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by
Justin Mazzarella
Today
AACE visited the Tiger Leaping Gorge. The scenery is simply
breath-taking due to the mighty Yangtze River and the surrounding
mountains. In addition there are two tunnels that have been
dug through stone to continue the walking path.
The
mountains were formed out of a reaction from an up thrust
between two Teutonic plates which when they collided the
mountains rose up. Every year the mountains move slowly
apart due to the Yangtze River flowing in between them and
wearing away the rock.
The
fable of the tiger leaping the gorge goes like this: One
day a fisherman was by the bend in the river where the water
was the most turbulent and he saw a tiger being chased by
a hunter, race to the edge of the cliff. The tiger didn't
even slow down but leaped into mid-air and landed on a rock
in the middle of the river and then leaped again to the
other side getting away. This feat of prowess was so spectacular
that that particular bend in the river became known as Tiger
Leaping Gorge. |
As
we hiked towards
the Gorge we found some
tourists opt to be taken up the path in a rickshaw
pulled by a man. |
Mr. Perrin and Noel had an ongoing
hug moment at the highpoints of the trip.
Making it to Tiger Leaping Gorge was
one of them.
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The
Gorge was quite a way below this stairway, but this
gives you an idea of the shear mass of the rock walls.
The day was hot and we all gravitated to the shade. |
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Top,
L-R: Steve Perrin, Dr. Wu, Mary Greene, Lisa Brooks, Chris
Simpson. Dr. Wu was from Yunnan Normal University in Kunming
and accompanied us to Lijiang acting as interpreter and
facilitator.
Right:
Heading back; you get a feel for the massive overhangs.
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On the way to the Gorge we found out the two caves we traveled
through had great acoustics, so on the way back the students
stopped for one last rendition of "Lean on Me".
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Dr.
Wu has 9 year old twins who love walnuts, so he brought
some back for them from our trip to the Gorge. |
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We
were particularly hungry that evening and so Dr. Wu arranged
for a fresh chicken to be prepared at a local restaurant.
Here it is being washed in fresh well water right outside
the restaurant as we looked on. |
The
meal was eagerly devoured as you can see here.
Some of our favorite dishes are the potato pancake in
front of Justin, and the sauteed peanuts in front of Stephanie.
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A short after dinner trip to the Old Town in Lijiang where
we
visited a tea shop and with the help of Dr. Wu purchased
some Pu'ur tea, famous in the Yunnan province for its curative
qualities. |
