Leaping Tiger Ladies...

We're back in Lijang after two days of hiking Tiger Leaping Gorge, a spectacular hike with vistas of the snow-covered Jade Dragon Mountain and the rushing start of the Yangtze River (called Jinsha at the start). We hiked six hours on the first day, up the infamous 28 bends, to Tea Horse Inn, where we stayed the evening with travelers from across the globe. While we rested our feet and drank shandys (sprite + beer), we played a game of "spoons," but we had to improvise with chopsticks.

Early the next morning we hiked the remainder of the trail to Tina's Guest House, literally forging waterfalls along the way. The weather was spectacular for the hike and when we arrived at the end, we descended down into the gorge, after paying the local trail keeper 10 yuan ($1.20). The trail zigzagged down the mountain face and into the gorge. Standing at the bottom, we had a view of a 100 foot cascading waterfall and the river gushing down a narrowed passage (known as the mythical spot where the tiger lept across the gorge). The force of the water created a +5 rapid and we dipped our sore feet in the water before attempting the ascent back up the rock face.


Back in Lijang now, we discovered a fabulous youth hostel run by the craziest Chinese "mama" in town, known endearingly by every backpacker as Mama Naxi. She sets the ground rules quickly, imposing a curfew of 12:30pm, and if you're late you risk being yelled at by Mama or worse, sleeping on the streets. Her English is halted, but somehow you understand everything and if you need anything (bus tickets, taxis, food, medicine, pants mended) -- she arranges it an instant. Dinner starts at 6pm sharp, and everyone gathers family style for a delicious Chinese meal.

Today we're renting bikes to explore a few of the villages surrounding Lijang, including Baisha where Dr. Ho, a taoist physician, runs the Clinic of Chinese Herbs. We'll be back at Mama Naxi's house for dinner at 6pm sharp and then we have an overnight bus trip back to Kunming in order to catch our onward flight to Beijing on Sunday, marking the end of the "tourism" portion of our travels and back into the academic realm...