Baushuitai Limestone Terraces, leaping Tiger gorge and the sky lake.

The Baushuitai Limestone Terraces of the Hunan province China are about as good an example outside of Turkey of these amazing geographical structures. As there hadn't been too much rain some of the terraces were dry but most had water in them so we got a good idea of how unique these creations are. The views from the terraces were equally spectacular while we enjoyed probably the best weather yet in China. The road to the terraces also provided great views of the snow mountain and surrounding peaks.

the nest day we ventured further into the uncharted hills after speaking to a local girl who recommended going to the sky lake. Again not in any of the guide books and we soon found out why, the road is a real off roaders delight, almost 2 hours on precipitous roads. With a local driver who really didn't know the way, eventually we arrived but the weather had started to close in so we didn't see the lake at its best. It's called sky lake as its over 11000 ft above sea level. The late rhododendron blooms were still out so we could see that the summer season here is very late and possibly very short.

On our last day in Shangr-la we went to the famous Tiger leaping gorge but due to road building and local blasting much of the route was closed and we were stuck on a real tourist path with about 9 million Chinese tourists, the expected hike into hills consisting of a 20 shuffle along a man made concrete path with a few glimpses of the gorge above.

The road to sky lake .... and that was one of the nice bits.

Village in the depths of the Hunan mountains.

Same village but from a bit higher up.

Late rhododenron blooms sky lake .

Sky Lake.

Local flora, sky lake.

more flora at sky lake.

Azalea

a hill side of those azalea's

Suddenly the sky turned very dark, this is actually a colour picture not a monochrome effort !

Next day at the Tiger leaping gorge.

( this was about all we saw of it thanks to the road builders )

On the way to Baushuitai Limestone Terraces Hunan province China.

Hunan province.

Snow mountain in the back ground.

The footpath to the Baushuitai Limestone Terraces .

Looking back down the valley.

Baushuitai Limestone Terraces

Baushuitai Limestone Terraces

Baushuitai Limestone Terraces

Baushuitai Limestone Terraces

Him and Her at the Baushuitai Limestone Terraces ( thanks to a handy wooden pillar and self timer )

Linda recons they look like big cheeses, not surprising she flunked geography..and cheese making !!

Baushuitai Limestone Terraces

Nice sky .

Mountains of the Hunan province.

End of Blog, next we are in Chongqing and the start of a 4 day boat trip..