Exploring Yunnan...........Part 3

云南探秘--第三部分

Based on narrative about the adventure by Andrew

根据安德鲁的游记整理

JADE DRAGON NATIONAL PARK AND BLUE MOON VALLEY

After spending three days in Lijiang, I met a college student who was staying in a hostel in Shangri La county. He assured me about the reliability of the public transport and I decided to take a bus journey through the enchanted land. I reread the renowned “Lost Horizon” by James Hilton, which is mostly based on Joseph Rock’s adventures in western China in the first half of 20th century, but what I was experiencing was heavenly bliss, which reading of a book cannot give. It’s hard to explain like the exhilaration of the first kiss whose memory stays afresh with one for the rest of the life. Looking out of the window, I was tempted once again by the already familiar Jade Dragon National Park

玉龙国家公园和蓝月亮谷

在丽江呆了三天之后，我遇到了一个大学生，他住在香格里拉县的一家招待所里。他跟我说公共交通很可靠，我便决定乘公共汽车穿越这片神奇的土地。我重读了詹姆斯·希尔顿的《消失的地平线》，这本书主要是根据约瑟夫·罗克20世纪上半叶在中国西部的冒险故事改编的，但我所经历的是天赐的幸福，紧靠读书是无法给予的。很难解释这种感觉，就像第一次接吻时的那种兴奋，这种感觉将伴随余生。望着窗外，我又一次被早已熟悉的玉龙国家公园所吸引。

and then by the thoughts of the Tiger lea gorge on the upstream of Yangtze River clamped by Haba Snow Mountain to the north and Jade Dragon to the south.

虎跳峡位于长江上游，北依哈巴雪山，南靠玉龙雪山

Mighty bend of Yangtze River before it narrows itself into Tiger Lea Gorge，captured in 2013

虎跳峡之前的巨大的长江弯道，摄于2013年

A small township called Shigu which belongs to Lijiang and precisely faces the bend. If you climb higher, you get a better view. This was taken at its worst season, too much water in summertime and not that picturesque blue with scattered fjords.

一个叫石谷的小镇，属于丽江，正面临弯道。如果再爬高点，你会看到更好的风景。这张照片是在最糟糕的季节拍摄的，夏天的水太多了，而且没有那么蓝。

All memories of my previous two journeys of northwestern Yunnan kept pouring in like a movie running at the back of my mind. In 2013, I went on a hike with my colleagues to Tiger Lea Gorge, said to have been named after a tiger esca huntsmen chase and leapt over to the other side of the gorge at the narrowest point. Sometimes I think that the name is a metaphor for the person who can try such a dare. Frankly speaking, no man can jump across the gorge except in his imagination but one needs to have a lion’s heart even for going there. From the hillside village road down to the riverside, it took us approxmately 3 hours of the total 2 or 3 days’ hike for a round-trip for the quintessence of fear and elation. With 10RMB fee of one of the hiking routes, all built and owned by local farmers, we stepped down with the ease of seasoned hikers,

我前两次云南西北部之旅的所有回忆，就像一部电影涌进我的脑海。2013年，我和同事一起去虎跳峡徒步旅行，据说虎跳峡是以一只老虎逃脱猎人的追捕而命名的，这只老虎从峡谷最窄的地方跳到了另一边。有时候我觉得这个名字是对敢于尝试的人的一种隐喻。坦率地说，没有人能跳过峡谷，除非是在他的想象中。但即使是去虎跳峡，也需要一颗勇敢的心。从山坡上的乡村小路走到峡谷边，我们花了大约3个小时的时间，徒步往返于两地之间总共花了2到3天的时间。其中一条徒步路线的费用为10元，所有徒步路线全部由当地农民修建和拥有。我们像经验丰富的徒步旅行者一样轻松地走了下来。

walking merrily through a spacious walnut grove, in spite of a little rain and slippery stones. The mood was gay and joyous until we saw the Heaven’s Ladder. All our laughter froze at the sight of it. The option was to choose between this or a circuitous, winding, treacherous path climbing down endlessly, but was safer and longer.

尽管下着小雨，山石也很滑，但我还是愉快地穿过了一片宽阔的核桃林。在我们看到天梯之前，我们的心情一直是快乐的。一看到它，我们所有的笑声都僵住了。我们要在这条天梯和一条蜿蜒曲折看不到头的小路中做出选择，后者虽然更安全、但却更漫长。

But the challenge was daunting and the risk high, for nature can be very unforgiving and one misstep can be fatal. It is very different and perhaps exhilarating when you see men in the Ads. Like “Dar kea aage jeet hai’ (Victory lies next to fear) shown perform daring feats (the reference is to the advertisement of a soft drinks named Mountain Dew shown on Indian TVs, where men are shown performing impossible feats) but in reality all mountains ‘command their due’ respect and perhaps in show of reverence our ancestors built temples on top of the mountains. To me they convey a message that “ No matter, how high I reach, HE will always be above me, or that “ I have reached this high because YOU are above me, so let me bow down to thee.”

但挑战是艰巨的，风险也很高，因为大自然可能非常无情，一个失误可能就是致命的。这你在电视广告中看到的壮举是不同。比如有一句广告词“胜利就在恐惧的旁边”，参考一款名叫“山露”的软饮料广告，在这个印度电视广告中，一位男士完成了不可能的壮举)，但事实上所有的山脉都应该得到应有的尊重，也许是为了表示对祖先所建造的庙宇的尊敬。它们向我传达了这样一个信息:“无论我爬的多高，它们永远都比我更高，或者“我之所以能爬到到这么高，是因为山本身比我更高。”

Kedarnath Temple- Uttranchal, India

凯达尔纳特庙--位于印度北阿坎德邦

Accepting challenges is man’s nature and so we did. The sheer thrill of it was overpowering, yet there was a lingering apprehension that choosing this exciting path may not turn out to be via-dolorosa but we put all our fears at the back of our minds and went ahead with our plans.

接受挑战是人的本性，我们也选择了挑战。这令人激动的感觉是无法抗拒的，但我们认为这条令人兴奋的道路可能不会是一条痛苦之路，我们把所有的恐惧抛在脑后，继续前行。

We chose the Heaven’s Ladder, seeing it as a ladder to heaven and at times, it occurred to us that it would prove true to its name. Countless ladder steps, all wet and steep literally seemed to be there to take us to a journey to the God’s abode, but I swear the gethsemane was all worth it. It was literally “Darr ke aagey jeet hai” kind of experience. We were trembling uncontrollably when we reached the edge of the rock from where the legendry tiger is said to have jumped over to the other side. Deafening noise caused by tons of water gushing through the narrowest section, invoked tons of fear too.

我们选择走天梯，把它视为通往天堂的阶。有时我们也觉得天梯这个名称是名副其实的。无数的梯子，湿滑而陡峭，似乎是要带我们去上帝的住所，但我发誓，这一切是值得的。当到达虎跳峡边时，我们不由自主地颤抖着，据说传说中的老虎就是从那里跳到了另一边的。在最狭窄的地段，由成吨的水喷出来的震耳欲聋的噪音，激起了无数的恐惧。