Tiger leaping gorge-ous

If you ever make it to China, make sure the Tiger Leaping Gorge is on your itinerary! In fact, get thee to the the gorge immediately! It was so spectacular that I really don't have words for how I felt while hiking it. I know I say that pretty much everything I see is "amazing" or "breath-taking" or some other lame adjective but really, seeing the Tiger Leaping Gorge was one of those rare moments that you want to freeze and remember it crystal clear for the rest of your life. Its up there with the Torres del Paine, the Uyuni salt flats and the Great Wall. So I won't say too much but just show you the pictures. The hike lasted basically 3 days, starting with a killer first day. We hiked from 850m to about 2,760m, all after spending most of my time at basically sea level. It was tough but the views as we climbed higher and higher over the gorge were worth it. On the third day, we even hiked down to the gorge itself and it was amazing to see how quickly the water was rushing when we saw it from so far away. The TLG was also great because we got to stay at that these beautiful if basic guesthouses along the way with patios that looked out onto the gorge. The perfect place to rest with a cold beer after a long day of hiking. The food was good, the beer was cold and the scenery was so peaceful. I really couldn't have asked for anything better.

The Tiger Leaping Gorge.

Taking in the views of the gorge.

Our fearless leader, John, and our guide for the gorge, Sean. Both were great.

The locals have become pretty enterprising, even charging tourists for taking photos from the best viewpoints (8 yuan!). Its illegal and frustrating to have to pay but at the same time, I would rather pay these farmers who make so little rather than the Chinese government who plan on damming it.

A view of the gorge from way, way up high. The next day, we hiked down to the water. It was hard! And so steep!

The mountains on either side of the water just rose so quickly.

I guess even the farmers have to have a little (homegrown) fun now and again.

The face of the gorge staring down on some hapless hiker.

There were even waterfalls along the path. This was definitely Shangri-la, which is supposed to be in this region.

Its called the Tiger Leaping Gorge because, as the legend goes, there was a tiger that leaped across the gorge bringing all sorts of good things to the land. Unfortunately, this was the only tiger we came across (though we did see some red-faced monkeys).

Farmers working the fields in the gorge.

We hiked down to the water itself going on the most steep, narrow path I've ever been on. One step in the wrong direction and it would be OVER. We even had to climb this insane, rickety ladder for part of the way!

At Sean's Guesthouse, there was this very serious, very cranky little girl that insisted on helping out with all the chores. She would march up to our table and take away the dirty dishes, even admonishing us for not finishing all our food. She was so cute but so serious!

John, resting on Sean's patio after a long day hiking. The most amazing scenery, right outside our doors!

What's sad though is that the Tiger Leaping Gorge is scheduled to be dammed in the next few years (construction starts in 2008). I'm glad I was able to see it as it should be seen but hopefully others will be able to do the same in the future. Some conservationists are trying to put the gorge on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list to keep it from being dammed up so keep your fingers crossed!

After the gorge, we took a very long bus trip back to Dali. It would have been a normal, scenic-filled journey if it weren't for our insane bus driver, Dong Lee. She was only 25 but she was definitely the boss on the bus, ordering people around, driving like a maniac and never leaving her throne. It was an old-school bus as well with the engine right in the middle of the car, which she could access from INSIDE. Well, it definitely came in handy when the bus over-heated. She just sat in her seat, opened the engine and let the steam out. It was pretty scary but totally unbelievable. But she was very nice. We stopped for some dumplings and even offered us some weird spicy pickle-y thing to go with them (you know I loved that!).

Our driver, Dong Lee, taking care of business.

So China is coming to a close. I still have a couple of weeks in Tibet, which I've heard is becoming much more Han Chinese but hopefully, I'll still get to experience some of the Tibetan spirit. I'm currently in Bangkok right now, waiting for my flight up north again to meet my next tour group in Tibet. I'm sad that I'm almost done with China. I recognize its not for everyone but my experience here has been one for the books. I've eaten so well and seen some really unbelievable things. What I especially liked was how non-(Western)-touristy it was and how I was able to see so many different facets of such a large and varied country. I would expound more on how I loved China but its too damned hot here! Ang, I have no idea how we're going to survive in SE Asia in June!

Hippy yunnan province

Okay, photos uploaded! I know, I should be better about it but sometimes its hard to make it work in some places.

I arrived in Kunming in order to meet up with my Intrepid tour group to tour around the Yunnan province in Western China. Before coming to China, I wasn't sure how easy (or hard) it would be to travel in more touristy Eastern China, let alone Western China. I also wanted to do a 3-day trek through the Tiger Leaping Gorge so I thought it would be easier to just book a tour through the area. After doing some extensive research, I decided on Intrepid Travel, a reasonably-priced tour company geared towards responsible and adventure travel. First of all, I would like to say that for a tour company, I've been very happy with Intrepid and with their leaders, level of service and efficient travel. But I definitely could have done it on my own, especially after traveling through China for the last 3 weeks. I could have saved myself some money and had the freedom of traveling without a huge group. Well, I didn't know what to expect when I was doing my planning and it actually ended up to be pretty fun so I can't really complain. But a note to savvy travelers out there, you can do it on your own!

For the most part, I've been traveling with other backpackers around my age and its been a lot of fun, traveling, drinking and joking together. So I was pretty surprised when I met my group and saw the wide range of ages and nationalities. But everyone was really nice and all had interesting stories from their past travels so we all ended up getting along really well, which is hard for a 12 person group (many beers also helped!). Our leader, John, was also fabulous at breaking the ice and getting everyone together. Plus, being the only single female, I was able to get my own room the ENTIRE time. All the Intrepid groups get to stay in actual hotel rooms with doors, en-suite bathrooms (most of the time) and privacy but the single travelers have to double up. And, let me just tell you, after all these months of travel, its unbelievably nice to get your own room. Seriously, I don't think I've stayed in nicer places than on this trip! Its really important to treat yourself every once in awhile so it ended up being exactly what I needed. I actually laughed out loud when I saw my hotel room on the first day. It was a real room! With a bathroom and a TV! No dorm beds, stinky sheets or dirty backpackers. I emptied my backpack and spread my stuff all over the place. Bliss.

The trip was a 10-day trip through the Yunnan province, going through Kunming, Lijiang, Dali and, of course, the Tiger Leaping Gorge, which deserves its own post. We were moving pretty quickly so we really only had 1.5 days in each town but it was enough to get a taste of what it was like. Kunming is like any other large city in China with over 3 million people so I spent most of my time watching BBC World on my TV rather than exploring the city. At this point, I'm a bit big-Chinese-citied-out.

But Lijiang and Dali were both different stories. Both these places have a new and old part of town and the old parts were filled with cobble-stone streets, different architecture and various Yunnan minority groups like the Naxi and Bai people. Lijiang has mostly Naxi people and the architecture is Naxi with wood building and narrow streets. The city was struck by a 7.0 earthquake about 10 years ago but most of the old architecture survived, earning it a World Heritage Site designation by UNESCO. But what I like most was its laid-back, hippy feel. There were lots of Western cafes and tourist shops around but there was very little hassling or annoying shop-owners. I could actually walk into a shop and browse without being hassled by an over-eager salesperson. As a tourist, you come to really appreciate these things. Definitely, a completely different vibe than from the big skyscraper cities in China. It looked like Yangshao but without the frenzied touristy feel. I could actually sit at a cafe, have a coffee and just watch the day go by.

The view from our hotel in Lijiang. The water actually flows throughout the entire town, sort of like a mini-Venice though I've never been there (next world trip!).

Shangri-la? Maybe, except I don't think there were hords of Chinese tourists there.

We had a traditional Naxi dinner at a family home. The one good thing about having such a large group was that we got to order so many different dishes! One of the best meals I've had.

Mmmmmm, chiles....

You could even send these flowers with candles to honor your ancestors in Lijiang. It felt very Karate Kid II when Ralph goes to Japan.

My only complaint Lijiang was the incredible number of Chinese tourists. The Yunnan province is a big tourist draw for the Chinese and Lijiang was definitely capitalizing on it. At night, the picturesque streets of Lijiang would be filled with "authentic" Naxi dancing (complete with thousands of flashbulbs going off from the tourist cameras) and screaming people in restaurants. It was like party-central for the Chinese. But it was still a lovely town and a perfect place for me to relax and space-out (being a tourist 24/7 is hard work!).

I couldn't get myself to take a picture of the Naxi dancing but I did get a photo of them on a break. Their traditional dress was very interesting with this cape thing in the back.

As much as I liked Lijiang, Dali was even better. The town has basically rebuilt over the last 5 years to "preserve" its cultural heritage but it lacks some of the authentic charm of building that are actually old. But despite the weird new-trying-to-be-old feel, it was even more relaxing and laidback than Lijiang since there were less screaming, partying Chinese on vacation (unsurprisingly, Dali is mj central of China. We got approached constantly with "smoke? hashish?"). There were great cafes, restaurants (Jim's Peace Cafe had the most amazing Tibetan food) and interesting shops. The best part though was actually feeling like I was in a small town where I could walk everywhere without being afraid of getting run over or pollution constantly blowing in my face (there were actually blue skies here!).

John, the tour leader, and I even decided to rent bikes and ride partially around Erhai Lake, the 7th largest lake in China. That was even better because we got to ride through villages, see farmers planting rice, kids playing in the water and agricultural life in China pass by. 800 million (yes, million) people live and work in rural China so it was great to see how the majority of the Chinese people live their lives. The Yunnan province also holds the greatest concentration of minority people outside of Tibet so it was great to see a mix of cultures and try different types of food (even yak cheese. SO GROSS.).

China has more bikes than any other country. So when in Rome, right?

We got to ride right along side the lake and through these small villages.

An old sunken canoe? gate? in the water.

An old man fishing in the lake. Not sure what he caught here.

John, taking a break and enjoying the view. Our ride was very idyllic except when we met the main road and rode with exhaust billowing in our faces (cough, cough).

In general, I like traveling through the countryside and away from the big cities so it was great to finally experience it out west. I got to see a completely different view of China, which is actually harder than you would think to find in this huge and varied country. My only regret is that I didn't spend enough time out here but I figure I will have plenty of time to relax and enjoy small-town life in SE Asia. I also ended up being very happy with my group. Its great to be able to meet so many different types of people and share such different experiences. Thanks guys, for such a great trip (I wish I had a better group photo)!! Sorry this post is so long but there's lots to write about!

An american tourist unmasked

So far in China, I've been able to fly below the radar since I blend in with the local folk. Though I get laughed at sometimes for not being able to speak Chinese, its worth it to not get hassled by touts to buy things constantly. But when we got to Yangshao, my cover was blown. There were soooo many Western tourists there that people automatically knew I didn't belong and the hassling began hardcore.

I came to Yangshao with Stephen, Jamie and Conville, the 3 British guys I met on the Yangzi River cruise. We were looking forward to getting out of the big cities and enjoy some country life and we had heard that Yangshao, just south of Guilin on the bank of the Li River, was the perfect place to see some lovely scenery and laidback life. Boy, were we wrong. We got to Yangshao and headed down to the street with all the hostels and the first thing that we noticed were the sheer number of Westerners, Western restaurants and tons of souvenir shops. Its was insane! After weeks of standing out in the crowd, the guys soon found themselves just as 3 among millions. All the things we've done so far in China have definitely been touristy but the number of Chinese tourists outnumbered everyone else by so much. Not the case here. West Street (where all the hostels were) seemed to be swarmed with touts selling or pushing something. It was worse at night. The entire street was lit up with fluorescent lights and the restaurants were all pumping incredibly loud music or really bad karaoke. It was impossible to sleep!

I wish I could add sound to this picture. It doesn't look that busy but it almost hurt to look down the street with all the flashing lights and loud sounds.

Lots of Western food and beverages in Yangshao. But of course, with Chinese translation. (Leo, this is for you!)

The one good thing of being in Yangshao was of course the food. Me, Stephen, and McKay, enjoying some unbelievably good rice claypots. But we were given this incredibly small table and even smaller stools to sit on, which was totally ridiculous, but we didn't care after taking one bite of our food. Soooo good!!

But luckily we were able to escape it all. The 4 of us decided to rent bikes and cycle around the countryside outside of Yangshao. And it was beautiful. Rice paddies with farmers and their oxen and these crazy rock hills (called karsts) that seemed to suddenly sprout from the ground. Unfortunately, it rained most of the day so we got pretty wet and our pictures didn't really come out. Our tour also included some pretty touristy activities that didn't really have anything to do with our surroundings but were fun nonetheless like bamboo rafting and visiting a mudbath in a nearby water cave. I was happy to do these things but the guys were like kids in a candy shop. But what else would you expect from a bunch of boys? :)

Just look at those hills behind the paddies! They looked like granite covered in vegetation and were so dramatically tall.

A farmer and his ox, prepping the land for the next rice harvest.

They actually gave us water guns on the bamboo rafts. Here's me getting Jamie pretty good. To be fair, they got some good shots in as well. Well, almost as good. :)

We had to wear hardhats in the cave since we had to crawl through some parts. Lookin' good!

Getting pretty dirty in the mudbaths. I refused to get mud in my hair. Hey! Its impossible to get out!

But even going out of town wasn't enough to get away from the insanity in Yangshao. I also ran into Yvonne and McKay, the Canadians from Xian and Chengdu, and they mentioned that they were going to spend a couple of days visiting these villages that farmed these really interesting rice terraces. It sounded like exactly what we were looking for so the guys and I decided to pack up and head for the hills.

We took an early bus up into the Longsheng area to visit the villages of Daxhai and Ping'an, home to the minority Yao, Dong and other groups. These groups have grown rice up in the mountains by using these terraces that were built into the hills over 700 years ago. Its amazing to see how these people have adapted the land around them to survive. The terraces are basically dug into the mountains to create these mini-shelves were rice can be planted. There are so many terraces and they look like dragon scales from far away, hence the name the Dragon's Backbone. The terraces were being flooded in anticipation for the next harvest so with the water reflection, you could definitely imagine a dragon there.

The views were unreal. I still can't believe that they farm rice in these little paddy terraces.

You really could imagine these as dragon scales.

Local Yao women in traditional dress. Its great that they are keeping their traditions alive even though the are only 2,000 Yao people. Maybe its the cynic in me, but I think its partly to sell stuff. Tourism is big business!

We paid 10 yuan each to see the Yao women sing, dance and dress their hair. They apparently have the longest hair in the world. It was cool to see though it made me a little uncomfortable because it seemed like such a spectacle.

The village we stayed at was much newer than this one but its quite a contrast from the big cities I've stayed in.

Staying in the villages overnight was just perfect. We stayed at this hotel run by this really nice family who fed us dinner and even acted as our guide. It was picturesque and it felt so good to fall asleep to the sound of crickets (rather than bad karaoke!). But there was no escaping the touts. A lot of the income of these people come from the tour groups that get shuttled in and they were absolutely relentless in trying to sell us something. But we were able to ignore it long enough to enjoy ourselves.

So after the misfire in Yangshao, we were able to find what we were looking for in Longsheng. But I bet in a couple of years, Longsheng will be just like Yangshao and we'll have to look even deeper for that unspoilt experience!

I'm now in Guilin, waiting to take a 22 hour train (yes, that's right. 22 HOURS) to Kunming. From there I'm heading into Western China to see some more minority cultures and trek the Tiger Leaping Gorge. I can't believe I've already been here for 3 weeks!

Cruisin down the yangzi

So I’m finally in Yangshao after some serious travel after the Yangzi cruise and the internet connection is so good! I know that’s a really lame thing to be excited about but you have no idea how rare it is and how important it is for photo uploads!

I wasn’t sure what the Yangzi river cruise would be like when I booked it in Chengdu because I had met a guy who really disliked it and discouraged me from doing it. But I forged on anyway since I wasn't sure what else I wanted to do. I was also feeling a little under the weather and the thought of planning some other activity was way beyond my capacity at the time. But I'm really glad I did the tour because I met some really great people and saw some pretty spectacular things. I had to take a bus from Chengdu to Chongqing to get to where the cruise actually departed from. Since the boat was scheduled to leave at 8pm, I had some time to wander through Chongqing. Chongqing is actually China's biggest city and probably the biggest in the world with 32 million people. Yes, that's right. 32 MILLION. I can't even imagine how many people that is. But its not really on any tourist's radar since it doesn't have any historical roles or real sights. It really is just a big city with tons of skyscrapers and tons of people.

At least I was pleasantly surprised with the boat. It was a "4-star" boat and I even splurged on first class, which had 2 beds per room. I shared it with this chinese woman who didn't speak a word of English but she was quiet and clean so I didn't mind. Our room had a big ocean-view room and a good amount of space though the ceilings were low and had squat-toilets. The boat was also a chinese tourist boat. We had a tour guide but everyone only spoke Mandarin so it was a bit bewildering sometimes to figure out what we were doing or why. The best part though was the outside deck where we could admire the scenery and pass the time. I also met these 2 Dutch people, Suzanne and Frans, and 3 Brit guys, Stephen, Jamie and Conville, and we had some pretty good laughs.

Not our boat but ours was just like this. And you wonder why its so hazy here all the time.

The first day, we went to the City of Ghosts, which is an old buddhist temple that had crazy statues of demons and spirits. It was definitely interesting to see these grotesque statues in a temple very different that any other I've seen. The weirdest part of it was how kitsch-y the Chinese have made it. The Chinese don't seem to have the same respect for preserving the historical dignity of its sights but actually like to make them into these crazy spectacles. After seeing some of the old temple, we were ushered into this sort of haunted house with mechanical demon puppets and even a rickety amusement park ride. In the middle of a temple!

The fantastical statues of the City of Ghosts.

Within the temples, they had statues of buddhas and these. Pretty frightening.

We went everywhere as part of a Chinese tour group though we had no idea what the guide was saying. But we did take a classic Chinese tour picture. We finally were part of the hat people!

Mechanical puppets in the City of Ghost. Does this make sense to anyone else?

It was just like the haunted houses I used to go to in high school.

But of course, the point of the cruise is to see the Three Gorges. On our cruise boat, we passed through the Three Gorges but we were able to also ride smaller boats to see the Three Little Gorges and in fact also rode even smaller boats to see the Three Mini Gorges. It was like those Russian dolls. But they were all so gorgeous. Its easy to see where all those dramatic Chinese paintings come from.

The first of the Three Gorges. We passed the others at 6am and I slept through those. Oops.

The Three Little Gorges. They were so tall and so majestic. It was also amazing to see them upclose.

Me and the guys on the mini boat to see the mini gorges. The guys stood out pretty easily and a lot of Chinese people wanted pictures of them but they took it in stride.

The gorges were very very tall. Even the mini ones.

The last big stop on the cruise was to see the Three Gorges Dam. The Yangzi is being dammed up to provide electricity and water but its going to flood a huge amount of the area, displacing over 200,000 people and flooding hundreds of historical sights. The dam is pretty much built and already at 150 meters or so. Everything was really beautiful, but I can only imagine what it all was like pre-dam. But the Chinese are very proud of the dam, which is the largest in the world. We took a tour of the dam and they really treat it like a spectacle. The dam even has logos and characters like Disneyland. Every stage of our tour brought us closer and closer to the dam. We stopped at first for a panoramic view, then again for a slightly closer view and so on until we finally got to the top of the dam itself. We even stopped at this really weird aquarium! The tour was like going to an amusement park but it was hilarious. We even had to go through intense security screening before going on top of the dam. We weren't allowed to bring anything with us, especially not tissues! Pieces of paper were okay but not tissues. You should have seen the pile of tissues they collected. What did they think we would do with them? Throw them into the river and clog the dam??

Already at 150 meters! But its not going to be completed until 2009.

The Big Dam. It was pretty impressive in how big it is but in the end it looked like a big slab of concrete.

Look at all the Chinese tourists! They built all these viewing points of the dam complete with characters, fountains and manicured lawns. They seemed to be more proud of the dam than anything else.

We had to cross the dam and crossed it through a series of locks. It took hours but it was pretty amazing to see.

Chinese tourists also enjoying the spectacle.

Overall, the cruise was so great. We had tons of time to sit and relax, reading and playing cards. It was interesting though to be on a Chinese tour boat where all the other tourists were Chinese. Our guides spoke very very little English and we spent most of the time confused as to what was going on. But the people I met on the boat were all so great so at least I wasn't alone. We drank many many beers and ate some pretty weird food but it was all worth it. And now I'm in Yangshao, a backpacker hangout in the South along the Li River. Its supposed to be beautiful here and very relaxing so I'm very excited to be here. I'm also glad to finally be in one spot since we spent the last 48-hours traveling pretty much non-stop. The 3 guys were also heading to Yangshao so at least I have company!

Some of the street stalls were pretty fancy. Yum! Though I shouted at Jamie as he ate an eel. And then he spat it out. It was kind of gross, actually. But the rest of the food was good.