from Chicago. Which is good, because otherwise I'd probably be saying that I need to go to the "loo" and that I'm feeling "peckish" if I there weren't another Yank around.

China has been pretty fascinating. We left Kunming and rode for more than eight hours to the city of Lijiang in the far northwest of Yunnan. There we stayed in the old city and roamed around at night, admiring the good views from up high.

The next day my roommate Anders (from Denmark) and I rose at 5am to join our leader Mills for a sunrise hike up Elephant Hill overlooking the city. When we got there we saw the gate was closed, but as numerous other Chinese came in and jumped the fence, we did like the Romans did and walked around the guardhouse to get in. Hiking up, we heard weird yelling -- apparently Chinese like to yell from hilltops. Of course I joined in.

That day we took another bus ride to Qiaoto and met Margo, our local guide through Tiger Leaping Gorge. After a short lunch, we started to hike, and things got steep quickly. The trail wended its way along one side of the gorge and rose precipitously, the whole time giving us more and more views of Jade Dragon Mountain (elevation approx. 18,000 feet) on the far side of the gorge.

It was a spectacular but actually fairly difficult hiking day. We rested for the evening at Tea Horse, a well-appointed guest house along the trail. Naturally, there was plenty of Tsingtao beer to go around.

The next day we had less of a challenge with the hiking, but more distance. Margo again led us, chatting the whole way in her Aussie twang and encouraging her two-month-old dog Baby to keep up with us. At the Halfway House we stopped for apple pie, which was ironic for me given that it was July 4th back in the US. Happy birthday, America.

After reaching our destination, the Tibet Guest House (with no less impressive of a view) and eating lunch, several of us chose to descend all the way down to the river. After a wrong turn through a cornfield, we found the trail but had to pay 5 yuan (about 60 cents) each to a woman who claimed it was her land. Oh well. The trail was ridiculously steep and in desparate need of some more switchbacks, but dropped quickly to the river, where we came upon some serious rapids. At some point enormous chunks of white quartz had tumbled down from the far side of the gorge, creating what were likely Class IV-V rapids. Sweet.

I led the way back up, holding a pace swift enough that we actually ascended in less time than it took to go down. Reaching the top, we found the rest of our group half-drunk at a guest house and playing the game "I never." Later that night the rest of us (with the exception of one reticent Aussie couple) joined in with the help of many Tsingtaos (not even $1 for a double-size bottle!) and found that people were incredibly forthcoming in a situation like this when they probably won't see each other again.

Today was mostly a bus ride to Zhongdian and a trip out to a huge monastery. It looked impressive from afar but upon closer inspection its only interesting feature was a very large Bhudda. Three of us went in a door marked "Ladies Stop" and found it to be monks' quarters. There a man gave us chunks of yak cheese and some other unidentifiable stuff which we nibbled before discreetly getting rid of.

Back in town, I realized that knock-off outdoor gear is incredibly cheap, so I am left to wonder whether I should get a $25 soft shell or fleece. I mean, it's so cheap...for things that would be easily $250 in the US. The quality might be questionable, as I have discovered with my North Face bags.

Until the next Internet time,
Gordo