Tiger Leaping Gorge, Yunnan

Tiger Leaping Gorge, Yunnan
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

My friends Howard and Gene visited me for two weeks in January. The
highlight of their trip -- at least for me -- was the week we spent exploring Yunnan, which is one of the southernmost provinces of China, and
which contains an absolutely amazing range of landscapes, climate zones, and minority cultures and histories.

Of the week in Yunnan, the easy highlight for us all was two days we spent hiking Tiger Leaping Gorge on the upper Yangzi river, and exploring parts of Yulong Xueshan, a 5500-meter high mountain that forms a beautiful and
impressive wall of rock on the southern/eastern side of the gorge. This
introductory shot captures much of the essence of our hike: the flowering plum and beautiful hillsides, with the massive and magnetic bulk of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (that's its English translation) in the background.

I'll explain much more as we go along, but for those wondering or keeping
track: in the next few shots, one in particular is not sorted quite as I could wish. The shot looks down on the river from up above, and you see a few little boats pulled to the shore. This is, in fact, the ferry with which we crossed the river at the beginning of our visit to the gorge itself. (See later for the full story.) Also, pause a moment at the shot that looks down a vertiginous gully at the river itself, being joined by a small side stream that's coming from high up on the north-west slope of the gorge. It's disorienting since the drop is so sheer and far, but if you study it for a moment you'll get more of a sense of how amazing this canyon is. All three of us, passionate visitors to the Grand Canyon, found this area equally beautiful, though not as vast.

Tiger Leaping Gorge

Tiger Leaping Gorge
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Tiger Leaping Gorge

Tiger Leaping Gorge
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Tiger Leaping Gorge

Tiger Leaping Gorge
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Tiger Leaping Gorge

Tiger Leaping Gorge
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Tiger Leaping Gorge

Tiger Leaping Gorge
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Tiger Leaping Gorge

Tiger Leaping Gorge
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Agriculture in the Gorge

Agriculture in the Gorge
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Americans often think human intervention makes natural areas less
magnificent and beautiful. Here in China, I've found it often makes them
more beautiful and magnificent. It seems quite possible people have been
growing rice on terraces in this gorge since...well, since my ancestors might have been living in caves, for all I know. And the terraced fields built up and maintained over generations add a poignancy to the beauty of the natural setting, in my mind. In any case, enjoy these next several shots of farming life in the gorge.

Farming Villages in the Gorge

Farming Villages in the Gorge
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Farming Villages in the Gorge

Farming Villages in the Gorge
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Farming Villages in the Gorge

Farming Villages in the Gorge
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Farming Villages in the Gorge

Farming Villages in the Gorge
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Howard at Rest, Some Backdrop, Huh?

Howard at Rest, Some Backdrop, Huh?
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Farming Villages in the Gorge

Farming Villages in the Gorge
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Farming Villages in the Gorge

Farming Villages in the Gorge
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Happy Paul in the Gorge

Happy Paul in the Gorge
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Waterfall, Goats

Waterfall, Goats
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

You can't see them, but they're there: the goats, that is. They're on the path through the waterfall; we've just come from there, and we passed a small herd of goats being encouraged along the path by a woman who saw them
across the waterfall, then returned to her home settled into the hillside up
the path in our direction. If you look really close, you can see little blips that are, in fact, sheep.

Three Views of Tiger Leaping Gorge

Three Views of Tiger Leaping Gorge
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Snowflake Guesthouse, Daju

Snowflake Guesthouse, Daju
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Daju is the smaller and by far more remote of the two launching spots for
hikers of the gorge. We arrived later than hoped (more detail with text
below), and unsure where the ferry to cross the river and start our hike
would be. Gene, ever the travel planner par excellence (for my family: you must know that Gene is a far better travel planner than I am, as he assiduously reads and gathers data from every guidebook he can find -- appropriate for a scientist, wouldn't you say? -- whereas I, humanist that I am, read enough to get an idea and then generally wing it), had already discovered that we needed to seek the Snowflake Guest House.

We didn't know before arriving how much like an old west town at high noon
Daju would feel. We arrived around 4:00 in the afternoon and the town just
seemed very quiet...the bus let us off (having been told we wanted the
Snowflake) at an intersection of two bumpy dirt roads (no pavement, no
traffic signs or lights in Daju) and we felt rather like a scene in some movie about people boldly going where...well, you can fill in the rest. So off we walked past seemingly incongruous cactus and dusty walled houses, until we saw this welcome sign below.

I must now take a moment to express the glory of hospitality in the gorge. Snowflake was WONDERFUL. She's a woman, by the way, not just the name of a lodge. She and her husband run this quiet little place which is visited -- one presumes -- solely by backpackers coming into or out of the gorge. When the sign tells you "and cafe," do NOT think Starbucks. Think Baghdad Cafe, if you recall that movie. (Rent it, if you've not seen it: you'll get the idea.) But no matter: we arrived, worried we'd not hit the ferry in time (Gene, still not quite understanding he wasn't in Kansas anymore, was sure the books had it wrong since one said the last ferry was at 5 while the other said it was 6), and wondering if we could make it to our guest house on the other side of the river before dark. Shortly before we arrived, a very sweet group (a couple from Britain who've sold up everything back home to travel the world for a year, after a decade or so of desk work; and an Australian woman who's teaching in China this year, along with her friend from home who's here to visit) had appeared dusty and tired at Snowflake's doorstep.

But she still found time to whip up sandwiches (yes, the Naxi people, who are the Ur-inhabitants of this region, have bread that's rather like Navajo fry bread) of tomato and cheese (yes, the Naxi make goat's milk cheese: and Elizabeth, you might even like this cheese as its very mild, almost like mozzarella; side story is the Chinese fried noodles with cheese (!) that we had later that night...felt so wrong, but tasted so good), to call the ferry guy's mobile phone to let him know we'd be along shortly, to discuss with us whether we wanted to walk on the other side or whether we'd prefer to be met by a van that would take us to our guest house so we could start fresh on the main hike the next morning...and so on. End result: ferry met on time (btw, don't think "ferry" means anything more than a rusty motorized contraption on which we and a few donkeys crouched to cross the swift-moving upper Yangzi), lovely dinner with yet another fascinating group of folks at Sean's guesthouse that very night thanks to the van that shuttled us from the top of the hill on the other side up to our guesthouse...and an amazing day of walking, as you've been seeing in the other shots.

Bottom line: the folks we encountered in the gorge, both the hikers and especially the guesthouse and inn people, made me feel like I'd fallen back to a time when innkeepers made the roads safe and comfortable for weary and tired travelers, truly providing comfort to people in need and doing it with grace and a smile. And the other hikers were a smart and interesting crowd, without exception.

Waterfalls Large and Small

Waterfalls Large and Small
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Waterfalls Large and Small

Waterfalls Large and Small
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Three Views of Tiger Leaping Gorge

Three Views of Tiger Leaping Gorge
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Three Views of Tiger Leaping Gorge

Three Views of Tiger Leaping Gorge
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Daju: Getting to the Gorge

Daju: Getting to the Gorge
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Daju: Getting to the Gorge

Daju: Getting to the Gorge
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Daju: Getting to the Gorge

Daju: Getting to the Gorge
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Tibetan Life At Yulong Xueshan

Tibetan Life At Yulong Xueshan
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

I've begun to suspect that one doesn't get above about 3000 meters in China without finding Tibetan people. This is pretty cool since it often means you've got interesting cultural and religious aspects added to what's invariably a beautiful environment to begin with. (See my photos from Labrang Monastery at Xiahe, Gansu, from last August for some other
examples.) In any case, sure enough at Yak Meadow on the slopes of Yulong Xueshan, we came across a small temple, prayer shawls and prayer flags wrapped around various items, and even a few signs of sky burials, as seen this shot.

Signs of Tibet @ Yulong Xueshan

Signs of Tibet @ Yulong Xueshan
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Signs of Tibet @ Yulong Xueshan

Signs of Tibet @ Yulong Xueshan
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Signs of Tibet @ Yulong Xueshan

Signs of Tibet @ Yulong Xueshan
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Signs of Tibet @ Yulong Xueshan

Signs of Tibet @ Yulong Xueshan
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Signs of Tibet @ Yulong Xueshan

Signs of Tibet @ Yulong Xueshan
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Yulong Xueshan

Yulong Xueshan
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Since a blog by nature presents the most recent stuff first, yet I'm processing two months' worth of photos all on one weekend (it's New Year's weekend here in China - so I'm avoiding all the firecrackers outside by posting all these photos from my peaceful apartment...), it's hard to convey
the sequence of discovery we went through. We left Lijiang, a town you'll
see shortly, and drove about 1-1/2 hours north to reach the chair lift up to Yak Meadow, which you've been looking at. The meadow is at about 3500 meters, and as you've seen the peak of the mountain towers another 2000 meters (that's 6000 feet, or the height of the Smoky Mountains, to you metrically illiterate Americans) above it.

Were it not for high winds, we might have gone up another lift to the 4500-foot high cloud fir meadow, from which Lonely Planet says you can see "awesome glacier views." My capacity for ever-increasing levels of awe was certainly tested by the gorge and by Yulong Xueshan...so I suppose it's possible I could find another angle even more awe-inspiring and beautiful than what Howard and Gene and I saw from Yak Meadow and from the paths through the gorge. So I guess I'll have to get back to see the glacier some time! And pray global warming gets no worse, huh?

In any case: what follow are many views of Yulong, from the south or southeast side: the gorge is up and over from where these were all photographed. The shot you're looking at now - green fields in the foreground - is taken from the town of Daju, which marks the downstream end
of Tiger Leaping Gorge. We waited (patiently in my case; with some anxiety in the case of H&G :-) ) for the bus up at the top (well, at the base of the Yak Meadow lift, top being a relative term in this case) and took the breathtaking and frightening mountain road down to Daju, in order to cross the river and start out hike through the gorge. I took this shot as the bus
barreled over the dirt roads entering town.

Many Views of Yulong Xueshan

Many Views of Yulong Xueshan
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Many Views of Yulong Xueshan

Many Views of Yulong Xueshan
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Many Views of Yulong Xueshan

Many Views of Yulong Xueshan
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Many Views of Yulong Xueshan

Many Views of Yulong Xueshan
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Many Views of Yulong Xueshan

Many Views of Yulong Xueshan
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Many Views of Yulong Xueshan

Many Views of Yulong Xueshan
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Lijiang Old Town, Yunnan

Lijiang Old Town, Yunnan
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Most people heading for Tiger Leaping Gorge get there from Lijiang, probably
the most famous tourist spot in Yunnan. It seems a decade ago this was a fairly remote outpost of the backpacker crowd, as was Tiger Leaping. The gorge is still rather rugged and geared more at the backpacker crowd than anyone else -- though with the road now covering the entire length, it's only a matter of time before the tour buses come in.
Lijiang, on the other hand, is firmly entrenched on the tour-bus itinerary
now, so you can see the usual crowds of tourists (mostly Chinese or other
East Asian: it seems most westerners here still travel solo or in small
groups) trooping along after a loudspeaker-bearing and flag-waving (makes them visible in the crowds) guide. While this crowds the streets up and increases commercial pressure on anyone walking the streets (as in, "hello!
hello! come in, taste the tea, see beautiful paintings!"), nothing can
change the fact that Lijiang is a gorgeous city, graced with lovely car-free streets (in the old town) and goldfish-filled canals, in a beautiful setting.

Before getting there, none of us had quite taken in the fact that, 40km north of town, sits what can fairly be described as the first mountain of the Himalayas. So you can imagine our surprise when we looked up from one of the town squares to see what was clearly a massive mountain rising in the distance.

Lijiang Rooftops and Mountains

Lijiang Rooftops and Mountains
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Lijiang Rooftops and Mountains

Lijiang Rooftops and Mountains
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Lijiang Rooftops and Mountains

Lijiang Rooftops and Mountains
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Lijiang at Dusk

Lijiang at Dusk
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

So maybe the moon and the red lanterns are a predictable image...but that made the experience no less beautiful. :-) The next few shots capture a bit of the street life of old town Lijiang -- check out how clear the water is
in the canal; you may even be able to make out some of the wonderful gold
fish that add color to the canals throughout old town. The shot looking up the steps is there because of the guy who was taking his loaded bike up,
step by step. It seemed quite the image to me.

Lijiang: Views of Yulong Xueshan

Lijiang: Views of Yulong Xueshan
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Lijiang: Views of Yulong Xueshan

Lijiang: Views of Yulong Xueshan
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Lijiang Streets & Canals

Lijiang Streets & Canals
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Lijiang Streets & Canals

Lijiang Streets & Canals
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Lijiang Streets & Canals

Lijiang Streets & Canals
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

A Weekend in Xiamen

A Weekend in Xiamen
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

OK these photos are OUT OF ORDER, because I knew that once I posted the
Tiger Leaping Gorge & Lijiang photos, I would most likely not post more pics
or updates for another chunk of time. That meant that if I'd followed the
order of things, these shots of the last weekend H&G and I spent in the city
of Xiamen on the coast of southern Fujian province would be the first things folks see when they check the blog, for at least a few weeks. And, frankly,
Xiamen was lovely but it doesn't deserve that honor over the gorge.

So here they are, looking as though we went to Xiamen in between Dali and
Lijiang. Not so, but hey, it's my blog and I get to do what I want! After
Lijiang we came back to Beijing so I could spend a week at work while they
explored the great city, and then we flew to Xiamen for the weekend.

A few factoids about Xiamen, as long as you're looking. It used to be known
as Amoy, which comes close to representing how the name is pronounced in the local dialect. (Which, for those not up on their Chinese geography and history, is closely related to the dialect spoken in Taiwan, since Taiwan is a mere 100km or so across the strait from Fujian, and was in fact part of Fujian province under the Qing, until it was ceded to Japan after Japan's rather successful 1895 war against China...again, assuming I'm correctly remembering my college history studies.) We spent two nights on the lovely and very relaxed island of Gulangyu, just across a short channel from the main part of Xiamen. There are no cars on Gulanyu; people walk, ride bikes, or hop on golf carts to get around.

Xiamen was one of the treaty ports, when the western powers (especially France and Britain) repeatedly attacked China during the 19th century in order to force its market open to western imports...and to opium imports that the British East India company was so interested in selling to the Chinese in the waning years of the Qing Dynasty -- if I remember my history correctly. In any case, due to this history Gulangyu, which housed some of the foreign consulates, has a good deal of 19th century colonial architecture, in addition to its relaxed feel and nearly tropical vegetation and climate. Though I only ordered on their behalf and didn't eat any myself, Howard and Gene tell me the seafood was also quite excellent.

Oh, if you're curious, this is a shot of the temple built at the base of "Sunlight Rock," the 93-meter high rock you'll see in some of the other shots, which dominates the island. It's said that Koxinga, who in the 17th Century (?) led a group of warriors from Fujian across the strait to claim Formosa (later known as Taiwan) from the Dutch (who claimed to have discovered it around then, though when they did it was already inhabited by indigenous people whose descendants are now registered among the official ethnic minorities of the PRC)...anyhoo, this Koxinga guy is supposed to have sworn some big bad pledge with his soldiers about driving the foreign devils out of the Chinese sphere of influence. So there's a statue and a museum to him on the rock, also. Most of the other shots were taken from the top of the rock.