Tiger Leaping Gorge

While in Lijiang, I asked around about getting to Yulong Xue Shan, otherwise known as the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain which was visible from the city on a clear day. Touts at a van depot close to the entrance of the old town mentioned about a 100-200 RMB fare to go there on a private van, a 120 RMB entrance fee and 160 RMB chair lift ride or a 180 horse-back ride to the mountain. That was a lot of money getting lost on a simple mountain trek! It was good I didn't buy it because the next day, I was up into one of the most exciting journeys I ever did in China.

The Tiger Leaping Gorge [Hutiao Xia] was highly rated in many of the guidebooks I've read so I decided to do it. Together with some foreign teachers and students from Europe, Canada, the US and Australia, I took a bus to Shangrila that dropped us off at Qiaotou, the Tiger Leaping Gorge town. We paid the entrance fee of 50 RMB each and went our separate ways. I quickly went looking for the Backpacker's Cafe to leave my bag but couldn't find it, instead, a man directed me to Jane's Guesthouse some 50 meters away. For a fee of 5 RMB, travellers can leave their bags at the guesthouse and claim them whenever they can. I thought it was wise to do so since there's no point in carrying my things up and down the mountains when I didn't need that much clothes for an overnight up in the villages, besides I was going back to Qiaotou to get a bus to Shangrila anyway. I had everything settled, was given a trekking map of the mountain and went on with my journey. As described in the guidebooks, there were two trails, the low path and the high path. The low path actually wasn't a trekking trail at all. It's a paved highway that goes all the way to Shangrila through the gorge. I took the high path that goes through some Naxi villages some two hours in between. The trail was easy from Qiaotou but as I hiked onwards, the trail became more challenging. Along the way, a man came following me with his horse and offered me a horse back ride for a fee. Considering that I was alone and I needed a guide and as I looked at the map it was going to be a painful climb at a certain point, I took the offer [that gave me a travelling companion and a horse at 100 RMB four hours into the gorge] so there I was on a horse, mesmerized by the serenity and beauty of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. That was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen in my life! And I'm not talking about the way my students back at the coastal region call a thing beautiful. Once in a while, we passed by some hikers trying to catch their breath and I felt a little awkward passing through still looking good, but I tell you, riding a horse going up and down a steep mountain on very narrow paths wasn't easy at all. One misstep and we could go plunging into the rocks and river below. Two hours into the hike, we came to a Naxi village called Nuoyu. We stopped for lunch at the Naxi Family Guesthouse. Good heavens! I could sit there and just look at the Yulong Xue Shan towering over the village all day. Even with the chatter going on at the guesthouse courtyard, the place was very peaceful. I soon mounted the horse and we went along. And then there came the 24 bends, a zigzagging climb to the peak of a mountain followed by a steep descend down to Yacha Village. My travelling companion led me to the Tea Horse Guesthouse where I booked a room for the night. Later in the evening, the guys I rode with on the bus to Qiaotou came in groups and checked in as well. Still, Yulong Xue Shan stood at a very close distance, its snow capped peaks glistenning like a white jade under the evening sun, looking mighty and powerful, yet gentle and calm.