Lijiang and the Tiger Leaping Gorge

April 24-29So after a couple of hours sleep i made it ok to the bus station and prayed for a sleeper bus so i could get some kip,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and another chicken truck turned up.Oh no i thought, 8 hours on that, i will never last.But as luck would have it, it was only a transport bus that took us to another station and a super duper vip bus with really big seats.There was a Jackie Chan movie which i have not seen as well, and it took us through some really nice countryside, so it was no where near as bad as i thought.The town of Lijiang is picture postcard pretty, sat in a valley with mountains either side, even if it is a bit touristy. A lot of the old town was destroyed by an earth quake, and they have made a really nice job of keeping it authentic, and there are little streams everywhere.The hostel was really nice, right in the middle of the old town in walking distance from everything. It rained the first day so i tried to burn some dvd's as i had run out of memory for storing my pictures, but as usual, all the files decided to hide themselves on my memory stick, so i spent hours on the pc and achieved nothing.The girl who managed the hostel, shouted at me on the 3rd day and said i was the laziest guest she had ever had, (She loved me really) as i had done nothing since i got there, and also did not follow her advice and go to the local park before 7am to get in free. (as if i would get up that early)So she said i should hire a bike and go to the mountain.It was a nice day, so off i went on this mountain bike. I got about half a mile away when the back wheel worked loose and and jammed just as i was crossing a busy road.So i had to carry it all the way back to the hostel. After some speedy repairs i was on my way again and headed north towards the mountains, not realising how far it was. After a while i was hot and knackered, but was determined to make it to the foot of the mountain.As i got nearer, the road got steeper and my knees were killing, so i hatched a cunning plan to get a taxi back and just pay him extra to take the bike. Money was no object at this point as my legs were about to drop off.Just as i was looking to find a taxi, a guy from the hostel biked past me on his way back down."we can ride back together" he said.Puffing my chest out and pretending not to be destroyed by the thought of no taxi, i declared that it would be a good idea.great.How i made it back i do not know, but i was more worried about the trip i had booked the next day to the Gorge.Well i slept well that night and the next morning our bus left at 8.30 and we arrived in the Tiger leaping gorge at noon. i had met a couple of people from the hostel on the bus, grace and evan, so we decided to do the hike together.It is a set route up the mountain and along the gorge with lots of guesthouses on the way and you just walk as far as you want when you want, but from start to finish it is at least 12 hours.Typically the first half is the most strenuous as you are walking up the mountain, so fresh from my 50km bike ride i was absolutely knackered. Luckily the weather had turned cloudy so it was cooler. By about 6 we were ready for a rest so we stopped off at a guest house right up in the clouds and checked in for the night.It was pretty traditional and really nice, but as the locals are as hard as nails, everything was outside, so we were absolutely frozen as we stayed up drinking all night.In the morning it decided to rain, so seeing as the paths would be slippy and i had no waterproofs we all had a lay in and set off at 10 when it had stopped raining so bad.Only problem was though, that i had to be back in Lijiang that night as i had a bus booked to laos for the day after, so i had to be back at the begginning of the gorge for no later than 5 o clock. The final part of the trek is going down to the river to see the rock. It does not sound much, but it is one of the deepest gorges in the world, and is mostly a sheer drop, so it takes a good 3 hrs even if you rush it.So after the bike ride and climbing mount everest, the last thing i needed was to be rushing.Anyway to cut a long story short, if i was going to see the gorge, i had to be down and up in under 2 hours, a trip that would have been tough at any time, let alone after 2 days of hiking.There are a few different paths you can take down to the gorge, and vary in terms of difficulty. By far the hardest is one that involves ladders on the cliff face as well as a treacherous path, so i ran down the easy route, and took the tough one back.I can not remember being so scared in all my life. The first ladder is about halfway up the cliff with the thunderous noise of the river below you, but is vertical and about 40 foot high and is attached with pencils and chicken wire.I got half way up and had a bit of a panic attack, but there was no going back as there were people already on the ladder below me.I was hanging on for dear life and did not look up or down, i just prayed it would all be over soon.Luckily that was the worst of the ladders, but the rest of the trail was just tiny little paths on the side of the cliff.But anyway i made it and i am so happy i got to see it, and you can see from the videos just how destroyed i was.I just managed to catch the last bus and then had a 5 hr ride back to lijiang as they closed the road for a couple of hours for repairs.The next day i had a couple of hours spare in the morning to get my dollars for the visa in to laos and to get to grips with exactly how and where i was crossing the border.The bus i had booked only took me close to the border on the chinese side.So as usual, i found out you can not buy dollars in lijiang unless you go to the main branch of the bank of china in the new town. I finally got to the main branch to find they do not sell dollars full stop.Great, my bus leaves shortly, i do not have a map of laos or china, i do not know where to cross the border, i do not know how i am even getting to the border, and you can only buy a visa on the border with US Dollars.great...Next installment..........................Border Fun at Laos................