Black Dragon Cafe

They have torn up the road running through Tiger Leaping Gorge in order to widen it. This means they dynamite regularly and transportation is limited to certain times of the day.

Buses are now running 11am to 1pm, and after 8pm. Otherwise they are blowing up bits of cliff. From Tina’s Guest House at the north end of the gorge you take a minivan half way, then there’s a short walk across a pile of rocks and mud (you have to be a bit careful here, there’s still stones rolling down). Then you get another minivan back to Qiaotou. The entire trip should cost RMB 150 / minivan, and each minivan can seat a maximum of seven people.

Asia Sentinel has reprinted (by arrangement with the National Geographic Society) a section from the book Dragon Rising: An Inside Look at China Today by Jasper Becker (Part 1 & Part 2). The article, The Rising Dragon’s Environmental Disaster, is a great overview of China’s environmental problems, including a (depressing) part devoted to Yunnan: Dianchi, the Tiger Leaping Gorge dam etc. Well worth reading.