China was pretty great. When I had visited Beijing and Shanghai in January 2012, I left feeling that I didn't see any of rural China, and I was bummed about that. Luckily, on my last trip to China I got to see a great deal of the countryside and natural environment. Jack, Andrew and I were in Kunming for about a week. When we first got there we visited the Stone Forest, about 70 km outside of Kunming. The Stone Forest is made up of thousands of limestone formations that you and walk around and through and climb on top of. We had a great time exploring the area for the day. Although it was packed with Chinese tourists, we were able to explore some places that the tourist groups couldn't find.
On Thursday night we took a night train from Kunming to Lijang. Surprisingly, I slept like a baby despite the loud music and announcements in Chinese that played over a speaker in our room. We didn't realize until the next day that you could turn off the speaker. After arriving in Lijang, we bussed for abou 2.5 hours to Quio Toe, and we were dropped off right at the trail head. We spent the first day hiking and seeing amazing views of the Gorge. The Jinsha River, a contributor to the Upper Yangtze, divides huge mountains over 17,000 feet high. Some of the higher peaks that we could see were covered in snow. The views along the entire trail were incredible, and I found myself stopping often to look at the views (and catch my breath). We spent the night on the trail at the Halfway Guesthouse, which overlooks a beautiful view of the opposing cliffs and mountains, and is at 7,694 feet. We were overjoyed to be served a delicious dinner of grilled veggie sandwiches and hot soup. It was a bit chilly once we were settled in, but we were very welcoming to the cold after coming from hot Thailand. After dinner we sat on "Inspiration Terrace,"the deck overlooking the amazing view, and sat underneath blankets with hot chocolate and a strange version of apple pie.
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