China - Lijiang, Earthquakes and an last minute flight to Shanghai!

So, after finishing Tiger Leaping Gorge, Sarah and I headed back to Lijiang for a couple of days before we both parted ways. Sarah back to Dali, and me heading north to Chengdu.

However, the day before I was due to leave, at 2.30pm, while I was illegally entering a park in Lijiang via a small waterfall as I didn't want to pay the entrance fee, the massive 7.9 Shichaun Earthquake happened. Where we were in Lijiang, we didn't feel a thing (which was lucky as we would have fallen INTO the waterfall we illegally crossing at the precise moment the earthquake hit!), however the earthquake managed to block just about every road heading in and out of the Schicuan province, thus making it rather difficult to get to Chengdu.

After a few phone calls and research, and a very stern warning from my parents about still heading Chengdu, I decided to get on a plane and head to Shanghai instead.

Now, those of you who have been reading my blog and speaking to me a bit about where I have been so far and what the places were like, would all have a general understanding that every place I have been to has been pretty small. So you can probably imagine the look on my face as I cruised into shanghai in the back of a taxi from the airport at 9pm. Every single building was lit up, there were people everywhere and it was M A S S I V E !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was actually quite mind blowing just how big this place was. It felt like every building was a sky scraper and me feel like I was about 2 feet tall.

After arriving at my hostel, checking into my room, and having a quick bite to eat I headed to bed....only to be woken up at around 3am and realising I wasn't feeling very well. So bad in fact, that I spent the next 36 hours vommitting absolutely everything I had consumed in on my trip so far. In my professional traveller opionion (hahaha), I'm pretty sure I got a pretty bad bout of food poisoning from either the food on China Eastern Airlines, or from a potato salad I had the hostel. Either way, the only place I went for my first two days in shanghai was either to the toilet to throw up, or to bed to sleep. Quite the party animal!

Once I finally got over all that (and the fact I lost about 2 kgs in the process!), I got out for my first day and dropped my passport off to have the visa extended. On dropping the application off, with my passport, I found out the process was going to take 10 days!! Most other towns were only 3 - 5. That piece of info threw the rest of my china plans (prior to arriving in Beijing) out the window, and I got myself ready for what I thought was going to be a very painful "almost" 2 weeks in Shanghai.

But then I met Matt and Emma. Its funny how you meet some people when you travel and you don't click at all, then you meet the odd one that you think "yeah, if I met you at home we would probably be mates", and then sometimes very rarely you are fortunate enough to get the chance to meet people that not only do you click with, you know that you are quite possibly going to be mates with them for many many years to come. Thats what happened with me meeting Matt and Emma.

The three of us hung out around Shanghai, seeing the sights of East Nanjing Road, the Bund, going to the top of Jin Mau Tower for great views of the Shanghai and hanging out in the artistic areas of the city. Emma left us about 4 days in, but we agreed to meet in Beijing. Matt and I continued to hang out right up until the day before I left China!

In touring around Shanghai, it was amazing the differences to southern China. Southern China in the Yunnan province was quite traditional and very simple. In Shanghai it was like being in an Asian New York City (even though I haven't yet been to New York, I'm sure you still can catch my drift!) with all the guys and girls wearing designer clothes, listening to modern music and giant bill board advertising signs all the way through the city. For such a large city, Shanghai wasn't overly expensive, however it was around twice the price of everything in the Yunnan Province. Which I guess when you start to make things relative to the earning capicity of the average Chinese worker, thats a pretty big jump in cost.

On my second last day in Shanghai, the Olympic torch made its journey through the city. We all got up early to watch it run on East Nanjing Road, only to be met by a very strong Chinese Millitary Presence right around the city, not allowing us anywhere near the relay. However, later in the day when Matt and I headed out to pick up my passport with its new visa, we "accidently" got stuck in a barricade and we were able to watch the torch run through twice. It was amazing to see just how excited the Chinese were about the Olympics.

The following evening, Matt and I jumped on the Z train express to Beijing.....

Tiger Leaping Gorge - Part III

Waking up on day three was good, as it wasn't raining!! It was still a little overcast though which was good because it kept the sun away from us most of the day.

At around 9am we set off down to 'Middle Gorge', which was the last part of the trek. The part of the trek took us all the way to the bottom of the gorge to where the river ran through. It took around 1 hour to hike down the amazingly steep track down to the gorge. The further down we got the more I couldn't help thinking about how the hell we were going to get back up again!!

Finally reaching the bottom, we were met by a series of massive rocks lining the banks of the ferocious river. It was amazing, I have never seen rapids like it. Looking at the water, you knew that if you fell in you were as good as dead. There is absolutely no way you could survive it.

As we proceeded to jump over the rocks and have our pictures taken etc etc, I later found out that about 4 weeks earlier a tourist had been doing the same thing...having his picture taken...and lost his balance and fell in the water. They never found him! Comforting to find this out after you have had you picture taken!!

From the middle gorge we proceeded back up to the top of the gorge via a series of very steep paths and extremely steep and unsafe ladders! Finally reaching the top alive and well around 1.5 hours later. We then organised a car to take us back to Lijiang, via a giant landslide in the middle of the road......

Only in China!

Tiger Leaping Gorge - Part II

So, remember how in the previous post I said that i had been told not to do this trek in the rain?? Well guess what we woke up to the following morning?? RAIN!!!!

And not just a little bit either...it had been absolutely bucketing down all night, so as we set off we discovered that where the track was dirt it had turned to mud, and where it was stones it was really slippery.

As well as the mud and the slipperiness (I'm not actually sure if thats a word...!), random waterfalls kept appearing out of no where right in the middle of the track. So you have no other option but to walk over the top of them or through them to get to the otherside. At the time it was quite funny, but as you look back you kind of start to think 'Wow, that was really dangerous!!!'.

This part of the trek however was quite pretty with lots of flowers and brilliant views (which would have been more brilliant had the weather not been so bad!). And it was all practically down hill or on flat ground...so nice and easy in comparison to the day before! We made it to our last guesthouse, Tinas, at around 3pm. It was practically all downhill for about an hour so that was fun running down this big grassy hill....until a slipped and slip for about 3 meters down the side of it! I slowed down after that....

After grabbing some lunch we decided to stay the night and complete the last part of the trek the
next day.

China - Tiger Leaping Gorge - Part I

After a couple of days in Lijiang getting ready, Sarah and I headed off to start our 3 day trek through Tiger Leaping Gorge.

Now, before I start telling you about the three days, let me just fill you in on a few of the things I had been told by people who had done the trek:

1) The first part of the trek to the Naxi Guesthouse is really easy, just a really basic walk
2) The 28 Bends are hard, but probably a little bit overrated
3) Don't attempt this hike in the rain, as it can get really dangerous

Please, keep these 3 points in mind as you read this post!

We arrive at Janes Guesthouse (the beggining of the trek) at around 10.30am. The weather was looking brilliant, nice and sunny. After a quick bite to eat and hearing about the conditions of the track, we set off about an hour later.

So, like I said, the first part of the trek is meant to be quite easy?? Just a basic walk?? WELL IT WASN'T!!!!! In the wonderful early morning heat with the sun blistering down on us, we walking for around 2.5k's constantly up hill on a dirt track, with absolutely no relief from the shade what so ever. We managed to do the first part in a little under 2 hours, which was impressive considering we walked quite slow. When we arrived the first guesthouse (Naxi Guesthouse) I wasn't sure I was going to be able to do the next part of the trek as I was absolutely exhausted. However, once I had some lunch and drank my 4th 1ltr bottle of water for the day (I told you it was hot!!) we headed on to begin the hardest part of the trek, the 28 bends.

(Now, before I get to the next bit....When I was in Kunming I met a couple and there 7 year old daughter who had just done the gorge, and said it was quite easy. Even the 7 year old said it was easy, which made me think that if a stupid 7 year old girl can do it, then I shouldn't have a problem.....)

After an hour of walking uphill, we finally got to the beginning of the '28 Bends'. From the bottom the top of the mountain didn't seem that far away, however it did look pretty damn steep.

Unfortunately, calling the 28 bends steep would be a complete understatement....!!

It took us around 2.5 hours from the Naxi Guesthouse to the summit of the 28 bends, and we climbed them in the middle of the day when it was around 26 degrees. The 28 bends are realistically more like 40 bends, as you weave your way through steep corner after steep corner slowly getting towards the summit. Even the fittest people doing the hike were having to stop at least every ten meters to get there breath back.

The worst thing about the whole hike is that you have these guys on horses following you up, waiting for you to give in so you will pay them the equivilent of $10AUD so they will carry you to the top! If anything they make you more determined to carry on. But you see I had two things driving me to get to the top: The horse people and the memory of that stupid 7 year old girl telling me how easy the trek was!! I'm sorry, but there is NO WAY that 7 year old could have found this easy....!

We got to the top at around 4pm, and what a feeling that was! And what a view! You could see all the way back to where we had begun the trek right up to where we were then and there.

It took us another 2 hours to walk down the other side of the mountain, and towards our guest house for the night, the Tea Horse.

We arrived there at around 6pm, had some dinner, and I promptly fell asleep at around 8pm...!!