Upon returning to Lijiang after a relaxing few days at Lugu Lake, we met a bunch of fellow backpackers. Fortunately two of them wanted to do a day trip to Tiger Leaping Gorge. While most people do a two-day trek through the gorge, I injured my foot last week when I slipped on wet floor. Since then, it really hurts to even walk, so trekking for two days was out of the question. Although doing the trek was one of the things I’d really wanted to do in China, after today’s experience, I’m glad we just did the day trip.

road towards the gorge

I’m unsure of the significance of the gorge, its history, and how it became famous, but I just wanted to go because its supposed to be an incredible sight. I guess depending how measure, it could be considered the deepest gorge/canyon on Earth. We got a late start out of Lijiang because the Olympic torch came through this morning. We opted to sleep in rather than catch a glimpse of the flame, but our guesthouse transformed into a haven of torch frenzy as people came back from the morning’s relay. After millions of photos, our enigmatic and hyper guesthouse owner, MaMa (MaMa Naxi’s Guesthouse), arranged a van for the four of us. We headed out f town along streets lined with security. Literally lined- guards stood every 10 feet, perhaps 100 feet outside of town. For two hours out to the gorge, groups of soldiers stood every half kilometer or so. More amazing than the level of security for the torch was the sheer amount of people/soldiers utilized. Rather than pay attention to the soldiers, I was amazed by the scenery as we climbed up into the hills and mountains. Green hills and grey snow-capped mountains, valleys full of produce, and small stone villages.

After two hours, we turned off the main road towards the gorge. We drove along one side of the gorge on an unpaved road. Originally the lower trail that hikers took to explore the gorge, the government has blasted it into a road to capitalize on its tourism potential. We bumped along deeper and deeper into the gorge, passing dozens of rockslides and waterfalls onto the road. The scenery went from mountainous valley to surreal gorge in just a few minutes. Walls of rock thousands of feet high stretched from the muddy river into the deep blue sky. I think high altitude scenery is the best in the world and Yunnan province has been no exception: the blue skies, ultra white clouds, vibrant green grasses and shrubs, the clear waters, the distinct shadows of the clouds. It brought back faint memories of Ladakh and Nepal- I really do love the mountains. We stopped at one point to take photos, before driving a bit farther to a walkable path. At the turnoff, our driver gestured we could go down to the river. We descended down the steep stone steps. It was really steep and some parts had metal poles and chains embedded in the rock to assist hikers. Joylani and Alex stopped partway down, as the climb back up seemed like it would like ages. Ben and I continued down more until we came to a horizontal path. We walked it a bit, but decided against descending more when the path did. It was a really strenuous climb back up. Looking back, it wasn’t a particularly scenic walk. The best scenery was from high up on the road, as overgrowth blocked any views once we walked down into the gorge more. But it was interesting to look up and just see a strip of sky between two towering walls of stone.

Once back at the car, we began the long journey back to Lijiang. On the way back, I thought about how I was glad we only did a day trip. Yea, the two-day hike was one of the things I’d really wanted to do, mainly because so many people recommended it, but it wasn’t what I’d expected. It was beautiful and impressive, no doubt. But on the other hand, it would have been a two day hike of the same scenery. This wasn’t a mountain range or other dynamic landscape where the scenery would’ve constantly changed. And perhaps after Ladakh and Nepal, my standards are a bit unrealistic. Don’t get me wrong, it was an amazing sight. But I’m glad we opted for a short daytrip.

The most entertaining part of the day though was on the way back. At some point on the drive to the gorge, for some economic reasons beyond me, we switched vans and drivers. When we arrived back at the original van on the way back, we noticed the driver and his brother were out planting rice in the paddies. Seeing us arrive, they came over and began to wash off and get ready to drive us back. But then they asked, jokingly, if we wanted to plant rice instead. Well, Ben and Joylani actually took them up on their offer. So they took off their shoes, rolled up their pants, and waded into the paddy to plant! Alex and I were content with taking photos of them. Besides watching Joylani learning the different techniques to replanting rice, it was interesting to watch the other villagers. One old guy was driving a tractor around plowing a recently harvest field, while a group of old ladies planted nearby. Also funny was that most of the villagers were eating popsicles and ice-cream bars as they planted. Just not what I’d expected. Afterwards, Joylani and Ben washed off in a nearby stream, although I’m not sure how sanitary that was. Our driver also picked us a bag of strawberries and apricots to eat. The entertaining stop was a spontaneous and fun way to cap off our day.