Great walks of China

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-06-24 16:32

Scenic beauty to Gorge on

Hidden deep in the Lujiang (Salween) River Gorges and sprawling on a tableland surrounded by snow-capped mountains, Bingzhongluo is a small town bordering theTibetautonomous region in the northwestern corner ofYunnanprovince.

The mighty river, white sand dunes, sheer cliffs, dense forests and hamlets inhabited by the Lisu, Yi, Nu, Dulong, Bai, Naxi and Tibetan people, are some of the things Bingzhongluo offers to visitors and are ideal for hikers to explore.

Check into a hostel in the one-street town, about40 kmnorth of Gongshan county, or at a home-stay in the villages nearby. Then you can start hiking along an 18-km paved road, which winds its way through villages along the northern bank of the river.

At the Nu people’s village, stilted houses roofed with slices of black rock encircled by patches of fruit trees, and corn and highland barley fields are photo-perfect spots. You will also pass a scenic site calledStoneGatePass(Shi Menguan), the narrowest site of theNujiangRiver, where sheer cliffs close in around the river and an endemic plum tree grows tenaciously on the cliff face, and ends at a bridge. On the other side of the bridge, walk along the remains of an old horse track, or “Tea Horse Caravan Route”. Chiseled out on cliffs overlooking the roaring river, the narrow trail is sure to get your adrenalin pumping.

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