The drive to the starting point takes about 2 hours. So we arrived at the famous Jane's guesthouse where we dropped off the bags that we didn't want to bring on the hike (since we were going straight from here to Shangri-la after this). We thought it was also a good idea to eat a proper meal before leaving on the hike.
We made friends with the guys we shared the taxi with and therefore decided to team up and approach this challenge together. We left Jane's guest house at about lunch time. All of us were not totally sure what to expect, since you hear mixed stories about the level of difficulty of the trek. At least we were relatively well equipped with solid hiking boots, especially compared to Caroline, who was wearing sports shoes and our Columbian friend, Chris, who was wearing sneakers!
The red path is the route - starting point is Qiaotou / Der rote Weg ist die Marschrute - Start ist: Qiatou
Fact is, that the first bit with some 28 bends will be the most challenging part of the hike. From the moment we stepped outside the guesthouse, a salesman on his donkey was following us. He wanted to sell us some kind of shuttle service: For 100RMB you could ride the donkey up the 28 bends. Although he was laughing at us, and proclaiming that Mishell wouldn't be able to get up there, we obviously declined his services.
Chris was smoking a 'burro' (spanish for: donkey or joint) / Chris rauchte einen 'burro' (Spanisch für Esel oder Joint)
Despite the clouds it was a hot day / Obwohl es bewölkt war, war es ein heisser Tag
Yangtze River / Yangtze Fluss
The Tiger Leaping Gorge trek is one of the finest treks through some of the most naturally beautiful and diverse landscapes China has to offer. The trail runs high on the northern side of the gorge passing through quiet villages, shady forest, blustery precipice and verdant terraced farmland. The snow covered peaks of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (5596m) and Haba Snow Mountain (5396m) shadow either side of the gorge.
Legend says that in order to escape from a hunter, a tiger jumped across the river at the narrowest point (still 25 metres wide), hence the name.
Here we go...up the mountains! / Jetzt gehts los....in die Berge!
Spectacular views of the mountains along the gorge / Spektakuläre Aussicht auf die Berge entlang der Schlucht
The Tiger Leaping Gorge trek is one of the finest treks through some of the most naturally beautiful and diverse landscapes China has to offer. The trail runs high on the northern side of the gorge passing through quiet villages, shady forest, blustery precipice and verdant terraced farmland. The snow covered peaks of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (5596m) and Haba Snow Mountain (5396m) shadow either side of the gorge.
Legend says that in order to escape from a hunter, a tiger jumped across the river at the narrowest point (still 25 metres wide), hence the name.
Here we go...up the mountains! / Jetzt gehts los....in die Berge!
Spectacular views of the mountains along the gorge / Spektakuläre Aussicht auf die Berge entlang der Schlucht
It takes about 2hours of hiking until you reach the start of the 28 bends. Still highly motivated, but already feeling the pinch we started with the 28bends...1bend,...2bends,...3bends and so on..unfortunatley we couldn't focus on the counting, but we thought that it's actually more than just 28bends, since it seems to go on and on and on for ages!
In the lower areas there was still some civilisation / In den Niederungen hatte es immernoch Zivilisation
One of our many stops to get a breather and drink some water / Einer unserer vielen Stops um zu verschnaufen und Wasser zu trinken
The track is quite a challenge since it is very steep, rocky and dusty (slippery). Mishell soon felt, that she needs to get rid of her backpack in order so survive the hike up the 28 bends. So, poor Pasci was transformed into her personal donkey carrying the backpacks....
What made the torture of walking the bends worse was the guy with his donkey who was following us all the way up! The donkey was wearing an annoying bell that kept jingling *ARGH*, that was motivation enough to walk faster and keep well ahead of him and the donkey!
The track had its difficulties: steep, rocky and sandy / Der Weg hatte eine gewisse Schwierigkeit: Steil, felsig und sandig zugleich
But the views from up there were just getting better and better... / Aber die Aussicht von weiter oben wurden immer besser und besser...
*YES, WE CAN!* / *JA, WIR KÖNNEN ES!*
Relieved, exhausted and happy! / Erleichtert, müde und glücklich!
Pasci sitting down to enjoy the amazing view of the gorge! / Pasci setzt sich hin, um die Aussicht auf die Schlucht zu geniessen!
WOW...we've come a loooooong way already! / WOW....wir sind bereits schon weit gewandert!
The track is quite a challenge since it is very steep, rocky and dusty (slippery). Mishell soon felt, that she needs to get rid of her backpack in order so survive the hike up the 28 bends. So, poor Pasci was transformed into her personal donkey carrying the backpacks....What made the torture of walking the bends worse was the guy with his donkey who was following us all the way up! The donkey was wearing an annoying bell that kept jingling *ARGH*, that was motivation enough to walk faster and keep well ahead of him and the donkey!
The track had its difficulties: steep, rocky and sandy / Der Weg hatte eine gewisse Schwierigkeit: Steil, felsig und sandig zugleich
But the views from up there were just getting better and better... / Aber die Aussicht von weiter oben wurden immer besser und besser...
With enough breaks to get some breath and water (it was very hot on that day) we eventually made it to the top and past the 28bends! *HOOOOORRRAYYYYYY*
*YES, WE CAN!* / *JA, WIR KÖNNEN ES!*
Relieved, exhausted and happy! / Erleichtert, müde und glücklich!
Pasci sitting down to enjoy the amazing view of the gorge! / Pasci setzt sich hin, um die Aussicht auf die Schlucht zu geniessen!
A real team effort - well done guys! / Ein wirkliche Team Lesitung - gut gemacht Jungs!
From the guesthouse to up here it took us about 5 and a half hours and it was now already around 16.00ish. How far will it be to the guesthouse? Hopefully we can manage to get there before it gets dark!
After a photo-session and some time to enjoy the view on the massive mountains and the beautiful gorge we continued our hike. We were all getting really hungry by now and couldn't wait to get our lips around a very cold bottle of Dali beer (what a beautiful imagination to keep you going!).
And off we go again.... / Und dann mussten wir wieder weiter wandern...
Being a gentleman can be totally exhausting / Ein Gentleman zu sein kann total anstrengend sein
View of the mountains around us - they are nearly 6000m high! / Aussicht auf die Bergen um uns herum - die sind fast 6000m hoch!
View of the mountains around us - they are nearly 6000m high! / Aussicht auf die Bergen um uns herum - die sind fast 6000m hoch!
Great team effort - despite the tiring hike we never lost the smile! / Grossartige Team Leistung - trotz der ermüdenden Wanderung verloren wir nie das Lachen!
'Are we there yet?' / 'Sind wir schon da?'
Finally!!! First signs of the 'Halfway guesthouse' (Yes, this note was there for real!) / Endlich!!! Erste Anzeichen des 'Halfway Gasthauses' (Ja, diese Notiz war wirklich so da!)
'Are we there yet?' / 'Sind wir schon da?'
Taking a break.... / Pause....
It was getting more sparse around us / Es wurde jetzt sehr karg um uns herum
It was getting more sparse around us / Es wurde jetzt sehr karg um uns herum
That part of the hike should definitely not be underestimated, since it seems to go on forever before we finally managed to see the first hints of the 'Halfway' guesthouse that we were amining for. But we bonded really well with our team and had a really good time together hiking and laughing a lot. It was really fun! And eventually we arrived exhausted at the guest house.
Misleading name.... should be renamed to three-quarter guesthouse!! / Irreführender Name... sollte eigentlich drei-viertel Gasthaus heissen!!
Whooppeee we're saved! / Juhui, wir sind gerettet!
'I want to go shower first!' / 'Ich möchte zuerst duschen!'
Two coloured legs (from all the dust!ewww) / Zweifarbige Beine
Cute little room / Kleines hübsches Zimmer
First things firts, lets go and have a cold beer! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh...."like Angels peeing down your throat" such a precious moment! After the shower, which surprisingly is very hot and powerful (we expected more basic facilities), we had to satisfy our next pressing need: FOOD! We had a massive feast celebrating our success! This night, obivously we didn't go to bed too late, since all of us were pretty tired...
Whooppeee we're saved! / Juhui, wir sind gerettet!
'I want to go shower first!' / 'Ich möchte zuerst duschen!'
Two coloured legs (from all the dust!ewww) / Zweifarbige Beine
Cute little room / Kleines hübsches Zimmer
First things firts, lets go and have a cold beer! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh...."like Angels peeing down your throat" such a precious moment! After the shower, which surprisingly is very hot and powerful (we expected more basic facilities), we had to satisfy our next pressing need: FOOD! We had a massive feast celebrating our success! This night, obivously we didn't go to bed too late, since all of us were pretty tired...
Beer - shower -beer.....AAAHHHH....back alife! / Bier - Duschen - Bier...... AAAAHhhh...wieder am leben!
View on the mountains from the terrace / Aussicht auf die Berge von der Terrasse
Energy - all of us were massivly hungry (all these dishes were just for Pasci!!) / Energie - alle waren massiv hungrig (all dies war für Pasci!!)
We needed a lot of food to refill our batteries! / Wir brauchten viel Essen um unsere Batterien wieder aufzufüllen!
Dusk was approaching / Dämmerungseinbruch
We needed a lot of food to refill our batteries! / Wir brauchten viel Essen um unsere Batterien wieder aufzufüllen!
Dusk was approaching / Dämmerungseinbruch
Still hungry we ordered some dessert :) / Da wir immernoch hungrig waren, haben wir Dessert bestellt :)
The next day, we got up around 9ish. We had to be down at Tina's guest house at around 13.00ish, since the road that you have to take back to Jane's guest house is at the moment under construction (i.e. they were using dynamite to enlarge the street), and therefore only open to public during the lunch break of the workers.
The toilets... / Die Toiletten...
View from the toilets - inspiring / Aussicht von den Toiletten - inspirierend!
We estimated two to three hours for the hike down. After an extensive breakfast, we only left the half way guesthouse at around 11.00 - so therefore we had to rush a bit. This part of the hike was very beautiful, because there were 3 waterfalls along the hike. But other than that, there wasn't too much to see here.
Ready for some more action / Bereit für mehr Action
One of the waterfalls.... / Einer der Wasserfälle...
Beautiful! / Wunderschön!
Once down at Tina's guesthouse, we had another private taxi picking us up and bringing us back to Jane's guesthouse, where our bags were stored. At the same time we convinced Chris, Caroline and Ronnie to join us on our trip to Shangri-la!!! Very spontaneous of them, because the rest of their luggage was still in Lijiang (where they thought they would go back after the Tiger Leaping Gorge).
The next day, we got up around 9ish. We had to be down at Tina's guest house at around 13.00ish, since the road that you have to take back to Jane's guest house is at the moment under construction (i.e. they were using dynamite to enlarge the street), and therefore only open to public during the lunch break of the workers.
The toilets... / Die Toiletten...
View from the toilets - inspiring / Aussicht von den Toiletten - inspirierend!
We estimated two to three hours for the hike down. After an extensive breakfast, we only left the half way guesthouse at around 11.00 - so therefore we had to rush a bit. This part of the hike was very beautiful, because there were 3 waterfalls along the hike. But other than that, there wasn't too much to see here.
Ready for some more action / Bereit für mehr Action
One of the waterfalls.... / Einer der Wasserfälle...
Beautiful! / Wunderschön!
Once down at Tina's guesthouse, we had another private taxi picking us up and bringing us back to Jane's guesthouse, where our bags were stored. At the same time we convinced Chris, Caroline and Ronnie to join us on our trip to Shangri-la!!! Very spontaneous of them, because the rest of their luggage was still in Lijiang (where they thought they would go back after the Tiger Leaping Gorge).WOW....well done - what an adventure! / WOW....gut gemacht - was für ein Abenteuer!
The road was gone... / Die Strasse war weg...
The road was gone... / Die Strasse war weg...
Next stop: Shangri-la.
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen