30 minutes to Tina’s

The first challenge after leaving our lovely guesthouse on the second gorge day was the infamous “28 bends”…a series of steep switchbacks that take you high up the mountain, to its peak at 2500m above sea level.

Despite Josh’s claims throughout the climb that he was close to having a heart-attack, we made it to the 28th bend and were greeted by a spectacular view over the gorge.

 

 

 

The next part of the hike varied between tracks through the forest, dirt roads through villages and narrow paths cut into the side of the mountain. We considered stopping at Tea Trade Horse for lunch, but the family looked quite busy butchering two pigs, so we hiked on and raided our extensive snack collection for lunch instead. We hit Half Way Guesthouse (which is significantly further than half way) by 2:30pm and decided that we had enough energy for an easy 1.5 hour downhill walk to Tina’s Guesthouse (as described on a map put together by Tina’s Guesthouse). As we walked, we were further encouraged when we saw a sign painted on a rock that proclaimed “30 minutes to Tina’s”.

A bit further on, past goat herders chatting on their mobile phones, we came upon a fairly impressive waterfall cascading over the path. The path had narrowed by this point, so they wasn’t a lot of space between the water, the slippery rocks and a sheer drop down the side of the cliff….I proposed hiking 7 hours back to Naxi Family House…I didn’t really want to see the rest of the gorge anyway. Josh convinced me that I wasn’t going to fall and plunge into the ravine, and we navigated our way over the rocks without incident. (J – I gave Penny permission to weave a story here about how I was too scared to cross and she had to carry me on her back to the other side… she decided not to use it though).

 

About 30 minutes after the waterfall trauma, we came across another rock sign stating “30 minutes to Tina’s”. It was still amusing at this point, and we continued to walk…and walk. The track then disappeared and we found ourselves scrambling down the side of the mountain, following red arrows showing us the way to Tina’s. As we descended the path that seemed by have been created by some kind of avalanche, passing another “30 minutes to Tina’s” sign, we really started to hate Tina.

So, 2.5 hours after the first “30 minutes to Tina’s” sign (and 3 hours after we left Half Way House), we arrived at Tina’s. Being too crippled to walk 2km to the next guesthouse, we vented our frustration at Tina by plotting all the nasty things we’d write about her guesthouse on Hostel World (which weren’t lies….the rooms were particularly nasty). The discrepancies about the proximity to Half Way House are clearly a scam to make unsuspecting travellers hike on…

The next morning, we made our way down to the bottom of the gorge to check out the stone from where a tiger supposedly leapt to the other side of the gorge (hence the name). After a couple of false starts, we found the actual trail and paid our 10 yuan to a toothless old lady whose family had restored the path.

It was a long way down rock steps, and when we reached the river we walked across a rickety bridge to get photos from Tiger Leaping Stone and peer into the churning rapids.

  

It turned out that wasn’t the actual Tiger Leaping Stone, so we scrambled our way to a little shack, where we paid a lady to take us to the real rock. Her family had built a couple of wooden ladders on the way to the stone, so they were able to claim entrance fees….they had also built a ladder up the cliff face all the way to the top. They claimed it was good luck to climb the ladder… I did not agree, given that one of the rungs on their smaller ladders fell off as we were climbing it.

 

So we took the long way back to the top, up the stone steps. We were passed by a couple of Chinese tourists who had clearly decided that walking was for suckers…they had hired local guys to carry them to the top on chairs (similar to what slaves used to carry royals on). Although we laughed (probably not subtly) at their laziness, I’m pretty sure they still enjoyed their ride up as they reclined on their chairs, smoking cigarettes. 

 

After a delicious lunch, we sat in the sunshine enjoying the amazing view of the mountains, then caught a bus back to Lijiang…

(J’s footnote – it was my birthday today… Penny forgot to mention it in the post, but I still love her anyway. So yeah thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes. Except you facebook people… I told you it’s blocked here!)