Day 2 of TLG turned out to be an epic through no fault of our own. We did not get lost again in case anyone was wondering.

Part 1: A lovely stroll
Not off to a great start with luke warm showers and a bland breakfast of scrambled eggs for Sim and rice porrige for me against Sims advice. Next time I promise to listen to my love when he tells me to pic something that’s good for walking instead of trying something new. Anyway we were back on the trail by 9.

The weather was cool with the occasional drizzle but it was a marvelous 2 hour walk from Halfway to Tinas guesthouse. We passed 2 waterfalls in full flow after last nights heavy rainfall, and the only people we saw on the trail were a couple of locals. It was great.

Part 2: Raging river and ladders in the sky
After arriving at Tinas which is located on the main road we continued on down to the river. It was quite steep and necessitated another ‘donation’ but we were pleased to find that the donation got us a clean path with regular bins and chain handrails in some of the more precarious bits. At the bottom we came across a huge rock in the middle of the river and some enterprising locals who had built a rickety walkway to it and were charging a fee to get across. This was becoming a trend on this trip. We declined payment and carried on along the path to where another local had set up shop. This time they were charging for the path to get to the actual Tiger Leaping Rock (around N27.25621, E100.16494 :gps:(GPS)::27.25621::100.16494:gps:) and to get out of the gorge on their path and ‘sky ladders’. This time we paid of course and if the weather had been sunny instead of drizzly we would have hung around at the lady’s makeshift cafe as it really had a wonderful view and was quite nicely done. The river not far below us was roaring away. The rapids looked particullarly vicious and you would not want to fall in.

We continued on to the Tiger Leaping Rock which was basically 3 large rocks jutting out into the river. The LP says that the legend is that a tiger used the rocks to leap over the river thus escaping the hunter that was pursuing him, though where he would have gone once he got to he other side is a mystery as it’s a sheer rock face. I suspect that there may be more than one big rock jutting into the river and they are all trying to capitalize on the legend.

Regardless we had fun clambering over the rocks and staring at the rushing rapids, but since we were both getting a bit damp we decided to push on. Next we came to a fork in the path with a sign directing us to the ‘safe path’ and the ‘ladders’ no surprise which path we took hey. The ladders were made out of bits of welded reinforcing and wood taking you straight up the rockface. Probably would not have passed any sort of safety inspection in the UK or anywhere else for that matter, but they were actually quite solid and we made it up with no trouble at all.

Part 3: Beeeg rocks
We arrived back at Tinas at around 1pm. The descent into the gorge and back took us around 3 hours and was hard on us but well worth it. Though it had drizzled pretty much continuously since we had started down, the trail was still negotiable and we thoroughy enjoyed it even if my knees were starting to complain. We stopped in at Tina’s for a coke and had the intention of hanging around for some more hikers to share a taxi back to Janes. The info we had been given was that a taxi would cost us about £8 but on further enquiry we discovered that they were charging £20 as there had been some rockfalls on the road. We gasped at the price and opted to start walking as we had not seen any more hikers coming down. We calculated we could probably make it back to Janes by 4pm with a combination of walking and hitching. At worst we could walk all the way if we had to. About 10 minutes in, a taxi pulled up and we landed up paying £3 for him to take us to the first rockfall about 3 km away, an exhorbitant price in retrospect but it got us further along our way.

The rockfall was a serious one. Huge boulders had broken off of the vertical cliff face and had smashed down onto the road completely covering it. You have to check out the pics to understand. At first we though no way are we climbing over that but seeing some locals cross over we decided to press on. Sim went first with me not too far behind him. We got it over and done with as quickly as we could. It was not an enjoyable experience and when Sim loosened a watermellon sized boulder it reinforced the fact that this probably wasn’t one of our brightest ideas.

On the other side of the rockfall, was a large group of Chinese tourists who had evidently had part of their day tour upset by the blocked road. They cheered us when we got safely down and one of them kindly offered me a wet wipe after we had rinsed our filthy hands in a puddle in the road. The lady spoke good English and told us that there were a further 2 rockfalls disrupting the road but that they were much less serious than the one we had just clambered over. There was a fleet of stranded taxis (stuck between 2 rockfslls) a little further along the road and we paid £5 for one of them to take us 10km to the next rockfall.

The Chinese lady was correct, this rockfall was much smaller, just a couple of smallish boulders strewn across the road and was already being cleared by the workers who were constructing the road. We were still a bit nervous at the thought that there could be more rocks coming down, but the workers did not seem terribly worried.

There were no minibus taxis waiting on the other side though so we walked maybe half an hour before coming to a tunnel and the third and final rockfall blocking the tunnel exit. Serious construction was going on on the other side of the tunnel sending massive boulders flooding the tunnel exit so we waited with a French couple and some workers untill the excavator on the other side took a break.

A quick scramble over the rockfall along with everyone else and we were on the other side. We had hoped to be able to team up with the Frenchies and share the cost of transport if we found any, but they clearly were not interested in being anywhere near us and at first walked off very fast but then stopped and let us pass when they realized we were keeping up with them.

So we walked, and walked along the muddy half constructed road. When the wind let up and the rain eased it was rather pleasant and not at all difficult. We eventually managed to hitch a lift for £1 after maybe an hour of walking. You rarely get anything for free in this country and people who are going in your direction anyway will still charge you. The French couple passed us on the back of another vehicle along the way.

Part 4: More spiky French and getting to Shangrila
Back at Janes we retrieved our luggage and enquired about getting to Shangrila. There were 5 other people going that way, another French couple, a British couple that had hiked back from Halfway guesthouse plus a chinese girl. The French had already organized a minibus taxi for £20 and were sharing with the other three. We asked the French couple if there was space for 2 more, but got an evasive half answer. On further enquiry we were told that there was not enough room and that 7 people in the taxi was dangerous. Bear in mind that 7 people and their gear fitted just fine into the same type of minibus taxi that got us to Janes in the first place. This was the second time today that we had come across spiky (to put it politely) French people. Do we smell? Do we somehow offend them by our obvious lack of style? What? We always try to be friendly and at least polite to other people we meet along the way and would jump at the chance to share costs.

Sadly we also suspected that the staff at Janes were trying to get us into another £20 taxi. I say this because it took further prodding from us for them to eventually tell us that there are regular buses to Shangrila that leave from just up the road and cost £2.50 per person. Plus when the young girl told us this she immediately got an earful from one of the other ladies.

We trudged back out into the drizzle and down the road. A couple more enquiries along the way got us to a parking lot on the side of the road. We saw the Chinese lady who had given us the wet wipe and told us about the other rockfalls. As soon as she spotted us she came over to see if we needed help. Just goes to show that there are still goodhearted people out there.

We were on the bus by just after 4. Sims pretty good with his estimates of time and was spot on again. It took us around 2 hours to get to Shangrila. Along the way the scenery took on a decidedly Tibetan nature. The house styles changed (all have prayer flags on top) and we saw yaks grazing. Instead of fields of rice, some other grass like crop were being farmed (hey we’re not farmers ok) and the people’s faces seemed to have taken on a more Tibetan look.

Shangrila or Zhongdian as it was previously called until the government decided to change the name to something that would lure tourists to the area, was chillly and since we were dressed only in shorts, t-shirts and strops, we definately felt it whilst we waited for the city bus.

After an exhausting day we found our hostel to be a thoroughly charming mud brick construction, with a friendly owner, nicely decorated though windowless room and a super hot shower. We finished it all of with well deserved and delicious ‘free range’ yak burgers (probably thd best meal we have had in China) and went to bed, scrubbed clean and well fed.

[Pictures: V at the first waterfall on the way down from Halfway Inn. V Crossing a bridge at the bottom of TLG. The sky highway on the way back out of the gorge. Sim topping out of the insane ladders. The TL rock far below. Yak burger on the menu]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi