Tiger Raining Gorge
July 7 – the weather we were expecting
Tom and the kids were up at 8:30am and enjoyed the view from the balcony in front of our simple rooms. Little did they know that the view of the mountains would be their last for the day.
Around 10:30, we had packed up and were ready to go. We took a selfie in the same spot from the day before, but now the backdrop was whiteness. The rain was coming down lightly and we were in good spirits as we left Tea Horse. The Guesthouse was named after the network of trails that connected Ancient China with Tibet, India, and beyond. At its peak, 20,000 Tibetian horses were being traded for 3,000,000 pounds of tea per year!
The light rain dampened the views but not our spirits and the hike was lovely, but wet. Our first destination was Halfway Guesthouse (1.5 hours) which while not halfway for the current route was halfway when most trekkers finished at Walnut Grove. Halfway House is famous for its roofdeck and amazing views. When we arrived just after noon we could see the deck, but not the views.
The kids were resilient with their new found bamboo walking sticks and we continued on for our final destination Tina’s Guesthouse some 2-3 hours away. Along the way, we passed numerous waterfalls and peeked down at the gorge and the river impossibly far below us. Along the trail we never saw a single hiker although we did meet a few dozen goats. They were quite excited to see us and one nibbled at Tyler’s fingers and for while after, it sounded like they were following us, which quickened the kids pace considerably.
Around 2pm we could see Tina’s, and by 2:30 we were standing on the bridge 500m above a raging tributary/waterfall. Soaked all the way through, Tom set about ordering lunch while Sue and the kids set about changing clothes. We hadn’t arranged lodging for our last day in case the weather turned wet (which it had) and Tom used the Wifi to book us into a room in Lijiang. We had planned to spend the night at Sean’s Guesthouse 2km down the road and leave early the next day (8am) to catch our 1:30pm flight from Lijiang airport. Time to execute plan B.
The public bus left at 3:30 for the 3.5 hour drive to Lijiang for 55 yuan per person (220 total). For 400 yuan we could get a private car which would leave whenever we wanted. And yes, the driver would meet us a Jane’s Guesthouse so we could pick up our luggage. The extra $25 seemed worth it, although there was some confusion about the ‘big bus’ that would take us to Lijiang.
While we hadn’t seen a single hiker on the trail, Tina’s was packed with mostly western travelers drying their clothes and waiting for the bus (think 15-20 people). The Korean guy Tom had met the night before was there too, smiling, but clearly frazzled from the challenge of the day. Alden we later learned made it to Halfway house before calling it a day.
20 minutes after leaving Tina’s we met our bus. It was indeed a big bus and we laughed at the absurdity of such a big bus for the 4 of us. We stopped at Jane’s and while Sue and Tom collected the baggage 2 passengers snuck onto the bus. 5 minutes later we stopped in the main town of Qiaotou, the gateway to TLG. There the bus stopped and 8 passengers got on, each paying 40 for the ride to Lijiang. It was then we realized WE were the ones being “taken for a ride.”
Sue had suspected as much at Tina’s, but we had never been able to get clarification one way or another. How many stops would we make enroute? Where are we going to be dropped off? What can we do if we now that Tina has our money? These were the questions rattling in the grownups’ heads while the kids happily watched King Fu Panda 3 for the 4th time.
At 5pm, we arrived at the outskirts of the surprisingly large city of Lijiang and its mass of traffic. Tyler attempted to ask the driver where we were going but was bruskly told to sit down and be quiet. The other passengers were asking where they were being taken and general confusion reigned. Around 5:30, the bus stopped at the south end of the old town of Lijiang and all the passengers disembarked. The driver clearly expected us to get off as well, but with the rain still steadily coming down we were not about to walk a mile on cobblestones, uphill, in the rain to get to our hotel, when there was a spot he could drop us at top end of the city, a 6 minute walk from our hotel.
The next 30 minutes was a back and forth of Bing translation and phone calls with English speaking “friends of the driver” who all tried to say that ‘this is as far as you can go.’ Tyler was the big hero of the day, when he channeled his “inner Tom” and went on a 5 minute rant detailing, in exceptional Mandarin, how we had been tricked and had paid 400 yuan and were in no uncertain terms going to get out of the bus until they dropped us where we wanted to go. Or the driver had to give us 200 yuan and he could take it up with Tina. Take that Mr. Mean Driverman!!!
That seemed to do the trick as a few minutes later another guy got on the bus and when we showed him where we needed to go, began directing the driver through the maze of traffic to the exact spot we wanted to go. See, that wasn’t so hard was it! At 6:30 we bounced our luggage down the narrow alleys to where the map on our phone said the hotel should be. There was a small hotel there, but with a different name. When we showed them our Booking.com confirmation they checked their phone and discovered yes, we were in the right place.
We asked to see the room and they suggested we move to a different room with 2 double beds. Great, we thought as we had booked 2 rooms and now only needed one. We had overpaid for our drive by $25 and now we’re going to save $45 by only getting a single room. And our comfortable, clean room in the center of Lijiang cost the same as we would have spent at damp Sean’s Guesthouse. Apparently things have a way of working out for us.
After showers and some ‘in the shower laundry’ it was time to explore the uber-touristed town of Lijiang. The 1,000 year old town had risen to prominence starting in he 80s as a quaint old town with its cobblestone alleys and picturesque canals. In 1996 the town emerged on the world stage when an earthquake and fire ravaged the city. After being rebuilt, it became a Mecca for Chinese tourists and since then has been overcrowded.
The main walkway which was 20 meters from our hotel was indeed packed with Chinese at 7:30 when we emerged from our room. We turned right at the stone bridge, past the competing restaurant/music venues, and 3 minutes removed from the mayhem we found our destination at the edge of a surprisingly quiet square – N’s Kitchen, the top rated restaurant on TripAdvisor – famous for their burgers and pizza. The 2 monster burgers, fries and pineapple pizza did not disappoint and bellies full, the craziness of our journey to get here was a distant memory.
At 9pm, Sue took the kids back to the room while Tom went out to survey the insanity. It was indeed insanity as the alleys and squared were packed with tourists and every shop was staffed with barkers encouraging passersby to sample their wares. Bar street was especially nutty with lasers, smoke, and dancing ladies.
Around 11pm, Tom returned to the room with the city still pulsing in the background. Tiger Leaping Gorge this isn’t.