Lijiang is Gorges

Black Dragon Pool

The flight to Lijiang was extraordinary, gelatinous dried beef snack aside. Flying over Sichaun into Yunnan, I looked out the window only to see an even, soft white plane of clouds stretching out underneath the plane as far as the eye could see. This birds eye view helped explain why I hadn't seen the sun in over a month in China. After a while, an occasional mountain top would cut up through the clouds - a small jagged peak in an otherwise perfect blanket of white. Eventually, a couple lone mountains multiplied into an extended mountain range, creating a blockade to stop the clouds from extending further South.

The end of the clouds

On the other side of the mountains, we touched down in Lijiang and found a refreshingly warming sun and bright blue skies. I grabbed my pack from the luggage pile, pulled out my sunglasses for the first time and striped down to my t-shirt. At that moment, it would have been next to impossible to wipe the smile from my face.

After 45 minutes of driving past huge mountain ranges, followed by extended weaving through cobblestone alleys, we showed up at Mama Naxi's Guest house. When the cabbie dropped us off, I originally thought we might just be at someone's house, but no, it's a guest house. Belinda and I had hardly thrown our bags down on our new beds, after Mama told us "you stay here, double room", before Mama dragged us downstairs, stuck us at a table with other intrepid travelers and said "you eat dinner" (the nice thing about Mama's is that they do all your thinking for you). Before long we had heaps of food in front of us. An hour later, my stomach ached from the excessive pork, chicken, lotus root, eggplant, and rice I had stuffed down my gullet, and I had made many new friends from out of the other guests at my table.

After a significant digestive break (I might note that Mama, just interrupted me to give me a banana) Belinda and I hit the streets to check out the town. The old town consists of a maze of little shops, bars and restaurants along cobblestone pedestrian streets and small canals. It instantly made an impression with the bright shops, red lanterns, and bustling streets, all under a star filled sky. On the main bar drag, young women dressed in traditional Naxi attire line the street and engage in choral exchanges with others in their bar, or occasionally battle it out with other bars. We passed one such bar and were dragged in by a gaggle of drunk Chinese coworkers on a business holiday.

Streets of Lijiang

Singing girls

We were an instant hit, as the men took turns forcing me to chug a beer with them (humorously called "Happy Hours" beer) as Belinda watched on laughing and taking pictures. After a difficult 45 minutes, I finally convinced them that Belinda was not, in fact, my girlfriend and they started introducing me to all the single ladies with whom I attempted to chat with in broken Chinese and English. After a few too many beers all this rowdiness led to a sing off with another bar (which we obviously clearly won). By some miracle (owing mostly to running into one of Mama's girls) we found our way back through the maze and safely to the guest house and were greeted with some homemade bi jiu from Baba (the male equivalent of Mama) which burnt all the hairs from my throat and wreaked havoc on any dangerous microbes trying to inhabit my stomach.

Belinda and I get friendly with the Naxi staff

This was all well and good, but the real story here is the Tiger Leaping Gorge. Two hours north of Lijiang, the gorge is a two - three day trek through a mountain range cut by the Yangtzi River. It was really difficult hiking, not to mention treacherous at times, but was all made worth it as we sat at the guest house on one of the mountain tops, drinking beer and watching the sun set against the mountain ranges. I also did my business at the most famous crapper in all of China (please note exaggeration, though it might well be true) on a quick lunch stop. Other than saying that it was totally unbelievable, I'll let my pictures do the rest of the talking.

AJ is Gorges

Myself, Belinda, Rob, Kevin and our new Chinese friend at the top of the hard bit.

Clouds coming off the mountains as the sun hits at dawn

The endless tourist shops and tourists have me aching to get out of Lijiang and the gorge has me yearning for more natural wonders, so tomorrow morning I'm off to trek around Lugo Lake. Talk to you soon.