Tiger Leaping Gorge

Today, our bus took us to the Yangtze River (aka Golden Sands River) beneath Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. 

We went to Tiger Leaping Gorge, one of the deepest gorges in the world. The guide told us that only a tiger could leap across the river here.

It was a long way down. Kind of like the Great Wall. It was a thousand steps down and a thousand steps up.

There were men who were selling chair rides. You would get in the chair. Then two men (or women) would lift it up and carry you down. I wanted to buy one, because my legs were exhausted. But mom and dad wouldn’t let me.

The water roared like a tiger. It frothed white. The spray exploded up almost like lava in a volcano. The water would put so much pressure on you that if you fell in you would probably only last two seconds. Mom said that it made her think about the power of nature.

If you look closely you might think there’s a dragon in the water. Can you see his back coming up in the middle of the picture? It went up and down like a wave that would never stop. I could see why dragons and water are related. I felt lucky that I was born in the Year of the Dragon. Maybe if I fell in the part where the dragon was going up and down, I might last a little longer. But maybe not, so I didn’t really want to test it out.

I think that Mom was kind of lucky too, because she was born in the Year of the Tiger, and only a tiger could leap across that entire river.

Since my feet were tired, I went and sat down with the guard and the tour guide in the shade of the guard’s umbrella.

While we were climbing back up, my mouth was dry, so I bought a cucumber. The lady peeled the top for me.

The cucumber was nice and cold and watery.

It really helped me get up the rest of the steps because of the coldness and wateriness.

It also came in handy when we got back on the bus.