Ever since China opened up to overseas tourists in the late 1970s we had wanted to visit this enigmatic country. It wasn’t until April, 2014 that we embarked on a tour with Peregrine Adventures.  What I liked about the tour company was that it mainly used public transport, involved a lot of physical activity and the group would be no larger than fifteen people. Reading the Lonely Planet guide I was entranced by the picture of Tiger Leaping Gorge and imagined myself climbing narrow tracks beside rushing rivers and below jagged snow-capped mountains.

Where is Tiger Leaping Gorge? It is 60 kilometres (37 miles) north of Lijiang City, Yunnan, in southwestern China. Around fifteen kilometres in length the gorge is located where the Jinsha river passes between Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and Haba Snow Mountain in a series of rapids under steep two hundred metre cliffs.

Although the gorge is not considered navigable, four rafters attempted to go down the rapids in the early 1980s and were never seen again.  Subsequent attempts using boats were more successful.  The area was first officially opened to overseas tourists in 1993.

We had had an inauspicious start to our tour. On the second day I was violently ill so I spent the day in bed. 

Two others in our group starting feeling queasy. We decided it must be a combination of altitude (2052 m) although altitude sickness should not really kick in until 2500 m and strange food, water, jet lag, tiredness etc. Our guide Jane wants us to eat like the locals and serve ourselves with our own chopsticks but we rebelled and said that it would be too easy to spread germs so she relented and we now use serving spoons although continue to eat with chopsticks.

Personally I blame the birthday cake for John, loaded with cream and delivered to our table in Dali Old Town.

Would we all be well enough to tackle Tiger Leaping Gorge?

Saturday was the test before the big one. To climb Shibaishan Mountain was our aim. To get there from Shaxi, we walked 1.5km north, turned left at the sign (pointing to Shadeng Qing) and walked another one kilometre to the foot of the mountain. The path up the mountain consisted of hundreds, maybe thousands of stone steps.

Along the way were several temples, grottoes and stone carvings. At the first temple we thought we had reached our destination but onward and upward we continued. Three had stayed behind owing to illness and some of the group were either coming down with or recovering from bouts of diarrhoea. It was sunny and hot and we needed frequent rests. As I felt I had recovered I really enjoyed the fresh air and the surrounding hills covered with cypress forest and the view of paddy fields way below.  I felt I was ready for whatever tomorrow would bring.

On Sunday, 13th April, 2014 we left at 7.30am on the three hour trip to Tiger Leaping Gorge.  This was at times a harrowing experience but we finally arrived at Qiaotou and armed only with backpacks and bamboo walking sticks set off on the trail.  

The first part of the walk was easy and pleasant as it was not too hot and the track rose gradually. We admired the river below and the snow speckled mountains above until we reached the Naxi Family Guest House where we had a long lunch.  

The plan was to rest before tackling the notorious 28 bends in the late afternoon, but the tactic did not work.  I found I was becoming more and more exhausted and had to rest frequently.  There was no shade and sitting on a hot rock was not very pleasant.  All the while the mules tinkled behind us and their owners eyed us hopefully, waiting for a sign of weakness.  When I felt dizzy from hyperventilating I decided a mule was the only way to go.  As if waiting for someone else to crack, three others also paid the 200 yuan ($40) for a mule. 

The ride was actually quite enjoyable.  It was such a relief not to be climbing any more and my mule and I became very good friends.  He was very sure-footed and I had complete faith that he would not topple off the narrow track.  I had visions of riding into Tea Horse Inn on my steed but just short of the highest point of the track I had to dismount and continue on foot for an hour.  From then on it was easy walking and we were met on the track by the four who were unable to do the walk.  Of the eight who walked today, four did the whole trip under their own steam, without the help of mules – the youngest, aged 23 and the oldest aged 77.

Tea Horse Inn was picturesque and the beds were comfortable. The showers were hot and there were pedestal toilets in the bathroom, something we did not have in Shaxi.  Those who were too sick to walk had been entertained by watching the instalment of a new kitchen and dining room which we got to experience that evening.   With our diet of rice, vegetables, little meat, no alcohol and plenty of exercise I felt like I was in a health resort.  There was beer but I went off it after Dali.

 Watching the sun move across the peaks of the mountains next morning was spoiled only by the fact that some were still too sick to do anything but travel by vehicle to the next night’s accommodation.  We found the walk much easier on day two and enjoyed the magnificent scenery.  We came across a waterfall of cloudy white water beside what looked like a primitive factory and found it was part of a tungsten mine.  In fact there was only one unpolluted waterfall in Tiger Leaping Gorge and that was used as the water supply for the area.  Plastic and metal pipes followed the track, detracting from the natural scenery for much of the walk but we were glad to make use of them at the end.  Somehow we forgot to eat lunch as no one was hungry when we rested at the Half Way Guest House.  We got to visit the famous toilets with the best view in the world.  The whole back of the cubicle was open to the sky and the mountains.                           

The only steep part of the track caused problems for a Canadian trekker in our group who fainted and fell, cutting her head.  The guide and the woman’s husband helped her down and fortunately she made a good recovery that evening.  It was very stressful for Jane (our tour leader) as she was keeping an eye on us in front and also the injured member behind.  The descent to Tina’s was gravelly and one slip could be disastrous.  We had a walk across the bridge, looked below at some ant like people on the rock and returned to sit in the dining room eating freshly roasted peanuts and drinking coke. 

 We left Tiger Leaping Gorge the next morning at 9.30 am, following the river in our bus which had driven the three hours from Lijiang to get us.  It was difficult to squeeze through in parts because of rockfalls.  

Some of our group planned to visit the hospital  as soon as we arrived at our Naxi style hotel.  I accompanied Jane and two group members who had been sick for an extended period of time, walking through the old town and into the new town for medical help in the form of antiemetic drugs.  

Lijiang had an earthquake in 1996 which killed 300 people, including many schoolchildren when the roof collapsed in a school.  Many of the town’s buildings date from that time. The old town was carefully reconstructed with UNESCO funding and is a maze of cobbled streets and wooden buildings. 

Fortunately most people in the group recovered in the next few days but for the rest of the trip no-one was willing to admit they had a birthday and risk being presented with a microbiologically suspect cream cake.