January 24: Banana Pancake!

Our plan was to take the 8:30 bus to Kunming, however Henry woke up with Pink eye so we decided to take the 10:30 bus. Which meant.... I got to get breakfast again! Instead of getting eggs and toast I got a banana pancake and honey like I did when I was in Tiger Leaping gorge. The difference... This one was huge!

I ate breakfast with a girl who graduated from Chapel Hill two years ago. She is living in China and works as a rock-climbing guide. Because it’s off-season she has off until May... MAY?!? I would go insane.

Mama had her driver drive us to the bus station. She sent us on our way with two bananas. Mama Naxi's has been my favorite hostel so far. I was sad to leave.

We ended up making the 9am bus with 10 minutes to spare. Lucky us!

The bus ride was your typical bus ride... We stopped for our free lunch and this time I actually ate it, all of it. It was delicious. Oh and I bought a pack of chocolate filled Oreos that Henry and I ended up finishing in 2 hours. Whoops.

I hate arriving in Kunming. There are so many people and they all bombard you about taking their taxi. And they grab your arm. It made me so mad yesterday.

Eventually we got a taxi and got to our hostel. We booked our bus tickets to Yuanyang for tomorrow and good thing we did because we got the last 2 seats on the bus.

For dinner we went back to the 2nd restaurant we went to on our day off in Kunming a few days ago. Henry wanted to get the same fish, which they didn't end up having and I wanted to get Kung Pao Chicken, which lucky me, they had. We ended up ordering too much food as usual but it was a great meal. I love being able to sit out on the lake and have dinner.

After dinner I was exhausted so I went straight to sleep when we got back.

January 23- Old town Lijiang

Mama Naxi

This morning we both slept in till about 9:30. I did some laundry right away so it would have time to dry outside.

Then I went down to see Mama Naxi and she made me eggs and toast. So delicious.

While I waited for Henry I had tea and read, it was a great morning.

  

During the day we walked around the old town of Lijiang. It's all cobblestone and old buildings that are refurbished. I love it. It sort of reminded me of Italy.

Honey

We came across this lady who looked like she was selling rock candy. Really it was very old honey that apparently helps your knees and eyes. So I bought a ton! I also bought a scarf from a lady who made it herself in her shop.

After getting a late lunch, we headed back to mamas around 4. When we walked in she said, "potato potato eat eat". They were french-fries with ketchup and they were delicious.

The rest of the afternoon was spent by showering (finally) and reading outside until it was finally time for dinner.

I swear on this trip I have been hungrier than I've ever been. After lunch I'm ready to figure out where or what we're eating for dinner.

As I mentioned in my last post, we went back to the same restaurant. The wait staff had a good laugh and gave us the same primo table.

Afternoon cleaning of the square in Lijiang

We got beer, peanuts, fish (which was delicious) and pork belly with vermicelli (which was mostly fat) and then of course rice. It was a great meal to end our time in Lijiang.

Tomorrow we take the bus to Kunming and from there we go to the rice terraces in Yuanyang.

January 22- I thought the scary parts were over after the first day?

This morning we had breakfast before we left. We never got to eat lunch yesterday so we figured it was a good idea. And a good idea it was! Lucas and I both got pancakes. I got a banana pancake with honey and it was amazing.

We left at 8:30 for our 2-hour decent. I was excited thinking the descent would be much easier and then I would be done!

Waterfall in the middle of the "path"

Wrong. At one point I said, "I'm not going to lie I am terrified." Henry's response, "yeah going down is the most dangerous part, be careful." Oh great. That helps. Needless to say the 2 hours felt like forever and my blisters that formed from yesterday were killing me. Despite the gorgeous views I was ready to be at the bottom.

Made it to the bottom!

Finally! We got to Tina's Guest House where we purchased our return tickets to Lijiang. The owner told us since we had time we should make the trek down to see where the tiger jumped from the rock. There's an old myth that a tiger jumped across the gorge from this rock because he was running from Indians.

I got halfway down to the bottom of the gorge and ended up turning around. I could see the water and I could see the rock. My knee was killing me and my legs were trembling. I'm not usually afraid of heights but this really got to me. A steep decent, no stairs, no thank you. Henry and Lucas were out of sight so I told two Asian guys in Chinese to let the American boy know I went back up.

When I got back to Tina's I ordered an apple pie and read Life of Pi while I waited for the boys to get back. I felt like a mom waiting in a ski lodge for her children to come back for lunch and of course worried sick that they make it back in one piece.

I should have been more than worried. When Henry and Lucas returned they told me they climbed up a 100ft ladder to get back to the top. Henry said he was pretty nervous half way down and figured I had gone back up. Not because I'm a wimp but because it was at the very end of the hike and I was done.

The boys ordered lunch and I had some of their food. They wondered why I didn't order anything until I fessed up and told them I ordered an apple pie.

The bus ride back to Lijiang was just as bumpy as the way there. When we arrived we said bye to Lucas who was headed to Dali and we returned to Mama Naxi's.

Tonight we got two dinners. We tried hot pot at this one restaurant. It wasn't normal hot pot, it was chicken hot pot. I was so excited for some boiled chicken until the hot pot arrived. It was like they skinned a chicken, cut it up and tossed it in the hot pot. Feet, skin, and everything else.

After we ate what we could we went to a different restaurant and that was great. We got dumplings, peanuts and beers. The atmosphere was great and yet seemed to have a lot of good dishes so we decided we would go back again tomorrow.

Tomorrow is our 2nd and last down day of the trip. Which means we get to sleep in and explore Lijiang! So excited.

January 21: Death at TLG.. please not me!

This morning I woke up early to have mama make me egg and toast. It was delicious. I haven't eaten breakfast on this trip so this was awesome.

We took the 8:30am hostel bus to TLG. With us were 5 other people. 4 Koreans (one American-Korean from California) and then 1 guy from Belgium, Lucas.

We ended up hiking with Lucas, which was probably a great break for Henry. However, hiking with two guys... Not so great for me. I was dying.

Let me "start" by saying, Lonely Planet told us that there have been deaths at TLG, including a few foreigners and to follow the red arrows to stay on track. The first day would be difficult and we will walk along a few cliffs but after the 28 bends its easy. WRONG. I totally got the whole "Death at TLG" And make sure you follow the red arrows. But the entire hike was in the side of the mountain and at any point, any misstep, you were toast. Comforting? Especially when I had two guys who were super fast and hiking like it was a straight path.

After hiking for three hours we realized we missed an arrow somewhere along the way because we ended up on the road. At that point I was ready to give up. I just wanted to see the gorge; I didn't necessarily care about the hike? I actually was excited for the hike until it was all on the side of a cliff!

Walking on the side of a cliff

Anyway... Some dude drove us back to the beginning of the hike and said we should start over. Yeah right. I already risked my life once in that part, not doing it a second time. Eventually we got him to drop us off on this road and another guy drove us up to the nearest red arrow. The one we missed!

I was under the impression we already did the 28 bends... Wrong. I seriously wanted to quit at this point. I told Henry that I was slowing them down and I would turn around and he said nope. You're doing it.

Halfway up the 28 bends I gave up and decided to take a horse up the rest of the way. 3/4 of the way up... the horse was exhausted and almost fell off the mountain. I jumped off that horse so fast the guy leading the horse was confused. So in the end, I ended up doing the 28 stupid bends and I was exhausted. Thankfully the guys were waiting at the end. They had a good laugh.

Halfway point guest house

At 3:30 we were told it was another 4 hours to the halfway point. I was so nervous we were going to be hiking in the dark. So I decided to lead and we got there in 3. The only reason I was walking fast is because it was a pretty flat path at this point, still on the side of the mountain though. And the stupid boys kept getting close to the edge and saying "ah man we are so high up"!

We got to the halfway guesthouse at 6:30 and ate a feast. My legs felt like jello. I was asleep by 8pm.

January 20: Bus Broke Down

We left the hostel this morning at 7:15 to make what we thought was the 8am bus to Lijiang. Nope. It was the 7:50am bus to Lijiang, which we missed by 4 minutes so we had to wait an hour for the next bus. Not a big deal.

Halfway through the bus ride the bus broke down. Of course they didn't tell anyone on the bus what was going on. We just put the pieces together. An hour later the bus driver told us to get all of our stuff and wait outside for a new bus.

The new bus was huge with big comfy seats. It was great. We arrived in Lijiang around 7.

Everyone waiting for the new bus

Tonight we are staying at Mama Naxis hostel in the old city of Lijiang. Naxi is a minority in China. The Mama and Baba run the hostel, which if you can't figure out are the mom and dad of the hostel and are married. Mama is crazy. She's like the Italian version of my Poppop. And she loves to gossip.

Tomorrow we are headed to Tiger Leaping Gorge to hike for two days and then we'll return to Lijiang on the second day.