Here, rice is rarely served in individual bowls. A wooden bucket, or large bowl of rice is placed on the table for all to share family style. I like it.
We see people at the bottom already! They are on the large, jutting rock on the left. We explore The Rocks on the right first. A mightly powerful River through the gorge! The group on the large rock leave. We make our way over. A woman sits by the path up The Rock. She wants 10rmb from us. I had asked in advance where exactly we were suppose to pay as locals like to set up signs and road blocks and illegally collect 'passage fees.' If the information I gathered was correct, we do not have to pay her. I tell her so and walk right past her. Corey is too polite. She grabs her cell phone & calls. For back up? For police? For muscle? We'll see. I enjoy the views. Corey pays the fee. I over hear her give a sigh of resignation. Whomever she called did not make her emboldened to confront me. After a bit I leave. She does not follow; back up, police and muscle do not arrive.
I saved myself $1.61.
Back at Tina's level we decide to have an easy horse back riding afternoon. The trail we want to do is called the Bamboo Forest. It is suppose to be a highlight of the Tiger Leaping Gorge experience. First we are told 'no can do' because of the Bridges & wind - not safe for horses. We end up at a very pleasant looking Tibet Guesthouse for lunch. We inquire about horses again. Sure, they can take you through the Bamboo Forest & back to Tina's. Perfect!
No could do. The Bridges & wind really didn't allow. We ended up going through Walnut Garden to a very nice look-out high above the gorge. Sure wish I had seen walnut cakes on one of the menus.
Food was fine. Beer was fine. The sun had long set. But by the time we finished our meal the kitchen was dark and not a soul to be seen or heard anywhere. "Hello?" "Wei?" I had a flashlight with me but a 3k walk in the quiet dark next to significant drop offs was not appealing.
We finally found everyone downstairs underneath the open patio we dined on. Phew!
Free ride!
I saw the rug hat people and the black turban people and the woven bookmark with fringe draped across the head and held in place by a Mao cap people and the knit cap shaped like a squashed flower bud people and the animal skin on the back people and only one huge black half hexagon hanging off the back of the head person. Mostly it was the black turban people.
All these clothing distintions were only for the women. The men were drab in comparison.
I'll do my research and come up with proper tribal associations.
Twas a cool day!
After a 20 minute rest stop so the driver could eat I'm in Jianchuan about 2 hours later. I switch to a bus to Shaxi that's waiting to fill. I'm person 6 of 7. We only need one more. But two people walk up, one holding a baby. A man quickly gets off giving up his seat so the family can stay together. Nice.
1 hour later I'm in my home for the next 3 nights: Shaxi, Yunnan, the town time forgot.
We make it to the first set [that include 'fertility' symbols on lotus pads]. To be cautious we inquire of the route to our next destination. The man says too difficult, go back to the parking lot and walk from there. Back to the parking lot would be a difficult down into the valley and up the other side that we already trekked. Over & over he said to go back, our route was too difficult & we'd get lost.
Thankfully, we ignored him. The route was easy to follow and almost totally down hill unlike the deep dip & back up he was recommending us to do. And it was beautiful! Even with no millenium old carvings to look at occassionally the hike was well worth it just for the trees, hills, blue skies, rock outcroppings and and views to distant villages.
Photos coming soon!
AM: Walked atop the [new] Old City wall and enjoyed many picturesque views. Filled my SD card in my camera - sat for a long time deleting photos and videos. The 'highlight' was finding an almost 6 minute accidental video. It was from the vantage point of my belly of me washing my hands, breathing, flossing - quite a hoot! DELETE!
PM: Ate spicy mint for lunch. Not a favorite but worth a try.
PM: Went for an oil foot massage. I fell asleep at one point so was pretty good.
PM: Inquired at the front desk about walking to a pagoda I was prominantly from the [new] Old City wall. It looked close enough to reach on foot but I wanted to be sure there weren't fences or such in the way. She suggested I take a bus. She wrote the name of the stop. Having been informed by the same person that I could flag down the #4 bus anywhere along the road I stood off the side walk & waited. The first bus came and by the time I noticed the small #4 it was too late to flag it down. The second would not stop. Neither did the third. The fourth bus did stop. I showed the driver the stop I wanted and paid my 1.5rmb. I assumed it would be only 2 or 3 stops away. Miles away I ask my seat mate about the stop I want. We had passed it long ago. The bus driver than acknowledged that he had forgotten. I motioned to get off so that I could cross the street and hail a bus going back the way I wanted. He said to stay and he'd get me there on the return trip. That he did. But I had to go all the way to the bottom of the lake eating up a lot of time. But hey, I guess he saved me 24 cents. :-/ At the bus station I had to switch to another bus, my first driver explaining to the second driver why I didn't have to pay and where I was to get off. I could have walked there by now! Well, I finally was advised as to where to get off and... it was not the pagoda I had wanted to visit. It was no where near the city wall I was looking from. But there I was road side. I crossed the street. The temple was shut and locked. I walked around the side. Behind the complex holding two pagodas and across the alley was an open temple. I wandered through there taking pictures. It was quite nice but I'm getting templed out. I wanted to climb a pagoda! I went back to the road and caught another #4 bus back to my guest house. I told the desk sraff of the misunderstanding and my misadventure. The owner [who is native English speaking] tells me the pagoda I want to see is an easy walk, no fences or barriers of consequence. Tomorrow's challenge!
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