Organizing this trip took a while, because every tour agency Charlotte went to claimed that the road was closed and they couldn’t go there, but she found one that said they go every day because they are locals. Turning on to the road we soon found out why other groups would not go. This was the scariest road I have ever been on. The road was probably a couple feet wider then our bus and on one side was a mountain straight up and on the other was a cliff that went straight down about 750-1000 feet with the raging Yangtzee below which has some of the worst rapids I have ever seen. 90% of the road had no barriers at all protecting the edge. Some of the barriers that were there had been destroyed by rockslides and mudslides whose aftermath still scattered the road. Buses and construction equipments were going both ways on this one car width road which meant finding areas near the cliff to pull off the road while they passed. Normally you would imagine inching down this road, but not Chinese drivers, he was probably driving this bus at least 30 MPH, slowing to 15-20 to let vehicles pass. I almost decided to hike out, but since going back we would favor the right side of the road (away from the cliff) I decided to go back on the bus.
Here are some pictures from the ride back to the town of Qiaotou (橋頭), remember this is when we were a few feet FURTHER from the cliff than when we went to the hike
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Ok at least there are barriers
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Ok those barriers seem to have been taken out by some rocks
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I don't think that will stop a bus
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Remember this is when we are trying to stay on the right of the road
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View of where we came from
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There is a good 5 feet to the edge
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Ok I am a wuss a woman brought her kids to play on the cliff
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At least they are fixing it
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I don't feel like a wuss anymore
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You can see the road along the mountian
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Straight down.
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While I freak out, people just chill on the edge
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I wasn't afraid of heights before this
The hike we risked our lives for was pretty short, but it was a very, very steep grade down to the yangtze. Plus being over 2000m we did get tired pretty easily.
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View from the top
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Charlotte is down there somewhere
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Made it to the bottom
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The Yangtze
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Clouds overtaking the mountains
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The woman selling drinks at the top
After the hike and the bus out of the gorge we got let off at a bus station in Qiaotou (橋頭) and I will never complain about NYC’s port authority or Baltimore’s Greyhound station as being dirty ever again. The waiting room has an unbearable stench from the bathroom despite being totally open to the street and the bathroom being 2 rooms away. After about an hour of waiting for a bus to Shangri-la (香格裡拉) a car pulled up and asked where we were going, we told her and she agreed to drive us the 2.5 hours for $6 each. We would pay that much just to get away from that bus station so we jumped at the chance.
Shangri-la (香格裡拉) is about 3,300 meters in altitude, which is about the same as Leadville, CO the highest incorporated city in the United States. The drive up there through the mountains was dense fog and rain. We arrived at the town at around 8:30pm. The town is as close as we would get to going to Tibet as the Chinese government put restriction and large fees for foreigners traveling to Tibet. Shangri-La (香格裡拉) though has the same people, customs and religion as Tibet including a large monastery similar to the one in Lhasa, Tibet.
The first thing we did was go to old town, but due to rain it was pretty empty so we got some Tibetan food, dried Yak meat which was good and bread that smelled like ammonia we couldn’t eat it. Then went to sleep early.
New map of where we have been
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