In Southwestern China's Yunnan Province, near Tibet, Thailand and Vietnam, lies the deepest gorge in the world, flanked by imposing, steep silvery-stone mountains. We spent three days here, and agree it is the highlight of our trip so far.

We arrived at the bus station in Lijiang just before 9:30am. Two Chinese guys and a girl told us the bus to Qiatou was sold out, BUT we could share a minibus ride with them for 30 RMB each ($4.30, just a hair more than we would've paid for the bus – and much more enjoyable). So we did – and stopped twice along the way to take pictures, and visit a Jade Factory for 5 minutes (for doing so, our driver will get a free car wash!) Before we knew it, we were at the start of Tiger Leaping Gorge. We paid the entrance fee ($7) and headed to Jane's Guest House to store our big backpacks, grab some breakfast and begin our trek. Not only does Jane serve great food, but he saved the day exchanging some dollars for us, as we realized we were without enough RMB/Yuan to make it through the next 3 days.

“Mile Marker 194” - Walking north from Jane's, you will see a small stone on your left that says 194 – turn left and follow the path marked with yellow or red spray-painted arrows. Go around the school, and the path will continue up-mountain. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, the markings were just far enough apart sometimes, and the trail so overgrown and/or rugged in parts, to make us unsure if we were actually on a path. This would occur over and over again as we trekked around TLG. We only passed one group as we began the trek, and ran into our minibus friends at a particularly picturesque point on the trail But at least every hour or so, there would be some locals along the path selling water, fruit, weed...

“28 bends” - Around 3 hours into the hike, we reached this (in)famous area. Much too steep to tackle straight up, 28 switchbacks take you up around 300 vertical feet to the highest point of the trail. Leading up to and during this hour of excruciating climbing up rocks, at about 2400 feet about sea level, with a 20 lb backpack weighing me down... Matt was amused by all of the locals offering to have their horses carry my pack (and maybe me!) up the mountain. With body language they chided Matt for letting me carry such a heavy load – look at me! Shouldn't he buy me a horse to help? Salesmen for sure, but they would not win. I WON, when I actually made it to the top, and downhill another hour to the Tea Horse Guest House where we would spend the night.

We enjoyed the Tea Horse and its unparalleled view of the mountains and moonrise. There was a little Tibetan boy who lives there and entertained all of us, fetching beers and playing games – he loved having his picture taken. The hostel was affordable ($7 room!) and mostly filled with your typical, international backpacker crowd, But our minibus friends showed up and shared dinner and drinks with us... they laughed that they were the foreigners, the only Chinese at the place besides the staff. The girl speaks Spanish better than English, so the conversation was a mix of all 3 languages, covering a range of topics. We learned that most Chinese companies give workers FIVE days vacation per year! And, that normally in Beijing the subways are so crowded that you cannot get into a car even if you want to... same thing with the buses... and the roads are overloaded with cars (quite different from what we saw, but more like what we suspected). We agreed that the Olympics is really a huge marketing campaign for China (and hope that it has a lasting effect on improving the problems like this). It was interesting to ponder how reading Chinese, even the ancient language, one can guess the meaning. They explained to us about “families” of characters, and how the written character for MAN has two parts, meaning FIELD and WORKER, so if you recognize the FIELD part in another character you might have an idea of what it means. In comparison, with knowledge of written English, one can guess how to pronounce the words – but that would tell you nothing about the meaning. I told them about root words and etymology – ok, sounds like dry conversation... but maybe you can understand that you learn a lot you would never think about, when you're talking with people who speak a different native language, and come from a totally different background. Which is one reason why I love to travel...

Day 2

We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before continuing our trek. That uphill climb the night before, made this stretch seem easy... well, mostly. The beauty around every turn was breathtaking, as we passed ridge after ridge of tree-lined mountains. Keeping as dry as possible, we crossed over three waterfalls. Probably my favorite section of the trek – it was so natural and so powerful yet so peaceful -it was great to have this time and these mountains to ourselves. I guess that is a benefit of coming during rainy season... and wouldn't you know it – it was blue sky and puffy little clouds they whole time. The downhill path got quite steep as we approached Tina's Guest House and the “New Bridge” that crosses the biggest waterfall in the gorge. From there it was only 4 kilometers to “Mile Marker 172” and our next destination: Sean's Spring Guest House.  The owner, Sean, is a Tibetan trekker, who we thanked for marking the path from Qiatou to his home. He opened his guest house 25 years ago, and marked the path that everyone still uses today, in 1986/22 years ago. His website and his menu use simple language to express his desire: “If you are a friend, please come and stay. If you want to cheat go somewhere else.” He told us about monkeys and wild cats that used to roam these lands... but the animals have moved up-mountain as the people roam higher and higher to reach the peaks. We met an adorable Irish family there, young couple with 5-year old twin girls.  You know, they told us that in Ireland you get 7 weeks (unpaid) vacation with each child you have, valid until they are 8 years old.  How cool is that? They were here because his brother just spent the last year biking from Dublin to Beijing!  They got a lot of press in their home town, you can find it on YOU TUBE (BIKE TO BEIJING 2008).

After our enlightening conversation with the Irish, we went to our bedroom and feel asleep watching Chinese pop stars sing and dance like Britney Spears and James Blunt (seriously! it was like a car crash you couldn't stop staring at)... then we awoke and headed out for a 3 hour hike to the river.  We were told to "go straight", not head left or right towards the other paths... and that proved to be our demise.  In trying to stay the course - straight - we scaled rocks, snuck through cornstalks and ran into innumerable huge spider webs.  We made our way to the Yangtze River, and it was beautiful.  But definitely a tough hike.  We returned to Sean's at sunset (a little too close for comfort) and enjoyed some "happy food" and beers with Antonio - solo Spanish traveller.

 Day 3... stay tuned!