Tiger Leaping Gorge

Tiger Leaping Gorge was AWESOME. We were really lucky with weather the whole way... it was raining in Lijiang when we took the bus to the gorge, so we were not sure if we could/ should hike it, but figured we could assess upon arrival. And are so grateful that we did! It was absolutely spectacular the entire time. Occassionally we heard rolls of thunder through the gorge (very cool and dramatic), but never suffered more than a sprinkling of water for 10 minutes. It is truly a spectucular place- one of the deepest and longest gorges in the world (and will likely be flooded for a dam in the next several years).
We were followed for the first bit by a man, which was really creepy at first and we tried to get away from him (were scared that he would try to take our stuff while we were hiking some high narrow passage), and then we tried to interact with him to figure out what was going on (he was not subtle about following us, so we figured it was not going to be an ambush). We pieced together that he was waiting for us to hike the "28 bends"- a section of steep switch backs, figured we might get tired and hire him and his burro to carry our stuff. We told him "no," but he still followed us- so closely at times that his burro was butting Mike's backside. We decided to think of him as our guardian angel, as he helped us figure out the correct way to go at times. And then when he saw that we were going to make it on our own, left... which was a far more enjoyable way to experience the hike and views.
A true highlight of the trip was the fellow hikers we met along the way. There were about 8 of us staying at the Tea Horse Trade Guest House on the way (a Naxi lodge home built on the trail). We all chose the cheap rooms (means going to the bathroom outside over a gutter), but couldn't beat the view! We laughed so much together- and the three Naxi women who ran the place joined right in... and there was much hilarity b/c one of them spilled soup on our fellow traveller, then spilled soup on me (she kindly washed my pants and then laughed hysterically when she saw me in my long underwear), and then another one broke a dish right next to Mike. They all laughed so hard and then brought us two buckets of fresh popcorn. The night offered a full moon and again, spectacular views.
We are now in Shangri La- near the border of Tibet... a beautiful town filled with prayer flags, bells, and cobbled stone streets... after several nights of gutter going, or just going in a hole, we have upgraded to Western style bathrooms... much easier with GI stuff going on :) Now for a plane back to Kunming before our flight to Yangshuo- more later!