After parting ways with Eric I headed up to northwestern Yunnan Province to the city of Lijiang. Spent one night at a nice (well-known) hostel run by a local Naxi woman and in the morning joined a random (diverse) group of 6 people headed to hike the Tiger Leaping Gorge along the Yangzi river. Out of our group of 7 there we 2 Yanks, 2 Brits, 1 German, 1 French, 1 Dutch. It was a fun group. We spent 2 days hiking the gorge, hiking about 6-7 hours each day. Let me tell you, this hike was no picnic and excluding the summit of Kilimanjaro, was probably the most physically strenuous of the hikes I have done on my africa, inda, china trips thus far. The trail was from 2,200 to 2,800 meters ~(7,200 ft to 9,200 ft high) and it included a lot of steep ascents and descents along the way. After the first day of trekking we reached the halfway point and stayed at the aptly named Halfway Guest House, which actually was a nice facility for being in a remote region and on a hiking trail. The next day we set out early to reach the famous "Tiger Leaping Stone" which was at the bottom of the gorge on the river. Legend has it that a tiger lept across the river using this stone as a starting or landing spot. Who knows, there are no more tigers in this area to prove or disprove the theory and the river is ~40 feet wide at this spot (must have been a magical tiger). After descending all the way to the river we had to head back up to catch a cab to town, this entailed hiking very steep trails and using ladders constructed out of wires that were bolted to the rocks, quite an experience. But we all made it back to the top in good health.
After the gorge we parted ways with the Brits and German and 4 of us headed to Shangri-La - a remote town in Northwestern Yunnan. The road along the way was in rough shape and the scenery reminded me of remote sections in Montana or the Swiss Alps. This all made us believe that we would be entering a small remote town with a quaint feel. Alas, China stimulus money has also hit the remote regions of the country. It looked like Disneyland when we entered Shangri-La. Tons of construction of new roads and buildings. The buildings were new, yet the attempt was there to make them look "traditional." Let's just say, that didn't work! I guess these are the growing pains of Developing (and Developed) countries. The economic growth necessary to keep living standards growing reduces the traditional feel of places and certainly ruins much of the untouched land. Having said that, this area of China is still quite remote and there is much untouched land (including a new national park/preserve) and many sacred mountains that (theoretically) won't be touched. Furthermore, Shangri-La and the more Northwest regions (such as Deqin, where i am currently writing this entry from) are very Tibetan. It seems like the Chinese gov't is trying to keep the "Tibetan" feel for tourism reasons but is encouraging an influx of the Han Chinese residents and tourists (majority of China's population) to keep the Tibetan people in check. Who knows the real answer, but that is the feeling i get from being here and knowing a little about the way in which China's unnecessarily paranoid gov't works. If you want to read more firsthand about the development issue, here is a good website. This lodge was recommended by Lonely Planet as a genuine place to stay in Deqin (7 hr bus ride from Shangri-La). Apparently the rampant development, even of this remote Tibetan outpost, is causing issues: http://www.deqinlodge.com/closed.html
As stated before, I am in Deqin, it is raining, so no hiking today. Tomorrow I head (alone) to Yubeng which is 1.5 hours by car and 5 hours hiking. There are no roads to Yubeng and it will be at about 3,000 m elevation (10,000 ft or so). The plan is to stay at the "Mystic Waterfall Hotel" which was graciously researched and recommended by my fellow TNC YPG colleague - Evelyn. She will be excited that I am actually getting there. I am excited to, will do 2-3 days of day trekking around that area. Will post the hopefully amazing pics when i return.
Oh yeah, random side note, my current travel buddy (Michelle, sweet girl from LA area, we are the only ones left over from the original 7) and I stopped by the "Migratory Bird Cafe & Bar" here is Feilai Si (right outside the town of Deqin with amazing views of the sacred mtn, Kawa Karpo, of the Meili Xueshan range north of the city). The Migratory Bird was recommended by Lonely Planet as a good source of food and information. It also proved to be a good source of entertainment. As soon as we walked in a group of young, university-age TIbetans excitedly invited us to join them for food and drinks. They had clearly been drinking already, so we joined right in. 1 kid spoke english pretty well and the 3 girls with him tried their best. It was quite entertaining as the girls, whenever they wanted to speak with us, would try to tell us in english, and would get frustrated and yell at the guy (who we can call Chip, since i have no idea how to pronounce or spell his Tibetan name) to come translate. Needless to say, they were very friendly and very fond of us and couldn't stop expressing how happy they were to drink with us and how they wanted to visit the US some day and even do world travel on their own. This was a nice chance meeting and I hope to party with them again one night after returning from the wilds of Yubeng (Mom, don't worry, 2 people have already told me Yubeng is very well marked and all the trails are straightforward for navigation...also China's rampant development means my China Mobile mobile will almost certainly work.)
Ok, that is enough for now. Hope things are well with everyone. Only slightly more than a week left in China - eventually venturing back to Shanghai from the middle of nowhere - and back to the US just in time to party with James R and the girls in the Hamptons on Labor Day weekend, nice!!!!!!!!!!
later
dave
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