Tiger Leaping Gorge Day 2
Day 2 of the Tiger Leaping Gorge Adventure was pretty mundane for the first half of the hike as compared to the first day. In the late mornigng we left the halfway house and headed towards Walnut Grove.
Before you reach Walnut Grove the trail passes Tina's. This is another restaurant / overnight establishment for visitors, but it is right on the new road which goes through the gorge, so the views are not as stunning and it does not feel like you are far from anything, whereas the Halfway House gives you this feeling.
The most spectacular part of the hike was not on the hill above the road. It was the hike from the road down to the river and back up again. Once you reach Tammy's you can take a pretty steep path down the side of the gorge to the river side. It did not take too long to get down to the river. After about forty minutes of walking we ended up at the bottom of the gorge at Sandy's. We rested at the bottom of the gorge for a short while, chatted it up with lady at the bottom of the gorge and generally enjoyed the scenery. One of the things you can do at Sandy's by the river is to sign your name on the side of the building.
* If you guys go, don't forget to look for 小普, Tex and Flashlight. All of which are the nicknames we used on the hike.
Sandy's is located right next to the river and is directly below the feature of the gorge from which it developed it's name. Just down river from Sandy's on either side of the gorge are two large rock outcroppings, which look as though at one point they were connected and made a land bridge. If this was true it has been gone for a long time now. At some point between when this land bridge was destroyed and now it is said that one day a tiger jumped from one side to the other. And, that is how the gorge was named.
After hearing the story of the gorge it was time to head back. The section of the trail from the river to the road was by far the most challenging trail we had encountered. Basically you have to hike up the side of the gorge. There is no room for a trail to wind it's way back up the gorge. The scariest part of trail was on of the ladders we had to climb. This ladder, by American safety standards was probably one of the most unsafe ladders around. Not only was it made of rebar, but it was not made in one piece. It was actually two ladders. You start at the base of a tree and the ladder goes between the branches and out of the top. I thought it might have been for dramatic effect or maybe the tree just grew there over time. I mean, it hard to tell how old a piece crap rebar ladder actually is. As I climbed the ladder I noticed that this choice was probably more for support than anything when I noticed wires wrapped around the ladder stretching to branches of the tree. Then I thought to myself, how in the world is this thing safe?
After a nice grueling hike back up to the road we met up with a pair of travelers. The man was a Chinese guy who chatted with us in the kitchen at the Halfway House the night before. The woman, we could only presume at the time , was his girlfriend or wife. This couple was headed back to Lijiang via Qiao Tou just like we were, so for the sake of saving money we all decided to take a taxi back to Qiao Tou where we would find another cab back. Making it to Qiao Tou was relatively easy because there were some drivers right where we were. We spent the car ride getting to know each other. The man is from Canton and the woman works for Dell in Dalian.
Once we reached Qiao Tou the hilarity ensued. Everyone knows that you can bargain in China. People always tell foreigners to do it because Chinese people will rip them off otherwise. Foreigners are not the only ones who haggle. I feel like the lady with us is one of the best hagglers I met. Before we reached Qiao Tou she had decided to not pay more than 15 kuai per person. This was pretty cheap compared to most prices offered, but she was budging. After a couple minutes she had our first driver and another man competing to take us to Lijiang. I did not catch everything she was saying because I was busy laughing and filming the thing. She kept saying weird things about cute guys, so I was curious as to what bargaining technique she was actually using. In the end we took a third driver who showed up after most of the bargaining and was willing to accept our low price.
That night we headed back to our respective hotels to take showers. Afterwards we planned to meet up to eat dinner. Once we arrived in the Old Town of Lijiang we met up with our new friends. One of the first things the woman mentioned was how she was lucky to be around so many cute guys. We are all starting to get the picture that the man and woman were not romantically involved. Dinner was fun, just like it always is when you go out to eat. During dinner we started talking the mo suo minority in China. This minority still maintains a fully matriarchal society. Women can sleep around with lots of guys and they have all the rights to raising children. It is quite interesting. The woman we were with had just recently visited this society. She mentioned that this place is one of the only places where she could live out the rest of her life. We thought this was odd. We could not tell whether this was because of the society or whether the place was beautiful. We were still puzzled. What left us even more puzzled was her response to one of our questions. We asked what her husband would do if she moved into the mo suo society and he husband did not want to go. She simply said she would let him marry another man. Then she said it is a little silly for a man to stay with only one woman his entire life. ..... Interesting is all I can say. She is great though.
Before you reach Walnut Grove the trail passes Tina's. This is another restaurant / overnight establishment for visitors, but it is right on the new road which goes through the gorge, so the views are not as stunning and it does not feel like you are far from anything, whereas the Halfway House gives you this feeling.
The most spectacular part of the hike was not on the hill above the road. It was the hike from the road down to the river and back up again. Once you reach Tammy's you can take a pretty steep path down the side of the gorge to the river side. It did not take too long to get down to the river. After about forty minutes of walking we ended up at the bottom of the gorge at Sandy's. We rested at the bottom of the gorge for a short while, chatted it up with lady at the bottom of the gorge and generally enjoyed the scenery. One of the things you can do at Sandy's by the river is to sign your name on the side of the building.
* If you guys go, don't forget to look for 小普, Tex and Flashlight. All of which are the nicknames we used on the hike.
Sandy's is located right next to the river and is directly below the feature of the gorge from which it developed it's name. Just down river from Sandy's on either side of the gorge are two large rock outcroppings, which look as though at one point they were connected and made a land bridge. If this was true it has been gone for a long time now. At some point between when this land bridge was destroyed and now it is said that one day a tiger jumped from one side to the other. And, that is how the gorge was named.
After hearing the story of the gorge it was time to head back. The section of the trail from the river to the road was by far the most challenging trail we had encountered. Basically you have to hike up the side of the gorge. There is no room for a trail to wind it's way back up the gorge. The scariest part of trail was on of the ladders we had to climb. This ladder, by American safety standards was probably one of the most unsafe ladders around. Not only was it made of rebar, but it was not made in one piece. It was actually two ladders. You start at the base of a tree and the ladder goes between the branches and out of the top. I thought it might have been for dramatic effect or maybe the tree just grew there over time. I mean, it hard to tell how old a piece crap rebar ladder actually is. As I climbed the ladder I noticed that this choice was probably more for support than anything when I noticed wires wrapped around the ladder stretching to branches of the tree. Then I thought to myself, how in the world is this thing safe?
After a nice grueling hike back up to the road we met up with a pair of travelers. The man was a Chinese guy who chatted with us in the kitchen at the Halfway House the night before. The woman, we could only presume at the time , was his girlfriend or wife. This couple was headed back to Lijiang via Qiao Tou just like we were, so for the sake of saving money we all decided to take a taxi back to Qiao Tou where we would find another cab back. Making it to Qiao Tou was relatively easy because there were some drivers right where we were. We spent the car ride getting to know each other. The man is from Canton and the woman works for Dell in Dalian.
Once we reached Qiao Tou the hilarity ensued. Everyone knows that you can bargain in China. People always tell foreigners to do it because Chinese people will rip them off otherwise. Foreigners are not the only ones who haggle. I feel like the lady with us is one of the best hagglers I met. Before we reached Qiao Tou she had decided to not pay more than 15 kuai per person. This was pretty cheap compared to most prices offered, but she was budging. After a couple minutes she had our first driver and another man competing to take us to Lijiang. I did not catch everything she was saying because I was busy laughing and filming the thing. She kept saying weird things about cute guys, so I was curious as to what bargaining technique she was actually using. In the end we took a third driver who showed up after most of the bargaining and was willing to accept our low price.
That night we headed back to our respective hotels to take showers. Afterwards we planned to meet up to eat dinner. Once we arrived in the Old Town of Lijiang we met up with our new friends. One of the first things the woman mentioned was how she was lucky to be around so many cute guys. We are all starting to get the picture that the man and woman were not romantically involved. Dinner was fun, just like it always is when you go out to eat. During dinner we started talking the mo suo minority in China. This minority still maintains a fully matriarchal society. Women can sleep around with lots of guys and they have all the rights to raising children. It is quite interesting. The woman we were with had just recently visited this society. She mentioned that this place is one of the only places where she could live out the rest of her life. We thought this was odd. We could not tell whether this was because of the society or whether the place was beautiful. We were still puzzled. What left us even more puzzled was her response to one of our questions. We asked what her husband would do if she moved into the mo suo society and he husband did not want to go. She simply said she would let him marry another man. Then she said it is a little silly for a man to stay with only one woman his entire life. ..... Interesting is all I can say. She is great though.
posted by Jon Keto at
6:46 PM
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