Blog Nasi Padang - How to Hike Tiger Leaping Gorge Without Really Trying | From <b>Nasi</b> <b>...</b> |
- How to Hike Tiger Leaping Gorge Without Really Trying | From <b>Nasi</b> <b>...</b>
- Tibet in Words and Photographs | From <b>Nasi Padang</b> to Dumplings
- The Struggle Continues: Stupid Bus Driver and Good Karma | From <b>...</b>
| How to Hike Tiger Leaping Gorge Without Really Trying | From <b>Nasi</b> <b>...</b> Posted: 28 Aug 2014 06:17 AM PDT
…. Lol jk there's no way in hell one could hike this trail without just a little bit of struggle. Or maybe that's just me, I don't know. Point of the matter is: I survived hiking the high trail of Tiger Leaping Gorge! *self-five* I've looked forward to hiking this trail ever since I found out about its existence. First time I've seen the pictures and read people's blogs I've decided that I will hike this trail and I will survive it. It wanted it to be the highlight of this trip and it was indeed the highlight of my trip. I started off from Lijiang early at 7.20am, ready for a 2.5 hour bus ride to Qiaotou, where the trail starts. Everyone always said that the first day of the trail will be the hardest, and indeed my physical fitness was severely tested on this day. It was all steep hills and narrow rocky tracks all the way up. After about two hours of walking through villages, I made it to Naxi Guest House, where I stopped by for food. I made the mistake of barely eating before starting the track, so a plate of fried rice was really needed. Especially because the 28 bends was waiting for me. I really thought the 28 bends would be death of me. And I guess it did felt like it for a while, and it got worse as it started to rain quite nastily. We walked up after Naxi for quite some time and thought we had past a few bends, but nope apparently we haven't started. So, that didn't go quite well. Oops. Anyway, what follows was a really physically testing ascend up the 28 bends. With every step I took I thought I was going to collapse. But with every step I took, the view got more and more beautiful. When I finally reached what was supposedly the top of the bends, I was greeted by a man who insisted that I pay 8 yuan and take a picture at what he claimed to be the best spot in all of the gorge. I hesitated for a while and finally gave in, after a fellow trekker convinced me it was indeed worth it. It did turn out to be amazing up there though, despite the dangers one has to cross.
After resting for a bit and a lady continuing to harass me to buy her bamboo stick, I figured it was time to moved on. After the bends, the trail got slightly less strenuous, though. It was all downhill, but I still needed to be extra careful, since it was really muddy and slippery after all the rain. But, other than that, the trail began to be fairly flat and the view just got even more amazing. At first I intended to maybe stop at the Tea Horse and rest there for the night, but I thought it was still quite early and I might as well walk another two hours to the Halfway House. It seemed to be the most popular stop for trekkers, as it was full of people when I got there. They're the biggest guesthouse in the trail, and offers the most rooms. So if you prefer a quieter atmosphere, there's the Five Finger Guesthouse not far from there, but I wouldn't have a clue of what it's like. I paid 70 yuan for a double room, figured I splurge a little and reward myself with privacy and a big bed after all that struggle.
I woke up the next morning and had breakfast with a view. It was absolutely stunning to watch the sun shine through the peaks as the clouds rolled in. I took my time with breakfast (which was a stale pancake and mediocre coffee), because I really just wanted to stay there forever and marvel at nature. But, finally at about 9.30am I made my way down. Despite the fact that the trail didn't involve any steep hills or ascend, it doesn't mean that it got any less dangerous. Had I lost my focus or balance just a little bit, I'd have rolled down and fallen into the end of my life as I know it. It got worse as I had to pass through waterfalls and the rocks were slippery. I was shaking as I crossed the slippery rocks and had to stop for a while to regain my composure. Such an adrenaline rush it was. I really took my time with my descend, especially since there were mountain traffic, i.e. goats blocking the way. Plus, the trail just got more and more slippery as I go. Regardless, I finally made it to Tina's and plonked myself on the sofa and downed ice-cold water.
Most of the hikers continued on to walk down to middleleaping gorge, where the mythical tiger jumped onto the rock to escape from the hunter. But, I was being a bit of a noob, and decided not to walk down in that heat. I also made a rather impromptu decision to stay another night at Tina's (which I then realise wasn't such a good decision at all, more on that later). There's just something about the majesty and peacefulness of the gorge that makes me want to linger just a little while longer. While staying another night wasn't such a bad decision after all, but staying at Tina's was. I booked a dorm for a measly 30 yuan, but other than the fact that I have a bed, everything else at Tina's were pretty much shit. The bathrooms were awful, stank and its staff weren't friendly at all. I would have been better off walking down a few km to Sean's or Woody's. They didn't have dorms however, and I would have paid twice the price, but it would probably have been worth it. As most people have left for either Lijiang or Shangri-la, the village was really very quiet. There's a mixture of eerie-ness and peacefulness to it, though. I walked down the road to see what the Walnut Garden village is like and check out other guesthouses. It really was very quiet and the only signs of life were villagers going about their day, preparing supper and stuff. After the quick glimpse of village life, I had a quick meal at Sean's and got back to Tina's before dark. The next morning, I made my way down to the middle leaping gorge. I met Xia Yi, who is apparently the celebrity of the gorge. She sets up a shop right at the bottom of the infamous Sky ladder of death, and have been selling goods there for 40 years. I met her on the way down, and she continuously reminded me to be very careful and don't attempt to cross the bridge onto the gorge. She's a really kind and wonderful woman, and I decided that I will pay her a visit on the climb back up.  Oh, decisions decisions…
Frankly, I didn't really get to the gorge, but just close enough to take a good picture. I really do enjoy looking at the rapids crashing into the stone, and couldn't fathom what a painful death it would have been to have fallen into those treacherous waters. After snapping a few pics I climbed back up and stopped for a bit at Xia Yi's. I topped up my water and lingered for a bit while contemplating whether I should attempt going up the sky ladder of death or take the "safe way". Whilst I contemplate, Xia Yi gave me grilled corn fresh from her farm as my first meal of the day. She also managed to convince me that the sky ladder of death is very safe after all, and I just have to be slow and careful when climbing up. I thanked Xia Yi, said a few prayers and climbed up.
I've never really been scared of heights but, boy this ladder is really something else. I didn't dare to look anywhere but up towards the end of this goddamn ladder. My palms were sweating and I was shaking as I got up top. I still had quite some way to go, so I quickly brushed up and made my way back to Tina's. By the time I ascended, a lot of people who just came down from the high trail came rushing down. I'm glad I did the trail early in the morning when no one was in sight. I went back to Tina's to book my bus back to Lijiang. And with that, I ended my misadventures at Tiger Leaping Gorge. It was by far the most physically challenging thing I have ever done in my life, and I didn't regret a single moment. The high trail of the gorge really is something else. I can't really find words to describe how beautiful and incredible that place was. I just knew that when I hiked that trail, all I can do was marvel at how majestic nature is.
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| Tibet in Words and Photographs | From <b>Nasi Padang</b> to Dumplings Posted: 03 Aug 2014 03:51 AM PDT I travelled to Tibet with my family for 6 days. Sure enough, Lhasa is easily one of the most beautiful places I have ever travelled to in my life. Here are my Tibetan experience expressed in words and photographs. Bakhor Square, Lhasa
Bakhor Square is one of those places where you first realise how tightly the Chinese government is attempting to secure Tibet. Security checkpoints is located at every entrance of Bakhor Square, and I swear I've never seen so many police stations in one area in my life. It doesn't disrupt your sightseeing or whatever, but it certainly does give you a feeling of Big Brother watching your every move. Potala Palace
This grand majesty is the landmark of Lhasa. Constructed by King Songtsan Gampo in 7th century and was added into what it is now in the 17th century by the 5th Dalai Lama. The palace was Dalai Lama's residence until the 14th Dalai Lama. It contains 1,000 rooms, over 10,000 shrines and hundreds and thousands of statues. Its walls are about 3m thick, keeping it cool in the heat of the summer and warm during winter. The view from the top of the palace is beyond magnificent. Drepung Monastery
The largest of all TIbetan monasteries. If I'm not mistaken, it currently holds 6,000 monks in residence. Although I'm don't understand a single thing about Tibetan Buddhism, the monastery is a pretty amazing place to visit. Like most places I've visited in Tibet, I marvel at the view as I climb up to get to the main building. Monks Debating at Sera Monastery
I didn't have a clue what these young monks were debating about, as they spoke only in Tibetan. Regardless, it appeared that they partook in a very lively debate. I can see in their expression how serious they were, yet still had the time to have a laugh about it in between. A Glimpse of Tibetan Countryside
On our last two days in Tibet, we were supposed to visit Tsedang, however, due to every one in my family except for myself suffering from some sort of illnesses, we had to cut that from our trip. Instead, my tour guide, Nobu took us to a Tibetan country side, just 2 hours away. Despite my disappointment of missing out on Tsedang, it was still a great experience. It was so peaceful in that village, and we visited a monastery that is never mentioned in Lonely Planet of Fodors. Almost no one was on site, so I just took in the majestic sights and listened to the birds chirping away. It definitely was a nice change from the sound of beeping cars and chaotic traffic. |
| The Struggle Continues: Stupid Bus Driver and Good Karma | From <b>...</b> Posted: 09 Aug 2014 03:34 AM PDT So, my last update ended with my struggle with Jiuzhaigou's unbearable crowd of Chinese tourists. HOWEVER. For whatever reason, trouble follows me even as I attempted to leave Jiuzhaigou. It first started with an early morning bus ride at 6.40am. We didn't leave until about 7:40 however, because some passengers were making a big deal out of these other two passenger who wanted to lean their seat back for the 10 hour journey. Obviously, the people at the back thought it totally wasn't fair! So these guys, who were Israeli and speak no Chinese, argued for their case, while everyone else in the bus (except for the sane ones: i.e. my family and I), jumped into the argument. I really don't know what settled it, but it was only settled for 40 minutes of nagging and shouting. No one got hurt, though. I swear if such thing happened in Indonesia someone would have ended up with a black eye. Which makes me realise: Indonesians are really angry people, most times. Anyway, I digress. This bus ride was cursed, I tell you, because my struggle didn't end there. We finally made our way into Chengdu. After 10 hours of excruciating pain in my buttocks, I was finally so close to getting some relief. But, obviously that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. Because the bus driver decided it would be a pretty good idea to run a red light in a seemingly empty road, only to hit an SUV in the process. It all happened so fast, all that could come out of my mouth was: "what the actual fuck." Everyone involved was lucky, really. The car didn't suffer much damage aside from a broken taillight, and no one in the bus were injured in any way. Had the bus hit the middle body of the car, and we all would end up with a very different story. Regardless, it got every single person extremely pissed off, and every passenger ended up having to find our way to our destination by ourselves. It was a pretty empty residential area, and I basically had no hope of finding a cab. I gave up the first cab I found to those Israeli guys because I felt sorry they didn't know any Chinese and had to figure out how to get out of a Chengdu suburbia. We finally found another cab, who only told me to get on a subway instead. I had to be all whiny about the fact that we had a stupid bus driver who ran into a car, and that we're all tired so why won't he just give us all a break and send me to this goddamn hotel. I attempted to say all that in my very basic Chinese and, voila, it worked. Well, actually, I had to go to a hotel downtown where I previously stayed at and picked up my glasses that I left (yes, I brought this mafan-ness upon myself, I admit). We were just gonna put our stuff down and find another taxi, but this driver probably felt sorry for us, so he stayed and waited for a while, then took us to the airport hotel. He was nice for the rest of the ride too, I quite had a good conversation with this guy. So, I'm trying to find a moral of the story here and I guess it all comes down to karma. Yes, the bus ride was yet another struggle and we were unlucky enough to have a bus driver with an egg for a brain. But, I'd like to think that because I gave that first cab up for those guys, I ended up with a super nice Good Guy Taxi Driver who was willing to basically drive me from one end of Chengdu to another. I couldn't thank this guy enough, really :) Oh, another highlight in such an awful day: I found a reaaally nice Korean place right by the airport hotel, albeit situated in a rather dodgy parking lot behind another hotel. Like, seriously, why is it that all the good Korean restaurants I've been in in China are all in obscure places? Anyway, that's all about my 倒霉 experience. Next post will be about Kunming. Stay tuned folks and thanks for reading! |
The heart of Tibet's capital. At its end is Jokhang Temple, considered the holiest temple in Lhasa. As I walked to the temple in the morning, many locals were already gathered to pray at the gate of Jokhang and many more were lining up to pray and give offerings to the temple. Surrounding the square are numerous shops selling touristy stuff. Despite the mafan-ness of having to go through a security checkpoint, the square is where you'll enjoy Lhasa and all its colour.
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