Finally Starting the Hike to the Tiger Leaping Gorge 虎跳峡

I was estimating that I had already walked around two kilometers in to the road which leads to the Tiger Leaping Gorge when I was approaching a familiar landmark. I was at the point where the river I was walking along past turned out to be a small stream. I only found out when I reached the part where it merges with its main artery the Yangtze River itself. As one might expect, the Yangtze River is unimaginably long. The rains from far away have carried sediment and turned the river into murky brown. I’m not sure if this is the normal color of the water here but you can probably mistake this for the Yellow River with this kind of color. The waters of the Yangtze originate from the glaciers of the Himalayas like several other major rivers in Southeast Asia, the Salween in Myanmar and the Mekong in Vietnam, together they form a UNESCO world heritage site known as the Three Parallel Rivers.

I then realized that I haven’t officially entered the scenic area yet. There was a large structure which I saw from the bus which practically marks the start of the Tiger Leaping Gorge area. You will know when someone approaches you for a ticket. Anyway, I took this time to take a toilet break. I don’t think there will be any for a while. I will be walking several kilometers for his hiking and I need to get rid of some baggage. I then realized that the toilet there offers some of the most amazing scenery I have ever seen from a toilet. No kidding. While you are going your thing, you can gaze out at as the stream from the Tiger Leaping Gorge Town merges with the main Yangtze River. I thought it was a bit bizarre to have any kind of scenery there but this seems to have been purposely built for that. If you hike and follow the main road from Tiger Leaping Gorge Tow, you won’t miss this.

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