With our clothes smelling delicious and our our bodies recovered (well as much as we could) we packed up our backpacks once more and checked out of our cute hostel in shaxi.. Before boarding the the minivan back to jianchuan we created the mother of all breakfast... 2 long (but unfortunately sweet) baguettes from the bakery, went next door to the 'pointer lady' and ordered 4 fried eggs in which together create the cheapest awesomeness around. For the two goopy egg rolls it was 8yuan ; $1.20aud.. And now for the integral part of breakfast: coffee... Plain black Yunnan coffee generally destroys our budget. Anywhere from 8 - 25 yuan per cup! So its time to stop going without the morning necessity and find an alternative... 2 in 1 nescafe... I swore I would never drink the stuff again since living up in northern Thailand BUT for 1yuan per sachet it's a good saving! So that's what we did. Found some paper-cups and hot water, mixed in the nescafe and bordered the minivan with all our seriously good breakfast.. We were definitely the envy of the Swedish girl riding with us!

After a short change over in Jianchuan we were soon on the bus heading to Qiaotao for a 2 day adventure on the famous Tiger Leaping Gorge (TLG)!!!

The bus journey to Qiaotao was nothing to write home about except for the fact we were follow the Yangtze river alongside 60 tourist buses!! It's tourists central around here. I'm thinking this is due to the close proximity to Lijiang (Chinese tourist haven!)..

Arriving in Qiaotao we set off to pay the 65yuan each entrance fee into TLG and find Janes guesthouse to store our big backpacks. Janes guesthouse is pretty busy with TLG travelers coming and going and as we eager to get on with the hike we packed our day backpacks, sneakily left our big bags in the storage room with no questioned asked and set off on the hike!

Tiger leaping gorge is one of the deepest canyons in the world giving it a place on the UNESCO World Heritage natural preservation sites. The gorge lies between Haba Snow Mountain to the west with its summit peaking at 5,396 meters and Jade Dragon Snow Mountain to the east sitting at a mere 5,596 meters. In amoungst these immense mountain ranges is the beginning of the Yangtze River; the worlds third longest river. The Yangtze roars and rushes along far below and can often be heard along the trail.

The whole valley is about 18 kilometers long lying between Qiaotou near the Upper Gorge and the town of Daju near the Lower Gorge. During the entire hike, the eastern side is shaded by the peaks of the looming mountains, and the higher elevations appear to be bare rock or white snow. Pretty Awesome.

There are two trails to choose from; the low road which is mainly for buses and vans to carry absurd amounts of Chinese tourists to the 'highlights' or, the high trail which runs high on the northern side of the gorge passing through quiet villages, shady forest, blustery precipice and verdant terraced farmland along the edge of the Yangtze river.. Obviously the only option for us was the high trail :)

Most travelers split the high trail route into 2 or 3 days stopping at one of the recommended guesthouses along the way. Splitting the trek up seemed perfect for us as Becks still wasn't fully recovered from her asthma/f***ed lungs thing she got on the Deqin trek... Oh and the fact we have time on our side so we can relax a littleand take our time.

Side note: It's been a repetitive story from other foreign travelers that they can't do 'this' or 'that' because they don't have the time. They seem to be madly rushing from big city to big city spending ridiculous amounts of money, traveling absurd distances across the country, convincing themselves they are seeing the 'real' Chinese minorities and getting completely knackered at the same time... I just don't understand. Why not spend 3 weeks in in 1 Chinese Provence. Reasons being: a) you cut the travel time down, b) you will see more of the culture, c) you have more time to get of the beaten path and maybe see something that 2 billion chinese haven't seen, d) you will get to know a small town better if you spend a few days and maybe meet an awesome man who cooks ridiculously delicious tofu and e) you can have a sleep in, you know... Wake up at noon and not feel guilty... After all you are on holidays right????

Ok back on with the story.. So we set off and plan to keep this afternoons workout light and make it to the naxi family guesthouse a mere 2 hours down the road. It was already mid afternoon thus a pleasent temperature, less sun and enough time to get to the guesthouse to settle in and watch the sunset. Oh and the Naxi family guesthouse just happened to be positioned at the base of the infamously difficult 28 ends!!!

The first 2 hours is quite mild (Becks struggled a fair bit with her lungs) with wide roads slowly changing to neat narrower trails before the path narrows again and becomes steaper and grittier. Every once in a while you will pass a mule (a donkey bread with a horse) and his owner asking if you would like a lift. It is now when you hold in you deep breaths, smile remembering to hind your red face and look as if you are finding the steady incline a walk in the park. If you are even a little unconvincing you will be sure to catch the attention of the mule owner and he will proceed to pray on you like a lion spotting a weak, struggling wilderbeast. He will begin trailing you, waiting for you to succumb to his inevitable intensions and handom steadfast stead.

We watched this happen to a chinese couple who were fully decked out with brand new hiking gear... Within 15minutes of the hike (setting off with good intensions I'm sure) they were plodding ahead of us, riding high on the back of the mule, smug owner in the lead, their guilty laugh oozed as they trotted on past...

Naxi family guesthouse was super cute! We got a room for 40yuan which has glorious views out the windows to the enormous Jade Dragon Snow Mountains. It was here we met 2 girls travelling together (1 Hongkong, 1 German) which were keen for a chat. Sharing a taste of their yak butter tea was less generous as initially expected once the dreadful taste of stale, weak chickpea water mixed with warm, slightly curdles almond milk touched our lips!!

Quick memory of Naxi Family Guesthouse: picking a green apple of a tree and munching into the sour deliciousness!

The next morning, hearing the girls alarm at 7:30am we rolled over and went back to sleep! Once satisfied with the sleep in and once Becks was over her food envy towards my egg pancake, it was time to get the day rolling. With our takeaway fried rice packed for the lunch on the trail and with Becks nervousness for her stimina she should required to complete the 28bends (she gave herself double the time reccommended to achieve the section of the hike) we set off for Half Way. Half Way is another guesthouse where the girls we had met were staying, estimated to be 4 hours from Naxi Family Guesthouse.

The 28bends were a piece of piss in comparison to the hype we had heard. We made to the 2700m summit within 2 hours (even with Becks chest) and it was here we met the crazy granny. She insisted we buy something from her worth above 8yuan and only then she would let ONE of us down to the viewing platform she was eagerly guarding to take pictures! Doing what seems like the touristy thing to do we bought a snickers and Becks proceeding down to the viewpoint to take some snaps.. The old women ceased to take her eagle eyes off me the entire time Becks was on the viewing platform. Little did she know I was mighty content munching on my snickers, silently giggling to myself about the absolute absurdity of this ferociously greedy women.

Scenery is awesome from here on.. The huge jagged Jade Dragon Snow Mountains ever looming presence with it's capability of changing around every corner was the absolute highlight.

At the 3 hr point we met up with the hongkong/German girls who were taking their sweet ass time. chatting and dawdling, passing waterfalls and taking some good pics we make it to Half Way Guesthouse within 4hours! The open verandah on the roof allows the mountains to englulf the 360 degree view and stun you. Its hard to leave. However after a coke and the fried rice we decided to keep moving and make it to Tina's guesthouse (the end of the trek) another 2 hrs from Half Way Guesthouse, stay there the night and get away early the following morning!

This last 2 hours was the best part. Sheer cliffs and waterfalls to cross were just a few highlights. It's was at the point when we realised why TLG was on the tourist map. It is awesome!

Not much to mention about Tina's.. Unlike the other guesthouses we saw, Tinas was a bland industrial hostel, sitting stark on the edge of a concrete jungle.. The food was a little steeper and the ladies were a lot grumpier. Word to the wise.. Don't believe a word that comes out of the ladies mouth. They will tell you there is no dorms left when there is.. They will tell you there is only one bus to shangri la when there is mini vans every 15mins and try and sell you their private bus at an extortionate price.

The following day we woke up early and made our way down the ladders to the rapids and to see the stone in which the legend says the tiger lept Across the Yangtze. Worth a visit for sure. Just take 10 yuan to use the ladders and keep a little energy for the steap climb back to the top.

Back to shangri-la (Zhongdian) we go.. Mad rush to try and get our visas in by 5pm this afternoon. Can we do it? I hope so!

Oh and an update of our 900yuan Between us for 5days Test = success! Less than $15 a day each! It wasnt as hard as we initially thought. I think we have settled into the way locals eat and live here in china. It's cheap and it's getting cheaper the more tricks we learn. It's pretty cool eating like a King and living in good conditions and paying so little. Why would you want to go back to paying more for less???

Hmm food for thought.. Is it stingy counting your dollars or is it travel savy?

TLG is a must. Keep in on your list of things to do in China!

Can't wait to get my pics up and show you Guys!!

Xxx