26th December: Lijiang, China
On the TV at the breakfast buffet was live news, as opposed to the recording from November that was playing a few days ago. The main stories were primarily wars, but it was interesting to use the live translation app on my phone to understand the narratives that were being portrayed. Ukrainian attacks on Russian cities and their civilian casualties were covered, without mention of any Russian attacks on Ukraine. This is the exact opposite of western news, and both are as clearly daft as each other. However, for most of the population on both sides of the new cold war these are the only stories they hear, and they are not informed enough to critically assess world events. Surprisingly to me, given that China regularly votes against Israel at the UN, Israel’s barbaric atrocities in Palestine were not mentioned in an extended piece about peace talks being held in Qatar but Israeli “security needs” were. The final story was about US political interference in the steel industry and how weak their manufacturing industry has become. Completely true of course as capitalists profited immensely from outsourcing to China and other developing nations during the unipolar period and governments in the west are now panicking that these countries can directly (out)compete them in both heavy and high-tech industries. For context and to give a UK perspective, China now makes more steel in 1 hour than the UK makes in 1 year!
We wandered the backstreets the mile or so to the bus station, picking up snacks for lunch along the way from friendly vendors. Along the way, I somehow painfully tweaked my neck. Buying bus tickets was straightforward and whilst we were waiting a young woman came and gave Kaja a beautiful local Naxi style keyring! The bus ride was a slow one, taking 2 hours to take a circuitous route around Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, via the Jinsha valley.
Eventually, we entered the area of Tiger Leaping Gorge, passing under the railway bridge we’d travelled over on the way to Shangri-La a few days ago. Rather than attempting the two-day hike as originally planned, we’d hatched a plan to see the best bits in one day. First, we got dropped off at the upper gorge and walked the steps down to the ferocious river. This is probably the most touristed part of the valley. It is where the river is at its narrowest and is said to be where a tiger leapt across the deadly waters to evade hunters, via the giant rock in the middle of the torrents. Even at this time of year when water flow is at its lowest, the power and noise were phenomenal. It was freezing down in the deep valley, however, so we climbed back up to the road and decided to find some sunshine.
Rather than follow the crowds to another viewing platform, we paid a local driver to take us about 500 metres vertically up Haba Snow Mountain on the gorge’s north side. This involved scores of sharp hairpins, which could only be travailed by more rugged vehicles. By doing this, we were able to join the hiking trail at Tea Horse Guest House after the most arduous section. The upper hiking path, also known as the high road, is part of the ancient Tea Horse Road which linked Tibet to Southeast Asia. Local Naxi people living on the hills still use it as their primary means of access. The views from this part of the trail were spectacular, with the full 3,790 metre height of the canyon from the top of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain to the Jinsha visible. The sheer cliff faces seemed to endlessly continue one after another into the sky. From here, it was not surprising this mountain has only once been successfully climbed.
Having walked the best 5 km of the trail, we reached Halfway Guest House and sat admiring the scenery with a lemon tea. They also had squat the toilets with perhaps one of the greatest views in the world! As it happened, two friendly Koreans who had been on the same bus as us had had the same idea and offered us a ride in a car they’d pre-booked back down the mountain from this side. We joined them and then jumped on the bus back with the day-trippers who’d spent their time down by the river. It felt like a win doing all of that it one day independently and still getting the return bus!
Tiger Leaping Gorge completes the Yangtze odyssey which I’d had in mind for two decades. As it happens today was also Mao’s birthday, which felt like a fitting coincidence given his obsession over this river. We’ve seen the mouth where is empties into the Pacific near Shanghai; the great cities of its lower reaches in Nanjing and Wuhan; where it mellows from the dangerous mid-reaches to the meandering lower reaches in Yichang; the mighty Three Gorges Dam; the huge reservoir behind it at Wushan and the Little Three Gorges; the now-navigable futuristic mega-city of Chongqing; the untamed Tiger Leaping Gorge; and the first bend which allows all of these to exist at all. On the slow bus back to Lijiang, we passed back over this mighty river for one final time.