Yunnan Part 1 - Trekking

After a long ten months of teaching, I decided to take a hike...or two... around the Wild, Wild West of China prior to heading back home for some down time.

The last two weeks of my life have been an intense compilation of trekking, traveling, exploring and learning about China's most diverse province: Yunnan. There are so many good pictures and stories that I'd like to share, and although I will try to condense it into three posts (or so), I may completely fail at my general attempt at succinctness.

This first post will be about the trekking Gina and I powered through.
We spent about half our time during our travels hiking in this beautiful and ever-changing area.


Our first (of two) main hikes, was Tiger Leaping Gorge. Very serious!
Talk about anti-climactic: I put the best pic of me at the very top first....I can't help myself!


On the first day in Tiger Leaping Gorge, we took a two hour bus to the bottom of the gorge.


And proceeded to spend 8 hours hiking to the top.

Along the way we met a few friends.



And we took a variety of breaks. Only to take pics of course, and not at all because we were tired.



Once at the top, I had a much needed shower. Note the numbers above me in this pic.

Then we we made a few more friends. In particular, Neil McGregor (a great Irish name!)...whom I taught not only to lose at poker (and then was stuck with about 50 coins for the rest of the hike) but also to drink bijiu. A definite theme to my China adventures.

The following morning we woke up to some major rain. This was excellent news to my bijiu/stupid-head and I went back to bed until the rain stopped. Once we reached the bottom (taking a third of the time to descend), and the other side of the gorge, we flagged down a car with 4 Sichuanese guys and rode out to the wild yonder.

Can you see from the top of this pic why it is called "Tiger" Leaping Gorge?
Makes me think of Tiger ice cream.







Several days later, once our legs had recovered enough, we braved the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau.
After an 8 hour bus ride from hell (somewhat of a theme in Yunnan) we arrived to a hole in the ground - 89km South of the Tibetan border, 188km North East of any "city" and 3800m above sea level.


The Meili Snow Mountains are a range that are part of the Himalayas and through which the Yangtze and Mekong Rivers flow. The glaciers took my breath away, and also made me want to go home even more! Doesn't this look a bit like B.C?


The environment is so pristine in this area. It is no wonder China is forcibly trying to control it (I can say things like that now that I am leaving!) The bummer is, the people here are just as ignorant as the rest of the country and although it is clean now, with all of the exhaust and littering going on, it certainly won't stay that way for long. Sadly, the water here was the first in all of China that I had seen that was swimmable. Yet I'd give it five years before it too is intensely contaminated. (likely more on this topic later)

Out in the boons, we hiked for two days along a route where another 'laowai' had died only two weeks prior. But we lived to tell the tale!

The trek began uphill and in the rain. But my silverback turtle uniform kept me warm and dry.




Up 1200m in 4 hours (which many do by horse back). Then down for a few hours into a gorgeous valley. The house on the far left is where we stayed the night and ate an amazing homemade meal which gave new meaning to 'fresh'.

On the following day, breathtaking views around every corner and the first sun we'd seen in a few days had us plowing through two days of hiking in just one.

Basically when you are tired or hungry in this area, you stop at one of these villages of two or three houses and just motion for what you want. If you speak Tibetan you can probably ask. But were were speaking "mime" for the majority of this section of the trip.

Wow. This is China. ! ? !