Climb every mountain

Lijiang is beautiful. It's like a picture postcard Chinese town, nestled in the mountains with streams coming straight down off the mountain and running through the maze of cobbled streets, lined with traditional craft shops, guesthouses and Chinese and Tibetan restaurants. We're staying in a brilliant little guesthouse built around a courtyard and although it gets distinctly cold at night, the days have been clear and sunny.

Lijiang was the base for our 2-day trek through Tiger Leaping Gorge, about 2 hours away by bus. As its name would suggest, the Yangtze River surges through a Canyon in the mountainous terrain, and we trekked high above it along mountain paths for about 17kms, overnighting in a guesthouse halfway along. The views were spectacular, and it felt a bit surreal playing cards and having a couple of beers as the sun set on that landscape, with a couple of the Danish boys in our group playing their harmonicas. Think Sound of Music meets Deliverance!

All in all a very enjoyable few days. In fact the last week has been great, and it really feels like we're seeing proper China now. Yangshuo is our next stop, and promises more of the same, so fingers crossed.

written by

phileasdogg on November 8, 2008 from Lijiang, China

from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs

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