Happy Chinese New Year

After a late night arrival to Zhangjiajie and a rather cold night, I was up early for my intended one-day stop in the city. In the lobby of the hostel I met three fellow travellers about to head to the national park to see the mountains. I was invited to join, and gladly accepted. So, an Englishman, a Dutchman, a Hungarian and myself headed to hop a bus for the hour-long ride out of town to the large national park. On the way the already overcast weather worsened and to our chagrin, the day was filled with fog--and lots of it. But, it was certainly eventful, nonetheless. As we got into the national park and started hiking, we were greeted first by signs instructing visitors not to feed the monkeys, and then by the monkeys themselves! What cool park companions, we thought. But then, they turned. Our friend Peter, the Hungarian, had bought bananas at the store, and in lieu of a backpack, only had them in the store's plastic bag. All of a sudden, five monkeys descended upon us and headed straight for Peter's bag. He managed to fend them off, but not without them putting up a fight! After that, we divied Peter's goods amongst our backpacks and remained on guard the rest of the day. Despite the weather, the national park was beautiful and had quite amazing rock formations--at least the ones we could see. We even crossed a "natural bridge" between two mountains that supposedly had nothing but 300 meters of air beneath it, though it all looked like fog to us. By the end of the day I knew I had to spend another day here and hope for some better weather.

I didn't get it. The next morning I woke and wanted to see the other park where the famed Heaven's Gate Mountain Cave is located. With an evening train, I decided not to chance the11km walk and just take the cable car up the mountain. That proved the prudent move as the road was closed most of the way up and I would not have made it! On my way up the mountain via the cable car, advertised as the longest in the world, the fog continued to roll in and eventually I spent some minutes dangling in nothing but white. It was a bit surreal, disorienting, and exciting! Once up, I headed into the park and walked along some concrete walkways hanging over the white abyss. I could not see the ground, but from pictures I saw, there was nothing but hundreds of meters of air under my feet. I don't know which is more spooky, seeing the ground, or not being able to. After a quick look and some lunch looking out into the abyss, I headed back to town to pack up and catch my train out of the city. I am sure Zhangjiajie is nice when the weather allows, but I unfortunately was unable to see the parks in their full grandeur.

After a 20 hour train ride to Kunming, followed by another 10 hour ride to Lijiang, I was finally at the foot of the hike I was much anticipating: Tiger Leaping Gorge. I arrived in the early morning and spent the day with two ladies I met in my hostel riding horses outside of town and checking out the old part of the city. Although touristy, there was some charm to the Old Town Lijiang, if you forgot that every other shop not only seemed the same, but in fact had the same sign, same products, likely the same owner and maybe even the same employees! The next day, we headed off to Tiger Leaping Gorge. And what a sight it was! The river laid hundreds of feet below and the opposing cliffs loomed hundreds, if not thousands, more above to until they topped out in rough jagged peaks. Brilliant! And alog the way, we met a few fine folks from Israel, France, and Scotland who shared our guesthouse accomodations and marveled in the splendor with us. The second day of the hike was shorter in destance, but the rigorous climb down the steep steps to the raging river itself was quite the effor. And despite being in the middle of the dry season, the power of the water was still quite impressive as it moved through the narrowest part of the gorge.

After hopping the bus back to Lijiang, Henriette, my roommate/hiking buddy/temporary travel partner invited me to join her and two friends on a trip to Lugu Hu, a lake located a few hours north of Lijiang for a couple of days. After the windy ride, of which some fellow passengers were unable to stomach, we arrived at the lake in calm and mid-70's weather. However, as soon as we arrived, a strong wind arrived and remained for the duration of our stay. But, the weather was still beautiful and we spent the one full day riding bikes along the shores of the lake and visiting villages. In one village we met Shao Yan, a young man who invited us to lunch despite his busy schedule preparing for the New Year festivities. We had fresh barbecued pork and amazing homemade caramel corn and learned about some of the local culture. What a brilliant time!

After heading back to Lijiang, I decided to tag along with the fine crew of Fiona, Lodo and Henriette to observe Chinese New Year in the small village of Shaxi. We left early the next day in a shared cab to Jianchuan and then on to Shaxi where the weather was threatening to sprinkle. But after a late afternoon drizzle, the sky cleared just in time for the New Years festivities. In the run up to the New Year's festivities, families take cooked pigs and chickens to the local temple to pray for a good upcoming year and then retire with their families to observe the holiday. In the evening, local villagers, mainly young boys and girls, assembled for a traditional dance in the town square and lit off firecrackers to celebrate the New Year. At the stoke of 12, we headed to the river and lit off fireworks to great celebration, though mainly by foreigners!i was under the impression that chinese new year was rather rambunctious, but in fact, most Chinese celebrate at home with their families, and so the evening was rather quiet, despite the copious amounts of baijo consumed! We finished the night chatting with a milanese restaurateur in Shaxi eating amazing fresh spaghetti! Buona sera! And Xinnian kue-le, or Happy New Year!

The next day we wandered the streets and soaked in the sun in Shaxi, which is a beautiful, quaint little town poised for growth in tourism. Though that will stimulate their local economy, it will likely deteriorate from the charm as even the posters of planned construction looks distinctly kitschy and unauthentic. Oh well, great place to spend a wonderful Chinese New Year with new friends!

That afternoon Fiona, Lodo and I headed to Dali and onto Kunming on the overnight train before parting ways as I headed onward to Laos, and them back to home in Shanghai. To my despair, the bus to Laos was sold out so the ever so sweet Fiona helped me secure a seat to Jinghong, a border town where I could find my way onward to Laos. But hey, it's all part of the adventure! Next stop: Laos!