The view of Lijiang at sunrise is breathtaking from the airplane. The terraced fields looked like glittering ponds rimmed with Chinese tiled roofed buildings, all amidst mountain ranges sweeping off into the distant horizon.
Even the Lijiang airport evoked a "Lost Horizon" exotic mountain nirvana. But I had no time to relax and seek nirvana. My plane lands at 8:30 and I need to get all the way to the distant Tiger Leaping Gorge trailhead by 13:00, a journey that entails 3 bus rides and a walk across town. Moreover the Wikitravel/Lonely Planet provides me with only the vaguest of directions to the Gorge. And no one seems to speak English.
Even the Lijiang airport evoked a "Lost Horizon" exotic mountain nirvana. But I had no time to relax and seek nirvana. My plane lands at 8:30 and I need to get all the way to the distant Tiger Leaping Gorge trailhead by 13:00, a journey that entails 3 bus rides and a walk across town. Moreover the Wikitravel/Lonely Planet provides me with only the vaguest of directions to the Gorge. And no one seems to speak English.
Fortunately the Yunnan people and the Chinese tourists in Lijiang prove to be unsurpassingly helpful and friendly. I am repeatedly pointed in the right direction and soon find myself crammed in the back of an express bus amidst a festive group of tourists from all over China, sharing odd pork flavored crunchy snacks washed down with Red Bull.
The bus rolls into the scruffy little town of Qiaotou right at 13:00 and my new Chinese friends point me in the direction of Jane’s Guesthouse, an even scruffier place, where I rendezvous with my trekmates and head into the Gorge.
After a pleasant 2 hour hike we do arrive at Nirvana - the Naxi Family Guesthouse - an otherworldly Chinese courtyard palace perched on a stunning, terraced, hillside where we are attended to by the courteous, angelic Naxi innkeepers.
After a pleasant 2 hour hike we do arrive at Nirvana - the Naxi Family Guesthouse - an otherworldly Chinese courtyard palace perched on a stunning, terraced, hillside where we are attended to by the courteous, angelic Naxi innkeepers.
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