Like a Tiger

Shangri-la was great. It is a lovely town and not too touristy yet..! It was a bit cold at night and the altitude was affecting my sleeping a bit so I thought it best to move on to somewhere lower. I was hoping to walk Tiger Leaping Gorge but the guidebook suggested not doing this alone, while I was having some Tibetan food I heard a couple talking about 'Dave' and some suggestions he had made. I though "No it can't be", so I asked them if they had been to Dali - they had, so I asked where they stayed and yes - they had been staying at my friend Dave's new guesthouse - where I was heading for a visit while in the area. Before I knew it we were planning dinner and then the trek of the gorge!
Julie is from the UK and her partner Mikko is from Finland. They have been living in Finland and are on a long trip around Asia. Over a hot pot dinner I also met Nancy from Canada, who also knew Dave, Julie and Mikko and she was keen to do the trek as well so the following afternoon we caught a bus to Qiatou which is the town at the start of the walk.
We got off the bus around 5pm and were immediately met by Margo who is an Australian woman who has been living in Qiatou for 11 years - she suggested we leave immediately to get to a guesthouse 2 hours away before dark. This way we would avoid touts and other groups. After a quick bite and leaving most of our luggage with Margo, we set off with small (day) packs on the hike.
Tiger Leaping Gorge is a contender for the deepest canyon in the world. Starting the walk the views were fantastic - as the sun started to set it was changing the colors of the white snow topped mountains across the gorge.
We made it to the Naxi family guesthouse after dark - the last 15 minutes with no light was a bit tough. It was a great guesthouse though and we had a yummy meal before looking at a fantastic view of the stars.
The next morning we could actually see where we had arrived. The guesthouse was quite large and on a hill above a small village. The morning cloud was below us and it looked like you could walk across it.

The morning walk up the "28 bends" was the hardest part of the hike and after it you reach the highest point of the hike. We had lunch at another guesthouse before the afternoon hike and then stopped at the "halfway guesthouse" for the second night. This guesthouse has "toilets with the best view in the world" looking across at the snow capped mountains. Many other groups arrived that afternoon and it was a lively night.

The third day was an easy 3 hour walk to the actual gorge. Many people stop here, Mikko, Julie and I walked down to the gorge and then paid more money to do a trek along the river which was fantastic and well worth it. We stayed another night in Walnut Grove in the valley, with more spectacular views before getting a ride back to Margos and picking up our luggage, and getting on a bus to Lijang.