The peaks of Yulong Mountain (5596m elevation), seen from Upper Tiger Leaping Gorge
Hiking Tiger Leaping Gorge (虎跳峽, hutiaoxia) was something that was on the top of A’s list for this trip. This was his number one.
Tiger Leaping Gorge is an impressive gorge in between two huge mountain ranges - Haba Snow Mountain (5396m elevation) and Yulong Snow Mountain (5596m elevation). These two mountains are some of the tallest mountains in Yunnan province. The river that runs in the gorge is the Jinsha river (Gold Sand river).
Yulong Mountain on a bad day. Overcast and lots of clouds hovering around the peak
We were supposed to stay in Lijiang for one night and move on to Tiger Leaping Gorge. We stayed another night as the power of the sun was not enough to dry our clothes, which meant that it would need another day! It’s a bit of a silly reason but I didn’t mind so much, as this meant we could climb Elephant Hill, which was right beside Black Dragon Lake and had an elevation of 2700m. Lijiang itself has an elevation of 2400m.
Rooftops of Lijiang Old Town
Lijiang (麗江 or if you prefer the bastardised version: 丽江) means “beautiful river”. I’m pretty sure the name refers to the Jinsha river (Gold Sand river), which is quite a signifant river as it flows into and forms the Yangtze river (a.k.a. Chang Jiang/Long river) in Sichuan province. The Jinsha itself is formed in Qinghai province and is used heavily for hydro power. Interestingly, Lijiang is bordered in the East and West by the Jinsha river.
Street in Hekou, China
A had checked the weather for Lijiang, China and the horizon was not looking good. The rain was forecast to start on Sunday, and he really really wanted to do Tiger Leaping Gorge in good weather (well, there’s just no other way to do it, really) so we have to vamos and get out of Vietnam. It’s supposedly rainy season around this time of the year for Lijiang (which looked like it would start this Sunday). Sigh, there goes my plan of staying in Sa Pa town for 2 more days :\
So… goodbye South East Asia. It’s been fun. I’ll miss you!
HELL-OH China! We will be spending a TONNE of time in the Middle Kingdom.
Phra Nang Beach
Last night we had done some last minute research (which is starting to become a trend, unfortunately) and decided to hang out in Ao Nang for 3 nights. Information about how to get there and around was a bit sparse (Wikivoyage being out of date) so we went with the flow, which kind of put us in danger of being rorted. Not that it would be the first time.
Koh Haa
The main reason we came to Koh Lanta was because I had read that the snorkelling was really good at Koh Rok and Koh Haa, a couple of small islands in the Andaman Sea that was rather close to Koh Lanta. So, was it?
Firewoks on Pra-Ae Beach, Koh Lanta
Koh Lanta was next. I had read that this was a really chill place to be, and had less tourists. We were also going to do another snorkelling tour here, to see if the coral was any different.
George Town as seen from Butterworth Ferry Terminal
Today we were off to George Town on Penang Island! We had heard great things about George Town, and it would be our last stop in Malaysia. Previously, we considered going to Langkawi, another large island of Malaysia, known for its beaches and rainforests and duty free status. But looking past the glossy pretty photos from travel bloggers and on Instagram, we found insights saying that if we were going to Thailand anyway, then don’t bother. So we weren’t going to.
Ipoh Railway Station
Ipoh is another city with plenty of history (but not extensive as Malacca’s). It was originally a village until tin was found nearby in the late 19th Century, attracting investors and workers, causing a mining boom. However, by the 1970s, most of the tin was depleated and the price of tin crashed, causing a decline in the city as people left to find employment elsewhere.
Today, Ipoh is known for its colonial British architecture and food scene, as efforts to revive the city continue. We were here to get a taste of this.
A street in Ipoh (the view from our accommodation)
…with A, of course :)
Overall, it was not a very eventful day today as A didn’t feel too good, but we had to move on from Cameron Highlands to Ipoh.
