A Shangri La Tibetan Introduction

Having passing the mile long queue of coaches packed with Chinese tourists who never make it passed the upper gorge and returned to Shangri La , where our flight to Lhasa was leaving, we had a day free. We decided to hire some bikes and have a little pedal around the countryside. We headed north to a shallow lake passing small villages with the harvest in full swing and the hay drying in huge wooden racks, herds of yak grazing on the plain, beautiful mountain peaks and we decided that we could easily have spent another week exploring the surrounding area and hiking the high mountains further north.
I should really explain the title of this post. As Tibet has been subject to so much intrusion by the Chinese government and there is such a high military and police presence, some people say that areas that are now outside the current Tibetan Autonomous Region (as it is now called) but were included in what was the kingdom of Tibet are actually the areas where Tibetan culture and lifestyle has remained mostly untouched. Shangri La and the whole of north Yunnan province I believe can be included in this category. How much that is true or not is impossible for me to say but it does make for an interesting sub-note to the whole Tibetan saga.

Tiger Leaping Gorge

The following day we had another early start to catch the bus to the start of a 2 day track through Tiger Leaping gorge, apparently the deepest in the world. The weather was amazing and the walk was refreshingly along a dirt path, not a paving slab in site unlike all our other walks so far. We made it up the infamous 28 bends without too much problem and were rewarded with fantastic views over the high peaks and down the river as the valley started to constrict. The first night was spent in the comfortable Tea Horse guest house after a mere 4 hours walking and the following day was a gentle 4 hours downhill to reach Seans Guesthouse that was established in 1983 and was the first in the gorge. We then beat our way through the undergrowth to make it down to the waters edge but then had a 45 minute near vertical climb to get back up, trying to avoid all the spiders too. Having a few days in hand we spent an extra day walking up to the bamboo forest and then down to the river (again!) at the middle gorge where the walls are vertical and at their most narrow. The middle gorge return involved a rather hairy climb up several old and rusty looking ladders but we made it without plummeting back down, though nerves were a little shaken.

The Non-Sleeper Bus and Shangri La

As journeys go, the overnight bus to Shangri La has to rank up there as one of the worst. The bus consisted of bunks of "beds" which were more like sun loungers but with no room to stretch your legs out unless you happen to be under 5 foot. Within 5 minutes I had vowed that I would never subject myself to the contortion required for any degree of comfort (and I use that term lightly) to be achieved. After barely a snooze we arrived at our destination at the ridiculous time of 4am where we caught a cab to our booked hostel. Of course no-one was up at such a god forsaken hour and being unable to wake anyone and no other hotels showing sign of life we resorted to putting on all our warm gear, for the temperature had dropped now we were above 3000m, and lying out on the benches outside tramp style! A breakfast of spicy noodles went some way to revive our spirits and we hit the travel agents to try and sort out our Tibet leg. Having established that no-one would sell us just a flight and permit alone we were lucky enough to bump into 2 American journalists, Claire and Stephen, who were looking for another couple to share a trip from Lhasa to the Nepalese border. We had initially hoped to travel the whole way overland but that was going to be cripplingly expensive and so we agreed to hook up with them for the trip. We were especially fortunate as they had already spent a week looking for travel companions and we were in our first day! After checking a few companies for final quotes we ended up booking an 8 day trip with a character our American friends had already dubbed "Shady Guy". Having ticked our job bow the afternoon was spent relaxing in the old town (that has just been either renovated or built from scratch) and then watching the locals, young and old, dancing in the square.

Kunming and Dali

We were lucky leaving Xijiang getting a bus to Kaili and then an immediate connection to the city of Guiyang where we then got a hard sleeper train to Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province. We found a clean modern city with wide streets and plenty going on but little in the way of real attractions. In other words a good place to spend a couple of days but no more. The first day we took 3 buses and then walked up the Western hills, just outside the city, to see the Dragon Gate. This is a complex of steps, tunnels, lookouts and altars carved out of the shear cliff face itself; all very impressive. Our next day was spent just wondering the streets and markets of the city which were nice but we have had enough of big cities in this country and looking forward to heading to the hills. An 8 hour bus took us to Dali, a bit higher at around 2000m, a real foreign backpacker haven full of pubs, steak/burger/pizza restaurants and old ladies in traditional dress asking if we "smoka ganja?" Our first full day was spent again walking the hills just to the west of town. A chairlift up and down took out the exercise component and the entire 12km walk was paved though the heart did start beating a bit faster at the dragon-eye cave where we had to inch our way along a narrow, wet shelf of rock no more than a foot wide with a 200m drop below and no barrier. It may not sound bad but it was interesting! Today (yes, I am actually bringing the blog completely up-to-date!) we had a little cycle to the lake and are now spending the afternoon relaxing before catching a sleeper bus tonight to get to Shangri-la where we hope to organise our onward travel to Tibet before backtracking a tiny bit to trek Tiger Leaping Gorge.

The Road to Kaili

The first stop from Guilin was back to Sanjiang on a road that we had travelled twice already, we were hoping this was the last time! The following day we found out there were no buses to Zoaxing, our next intended stop but a lady at the bus station managed to get across a way to get to another village involving 2 changes of transport. We headed on our way and at the first change actually found a bus to Zoaxing so we arrived mid-afternoon in this pretty Dong village with multiple drum towers, wood houses and surrounding paddy fields. While it was undeniably attractive at present, the whole town was being renovated to make it more tourist friendly and I could not help but think that the result may be a sterilisation and loss of the character that makes it appealing in the first place. Still we had a good wonder around but then ended the day with our worst meal yet in China, a spicy chicken dish without the spice (or flavour!). The following day was a story of sitting on a bus. After 4 hours we arrived at Ronjiang but saw no sign of anything attractive and no sign of the Sunday market so the decision was made to press on to Kaili, a supposed 5 hours away. Well, it was more like 7 hours but the rode wound through and over some absolutely spectacular mountain scenery with the high passes providing spectacular view of the mountains, the villages of wooden dwellings and their associated terraced fields clinging to the steep, forested slopes. Kaili itself is a typical sprawling urban affair with no reason to spend any real time so the following morning we went to the Maoi village of Xijiang on the advice of a tourist agent. Disappointment set in early with a 60 yen fee just to get into the village. When we then wondered around we found a tourist village, what we feared Zoaxing will become! It was pretty but too neat, too tidy and not enough "real life" going on to back up the superficial visual appeal. Still, making the best of a bad situation we had a couple of good walks around the fields and over the hills, managing to escape from the Chinese tourists. Our stay in Xijiang convinced us that we had had enough of villages full of wooden houses and so rather than visit any more thought it best to push on to Yunnan Provence.

I'm sick, get me out of here!

On leaving Ping An for Chengyang we were both struck down. I tried to faint on the 2nd of the 3 buses but Amy kept me going with rehydration sachets and paracetamol getting us to our destination. I was then laid up in bed for the next36 hours with a high temperature (peaking around 38.6 deg C) and a rather dodgy stomach but I'll spare you the detail. As soon as I was improving Amy decided she did not want to be left out and started to be sick, unable to keep anything down for around 48hrs prompting a request to see a doctor. We had spent 3 full days in the village but had each only managed a 2 or 3 hour wonder of its lanes and surroundings. A 4 hour taxi ride took us back to Guilin to the nearest English speaking doctor in the Peoples Hospital. We found our way to the foreigners clinic on the 3rd floor where a nurse took Amy's BP and then temperature. At this she rushed off only to come back in gown, gloves, mask and goggles saying there was a slight fever and it could be swine flu! We were then escorted to the isolation area where, after an hour wait, we managed to get across that we had been in China and Mongolia for the last 2 months, countries which are both free from disease. This seemed to persuade them, especially when there was no fever on the second taking of the temperature! After all this nonsense we eventually saw a doctor who took a full and thorough history basically finding that Amy was feeling a bit better and had not been sick for the last 8 hours. He seemed a bit confused at what we were doing in front of him but dispensed some anti-sickness drugs and sent us on our way. We stuck around Guilin for a few days to recover our strength in a comfortable air-conditioned room before trying to make our may to Kaili...again.

The Dragons Spine

Well we did not see the fishing in the end as all reviews were of an overpriced tourist extravaganza involving just a few very scared birds, no wonder we gave it a miss. Instead we did a few jobs in town before spending the last beautiful evening cycling the small lanes winding their way between the fields and river while trying our best to avoid the little old ladies walking their water buffalo home, the geese being herded and workers busy harvesting their rice crop with impossibly heavy loads on carry poles over their shoulders.
An express bus to Guilin, a local bus to Longsheng and final minibus to Longshi (Dragons Spine) saw us deposited at the foot of a steep slope where a final 20 minute slog upwards brought us to Ping An. The village of wooden houses and narrow lanes is nestled in an area of rice terraces set on the slopes of the steep terrain all resulting in a very attractive view from our hotel balcony! Our one full day in the area and Amy was not up to much again so after we both walked to the 2 viewpoints for just above the village for sunrise, from which you can see why the area gained its nickname, she headed back for a rest and I set out among the hills aiming for the nearby settlement on Zong Lui and the 4 hour round trip described in our guidebook. Pretty early on I was ambushed by 3 local ladies who would not take no for an answer (must work on my forceful voice!) and on arriving their village I was taken to one of their homes and fed a huge spread of rice with 3 large bowls of different vegetable dishes followed by melon, the leftovers alone were enough to feed a family of 4! After this we set off to other viewpoints dotted around the area and it was not until 7 hours later that I stumbled wearily back into our room, much to Amy's relief. I was pretty cream crackered for although the scenery was stunning it was a long, steep and rough track to be doing in a pair of flip flops that cost me 16Y (1 pound 60 pence). The ladies were good fun though and kept me company as well as showing me routes I would never have taken myself so their initial persistence was also for my benefit.