Adventures in China
We flew to Beijing Airport and then took a domestic flight with Air China to Kunming. On the flight we were served this very strange looking fruit – white with little black spots like a slice of dalmatian dog! We chuckled about the weird and wonderful things ahead of us (we later found out this peculiar and tasty thing was a dragon-fruit).
After a long taxi ride in rush hour traffic through Kunming we caught a rumpty bus to take us a further 4.5 hours to Dali where Matt and Lara live. Due to a series of unfortunate events they were currently at the hospital in Hong Kong, but we knew our friend Joe would be at their place.
Communicating with drivers was pretty challenging, but we did finally find ourselves in Dali old town around midnight. Lugging our gear up the hill we located Matt and Lara's on the university campus with the help of Joe's detailed instructions and it was a great thing to yell out “Joe” and see a familiar face pop out of the third floor balcony.
The next day we mucked around in Dali old town, taking pictures of the lanterns and temples. We ate lunch at a little noodle place where the man actually made the noodles right in front of you by pulling and twisting some kind of pastry. The whole place felt a bit like a scene from Kung Fu Panda.
A trip into the Cangshang mountains
Backing right on to Matt and Lara's place are some great green mountains – the Cang Shang mountains, the highest of which is about 4100m! We packed lightly because we hoped to stay in guest houses along the way and Joe was sure we would be able to buy food as we went.
On the first day we climbed up a steep path, through a graveyard and then on up to the “Cloudpass Walkway”. This was a broad terraced and paved path winding around the steep mountainsides, with a clear view down to Dali and the Er Hai lake below.
A little shrine along the path
After a bit of exploration, locating some food and visiting a temple we climbed on up to the Higher Land Inn which Lara had recommended we stay in. We had a hilarious time with the innkeeper there, he spoke to us quickly in Chinese and then roared with friendly laughter when we stared blankly back at him.
A hairy critter I spotted along the way
Chris on the Cloudpass walkway
Family dinner!
The following day we climbed up steeply following the path the innkeeper had directed us to. The trees became shorter and more stunted until we finally emerged into the sun to see blue sky above and clouds below.
Climbing up through the forest
We came to a huge construction site at the top of the (fortunately) incomplete gondola. Heaps of workers were building a big ugly plastic staircase up the mountainside. We wandered past them, wondering who could have seen this construction as a positive thing.
The crazy "plastic stairway"
By now the air was getting pretty thin and I was finding I got way more puffed than usual walking uphill. We reached the ridge, and then clambered along a fairly knife-edge but hand-hold-abundant ridge-line out to Mulong Peak (4100)! Cool! The wind had picked up now and was whipping up from one side of the ridge, and clouds and mists were constantly spilling over obscuring our view before suddenly revealing tantalizing glimpses down to the valley's below. It was an amazing ridge.
We climbed back along the ridge, above the Horse Washing Pond where the gondola terminus is and then further along over a series of 4000m summits. We made good progress along a little well worn track even though the wind was now very strong.
Some amazing red flowers as we look back towards Mulong Peak
After a very long day we were all tired as we neared our goal for the day – the Dragon Lakes. It became dark just before we reached them so I stopped to put my headlamp on. Unfortunately our group dynamics suffered a bit of a meltdown at this point – Chris wanting to go one way and Joe another. After some heated arguments and angry roaming around we finally had a tent site for the night – and we all sat and ate cold leftovers for dinner feeling cross with each other.
Descending into the mists just before it got dark and we tried to find a camp spot
After a chilly night (the wind was blowing hard through the first part of it) we woke to beautiful sun! We didn't have too much to eat for breakfast other than some dry bars, then we climbed back up through some rhododendron scrub onto the ridge. Now we didn't really have a track to follow so progress was much slower.
Joe caught the fire sunrise on his camera
Beautiful clear skies in the morning
The map Chris was using for this trip was an ancient Russian survey map from the war which Matt had somehow cunningly sourced. It was a pretty average map and Chris was having some trouble interpreting it. By lunchtime Chris thought we had reached the road which would lead us down to the Valley of Flowers – but then he realised we had to climb over another peak.
We climbed up that peak through some amazing thick patches of bamboo following a very narrow walking track. But once we reached another point where we could see out he saw that there was still more ridgeline to traverse until we might hit the road. The track we were now following dived off down into the main valley back to Dali – not the Flowers.
Bamboo bashing
We climbed the next peak to try and scout a route but swirling mists made it tricky to see. By this stage Joe had decided he was very keen to give up on the Flower Valley plan and just head down here. We were very short on food supplies by now, so we reluctantly (Chris especially) turned tail and started down the long descent to to the main road.
A little lone Chris tries to rectify the terrain with his poor Russian map
It was a very long way down and the track grew into a deeply rutted horse track as we neared the valley. The temperature also increased dramatically. Finally, just as it was dark yet again, we reached the streets of a little village bustling with life. People were unloading big bales of hay from wonky motorbikes and stacking bricks along the streets, there was a hubub of activity.
We wandered down to the motorway and managed to hitch a ride in the dark with a taxi guy back to Dali, dinner and a delicious hot shower.
Shuanglang Kayaking
I had a large blister on my little toe from so much walking and Chris needed to do some paddling, so Lara had suggested we take a trip to a little place called Shuanglang around the Er Hai lake. We caught a crammed minivan with the help of a lady who seemed to be running the show, then she put us on a little 4 person wagon attached to motorbike thing, then we took another minivan along a prettty bumpy section of road to Shuanglang.
Fortunately the taxi driver directed us to the start of a walk down some very narrow passageways to find the Sea and Sky Lodge. On the way there we saw huge cobwebs above us full of the biggest stripey spiders I have ever seen...
A donkey on the streets of Shuanglang
Yikes!
The Sea and Sky lodge is a cool place right on the lakefront with good food and nice people. We enjoyed the evening there, and in the morning took the old double fibreglass kayak out for a spin. The lake was a little smelly, but otherwise very nice for paddling. We watched lots of fishermen rowing boats out and hauling in big nets.
The lake shore from the Sea and Sky Lodge
The man who hired the kayaks out to us told us to watch for "large sheep on island" - after puzzling over this for a bit we figured it out.
The calm (but rather smelly) lake
The waves and wind picked up in the afternoon following the trend of previous days, and we were pretty wet and chilly when we pulled back into the lodge. A quick shower and a nice “baked spaghetti” at the “western cafe” and we journeyed back home to Dali to meet back up with Joe and hopefully Matt and Lara.
Chinese food at the Sea and Sky lodge - tofu and tomato and spicy sliced potato, yum!
Tiger Leaping Gorge
Sadly, Matt and Lara still were in Hong Kong, and now it looked like we would hopefully see Lara in the weekend, but Matt would have to zoom off to guest lecture in another city and we would miss him. In the meantime we decided to travel to Lijang (a very touristy and famous city) and then on to the popular spot of Tiger Leaping Gorge.
A view during the bus ride to Lijang
Arriving in Lijang after a 5 hour bus ride from Dali was a pretty amazing thing – it was dark so the city was all lit up, glowing lanterns and trees, packed with people, and an aray of open shops and markets selling all kind of amazing things – fried grasshopppers, black goats feet, chicken feet, frogs...and those were the things we could identify!
An amazing sight greeted us in Lijang
We found Mama Naxi's – a nice cheap hostel full of foreigners and a friendly Mama who fed us bananas all the time. After a good sleep on a very hard bed we took an extremly bumpy minivan ride to the start of Tiger Leaping Gorge. We followed a spectacular track high up above the gorge. There were a couple of very pushy old saleswomen along the way who harrassed us a bit, and we learnt the best technique was to avoid taking any pictures or stopping at all anywhere near these women.
One of the many nice guest houses along the route, a great spot for a beer!
Looking up Tiger Leaping Gorge
We climbed the “28 Bends” and then drank a nice cold beer at the Tea Horse Inn. We talked to a helpful guide there who told us we could climb up to the peaks above from the following lodge if we wanted to, so we decided that was a great plan for the following day.
I loved the Half Way Inn with it's magnificient view and bright red dried chillies hanging from the roof. From the dinning room big windows looked straight across at the sheer walls on the very close opposite side of the valley.
Chilly peppers hang to dry at the Half Way Inn
Chris felt he needed to get a good amount more height into his legs, so the next day we climbed above the lodge on the little trail the guide told us about. It lead to a series of quarry sites were workers were living under tarpaulines mining the river for tungsten. The river was completely silt filled and the place looked dirty and depressing.
Workers tents dotted down the stream which is being intensely sluiced
We climbed up so high on a smelly donkey track which had an extremely consistent steep gradient. After several hours climbing we finally reached a large plateau area where the trail flattened out. There were trucks and diggers and a massive quarry area. We were above 4000m and the hillside was a mess. Above us (but still in the mist) loomed the summit of Haba Snow mountain that we would have liked to climb had we had the time.
Mules carry up logs to the mine at the top
After a little snack we headed down a narrow and more interesting trail, but not before a train of mules and their guide who had been bringing up supplies to the mine.
Finally reaching the top of the mine works at about 4000m
We ran down the mountain as quick as we could for the fun of it and arrived back at the Half Way house for a late lunch. We all ordered the most humongous soups I have ever seen and left the Inn feeling extremely bloated - but happy.
Lots of soup and vegies for lunch
Joe climbs down the ladders into the gorge
The story is that a hunter once chased a tiger into the gorge, and to escape the hunter the tiger leapt right across the river. We had the place to ourselves because the last bus had already left for Lijang, but we saw no tigers. Joe and Chris did sneak across the forbidden bridge to get a good peak at the river from the Tiger Leaping Rock – naughty boys.
Tiger Leaping Gorge and Stone
We climbed back up the ladders to Jane's Guest House and felt pleased with our day's efforts – over 2000m climbed and descended. We managed to find a lift with some young Chinese guys and a rather over eager driver and we made it back to Lijang in a record 3 hours. I tried not look out the front window too much.
Back at Mama Naxi's we ate more bananas and found some good food. In the morning light the streets of Lijang looked a bit different and the crowds were much less so it was nice to poke our noses into some shops and explore a bit more.
On the evening we arrived back in Lijang Joe purchased three of these innocent looking baked apples - I don't think so! They were the most horrid play-do balls with a strange nut thing in the center - Joe and Chris managed to gag down all three much to my horror!
We had a long bus trip home – first accidently taking a taxi to the train station not the bus – then the rickety bus we were on broke down. Finally we reached Dali in the evening, and we were happy to finally get to hang out with Lara. We ate at “Superman Vegetarian” - what a great name (-:
Back to the Higher Land Inn
We decided to walk back up to the Higher Land Inn with Lara for our last weekend in China. We had loved the old fellow's laugh so much from the first visit – and the family dinner was so good too! There was another man working with the older man this time and Lara conversed easily with him in Chinese.
He showed us heaps of great photos from his mountaineering trips in the Sichuan Province – up many 6000m plus peaks. We got all inspired for a future trip in that region of China to climb some bigger mountains!
The final day in Dali we spent in the old town and enjoyed learning that New Zealand had just managed to win the rugby world cup against France.
Joe headed on his way to the North – Europe – where we had just come from, while we continued on our journey home – now to Tasmania for the Adventure Racing World Champs which Chris will compete in with Team Seagate. On the way we spent a night in Bangkok and from the plane window I got some views of the massive floods spreading out across the lands.
Comments
"We packed lightly because we hoped to stay in guest houses along the way and Joe was sure we would be able to buy food as we went." the typical kiwi recipe for potential disasters ahead! ;)
Also am now going to try to use the word rumpty at least once a week.