Ok so the shower is permanently locked and the video screens don’t seem to do anything – but it is still a pleasure. Customs and passport control at both borders was without hassle but we were not allowed off the train so could not change the last of our Mongolian money (will have to write the £20 off).

Since the Russian/Mongolian track guage is bigger than the rest of the world our train was rolled into a massive workshop and the carriages split. From inside we could barely feel it as the jacks lifted all the carriages about 1.5m off their bogies (wheels). The wheels were then all pulled out from under us and replaced. Efficient and very cool. After much clunking and re-attachment of carriages we were on our way again (the border crossing took a total of 4 hours – departing around 1am).

[Pictures: V’s Phone. Love the network operator tag top left]

– Posted from my iPhone

We made it ! 7925km from St Petersburg to Beijing by Rail. That’s a major tick in our book. So excited that V has even written a post… and here it is..

Woke up this am to much more interesting scenery. Mountains, valleys rivers and tunnels before arriving in Beijing.

Found an ATM, broke a 100 RMB note (why do ATMs insist on dishing out high value notes that no one wants?) and got on the right bus. Being given detailed directions to your hostel is the best thing ever. It made us feel like Kings just being able to use the public transport straight off the bat.

Bus fare is super cheap at 1 rmb (about 10p) each, though we have now learnt that the conductor ladies do not like being given anything except exact change.

The first thing we have noticed here is that all the signs have English on as well. Even the bus stops were repeated in English.

Our hostel is a lekker spot down the end of a pedestrian market. To get to it you pass by all manner of things being sold, people cooking outside, bicycles and electric mopeds beeping at you to let them pass. It’s chaotic and wonderfull.

We have noticed a few people with dogs. Not sure if they are pets or if it’s just easier to walk your dinner home instead of carrying it.

We checked out Tiannemen square this afternoon and caught the lowering of the flag ceremony at sunset. Lots of domestic tourists out doing the same thing. We had two teenage girls come up to us and start chatting. We weren’t sure if they were trying to sell us something, practice their English or if they were just being plain friendly. It was an odd experience.

Something we weren’t aware of is that once they have lowered the flag, they close the square and boot everyone out.

Tomorrow we will be doing Mao and the forbidden city followed by dinner at a Tibetan restaurant with the lovely family we met in Mongolia. Looking forward to it. Sim is in desperate need of a haircut so we might also brave one of the many hair dressers we have seen so far.

BTW we had the best KFC zingers for dinner tonight. Sim has been craving one for weeks now. We have spotted half a dozen KFCs since arriving. We love China already.

[Picture: V chilling in the hostel’s courtyard]

– Posted from my iPhone

Okay we are ready now for more sightseeing. Enough of this sitting on trains for days at a time. The plan was to get up early and get to see Mau before the crowds hit. Well that was optomistic. On the way down to Tianeman square I got a hair cut. They did a great job, but not the cheapest. I was considering going bald to blend in with the locals but realized my hue would need changing too. Breakfast from a street vendor was around £0.40 – egg role and a chive frittery thing.

The square was already packed with locals but the ques for the chairman were not too long and we decided to join in. Mau’s moseleum is probably 100 times the size of Lenin’s, agh shame. They sell flowers outside that you can lay inside and we are convinced that they just recycle them back to the shop until the start to whither. Mau, like Lenin, did not have much to say but is looking good (V is convinced they are fakes).

Then on to ‘The Forbidden City’. The LP guide suggests taking in Mau and TFC in a morning. 6 hours in the sweltering heat later we emerged (thanks to V’s navigation skills – what a maze !) It is incredible in size – The Russians need to take a lesson on what a ‘palace’ is supposed to be. There are apparenlty around 9000 rooms in the complex governed by bright colours (reds, blues, green, yellows) and intiricate detail. Again it was packed with tourists but that was expected. On one of our many sit down stops I fell asleep on the bench (I was far from the only one).

The treasure rooms were good but we were honestly spent by the time we got there and we just missed the clock and watch exhibit – guess that meant it was time to leave haha.

It was well worth the visit – you can just feel scences from ‘The Last Emporer’ and a variety of Kung-Fu movies 🙂

[Picture: TFC halls as far as the eye can see and me looking roasted]

– Posted from my iPhone

For sups we were invited by Andrea and Nick to a Tibetan resturant close to the silk (more expensive) district. Having been there before, Andrea was surprised at how much it had changed. Nothing like a good review in the Lonely Planet (LP) to dissolve the charm and ambience of a place.

Being the only group of euro tourists there we were treated to front row traditional entertainment (something out of ‘The Long Way Round’). Good but very loud so conversation was difficult. The food was good too – I ended up with a deep fried yak (hairy cow) steak.

Was a great evening but we all got carried away with the wine (thanks Nick). By the time we left, the staircase to the street was a challange. The subway home was also intersting. There are no doors between carriages (the whole train looks like one carriage) so you can see the train twist as it goes around corners. Even more intersting with 5 glasses of good red wine in you I promise.

By the time we got home I was feeling extremely rough – no more details on that ! I’m such a cheap date. Thanks again Andrea and Nick – great fun.

– Posted from my iPhone

Ok so we started out a bit lazy today only getting out the hostel at 1 pm after trying to organize what we want to see and do in Beijing. We have booked an additional 3 nights at the hostel and organized a tour to the great wall 2m.

Hopped on the subway and proceeded to Llama temple. Lots of people there, but it is a working temple so there were also people lighting incense (minimum 3 sticks to honour budha according to the signs). There a 22m high deity sculpted from a single sandelwood tree (it’s in the Guiness Book of Records). Possibly it would have been put to better use printing a few thousand copies of ‘On the Origin of Species’ ?

After that we tried to find the confucious temple but got a bit turned around and then realized it would be closed before we got there. Decide to have an ice lolly instead. Noticed some ice lolly packaging with picture of peas on a one with corn on it. Wish we had taken a foto or tried one to see if it did really taste like frozen peas.

Back on the subway next stop the night market. We were expecting a dodgy alley but instead found it on a wide modern street and all the vendors looked pretty sanitized. I’m wondering if it has been cleaned up for the tourists. Apart from the usual kebabs and fish there were live scorpions, centipedes, sheep penis and the like all for sale on kebabs. I can’t believe anyone ever actually tries any of that stuff.

We had time to kill before dinner so we figured we would try to find the restaurant early and just find a spot to sit down and wait outside. We walked the entire length of the 2km long street without finding the restaurant we were supposed to be meeting at. At the end of the street were run down shops and restarants that you certainly did not need a reservation for. We tried asking a local shop keeper and even a taxi driver for help but to no avail. So we walked all the way back up the street before eventually finding it at the top of a very fancy department store. (Cartier etc)

Dadong restaurant is a seriously larny place and we were feeling way under dressed in our shorts and strops. Zipping on the rest of our pants didn’t help much either, knackered from our long walk we were shown to our huge table. Our new friends arrived shortly thereafter and we ordered 2 roast ducks.

Thankfully this time we could actually have a conversation together though the kids were seated far away at the other side of the huge table. The duck was very good. First time
having Peking duck. The guys carve them up with great precision at your table (a senior chef watches the as another carves just to make sure it’s done right) and a lady introduces you to how to eat it. Delicious but could have done with a few more ducks. Sim was battling with his chopsticks. Think he will start having to carrying his spork around with him in future.

When the bill came we were gobsmacked by the price and upon querying it further it turned out that the water we had been drinking was more expensive than the food. Seriousy, the water cost 47 RMB for a little 350ml bottle (about £4.7, but normally 10p for 500ml at any street corner) and we had had 10 of them (to give an idea that is the value of 20 KFC Zinger meals here with chips and coke in WATER !! And compared to street food, KFC is expensive). We couldn’t believe it – would have been far cheaper to have wine. Andrea and I are convinced it is a scam for tourists.

Unfortunatley I seem to have caught another bout of flu/cold so was feeling pretty awful on the way back. So it was straight to bed for me. We are going to have to try stock up on cold and flue stuff but the pharmacies here don’t have any thing we recognize. The is a huge herbal/garbage medicine market here. We could not find any rennies so we are hoping the stuff we did find at the chemist will do the trick.

– Posted from my iPhone

The camera plague continues for us. The brand new, less than a month old POS (not PAS) Canon IXUS 100IS started giving lens errors (jamming open or closed) on the Great Wall today. I’m really annoyed – we have taken perfect care of it – what a waste of money – but mainly cause V can now rag me about how bad Canon is 🙂

By the time we got home it was totally unusable. I tried to fix it, but feeling (not looking) like Tony Stark in an Afgan desert cave did not help. Thinking of setting up a donations page so we can replace it with something better. In the mean while we’ll have to go back to the sluggish sensor spotted Nikon, eeuww.

– Posted from my iPhone

Another big tick on our imaginary list. We hiked 10km of the Great Wall of China today. Amazing !

It was an early start for us. Up at 6:30. The Hostel reception came to check that we were up at 7. I have to admit this hostel is amazing with everything.

A 2.5 hour bus ride full of western travellers and tourists took us past the busy (typical) section of the wall, which is packed, to a more remote location. The 30 of us had 10km of wall all to ourselves.

As soon as we started out our ears tweaked as we heard the old Safa accent coming from 6 other people in the group. So far all the Safas we have come across have been more proud, annoying, loud and obnoxious than the sterotypical American. We were embarrassed to be assocated by birthplace as they droned on and on to poor unsuspecting Euros and Americans.

The hike was strenuous. The first section has been restored (like the popular spots and what you see on postcards) but as we climbed up over hills and down valleys the wall reverted to ruins – which were far more intersting to me. V was really battling (unusually) with her cold but we were both thankful for the cloud cover and spots of rain.

Lunch at local farmers was typical. Rice and various fried things but nothing odd. We all snoozed on the bus back home while nat geo videos of the wall and South Park played on.

It was an incredible and exhausting experience. A full day’s adventure. Tomorrow more sightseeing in Beijing.

[Picture: V looking worse for wear on the wall, and a view of ‘the stone dragon’
GPS Location: N40.327260, E115.968525]

– Posted from my iPhone

We set out with renewed vigor after the inspiration of the great wall and a good nights sleep. The Summer Palace was first on the list for the day. About 15km from the town centre the place is beyond massive. We strolled around for hours checking out the vast gardens, palaces and temples. Taking photos was a bit of a flop as the smog was particularly bad today, but it did feel marginally cooler. The ‘Marble Boat’ (no it doesn’t float) was odd, but not half as odd as my icecream – Mielie flavoured ice cream wrapped in what could be described as edible ‘plastic’. Blargh!

We took a ferry (Dragon Boat – but not really) across the lake to visit one of the islands and swallowed an excellent hot-dog for lunch. A very long walk around the lake (dodging the Safas from yesterday) and up through the spectacular Buddhist temple where V and I had a race up either side (well V ran up the stairs, I watched and laughed) got us to the top of the mountain/hill and back onto the subway shortly thereafter.

Next stop. Another highlight and engineering marvel. The Olypmic park with the Birds Nest Stadim and the Cube Indoor Arena. Wow. Awesome. Like a 100 000 hotdogs awesome. There was some show on so it was not worth our while to go into the stadium, but wow again. It is looking a bit grimy though – that smog again. V tried a can of herbal tea – not recommended – I’ve taken to orange juice.

We then headed over to the Wangfujin shopping area in search of a few items including chopsticks and a big map of China what more do you need to plot domination ? The snack street was filled with more gross looking food and creepy crawleys on sticks. If you can push a stick through it the Chinese will eat it!

V is usually brilliant with navigation but when she gets it wrong – oh boy! We walked forever and ever to get home. Through some very scary looking areas and detouring around city block sized construction sites where the municipality has demolished the old Hutongs (fiendishly narrow and dingy streets not unlike slums but that are apparently ‘full of character’) to be replaced with shiny new buildings. People are up in arms (well you would never know it) about the transformation – I’m in two minds.

The city is vast but we have been using the metro system most of the time. At 20p a ride to any destination it’s reasonable, clean and easy to use but the trains are not as frequent as London. The other way to do it would be to hire a bike. Since everyone here rides it should be fine but the traffic chaos put us off.

The last stop before getting back to the hostel was sups. More rice and fried something. Quantity was too much and it seemed expensive – we think they billed for plates ?

[Pictures: Mielie icecream, The Birds Nest Stadium, Fried Something]

– Posted from my iPhone

Can someone please let us know if there is a Season 7 of House planned ? I need to know.

Back at the hostel. Amazingly we still had some energy to do some planning and plotting. Things are changing rapidly now. Will try to post our plans – when we decided on them! I started sorting photos again but the Internet connection was shocking. Am really going to have to reduced the number of pics I upload or I’ll never get it done.

V, besides feeling fluey and flemmy has got a nasty rash all over her legs. Seems she is falling apart. For me it’s just my guts – but that is no surprise (and hopefully we toughen up).

[Pictures: V’s Legs – looks owee, Plotting Domination]

– Posted from my iPhone

We now have a rough plan of where we are going over the next few weeks. Southern China needs time to dry out and we have 3 weeks left on our first entry of our visas. We have organized train tickets to Datong via our hostel (leaving on Friday) and are planning on working our way down to Xian (terracotta soldiers) then onto 3 gorges dam before heading East to Shanghai then down the coast to Hong Kong. Will re-evalutate the plan and resources from there but at the moment it looks like we will come back into China on our 2nd entry of our visas and wiggle our way through the southern provinces hopefully to Tibet.
Disclaimer-plan not fixed, may change dramatically depending on situation.

After sorting or plan out, we toddled off to the Ancient Architecture museum. Turns out it is free on Wednesdays. Incredible! We actually got something for free in China. Plus it was practically empty so double bonus. Not a lot to see but some intricate scale models showing how the beams and rafters all fit together like puzzle pieces. Looking for the loo I used the international sign language of a squat motion with immediate result.

A quick once round the Temple of Heaven park (a very big park with endless forests, gardens, more temples and cute chipmunks) followed by another long slog home and we were done for the day.

Caught a Kung Fu show this evening at the Red Theatre. A very Vegas style show. Lots of lights and fog machines. It was really good. Combined a bit of theatre (bit of a cheezy story line), singing, dancing, acrobatics and choregraphed fighting. So we got a bit of everything. Definately worth it.

The weird rash on my legs and feet seems to be slowly fading. My cold however seems to be getting worse. I’ll survive though.

[Pictures: Taking a pic in the heaven, Naughty V snuck a shot in the Kung Fu show]

– Posted from my iPhone

If anyone has time and If anything interesting is happening out there (tech, world news, coup in Thailand etc etc please post comments about it. When we get online we just sync the blog and research the next destination. Don’t have much time to check all the sites and blogs we love (Boing Boing, Pharagula, Gizmodo, BBC News, Engadget, Bad Astronomy etc etc). Starting to feel disconnected – maybe a good thing? Tomorrow we are heading out of Beijing so not sure when will next be able to post or check in.

Thanks all 🙂

– Posted from my iPhone

V’s cold has gotten a lot worse and she hardly slept. She can now qualify to hock and spit like the rest of China. We may have to resort to some traditional Chinese ‘medicine’ to knock it out of her (yeah right). We were up at 6 to get to the gorge.

The minibus ride out to Dragon Gorge was long and made longer by a major traffic jam and having to wait to link up with another tour group. The 3 hour transfer turned into 4 hrs before we finally arrived at what looked like a theme park. The Chinese are great at taking something that is a natural wonder and converting into a tourist Mecca. To get up the the gorge you take a set of elevators climbing a few hundred meters inside a concrete dragon that is stapled to the side of the mountain – like having esculators up Table mountain. Once above the dam the scenery is unbelievable. Steep norrow gorges covered in vegetation. As you cruise around the valleys, stunning scenery eventually gives way to more traps (little bungee jump, high wire act, temples, viewpoints etc.)

Having little time at the gorge and with V sick we opted for a little wooden row boat so we could explore a little away from the crowds. You have to pay for everything in China. Even to take a photo at a scenic spot, but the boat only cost £5. My rowing (and the paddles were not up to scratch) but it was a bit of fun. Getting back we decided to have a paddle each but V’s short little T-Rex arms were letting her down as she patted the water 🙂

The free lunch and the trip back were uneventful. Out of the tours we have down with the hostel I would say this was the least value for money but worth it for the scenery – looking forward to more of the same in the month to come. One problem on the trip back was the inconsiderate cow in the seat in front of me pushing her seat right back making it impossible for my legs to fit. We moved seats and it happened again. What is it with people ?! If I were 30kg heavier I would have pummeled a couple of travellers today.

Anyway. Tonight is our last night in the excellent Beijing Leo Courtyard Hostel. We have lots to get sorted out for tomorrow…

[Pictures: ooooo pretty cliffs – V got a cute new hat so I’m using her old one until I find a suitable replacement.
GPS position: N40.54685 E115.99634]

– Posted from my iPhone

Okay – I have spent the morning sorting some pictures and working on the ‘Count de Money’ spreadsheets while V has been researching where we are going next. Working with Excel in Chinese was not easy (been without Open Office since a virus had a little fun with my memory stick). Dad will be helping me get the graphs updated sometime soon. In the mean while I have finished tagging and sorting photos up to Helsinki – which means I’m only 3 countries behind ! I need another 5 hours solid in front of a PC to catch up the rest but we have run out of time here in Beijing.

We are popping out for lunch and then heading for the train station. I suspect we will not have a decent internet connection (or time for that matter) to update for a while. Our plan is to head for Datong, then Xian, maybe Chengdu, then the Three Gorges Dam, Shanghai and down the coast to Hong Kong. We have to be in Hong Kong by the 18th July. Let’s see how all that goes.

Bye for now – Simi & V 🙂

A very bumpy and cramped bus ride got us to Beijing West train station. Lucky the bus stops are displayed in English and Chinese or we would have been circling Beijing all day. The station is massive, slick and clean but packed to capacity. Our first local train in China, destination Datong. We had the hostel arrange the £6 ticket for a £2 fee (well worth it). The earlier train had standing room only availble but standing for 6 hours is not an option for us. We got a “hard seat” which turned out to be a typical train seat. To continue a theme, the carriage was stuffed. Not only were all the seats full but the floor too, making it difficult for anyone to move anywhere. People were constantly up and down the carriage including fruit and food trolleys inspiring mass shuffling on a regular basis. It was also noisy, very noisy and we were the only westeners onboard.
(more…)

What a day this turned out to be !

We were up early and discovered that the hot water in the taps from last night had been cunningly replaced with glacial run-off. Lesson learnt: find out when the hot water is on ! Our driver (Wang Shu Min) was on time and washing his cab outside when we got to reception. We negociated (probably not very well) a tour or the popular sites with the intention of staying the night in Yingxian on the way to Wutai Shan.

Lots and lots after the break…..

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Warning – another long post.

We woke up this morning to hooting, shouting, revving cars, and the occasional megafone which was mostly blocked out by the earplugs thankfully. Our grim bathroom had decided to flood itself during the night so having to wade to the loo was not fun. When we discovered that there was no water and that the loo no longer flushed, we packed up our bits and left. I could have handled the grubby place another night but the flooded bathroom and loo problem was just too much.

As we walked down the road the owner tried to get us to eat breakfast at his restaurant. We don’t think he realized we were actually leaving.

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Up early and to the bus (the lady from the hotel took us all the way there and made sure we got on it). After a stop at the bus terminal to buy official tickets and relieve my gut from last nights pork dumplings we were on our way – a 4 hour ride to Taiyuan. The road was extremely bumpy, made worse by the lack of functional shock absorbers, and wound its way down the steep roads out of the Wutai Shan mountains. Our driver did not seem to have any regard for speed cops or his brake pads. The beautiful mountain scenery eventually turned flat and farmed. Passing through towns of varying sizes and degrees of chaos V and I settled into some ‘For good reason’ podcasts.

The bus arrived at a station outside of the city centre and after failing to negociate what we thought would be a fair cab ride to the train station we decided to walk it. The 2km walk in the heat went quickly as we took in the town while occasionally stopping to ask directions and attempting (unsucessfully) to retrieve cash from various ATM’s.

You cannot begin to understand the confusion involved in getting a train ticket in China. In future we’ll happily pay the comm for a hostel to do it for us. We spent half an hour hopping from one que to the next trying to get information with no luck. In the end we decided to pick a que and stick with it until we got to a counter. BTW, my V rocks! While in the que for an hour she was able to decipher the scrolling Chinese characters and extract the relevant information. We ended up with tickets for the next train to Ping Yao – only standing room was available.

The train was again packed and we squeezed into our assigned carriage. The locals happily made a little space for V to sit but one of the conductors was not impressed with how we had stacked our packs – it took much hand waving and shouting to explain that. We were once again the centre of attention. A young chap with a bit of English said hello and politely asked if I was tired – I said ‘No’. That was his que to fetch his friends. What a great bunch of friendly guys. We yakked the whole way and felt like movie stars as we posed for photos with various fans. They told us all kinds of useful bits and if they had not been travelling in a bigger group would have joined and shown us around Pingyao. Apparently the beef in the area is excellent – will have to see.

Our new friends were making absolutely sure that we did not miss our stop. Another lady on the carriage was also getting off there and she wanted to know where we were heading. She phoned ahead and arranged a transfer for us making sure we did not get ripped off. Saying goodbye to the guys on the train she led us to a waiting tak-tak (well an electric one – have to say that over 90% of the bikes we have seen are electric).

Pingyao is a preserved ancient city. No cars are permitted in the central area and our ride took us along the city wall into he heart of it. She led us on foot the last section to the door of the hostel and civilization! A fantastic hostel/guest house (Harmony guest house) with everything a traveller could want including aircon rooms and hot water all day.

We spent some time wandering the quaint streets before grabbing a bite to eat – it really is a special place and deserves its UNESCO World Heritage status.

[Pictures: Crammed train station, the courtyard area at Harmony Hotel]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

V’s cough is getting much worse. She has hardly slept for days so we decided to take a rest day. Up at 10ish. Pancakes and toast for breakfast with knives and forks ! By 12 my V was back in bed. I took the opportunity to make some calls, send some emails, surf the web and play with some programming on the blog – that got me sidetracked onto a remote desktop connection with the Stern office and I spent another hour sorting out pc problems on their LAN – I couldn’t resist :). Also downloaded new podcasts and Dr Who eps. Happiness.

In the late afternoon we took another longer stroll around the town and realized that possibly we should have spent another day here but we have booked the bus to Xi’an tomorrow. We are both feeling a bit off. Probably the lack of sleep and V’s cough.

The evening dissolved over a good dinner of stir-fry beef with rice, a couple of beers and relaxing conversation with a friendly Swiss lady travelling solo. We finally got the meal quantity correct. One dish and a small rice is more than enough for us. We are almost done with season 1 of the West Wing – what a win that was.

[Pictures: Anyone for braai bricketts the size of footballs ? See – we did nothing]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

Terra-cotta warriors watch out. We are exhausted. 6 hour bus ride. 3 hrs walking around to find a hostel. Xi’an looks amazing. Here for 4 nights at least. More to follow.

Btw. Noticed some time zone issues with posts. The displayed date and time is local to the reader and not to the author. (so if you see posted at 15h30 it was actually posted at 21h30 our time) At the moment we are 6hrs ahead. Need to figure out how to fix that ! WordPress issue.

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More as promised

V’s cough is not getting better. Under the threat of being smothered under a pillow she has decided to take a course of anti-biotics. We left Pingyao around 9 with another electric tak-tak travelling to a toll-gate on the highway outside the city. The long distance bus just pops in and back out. There was a substantial crowd at the stop but as soon as the bus arrived they all disappeared ! No idea what that was all about. The bus was half empty and the 6 hour ride to Xi’an was comfortable. We passed over some amazing bridges and caught the landscape getting a little greener in between eps of the West Wing.

Again the bus decided to stop at a station that we had not expected. We were at least 10km from the hostel options and there was not a taxi or tout in sight. We enlisted a motorized tak-tak that was in pretty bad condition to get us to the first hostel. I’m not sure if the driver was brilliant or insane – cutting congested corners by speeding through back alleys and markets or just getting onto the wrong side of the road until he could bob and weave back into the flow. It was a wild ride.

As is usually the case when V gets directions wrong, she gets it way wrong. We were dropped about 200m from the hostel but we walked about 2km in the wrong direction. Another tak-tak got us to the hostel – it was full. We decided to walk another 2km to its sister hostel. We got there hot and sweaty to find it had moved. Another 2km got us to the correct spot and paradise. A room for £16 a night that for us is 5 star. Even has BBC world and some other English channels.

A short walk around the area to find V some more meds and we were quite DONE for the day. Xi’an is massive but feels much better than Beijing. Lots of trees and parks, blue sky and a little cooler. Lots to do over the next few days. Can’t wait!

[Pictures: We finally made it to the hostel/inn – must be how a suicide bomber thinks he will feel after pushing the button – paradise]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

A good sleep in our larney hostel/hotel room (you know it’s good when they supply toilet paper and the walls are made of brick) followed by a light breakfast and then off on a tour to the Terra-cotta soldiers :gps:(GPS)::34.38428::109.27459:gps: – Another ‘must see’ on our list. Took about an hour to get out there with our guide and 12 other travellers.

It was good to have a guide for a change – saved us spending an hour on Wikipedia. Pits 2 and 3 are interesting with excavation and reassembly of warriors apparently ongoing but a chap on the tour who had visited 9 years ago didn’t feel much had changed. We saw the ‘kneeling archer’ – the first to be discovered accidentally by a local farmer who was digging a well in the 70’s. BTW the farmer was in attendance to shake hands and sign books. I guess at his age it’s easier work than tilling fields 🙂

Pit 1 is the one we had in our minds. Some 2000 painstakingly restored infantrymen (total discovered so far around 8000) with horses lining the corridors in this massive area. They were all originally painted but exposure to oxygen destroyed the paint. A few have traces of colour but photos from the excavation were on display to give an idea.

Pits 4 and 5 are ‘new’ and some distance away from the main area. Apparently they are not open to tourists yet – sorry Dad. Also, the chariots are on display at the Worlds Fair in Shanghai. Maybe we’ll catch them there. It was well worth the fee (£19 each) although the claim that these are the 8th wonder of the world is a little optimistic.

From the pit complex we were taken off to an optional lunch (which we cunningly got out of) passing the tomb of the looney emporer (Qin) that had the army built.

The sleepy ride back to Xi’an also saw our guide snoozing. One last stop was a visit to a small temple in town. We have to admit that they are starting to all look the same but at least with a guide we got a little insight into how they are laid out. Back in the hostel it was just too comfortable and we ended up in the lounge all evening. I even resorted to a burger for sups (yip it was good) !

We are plotting and planning again. From here we want to go to Chengdu, then Chongqing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Then fly to the Philipines for 2 weeks, come back into China and take a southern route up to Tibet and into Nepal. From Nepal we’ll fly to the cheapest South East Asian destination – probably Thailand. Budget cuts will definately take Australia off the table and possibly some of SE Asia.

[Pictures: Me with the Kneeling Archer and V with an army of clay pots]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

A very late start today but at least we were awake enough to use our coffee vouchers instead of paying £1.50. The plan was to take a complementary bike from the hostel and cycle around to some sights, but being so late the bikes were all out. We settled for the bus to the ‘Big Goose Pagoda’. The pagoda itself is not much to look at but the surrounding musical fountains and parks are wonderful. We strolled around again baking in the sun watching kids (and an alarming number of adults) running through and playing in the fountains. Xi’an is really a beautiful city.

The fountains and the adjacent park all look fairly new. Probably built in the last 5 years or so would be my guess. There were no hawkers begging you to buy something and it was all very neat and tidy. We could have been in a park somewhere in Europe (apart from the obligatory loudspeaker presumably telling people in Chinese not to litter). It’s weird though cos if you go a block or so away there will be dozens of filthy chaotic alleyways which present the exact opposite picture of China. Such an interesting country and so like SA in many ways.

After an ice lolly to cool down the next stop for the day was the Shaanxi history museum. We were standing in a long que with lots of students to get tickets while a major argument was going on at the counter. Suddenly the que began to flow and we were presented with 2 tickets within seconds at no charge. No idea what was going on but I assume we got in as part of a school tour – excellent freebie. The museum was good although smaller than we expected with English everwhere (unlike Russia). My highlight was one of three Tiger Tallies in the world (a small tiger with a message enscribed in two parts. The Tiger would be separated and used to authenticate military messages. Very cool for 400 odd BC.

We set about walking back to the South gate of the city wall with the intention of renting a bike and cycling around it (on top of the wall), but it started raining so we headed for home. A couple hours later we decided to give it another go and headed by bus for the south gate once more. As we arrived the rains returned !! Calling it a day we decided to take a long walk back to the hostel stopping to savour the local cuisine on the way home (um… that is another one of the 4000 odd KFC branches in China) – highly recommended as value for money and for lack of consequences.

We are trying to get a tour arranged to a nearby tomb but there is a minimum number required. The staff at the hostel (who are amazing) have put up an ad in reception – no luck yet. We also got our train tickets today. Confirmed for Chengdu. Travelling 15hrs by overnight train ‘hard sleeper’ class (ie: open carriage. 3 bunks high) just to see some black and white bears ! They better be cute 🙂

[Pictures: V cooling down at the Pagoda]

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We had a long night. First, my feeble attempt to grow a beard has been vetoed. It seems i’m genitically incapable so I spent some time removing the scraggly growth from my face. Have to admit it feels much better. It’s been great to have good facilities for a few days – I’ve been abusing the shower twice a day. What a luxury. Have to say thanks again to Martin. That washing line is proving invaluable – you would be amazed at what we have attached it to 🙂

I decided to have a closer look at our budget and panic set in. The trip will be over in 2 months if we just go where we really want so we have had to make some changes. A few hours of painful plotting and discussion and we are back at our original plan. Hong Kong, back into China, southern route to Tibet and then backtrack (which we really don’t want to do) into Northern Vietnam. So Nepal and the Philipines are out (at the moment). We also HAVE to do something about a camera – V’s old Nikon is getting worse by the day – possibly in Hong Kong. Oooo I see the new iPhone is already available there NO NO bad boy.

Met a chap at breakfast who has been travelling from the places we are wanting to go to. We are feeling a bit more confident that southern China will be cheaper and SE Asia even more so. We will just have to see how things go.

Off to cycle the wall aroud the city.

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V and I woke up feeling exhausted this morning – no idea why. After updating more of our galleries (the Saint Petersburg section is sorted and tagged now) we took a stroll to find some pastries we had seen the other day and have a look at the Muslim quater. That idea didn’t last long. Although quaint, the streets are lined with vendors selling more of the same, it was nothing special and the ever-present wiff of sewage was more than we felt like dealing with.

We’ll spend the rest of the afternoon on the couch at the hostel waiting for our train this evening (not looking forward to it). It’s very muggy and hot today, but the good news is that Chengdu is 5 degrees cooler (31 ish) albeit with rain forecast.

Yesterday was a ball but we did get a fair bit of sun. We walked down to the South Gate of the city wall and rented a bike to cycle around it. First time either of us had tried a tandem. Great fun but V was not feeling too confident 🙂 The rental was for 100mins and the wall is ~14km so you need a reasonably constant pace if you want to stop and take in the views occasionally. At the halfway mark V let me take the front seat – big mistake. For someone who eats black run for breakfast she doesn’t half panic when I take my hands off the bars 🙂 I got into quite a bit of trouble, but no accidents (thankfully) and it was fun to monkey about on top of Xi’an’s historic city wall.

It wasn’t long before we started discussing the energy efficiency of a tandem vs two single bikes and the physics involved. Wish we knew more but we reckon it’s definately more efficient on a tandem (as long as you don’t crash) if you look at reduced mass, wind resitance, friction etc). That being said I suspect next time it will be two single bikes.

After that roasting in the sun we headed along some of the old streets full of art and art supplies and into the Forest of Steles Museum. A collection of more than 3000 inscribed stone tablets and sculptures of varying sizes. After an hour we lost interest and took the long walk back to the hostel.

Found the hostels table tennis table at the rooftop courtyard. I have to admit, V is much better with a ping pong paddle than a boat paddle 🙂 and I don’t play too well after one beer!

[Pictures: V on our tandem – back seat driver, me at the stone forest – had enough, cute kitties at the rooftop courtyard (for Jacks)]

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We can hardly believe ! It does feel like we were cruising though Norway and Russia six months ago – guess that’s what happens when you do so much every day. Long way still to go and we are loving it.

Last nights train to Chengdu was a little delayed and by the time we got on board I was beyond exhausted. Have decided it was a bit too much sun the previous day. The ‘Hard Sleeper’ class (open carriage) was good. Would have been perfect if 3 kids hadn’t taken the bottom bunks around midnight. Full of energy and the associated noise. The bunks are comfy and people respectful (important since there are 66 bunks in each carriage). The trains look and feel newer than the Russian overnight ones we took and have hot water on tap and squat toilet (yay). We needn’t have taken food with us – plenty of carts made their rounds. I was asleep by 11 – didn’t even get through one ‘Skeptics Guide to the Universe’ podcast.

Just before arriving in Chengdu a young chap came to chat. Again very friendly. So far everyone we have spoken to is very interested in business/economics and would like to travel. This guy was unusual – he is interested in New Zealand and Holland. He has to complete 4 years military once done with his university and is hopeful that the country will change enough by then so that he can travel. The funniest/sweetest thing he asked was if we were ‘a pair of lovers’, his girlfriend was waiting for him at the station. Ag shame.

We arranged a free pick-up at the station and the hostel rep was waiting with info, maps and boiled sweets – excellent. Chengdu is massive (11 million people) and from the taxi looks like the other big Chinese cities – modernizing rapidly. The hostel, bearing my name (Sim’s Cozy Garden Hostel), looks to be great save for minor confusion over the room type we booked. More ‘Flash-packers’ (backpackers with cool tech) around – ipads, laptops, DSLRs etc – not that we should talk ! After a very late lunch and a beer (good value at 85p each) we had plans to walk and catch a museum but made the fatal mistake of sitting on the bed – we slept solidly for 3 hours until woken by the complementary fruit being delivered. Tomorrow Pandas! …Then we are looking at taking the Yangtze by Hydrofoil – too cool !

[Update: we have just come up for sups. This is a cool hostel. Friendly bunny rabbits hopping around – even near the kitchen 🙂 friendly but maybe not so bright ? ]

[Pictures: The view from the top bunk in our carriage. We had a top and a middle (prices are different for different bunks), hostel mission control – this places buzzes]

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Ok. So probably only V and I (and Andrew) will get the title of this post. For those who don’t have a West Wing fetish – here is a hint.

Today was Panda day ! V and I (just don’t tell her) have been looking forward to seeing these guys for some time. We left for the breeding centre :gps:(GPS)::30.73939::104.13995:gps: very early so we could catch them eating and before it gets too hot. There were 3 minibus loads of travellers from our hostel. The short trip to the centre was more than enough time for the temperature to get above uncomfortable – another summers day in China.

The centre is massive and it was useful to have a guide lead us through the bamboo lined paths around the various enclosures. These bears are unbelievably CUTE – you just want to cuddle them. Apparently it costs around £100 to take a photo with them but we did not see the option on offer. V’s favorite where the Red Pandas, mine was watching the young pandas playing and the babies being fed. They seem so light, bendy and floppy with back legs that appear completely useless. All in all it was a wonderful treat to see them – well worth it.

Intelligent Design – I don’t think so !
If they weren’t so cute they would have been extinct ages ago. From what we learned these bears eat 60kg of one kind of bamboo per day and don’t move around much because the energy required is barely extracted from their food. They also aren’t too intersted in mating – again, it takes too much energy. Most births in captivity are through artificial insemination. Cubs are born utterly helpless. Blind, deaf and unable to walk for some time and first time panda moms are so freaked out by the experience they can accidentally hurt the cubs. It just seems that they evolved to become extinct. With only around 1000 left in the world – like I said – it’s lucky they are so darn cute. Also helps that they are big business, being adopted by huge companies (like KFC) or being sold off to zoos around the world.

After a dismal lunch at the hostel and a siesta we decided to check out a bit of the city. Chengdu is another monster city but did not feel as chaotic or crowded as the other cities. We wondered around the Mao memorial statue and park before heading off in search of ‘Mr Wang’s Tiny Museum’ of all things Mao. It must have moved or been really small because we could not find it. Popped in to the peoples park on our way to cache a GPS point my Dad had given us. Not much there but a stretch of riverfront parks complete with various Chinese board games being played and a chap having his ears professionaly cleaned. Crossing more hectic intersections on foot (life threatening) we made our way back by bus to the hostel area. The bus was so hot and cramped that V was feeling faint.

In search of the famous HotPot dish we walked around a number of side streets but we have gotten soft after having had hostel food for the past 4 days. Nothing looked appetizing and knowing that an understandable meal was waiting for us at the hostel if we failed we did not put in much effort.

The guide we had in Xi’an has been in touch with us via email and has made arrangements for a contact of hers in Chongqing to meet us on arrival – we’ll have to see if that works !

[Pictures: Pandas ! ]

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Up early again ! Quick breakfast and onto the bus to the train station leaving behind another good, although massive, hostel. We took the high speed train – 200km/h – for around £12 each. The waiting area felt more classy (BTW, every train station in China so far has looked like Heathrow – just more chaotic and dirty). Although the train is modern you are reminded that you are still in China the moment people get onboard. Very loud and messy – was expecting to see a box of chickens being slung onto the roof.

Two hours and some spectacular moutain scenary later and we were met in Chonqing by John from ‘John’s Cozy Nest’ (www.lunyplanet.com). John took us to a fancy looking apartment/office tower in the city centre via the most insane elevated roads, bridges and intersections. No bicycles around (due to the hills) and the traffic is brilliantly routed around buildings and waterways. The place is also a forest of construction cranes – things are changing rapidly here.

From his neat and modern apartment on the 23rd floor in an earthquake prone country he persuaded us to rather take a two night trip on the Yangze and leave immediately – apparently the hydrofoil is like sitting in a plane for 12 hours and there is nothing to see in Chongqing. The price seemed reasonable so we agreed and he also made all the arrangements for us to get to Shanghai.

With a rough map we headed out into the back streets in search of an ATM. What a place! Alleys, walkways, endless staircases all form part of the maze. Everything is built on mountainsides – dingy and dirty – a world away from John’s apartment. We needed lunch and with no KFC or alike we picked an arbitrary street resturant. Confronted with a Chinese menu and no pictures V just ended up pointing at an option and asking for rice with it. Possibly we chose fried grasshoppers and they just felt sorry for us because we got an excellent pork and onion dish with our rice. PHEW !

John escorted us along with an Auzzie lady to the buses and the first leg of our journey to Wanshou. A four hour bus ride over more insane bridges and past unrelenting construction in beautiful mountainous countryside and we arrived at our boat (more of a rusting, smelly, barely river-worthy dormitory). Our 4 bunk cabin is only marginally larger and of lesser standard than the worst Russian trains but does have aircon and a TV. What is it with having TV when the plumbing is beyond shocking! Also our own shower albiet above a sqaut loo (yip, grim.. Imagine showering in cold water standing on top of the toilet you share with 3 others). It didn’t take long for the rank sewage smells from the loo to start wafting into the rest of the cabin – I could use nose plugs to complement my ear plugs.

Our cabin mates are a young Australian lady who thankfully speaks a fair bit of Chinese (there are a total of 5 ‘westeners’ aboard) and an older Chinese guy whose family is in the next room. Should be an intersting few days !

[Pictures: 200km/h in China, The view from the 23rd floor looking down at a rooftop garden 10 floors below, the menu V chose from (what a win, my brilliant V)]

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Blarring anouncements followed by Chinese music woke us at 5:30 in preparation for the morning tour of the temple at White King Town. :gps:(GPS)::31.04427::109.54082:gps: We opted out of that one and went in search of breakfast. The Chinese eat dinner for breakfast lunch and dinner so we ended up with some sealed (read ‘safe’) cakes and snacks from a supermarket. The town was unremarkable and hot. All the stops require a long slog up from the river – it is obvious from the flood line that the river frequently rises at least 20m.

Back on the boat our new Auzzie friend (Elise) was proving very helpful. Having someone around who can translate makes a huge difference. She’s a university exchange student studying Chinese for 2 years. After a brief lesson on Chinese characters, which was very interesting, we can see some logic in it but it’s still all Greek to me (haha).

Our next stop at the Lesser Three Gorges :gps:(GPS)::31.10143::109.89240:gps: was brilliant and has made the trip worth while. Trading our tanker for a river tour boat we made our way up some utterly gorgeous gorges. It was incredibly hot and the haze meant that good photography was limited but WOW! The water was a beautiful jade colour – a welcome change from the brown muddy waters of yesterday. The Chinese have unfortunately started theme-parking the area with construction underway to build a concrete walkway high up along the cliffs in one section of the gorge.

Two hours into the six hour excursion we arrived at an apparently 1000 year old city (looks more like 10 years old). We were ushered around the restored old town centre as part of the tour group while the heat drove us into every shop looking for ice-creams. The town (endless blocks of flats) looks empty and very new – V suspects it could be one of the towns built as part of the relocation plan for the 3 Gorges Dam (will google it sometime). At the moment it seems to exist as a ghost town and a 60min excursion for tourist boats.

On the way back we stopped at a narrow section of the gorge and transferred to small river boats before heading up the actual ‘Lesser Three Gorges’. Even more stunning as the towering (800-1000m) gorge narrowed to as little as 30m. Unfortunately what would have been a peaceful experience was drowed out by the flamboyant and overpowering performance of the boatman. He was obviously telling some story of the gorge that the Chinese tourists appreciated and being the only NAs on board we were the butt of his jokes for sure. In any event we held firm and didn’t succumb to his pushy loud requests for donations – which had him targeting us for ridicule even more. Better luck next time chap! It was still an awesome ride (maybe 100 000 hotdogs awesome).

One of the people we chatted to on the boat was a retired Chinese-Malaysian guy named Goh. Very intersting and talkative. He lives in Malaysia but over the years has toured just about every part of China and South East Asia and has seen first hand the political and economic changes in the region.

The return trip felt infinitely longer with the tour guide’s rendition of Chinese folk tales bleeting incessantly from the boats PA system. It was a long day out in the sun – even the dodgy shower looked inviting, but the canteen menu less so. The Chinglish on the menu is classic – items like “Pull out a silk soil bean”, “The garlic burns the sheatfish”, “A round mass of food soup” & “Fairy whole duckses” sent us happily to our instant noodles 🙂

[Pictures: Stunning Gorges]

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Another very long and excellent day starting at crackers with announcements for the morning excursion :gps:(GPS)::30.87987::110.83702:gps: which we decided to skip. Elise was adventerous enough to at least go up the stairs to see what was around – we didn’t get off the dock barges. The rain overnight left the air cooler but humid with an eerie mist hanging over the gorges – doubt the photos will do it justice. Spent the rest of the morning back on the boat chatting while heading for Maoping :gps:(GPS)::30.84930::111.00030:gps: – the last port of call for us before a short bus ride to another highlight of our trip ‘The Three Gorges Dam’.

That is one piece of impressive engineering! As we entered the security check area our tour guide asked for all ‘knives and wine’ – guess they don’t want you to get drunk and try chip a hole in the wall with your penknife. From the viewpoint :gps:(GPS)::30.83482::111.01896:gps: there is a panoramic view of the dam wall and the locks. The distance makes it look less impressive than it is: 39km^3 of water, flooding the valley to some 600km (same as from Durban to Joburg) and housing the worlds largest HEP scheme! Hazy again and very hot, so we hope the pics are going to be ok. V could barely contain her excitement – very funny for me – it’s hard to hide that she’s a water engineer at heart – and now she has big bragging rights too 🙂 Our tour went around a few POI around the dam but unfortunately not across the wall or inside the HEP scheme – pity, but still excellent.

Another transfer by bus and onto a local (read ‘horrid’) bus for 4 odd hours of mind numbing noisy TV and discomfort to Wuhan. I think I have found what is holding the Chinese back from becomming world leaders – it’s the stuff they blindly watch and find entertaining on TV – like American 50’s slapstick with modern pop thrown into the mix. Even the live studio audiences have no idea what to do with themselves. They (en mass) are socially and mentally immature in comparison to the West. It was an education. Not one I would like to repeat – Worst transfer of the trip (so far).

Arriving in Wuhan we grabbed a taxi to our dodgy hostel (Pathfinder Hostel). Taxi drivers beware – don’t ever tell an Auzzie farmgirl that her suitcase won’t fit in the boot of your cab – you are just asking for trouble.

In the morning out translator is heading in a different direction. Thanks for all the help Elise – all the best – cheers.

[Pictures: Dam, Lock]

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The hostel is not great and what sounded like trolleys full of scrap metal being dragged over rumble strips outside our window at 5am was a little treat. We slept in – only getting moving around 9. It was raining a little and I had to drag V out to see the only site that I thought was worth seeing – ‘The Golden Crane Tower’. After a long walk through the muggy (think average temp here is in the high 30’s) and wet streets (no fun here because puddles generally contain more living organisms than what you would find in a septic tank) we arrived at the tower and an entry fee that we thought would not be worth it. Good thing too as V found out later that the tower was rebuilt in the 80’s and now has an elevator – how authentic !

Back at the hostel we relaxed the afternoon away browsing online and making calls in preparation for our 12 hour long overnight bus ride to Shanghai – John was supposed to arrange a sleeper train for us but apparently no tickets were available.

The bus station did not instill any confidence in our travel plans. It looked like complete chaos and again incessantly loud. We attempted to go through the boarding gates a few times but were chased back. Being the only westeners around we got a lot of attention and a few people offered assistance, which was great, but none of it was conclusive. Eventually (an hour late) we were ushered to a waiting old bus. It was a sleeper bus (ie: more or less flat bunks 2 high, 3 wide and ~10 deep) but very cramped, old and grotty – after some confusion about our bunk numbers we settled in. V had a bottom bunk – I was a row back on the top.

Each bunk had it own ‘features and benefits’; Both were Asian standard length (too short) and as soon as the bus was packed to capacity we pulled out of the station and promptly stopped to gather more ‘unofficial’ passengers. V ended up sleeping shoulder to shoulder with a guy who filled one of the gaps on the floor. My bunk was a delight – broken air vents meant I had cold hurricane force wind on my face combined later with dripping water as the bus started to leak. The saftey rail was missing – rolling over would result in a nasty fall so I slept with one hand jammed in a convient gap. The bunk itself was also not firmly attached to the framework – fun. To top it all off I could not believe it when people started smoking in a bus with no windows ! It was a very long night.

[Pictures: The view from my bunk – yip it was a slow day !]

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13 uncomfortable hours later – that was a rough night ! After navigating the Shanghai metro we got to our hostel. Shanghai’s main streets look as modern as any western city with towering skyscrapers and all the typical branded high street shops and resturants. Although the hostel (Captain Hostel) is in a prime position near the Bund it is not impressive. No mixed dorm so V and I can’t even sleep near each other, no kitchen or common area, no train booking service and no WiFi ! We could not believe it. With nowhere to relax at the hostel we showered and headed out to the Shanghai Museum. Still drizzling we decided it best that I also get an umbrella – who needs a fancy Gore-Tex jacket when a £2.50 brollie does the job 🙂

I think we are pretty much done with museums for now but we did enjoy the money, arms and seal exhibitions. The place was packed with locals (as usual) but V noticed a large group of western couples with Chinese babies. Either a group adoption holiday or the ‘Welcome Gift’ provided by their tour package was a little unusual.

Next stop was to the train station to arrange tickets for the onward journey. We managed to get tickets to Hangzhou using the automatic machines – impressive – yip. The biggest frustration with Chinese rail travel is that you can only buy tickets starting from the station you are at so we could not book any further ahead. The system is computerized so I cannot understand why !?

Another metro trip and we were close to the ‘The Pearl TV Tower’ – the silly ‘onions on a skewer’ looking building that helps define Shanghai. With very poor visibility, extremely long queues (Sunday) and an outrageous ticket price we decided against going up to the glass floored observation deck – I was a little disappointed but at least we spotted the new Apple store.

More walking in a homeward direction got us to the ‘Bund Sightseeing Tunnel’. We should have gone back to the metro to get across the river but both of us were fading fast so it was into the breach. The tunnel goes under the river and is remeniscient of a ‘tunnel of horror’ ride with lots of flashing lights and noise. Best to skip it if you have the option. The plan was then to walk along the Bund but I only lasted 10 minutes – it is stunning (and crowded – no surprise) but I was feeling the effects of last nights bus ride. Will definately give it a go to tomorrow night.

New things we have learnt:
– Sleeper trains are waaaay more comfortable than sleeper buses. In future we will rather wait a few more days to get on a train rather than take the bus.
– When booking accommodation and travel through an agent interrogate them rigorously to make sure you cover all the options. We should have learnt this one from Russia already.

[Pictures: The Pearl, Some other cool buildings and the app store ]

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Sorry, but we can in NO WAY recommend the Captian Hostel. This morning I woke to bed-bug bites all over my legs and after a miserable and expensive breakfast at the hostel bar/resturant I have had enough of this place.

Today our mission was the Shanghai Expo (Worlds Fair) – and what a mission it was ! About 45mins in a queue to get into the Expo which was a relief as we had heard horror stories of it taking hours. The place is huge (5.3 sq km and other dimensions as well) it sees more than 400 000 visitors per day. More info on Shanghai Expo 2010

Luckily it was overcast without rain as we spent over 10 hours walking around enjoying the architecture and popping into the odd pavillion (some required 1-2 hour long queues). We visited: New Zealand, Canada, Cuba, Australia, Urbania theme pavillion, China (which consists of a multitude of smaller ones that we strolled past), Future theme and the Cisco Pavillion. My favorite building was definately the British pavillion. V loved the Indonesian one but liked a huge list. The insides were all pretty arb and what you can get spending 30mins on the net but they all must have cost a fortune! If I had to choose a best inside of the ones we saw it would be the monster AV show in Auzzie one (which also had yummy beef pies in its food court).

The SAFA one was a budget box – I guess they spent all their cash on the World Cup and with no boerie roll vendors outside it made no sense – What else does SA have to offer the world ? 😉 Oh, and Spain was pumping (although ugly) while the Netherlands was closed – day of mourning after losing the final I guess 🙂

The expo was a great experience just for the whacky buildings (the architects must have had a ball) and my feet are thankful that they have been there and done that ! The Chinese seem to enjoy queues – they pull up their mini folding chairs and have a pinic with friends for hours on end. Some pavillions looked very intersting (like Japan) but the queues would not have been worth it.

On the way home we stopped at an Italian cafe for an early dinner and anniversary celebration but the main attraction was the ‘free WiFi’ sign outside. The place was empty but we enjoyed the ‘normal food’ and the funny waiter who was so excited about learning to make cocktails he gave us a complementary pair to try. We are odd. Our aniversary dinner and we were both engrossed in the web on our iPhones.

Well wined and dined we went to check out the Bund at night and spent a truly bedazzled hour starring at the buildings and lights before our aching feet sent us back to the hostel. What perfect end to a great day.

[Pictures: Click for the English Pavilion – the photo I took does not do it justice, Shanghai from the Bund]

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Pouring with rain this morning but we really wanted to spend a little more time out and about in Shanghai before catching an afternoon train to Hangzhou. We headed out for a light breakfast and stroll around the well know Nanjing road shopping district. V found her China souvenirs – a pair a ebony chopsticks with silver and sea shell top ends – they are quite beautiful. Next time we see a hardware store we’ll get a piece of PVC piping so we don’t break them.

Nanjing road is packed with all the top brand shops from around the world and as we walked in the pouring rain we were approached by hawkers offering ‘watches, handbags and iPhones’. Showing just a wallet of pictures of the items we assumed they are selling knock-offs. So China. Just outside the Longines shop on an immaculate street you can go down a dark, dilapidated back alley and buy all the fakes you want.

We had no trouble with the 2hr train to Hangzhou – I guess we are getting used to the apparent chaos of Chinese train stations. – but getting to the hostel was another matter ! Tourist Information at the train station had a notebook full of English descriptions on how to get places which was very useful and a short walk to the ‘tall building’ described and we were on track and looking for a Y7 bus. Lots of K busses and a few numbered buses with Chinese symbols passed by but no Ys. We ended up walking all over looking for bus stops servicing the Ys, no luck. Getting hot and frustrated I insited we get a taxi – shift change meant we had to walk almost all the way back to the train station. When we finally flagged one down and showed him the address in my email he nodded and we were off. In showing him the address I/he (for sure wasn’t me) accidentally deleted the email (Note to self: When you delete a locally stored email on an iPhone that was synced from gMail via IMAP, it is gone until you get back online) – so now we had no way to re-examine the address. I was boiling. V, ever so calmly, got us out of the taxi when she thought we were nearby the hostel and she was within 300m of it (although it took a little wandering around to find it) – genius – I was picturing hours of walking in circles.

As soon as we stepped in to the hostel (Emerald Hostel) my mood brightened – amazing staff, great room, excellent dinner and all at a very reasonable price. With Grace (the wonderful) working on our train tickets, bellies full of excellent beef and peppers and an extra night here secure the frustrations of the day melted away.

What happened to the Y’s ? Well… they only operate until 17h and we started looking at 16h45. And the numbered busses with Chinese charaters are Y busses ! On the back they say Y7 etc – just in time for you to see them driving off.

[Pictures: Shanghai South train station – looks more like and airport, V at the misty Emerald hostel]

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Our plan today was to explore the original ‘West Lake‘ a half hour walk from the hostel and not a bad one with all the surrounding greenery in spite of the heavy rain. This lake area of Hangzhou is really a fantastic change – more green and feels less crowded. We arrived at the Southern tip of the lake and decided to wind our way along the forest paths and bridges up its Western side. The paths were mostly empty – it was such a pleasure strolling along the wooden paths and over picturesque bridges. We paused to watch 2 guys in a boat with a leaf net fishing leaves and the odd bit of garbage out of the water. Leaves out of a 6.5sq km lake seemed a little pedantic.

We walked out of the park and eventually arrived at the Chinese National Tea Museum. Again it was reasonably empty and we wandered the exhibits while longing for a good ole cup of English Tea ! We still have to get around to a proper tea ceremony – budget depending – but have now at least seen all the teas in China. Just as we were about to leave the rain returned with renewed vigor. The walk back to the lake, around the Northern end, across the immaculate causeway and back to our starting point was a slog. The causeway was the only part of the day that was marred by masses of Chinese tourists. It is a stunning green space but its romantic atmosphere is ruined by hoards of tour groups and golf carts. By the time we got home we were exhausted after around 13km of walking.

Bad news was waiting at reception. Not for all the tea in China could the hostel staff find train tickets. Looks like we have to bus the 1300km to Guangzhou 🙁

[Pictures: V on one of the many bridges around the West Lake]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

We set off to go buy our bus tickets to Guangzhou by jumping on the 808 local bus just down the road from the hostel. We always struggle with buses as they are never as simple as trains and metros to figure out. You never know which bus to take unless someone tells you, there is never a map at the stops or on the bus which tells you what route the bus takes and you are always in a constant state of confusion once on the bus trying to figure out when you need to get off.

Armed with Grace’s strict instructions to ignore all the people who tried to talk to us on the way to the entrance of the Southern long distance bus station we made it to through the usual chaos to the ticket windows. Sims turn to buy tickets, but he had the advantage this time of having everything we needed written down in Chinese (thanks Grace) so it was relatively easy. The 2:30 was sold out and the next bus only left at 5:30. Good thing we had gotten there early or we might of been staying an extra day in Hangzhou. With 6 hours to kill we jumped back on the 808 and managed to get most of the way to the silk museum.

The silk museum was free and we wandered around in relative peace and quiet, the crowds only arriving as we we leaving. After retrieving our back packs and taking care not to wake the slumbering guard who was supposed to be keeping an eye on them, we hopped back onto he 808. Stopped for some lunch then got back on the 808 to the bus station. Once you know where a particular bus actually goes you stick with it even if it means a bit of a walk to get to one of it’s stops.

The bus station was a marked improvement on the one in Wuhan. It wasn’t as big and seemed to have more staff. There was less yelling and a lot more seats. We still weren’t looking forward to 18 hours on a bus but we were crossing fingers that the bus would be in a better condition than the last one we took. It was! It was nice and clean and looked relatively new. The air con worked properly and nothing was broken. They even gave us tags when we put our bags in the hold, a good sign that these guys were jacked up (or that there were problems with stolen luggage). Plus we didn’t pick up any extra people to sleep in the aisles! A big chunk of our trepidation dissolved and we got down to the serious business of wishing the 18 hours would pass quickly.

[Pictures: The slumbering guard at the silk museum as V makes a get-away, Wuhan bus station – much more civilized – this guy had matching shirt and newspaper]

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Survived the bus ride and it was a couple hours shorter than we expected. All night we were stopping at toll booths or swerving and braking around other vehicles – not really conducive to sleep. A short hop in a taxi to Guangzhou’s main train station :gps:(GPS)::23.15054::113.25344:gps: and into the chaos of the queues once more. This time we were lucky enough to get a guy who spoke a bit of English and were able to book tickets to our next destination, Guilin (for when we are done in Hong Kong) – good thing too – any later and it would have been another overnight bus! There is nothing like the feeling of having a confirmed ticket in your hand, accommodation arranged and a solid plan – it’s the simple things when you travel that make life enjoyable!

We grabbed the next train from Guangzhou to the Hong Kong border at Shenzen – only 1.5 hours next to an old lady who hadn’t read the signs in the new trains that say ‘no spitting’ and in front of a kid who fragrantly lost his lunch. Walking across the border was more like walking through a shopping mall. Onto another waiting train/tube the price for which gave us a shock – we are used to paying about 20p for a tube ride, this one was £3.60, but it is some distance.

It didn’t take long to find our hostel (Lee Garden Hostel) in the terrible looking ‘Fook Kiu Mansion’ 8 floors above the bustling streets that are straight out of ‘Blade Runner’ (but less dingy) and exactly what we pictured. The hostel is clean, our room tiny and the Internet speed rocks with YouTube and Facebook back sans censorship. We sucked up a good few hundred megs (possibly gigs) of news and entertainment while relaxing and recovering from the last 24 hours on the road.

In the evening we headed out in search of a recommended camera shop and food. You don’t need to go far here. The place is packed with shops selling everything that shines and flashes (from 10+ carat diamond rings to iPhone 4’s) – it’s shopping paradise.

Hong Kong is great:
– People detour to throw garbage into bins.
– There are public ‘pay as you go’ wifi booths on the street.
– Traffic lights are respected by cars and pedestrians.
– They drive on the left (rest of China on the right)
– UK standard plugs in the rooms.
– You can flush toilet paper instead of depositing it in a bin.
– It’s FAR less crowded and feels calm and quite in comparison.
– You can get anything you want (food to fashion) as long as you are willing to pay.
– Ribena in the shops, definately a British influence.
– HSBC & Standard Chartered logos on the bank notes.
– Way more visible security ( cameras and deadbolts) – but feels very safe.

What a place ! Need to sleep now. Sightseeing to tomorrow. This one would be good for a LOL Full sized replica of Noah’s Ark

[Pictures: Walking accross the border – ‘Please leave the country by lift’ – should be fun :), Our Cameron Street neons]

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Our two days in Hong Kong went very quickly and it has been great to be back in the first world for a bit. Everything is just easy when you can understand the language and the shops stock items you recognize.

Yesterday morning the temptation was just too great and we ended up doing what most people do in Hong Kong – we went shopping ! On the way to the one of the bigger camera shops we ‘accidentally’ stumbled into a book store. My V just cannot resist books – I really need to learn to read. Some time later we left with a couple of large books – the justification being that we are going to be in Yangshuo for a week and the weather forcast is predicting rain – we’ll swap the books with other travellers to keep V entertained or just give them away (V absolutely loathes getting rid of books).

On www.dpreview.com I found a recent comparison of ‘Travel Zoom’ cameras. Going on the recommendation of the editor we now have a Samsung WB650 – let’s see how long this one lasts! On the up side it was a fair price and came with a bunch of freebies (case, gorillapod, memory card, extra battery, screen protector). The warranty is international and it was some cool specs (24mm wide angle, 15X optical zoom, GPS tagging – apparently a bit of a gimmick, etc etc). Unfortunately it did put a ding in our budget – we’ll have to use more dorms and eat more noodles later on.

Happy with our loot we headed off in search of museums. The central area in Kowloon is very compact and you don’t need to walk far. The HK History museum was pretty good – we especially enjoyed the more modern history (Opium wars, English rule, Japanese occupation and the return to Chinese rule in ’97). Beautifully presented and a pleasure to visit. The Science Museum across the way is a treasure trove for kids. A monster 3 story ‘thing’ (not sure what you call it) is surrounded by hundreds of hands-on activities – V and I had a ball 🙂 We loved the signs on the touch screens: ‘This screen is sanitized every hour’ and there was a guy sanitizing the esculator had rails – what a place !

A quick bite and short walk across Kowloon got us to the Space Museum. Not as big as I expected but anything to do with space has me hooked. They have an IMAX/planetarium there too but it was too long to wait for the next show so we headed around the corner to the ‘Avenue of Stars’ and views of HK island. Not as ‘iconic’ as Shanghai but impressive non the less. We found Jackie Chan’s star but the rest were unknown to us and that was us done for the day. Urban overload in less than 12 hours !

Today our mission was to visit Hong Kong island – a stunning clear blue sky greeted us and the streets were empty until way after 10 (Sunday morning). We hopped onto the subway (again more expensive than we are accustomed to) and got off at Victoria park. It has a ‘central park’ kind of feel. People out enjoying the green open space, exercising, worshipping (yip) or just video chatting with their friends on Skype!

We have to admit that we enjoyed the feel of central Kowloon more but HK island has it’s plusses too. The Trams are incredibly cute (so narrow they look like they are going to fall over) and the majesty of the skyskrapers is topped only by the surrounding mountains – impressive building a city on this landcsape. We popped into the massive Times Square shopping centre in search of a ‘North Face’ shop – It was like walking into a British mall – English signs everywhere and even a M&S.

The highlight of the day was the view of HK and Kowloon from the Peak viewpoint. It was busy but did not feel crowded even with the shopping trolleys (really) of photo gear that some people were lugging around (one guy even had his own step ladder to get onto rock outcrops). We took the tram up and my iPhone inclinometer maxed at 57deg (that is Steep ! and yes I’m a geek) it was quite a ride. At the top the views were stunning as excpected, but what was not excected were the shopping malls – these guys just love to build!

We decided that for sups we were going to spoil ourselves with the first real meal in a couple of months. We gouged ourselves on Steak from an Auzzie resturant. Excellent. I even ate cauliflower – it was that good. Well worth it and should satisfy our need for good beef for at least a week. Full tummies and a couple glasses of wine (not used to that any more) and I suspect our night shots of the HK skyline will be a little blurry.

We had read a lot of horrid reviews about crime in HK and the dingy hostels but we had no problems and felt as safe as anywhere else. The rooms were very small but clean and quiet – then again if we have broadband it really doesn’t matter 🙂 Sure.. shady looking hindian fellows are going to try sell you fake a rolex or a hand made suit but they are easy to ignore. Speaking of Rolex, we saw a building sized Rolex ad for a new model (the Milgauss) with the tagline ‘The Scientist’s Watch’ – how cool is that?! Big +1 for Science.

Ok, enough from us. The new camera is perfroming perfectly and I’m looking forward to uploading more photos. Tomorrow we are on the move again – adventure awaits.

[Pictures: HK skyline from Kowloon, From the Peak Viewpoint, and a tram – yes even the trams in China are skinny]

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With a full 24 hours of travel ahead of us to get to Yangshuo it was always going to be along boring day. Metro to Shenzen, border procedures (quick and uneventful), Train to Guangzhou and then an overnight train to Guilin. The very moment we crossed the border we noticed the change. Loud, crowded, dirty – it’s good to be back 🙂 Incredible how in 100m people can forget that you are supposed to stand only on one side of an esculator. Anyway I’m more grumpy than usual – have caught a bit of a cold and just feel horrid. Good thing it’s a sleeper train and not a bus tonight. No applicable picture today – so here is some pure genius – a Lipton tea, milk and sugar in one sachet, just add water 🙂

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

Sim has definately developed a cold and was feeling pretty horrid after a sleepless night on the bumpy train. I was worried as we had no actual plan for getting to Yangshuo from the train station, but as usual Sim has a good feel for these kinds of things and there were reps from the CITS waiting at the platform directing people to the tourist information office. [sim edit: think we got ripped off with that]. We paid up for a local tourist bus,boat,bus to Yangshuo and left Guilin almost immediately after we arrived.

The bus took us through town and then along narrow bumpy dirt roads to the river. We passed by small farms with fields growing rice, corn, grapes and lots of other stuff. Farmers and their water buffalo working in the fields. Tractors that have been converted into funny little trucks trying to squeeze past us. Spectacular limestone outcrops (karsts) in the background.

Next it was onto our bamboo raft though it seems they have replaced the bamboo with PVC pipes in keeping with the times. The ride down the Li river was fantastic. Such beautiful scenery. :gps:(GPS)::25.04474::110.44725:gps:

Next they shepherded us onto little tuk tuks and took us on a mildly hair raising ride along narrow dirt roads. Think Sim was feeling seriously dehydrated at this point so he didn’t seem to enjoy the ride much. Then onto a bigger bus where they crammed as many people as possible on and before long we were in Yangshuo. For some reason I was expecting a small little town but it seems tourism has caught on big time here and we were greeted with macdonalds and more sprawling construction going on. We have booked a week in Yangshuo 11 hostel in the heart of town. We had wanted to stay further out but the peak tourist season has meant that our first choice was booked up.

[SimEdit: Tomorrow is a day off for us.. FINALLY ! Next day we have a full day of rock climbing – can’t wait, just hope I feel better. There is sooo much to do here. Also considering a hot air ballon ride – but is expensive]

[Pictures: Karst Candy and the view from the deck on top of our hostel]

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Hopefully we missed the worst of it. So far the only real rain was in Shanghai.

[UPDATE: Moscow photos tagged and sorted]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

Finally a day off. We needed it. We had to change rooms in the hostel to a double (for the rest of the week) and that was about it so we decided to go shopping for some odds and ends. Got a big box of tea sachets, some plastic cups (finally) and a mountain of fruit (dunno what got into me) along with some essentials. V failed dismally at her attempt to find a t-shirt amongst the thousands on sale but the main reason for going out (besides tea) was to find a piece of PVC pipe to pack our snazzy chopsticks into.

When I asked the guy at the hostel reception for a hardware store he looked at me blankly. Pointing to a pipe on the wall he indicated where we may find some – he must be thinking we are trying to make a bong 🙂 No luck on that street but it was good to wander around the town centre – it’s a beautiful little town. Walking back to the hostel, right there, right in front of my foot was a piece of PVC pipe the right length and diameter. Just the pipe. No other building rubble, litter or junk, just the pipe – it must be a sign 😉 Boy did we LOL.

We have spent the afternoon planning the next section of the trip, watching West Wing (on Season 3 now) and generally goofing off in our airconditioned room. Life is good and my cold is much better. Tomorrow – Climbing – Excellent.

[Pictures: Downtown Yangshuo – bit of a change from Hong Kong]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

Another fantastic day in China. My fingers are raw and tingling from the razor sharp limestone cliffs so this post is gonna hurt. We signed up for a day’s guided climbing with the most reputable climbing company in Yangshuo (China Climb). They are a good 10% more expensive than most but worth it in our opinion. What impressed me is that they don’t rent gear out like many operators – they only do guided outings – that way they keep an accurate record of gear condition. We had two guides to ourselves (Alpha and Aniel) which was unexpected – no other tourists. Aniel climbs 33 (and if you don’t know what that is, imagine climbing across a ceiling by clinging to pea sized bumps) so we had our rope gun for the day. Poor guy was in for a boring day because even when we were climbing at our best 10-15 years ago we were in the 20-25 range.

We got a taxi ride out to ‘The Egg’ crag (about 15mins from town and a 10min flat walk-in). The crags here look amazing. Just like Thailand but the karst limestone cliffs rise out of rice paddies instead of the sea. Our guides were very professional – helmets, top ropes for clients and continuous saftey checks – a bit restrictive for us but we understand why they have to do it. We fired straight up an 18 without too much trouble, I only told V it was 18 when she got down 🙂 We had an absolute ball. Either the grading is a little soft or we are stronger than we thought. We had a go at a few 18’s, a 20 and a very long (30m) 19 that beat us both – would loved to have just kept climbing but our poor little arms ! We finished the day on a 19 that was tremendous. Flowing laybacks and technical puzzles (for us) all the way up. V took a bit of convincing because the first move looked very strenuous but in the end she sailed through it like a pro.

[whimsy]
We just love climbing. Everything about the day just took us straight back to great memories: Walking through bush to an empty crag, hiding from the sun, the smell of chalk and dust, the sound of biners, the burning in your muscles, the fear of heights all new again and the exhileration of solving and then completing a beautiful set of moves.

It is amazing how ‘at home’ we feel at a crag with other climbers – Chinese, American – it makes no difference – they are in general all wonderful people. We have to get back into this sport !
[/whimsy]

If we ever visit China again it will be for a dedicated climbing trip, but there are concerns. An American couple we met explained that access to crags is becoming an issue especially with expensive toll roads and fees being charged to climb certain areas. It’s unfortunate that the trend in China is to make money (and overcharge) at every possible opportunity. Climbing is really just getting going here – hopefully it will survive.

[Pictures: A view from the crag – clouds rolled in this afternoon – relief from the heat, our guides encourage V, V busts the first crank on the 19 and V’s new X-Men Tattoo]

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Raining very lightly today and we have sore muscles and raw hands from climbing so taking some time to make plans and update photos etc.

Trans-Siberian and Mongolia photos tagged and sorted. Only one shared pc here so having to wait to get onto it – hostel is full of Dutch and German kids who all need to check emails. Will keep at it.

[Update: photos until the camera broke on the great wall sorted and tagged under China section]

[Update II: Have uploaded photos from Beijing to Hangzhou into the ‘Uploads to Sort’ folder. They are all shot with the Nikon – so expect to see lots of spots.. will start to Tag and Sort tomorrow]

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So our fingers no longer hurt and we have successfully moved the pain to our bums. A very long day on a mountain bike will do that, but it was worth it.

We decided to rent some decent bikes (probably not necessary but we like nice bikes) from the most well known operator (Bike Asia). They charge £5 per day and you get a good bike, helmet and disc brakes (but no bell) where the others are between £2 and £3 – so not a biggie. They also supply a map that looks great but in retrospect they should be shot for it.

The hostel is very good at arranging free ‘activities’ and we decided to join their excursion out to Dragon Bridge. A 20km round trip that they estimate as 5-6 hrs with time for ‘rest, photo and lunch”. It seemed that the entire hostel was going for the ride which delayed the start but thankfully it stayed overcast. The way girls dress for this type of excursion boggles my mind (and V’s). Some of the group were in delicate white longs. Another was in black with gold pumps, full make-up and fashion sunnies – This for a romp through muddy rice paddies and rivers on a mountain bike !?

Getting out of town was chaos and I’m very happy that we did not rent bikes before. There are no traffic rules here with the biggest problem being the scooters that ride whichever direction they want, whenever they want. Outside town the roads were quieter and we cruised along in awe of the karst moutains all around. Heading ‘off road’ we were desperate to fly through the single track but being in a huge group that gets off to push over a few rocky bits kinda cramps your style. V and I resigned ourselves to plodding along the narrow pathways between scenic rice paddies – it was great (even better – it is pretty flat so easy to cycle).

The main attration of the ride is the ‘Dragon Bridge’. I guess because it is high (even though it doesn’t need to be) compared to all the other bridges. Everyone talks about jumping from the bridge – around 10m to the river, but there were no takers when we arrived. It only takes one to get the ball rolling – and yip – it was me. I could not resist putting all the kids to shame – even with my white undercoat and flab this rusk still has some guts 🙂

We left the group at the bridge, as they were returning to Yangshuo via the main road, we wanted to cycle the opposite river bank and head off to Moon Hill. A chance for a little adventure – boy did we get it !

Our map was beyond useless and in retrospect we must have taken a wrong turn very early on. Eventually we decided that we must be heading the wrong way and sure enough the gps on my phone confirmed it. Now out in the middle of knowhere, baking in the heat and running out of water we were both getting a little nervous. Our only options were to head all the way back or push on. We decided to push on. The road soon became a track and before long we were cycling through farmland and into rural villages. We hit a number of dead ends and spent ages doubling back and cutting across rice paddies and through pomelo orchards with no idea where we were. The few locals dotted around were always friendly but probably thinking ‘stupid tourists’ as they plucked their chickens and watch us pedal past.

The tracks kept leading us geographically futher away from Yangshuo and keeping our bearings surrounded by monstrous karst mountains was a nightmare. Out of water and getting late we were starting to panic a little. Relief came in the form of an isolated building with a fridge and a willing shop assistant. With water replenished and some idea of directions we pushed on into more built up farm areas until finlly we came to what you could call a road. A group of Chinese tourists were riding along and we confirmed the directions back home – only another 10km or so on busy roads !

So after about 40km riding (20km of which was getting lost and found) and not finding Moon Hill, I have never been happier to see a cold shower and a hard bed (BTW. Think I forgot to mention that the beds here are very hard – basically sleeping on a plank). We have the bikes for one more day – oh please let it be pouring with rain tomorrow 🙂

[Pictures: 1,2) Us out on trail before we got worried and lost all interest in photography. 3) Back on track – theme park on the main road – climb for a teddy bear ! PS. Some more pics from the day in the gallery shortly]

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So round 2 on the bikes. Unfortunately it turned out to be a sunny day so we had no excuse – although possibly ‘Too Hot’ would have been acceptable. I cannot begin to explain the pain involved getting back onto a bike seat. Needless to say we pedaled the first few kilometers standing or gingerly resting one cheek on the edge of the saddle.

It seems I have a major problem with sweat that seems to have gotten worse with age. As the temperature rises, my skin loses it’s water-proof properties and anything I drink leaks instantly out through the closest pore – it drives me nuts – maybe i’ve gotten used to the UK temperatures !

We knew the first part of the route but after crossing the river our famous map instantly started playing with us again. After a few hours !! cycling we landed up back at the building where we got the cool drinks yesterday ! I don’t know who was more surprised, us or the shop keeper. We pushed on repeating some of yesterdays route without the errors and then following our map headed a few kilometers down the main road. No sign of the Moon hill. We had to stop and ask directions and were pointed in the direction from where we had just come. Arrgghh. On the way back V spotted the Moon and eventually the entrance to the site. We had ridden right past it yesterday !

It was quite a climb on foot to the viewpoint (the notice board said 1000 steps, I counted 757 steps, but probably 1000 paces) and V really was not interested in doing it after baking on our bikes all day. It was worth the hike up. The views were spectacular and we got the photo we wanted. There are a lot of climbs there but what a nightmare to get to the crag – not my idea of an easy walk-in.

The ride home was supposed to be easy back roads and trails along the river but turned into a narrow concrete road frequented by bikes, trucks and busses making it arduous. Annoyed, hot and thirsty we were relieved to drop the bikes back at the rental shop and head for home for a shower and a nap (yes really). After all that hard work we rewarded ourselves in the best way we know how… KFC for sups – best one we’ve had so far 🙂 and ice cream for dessert.

[Pictures: 1) Moon Hill 2) A view from the top]

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We have caught up with sorting and tagging the image galleries. In fact the galleries are now more up to date than the posts ! Will sort that out shortly though

[UPDATE: Done – Below]

One annoying thing we found is that our snazzy new camera that can tell you exactly where in the world it is with it’s GPS cannot tell you which way round you are holding it – so we have to rotate any portrait photos – can’t believe they left out such a simple feature ! We will try to keep on top of the galleries from now on (maybe).

Tomorrow we are off moving again to Ping An. Today we did nothing but blogging and housekeeping – it’s been great to be sitting still for a week, but we are both keen to get moving again.

We had a wonderful time in Yangshuo and it was great to relax and recharge (almost too good – we didn’t want to leave). The travel today (5 hrs of busses) was easy as we are on well known tourist routes so were instantly ushered to the correct busses. We got a bus to Guilin and then waited a couple hours for another bus to Ping’an and the ‘Dragons Backbone Rice Terraces’. Both busses were good but V had to delve into her stash of motion sickness pills for the first time. Guilin was boring and we just ended up killing time on the streets. The bus ride out to Ping’an was full of western tourists but again way too many Dutch people, KLM must have a special to China at the moment, and at least 80% female (we have noticed this trend all over China) – don’t know where all the boys are but they are missing out 😉

As we started climbing in altitude the rain clouds rolled in. The roads up to Ping’an are a work of art and wind their way up kilometers of vertical cliffs. It was something to see and obviously dangerous as ‘even’ the driver was taking extra care. As we neared the top of the climb I made the mistake of looking down as we passed a number of washed out gullies below the road – you have to wonder how long before that road slides the 900m to the valley floor ?!

We had to walk the last 20mins up to the village and in the rain it was very dramatic. The village is too cool. Nested in, and hugging the valleys it has contoured paths linked by endless stairs all surrounded by the immaculate rice terraces. Plenty of buildings have real character (ie: possible risk of collapse). We dumped our gear at the hotel (what a view we have from out room!) and headed out immedately to catch the views just as the rain was stopping. We took a leisurely hike around the rice paddies and the two well known viewpoints up on the hills around the village in search of good photo ops. Stunning, and even better it was empty !

On our way back to the hostel/hotel we got competely lost in the charming maze of stairs and alleys but did stumble upon an excellent dinner. Good thing we took our headlamps with us, otherwise the last section home would have been a interesting with a whole beer in each of us 🙂

Tomorrow we plan to hike 15km or so to the next village (Dazhai).

[Pictures: 1) The terraces]

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We had every intention of being up at 5 and hiking by 6 to escape the heat but the entire village was shrouded in cloud so we took it easy and got a decent breakfast in us before slowly climbing our way out of Ping’an to the start of the ‘contoured path’ to Dazhai. The walk on top was pleasant – it was early with few tourists and we were not harrassed by the Long Hair Ladies in their traditional costumes. Shortly after passing over the ridge we came across a large lake/dam and the first fork in the road. In our defense both paths looked equally well used, there was no indication and all the maps we had seen were equally shocking. We went right – that turned out to be VERY wrong !

For an hour and a half we followed the path randomly chosing directions at forks through thick forest, past long since abandoned rice terraces and buildings and over rickety log bridges until we were well and trully concerned. The largest living thing we had seen since the Ping’an valley was an unidentified black snake – no locals or tourists, nothing ! Faced with retracing our steps and spending another night in Ping’an we pushed on again. Fortunately we came across a lone farmer on the trail and managed to discern that 1, We were a VERY long way from Dazhai and 2, at the next fork in the trail we should turn left. It was good advice that eventually led us to a tiny village (albeit with at least one satellite dish) and the hope of being on the correct trail.

The village was almost entirely deserted but an old woman in traditional get-up sensed our presence. Asking directions we could not decipher her replies but it was obvious we should follow her – to her house as it turned out! She wanted us to eat – we were only interested in directions – I would have emptied my wallet for directions – she just wanted to sell us food. We declined as enthusiastically as possible before continuing up and out of the village (possibly she was just being hospitable – it’s so difficult to tell). Shortly after leaving the village I was considering SMSing Dad with our location and requesting the position of Dazhai but we spotted a large village possibly 5km across a massive valley – that must be it – and we started following the trails that loosely followed the contours now doubling back towards Ping’an. The trail dissapeared on an exhausting climb up to the top of a pass. Reaching the top we plonked ourselves down in the middle of a well worn trail. Within 10 minutes two French girls ambled by and confirmed our error – we had added a 3 hour loop to our hike and the town we had seen across the valley was not our destination but the half-way mark ! (seems we are getting very good at wandering AND getting lost).

From this point we crossed paths with a lot of hikers (all Western) and the walk was rewarding. Although our packs were feeling very heavy and our legs tired, the cloudy conditions granted some respite. We passed through the halfway point village quickly grabbing some snacks and trying to get away from the villagers heckling us with food, accomodation and trinkets. The last section of the walk was incredible (even when completely spent). We walked through endless picturesque rice terraces that extended from the valley floors to the upper edge of the Dragons Backbone range – in our opinion, this part is more impressive than Ping’an.

Arriving in Dazhai on jelly legs we caved at the first tout that came our way and within 10 minutes I was in a shower (with a gas heater that looked like it would explode at any second – so we turned the supply off at the bottle when we were done). The hostel/hotel had the architectural aesthetics and structural design of a tree house that I would build – but we really didn’t care. We successfully turned a max 4 hour hike on contoured paths into a 7 hour slog up and down mountains – an impressive days work 🙂 Tomorrow is going to hurt. PS. V is just plain amazing.

[Pictures: Some of the Terraces (once we had actually found the trail). The view of Dazhai from our ‘treehouse’ – the terraces extend to the top of the hills]

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As expected we woke to pain – Shoulders, legs, backs – guess what doesn’t kill you… After a ‘Chinesey’ and expensive (£5.30) breakfast at a hotel a few doors down we started the task of bussing it to Sanjiang. We are out in ‘rural’ China now so it’s local busses without aircon (and possibly steering and/or brakes) but it’s good to be away from the insane crowds of the big cities and popular spots. The bus left relatively empty from Dazhai and we started chatting to Raffaele and Simonetta, a much older and very sweet Italian couple that first travelled in China 25 years ago and are now back for more rough backpacking. The changes they have seen sound incredible and it must have been quite an adventure – China had opened to tourism only 2 years prior to their first trip. The bus fillled quickly as we stopped to pick up anyone willing to wave at us including a guy with his ‘lunch box’ consisting of a couple live chickens. Our conversation with the Italians was brought to an abrupt halt when some ladies in the front of the bus started a heated argument with a man in the back of the bus. Possibly 5 people shouting at the top of their voices constantly for an hour with our seats in the cross-fire. I would love to have understood what they were on about and it was an impressive display – they seem to be able to shout without stopping for air !

In Longshen all four of us transferred to another similar bus for the longer journey to Chenyang – longer, but quieter, I dozed. With the Italians going to same direction as us we were happy to just follow their lead. The options that greeted us at Sanjiang where a 1km walk and a 40p bus ride, a 20p tak-tak and a 40p bus ride or a £1 taxi to our final destination. Our meager attempts to renegociate the price where rebuffed and we agreed to the taxi. As it turned out the taxi was a tak-tak ! The 25km bone-jarring and insanely loud ride in a tin can attached to a converted motorbike (maybe 125cc) took around an hour. The only plus being that because he could not go fast I was sure we could escape with minor injuries in the event of a collision. My hands were shaking for an hour after from the vibrations transferred while holding packs on the back of the ‘vehicle’.

Another entrance fee (£6) to get into the preserved villages area and we were at the Ma’an/Chengyang bridge – an impressive piece of architecture and engineering. Our hostel (which lacks aircon, wifi and resturant) has a perfect location overlooking the river and bridge – we decided immediately to spend two nights.

The Ma’an village was devoid of tourists and is tiny – took us 30 minutes to stroll around it. This is a wonderful place to just chill out and catch up (that included washing some very smelly clothes and my backpack ! which all honed from the hike to Dazhai). We spent the evening in one of possibly three resturants in the village and chatted away to another Italian guy (Luca) that we had met in Dazhai and probably the only Italian who loves the food in China. Luca, who has travelled extensively in SE Asia was telling us about his recent trip trough Myanmar – sounded interesting but very difficult and surprisingly safe – maybe another time – we are too chicken for that.

An easy day of travel and a great evening. Excellent.

[Pictures: The ‘Wind and Rain Bridge’ at Ma’an village in Chengyang]

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[UPDATE: Added some photos in the ‘Longji Terraces to…’ section]

The first night in ages that I have slept without my ear plugs – this place is very peaceful – the beer didn’t hurt either. We got a late start and strolled around the collection of tiny villages in the area for a really relaxed morning. I managed to get a hair cut in a shack on the side of the road but turned down the straight razor (phew). It’s sad to see that many of the old wooden buildings are being replaced with concrete monsters (even if they are clad in wood) but I guess that is progress. Luca mentioned that the Chinese don’t understand the difference between ‘restoring and rebuilding’ and this is obvious almost everywhere.

We crossed a few more ‘wind and rain’ styled bridges and passed old drum towers without bumping into any tourists. The local community also appears to be very small and are all involved in either building houses or farming rice. Another favorite past time is to solicit donations for ‘maintainance’ on the bridges. For a small fee you can have your name carved onto wood or stone plaques at the old bridges – the trend has spread like bora to most of the bridges in the area. V did a quick estimate – it seems from the lists of donations that they should have plenty of funds for restoration. Possibly the labour costs here are higher than in Norway – you never know.

We spent the hotter part of the day relaxing on our balcony enjoying the peace. V is ploughing through her book on Mao (and finding it hard going at times due to the shocking nature of the story) and I have been typing posts (as you can tell). Just relaxing… and thinking… We are both having such a wonderful time.

To stress the point. This is a great little spot. They have put in enough to satisfy western travellers and without a chair lift and neon lights on the bridge the domestic tourists stay away. It’s full of charm (although the concrete is encroching) without the pushy hawkers – the villagers just go about their lives barely affected by the few tourists.

When it cools down we’ll take a walk up to a view point and later I’ll upload posts on the WiFi connection at Yangs Guesthouse. Tomorrow we are moving again – 5 hours by bus to another small village.

[Pictures: Me and my drum, View of Ma’an village in Chenyang]

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We were woken early by our first thunderstorm of the trip this morning and the heavy rain made us nervous to be spending the day out on the road. Out by 8h30 and nothing was open in the village so we skipped breakfast and flagged down the first mini-bus heading in the direction of Sanjiang. He dropped us on a main street in this awful town and with a vague hand gesture pointed us towards the bus station. We walked around for 20minutes – no bus station ! The few shopkeepers we polled could not understand what we were asking so V drew a bus and found the name of our destination in the LP – the ladies at a cell phone shop understood and pointed us in the right direction.

Shortly after arriving at the bus station Raffaele and Simonetta walked into the dingy terminal – good to have some travel companions again. Turns out that Simonetta teaches Nutrition in Florence and Raffaele is a Physics Professor in Bologna – a truly fascinating and entertaining couple. I could not resist getting Raffaele to tell me all about what he is working on. I did a lot of head nodding but it sounds amazing. OLED screens that are dirt cheap, super thin and flexible but his passion is material modeling. I guess that is coming up with new materials for electronics and other applications using complicated maths.

The road conditions were the worst we have seen yet. The bus bumped and ground its way along a large river and through mountain passes for a hour or so before we were ushered off the bus. The road ahead was impassable so we needed to walk 500m on muddy paths and across a rickety bridge to a bus waiting on the other side. Our new bus and driver had even less respect for Newton’s laws. A buttock tightening ride led us up, over and down treacherous mountain passes finally grinding to a halt at Zhaoxing terminal (an arb spot on the ‘main’ and only road through the village). We were happy to be once again in control of our direction and speed ! On the way we had seen new tunnels and massive bridges under construction – the rivers of concrete flowing as fast as water once again.

Zhaoxing is a bit of a dive. Not very charming and in a state of flux between new concrete, rebuilt drum towers (from the 80’s) and traditional cloth production. We watched a performance (singing and dancing) at the drum tower next to our hotel that had been prepared for a bunch of bussed-in domestic tourists. We were chased away by their guide who was asking for £5 to watch it – a bit cheeky in a public area we thought. We took a slow stroll around the village and up to the school/viewpoint.

The villagers seem to be almost completely involved in the production of dyed cloth. They extract a solution from plants which turns deep indigo after it oxidizes. Fabric is then dyed, dried and pounded with a mallet until it is shiny (ends up looking a bit like silk but not quite). No matter where you are in the village you can hear mallets endlessly drumming cloth on top of stone tablets – there has got to be an easier way. The ladies dresses are all pleated in a similar way. The fabric is carefully folded in ~10mm pleats, bound to a board and hammered. It’s a noisy place and not much escapes the dye – the hands of most are stained and even the dogs have the odd patch.

With not much else to do we had an early drink and a terrible dinner at one of the only restaurants offering WiFi before heading to our hotel. The included fan was not working so I repaired it with a piece of string and a bit of force but at least the beds were comfortable – the softest we have had in weeks. We’ll definitely be leaving in the morning – if only we can find out when the buses leave, and we won’t be alone, the Italians will be with us for at least another day.

[Pictures: V’s brilliant pictograms, One of Zhaoxing’s rebuilt drum towers, The view of the village from the school]

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The intel we acquired about the buses was as good as what you would get from any Russian spy – utterly useless. The 11h30 bus had apparently left at 10h15 and the buses mixed in amongst the Sunday market along the main street were all heading in the wrong direction. Eventually we were called to a bus which proceeded to trawl up and down the street a few times to make sure there was no one else in the village heading in the same direction.

If the roads yesterday were 10/10 bad, today started at a 15 and got worse – you could not have done more damage with heavy artillery. After 45mins of dodging potholes the bus pulled over at a crossroads :gps:(GPS)::25.96122::109.11547:gps: in the middle of nowhere and we were escorted off and vaguely directed to wait for a bus heading in another direction. I was nervous about the prospect. 20 minutes passed and a mini-bus pulled up asking a price that was unreasonable. Raffaele and Simonetta (R&S) tried in vain to negotiate a better deal so we decided to wait. It wasn’t long before we were on another local bus and bouncing our way through the potholes towards Congjiang. It was a tough ride with being at the back of a bus which lacked functioning shock absorbers, but the rural countryside was pleasant.

Arriving in Congjiang we decided to follow R&S in their plans to visit a the small Dong village of Zenchong. Our timing was perfect as the ticket desk lady led us through the station to a bus about to pull out (actually it would have been good to have taken a short break and found some supplies – but what can you do). Again the roads were terrible but the scenery was quite dramatic and mountainous. Riding these roads is pretty terrifying and you soon understand why they love using their hooters as much as they do – to warn oncoming traffic around blind corners when the roads are barely wide enough. Two and a half jarring hours later and we arrived in another dive of a city – Ronjiang. Unfortunately it seemed to us that the ticket lady mis-understood where we wanted go – but it would shortly become clear.

Another city, another ‘conversation’ with a bus ticket clerk for V. It seemed that there were no buses going where we wanted to go and we were directed to the mini-buses across the street. An extended negotiation ensued with R&S managing to knock the price down from £30 to £24 before we accepted. This was still very high but we were running out of options with evening approaching. Just outside Ronjiang we turned off the ‘road’ and it became clear why there are no buses. Our little mini bus (the one that could) climbed (painfully for it and us) the most rocky, bumpy, narrow, windy and utterly stunning mountain pass that I have ever seen. I am apparently pretty gushy when I write sometimes, so here I’ll just say “GUSH” and leave it at that. A broken down truck on the road delayed us a little more but eventually, after about two hours, reached the village of Zenchong as daylight was fading – that was a long day on the ‘road’ !

Zenchong is tiny (possibly 0.25sq km) village tucked up against a hill and surrounded by a river. It is well off the beaten track and is relatively untouched by tourism meaning there are no hotels or restaurants. We started walking through the narrow alleyways in the dark and came across a ‘shop-front’ that was open and lively with kids running around generally excited by foreign visitors. Asking for a place to sleep (using gestures) the shopkeeper seemed happy to help and got on his cell to his brother who was able to translate what we wanted. There was a lot of confusion but we eventually secured a small room for the four of us. The home (attached to the storefront) was beyond basic and without a shower or reasonable sanitation. I was nervous.

The translator (I think the family name is Wan/Wang) arrived from the next village a little later and things were looking up. He is an English teacher at a local school and was a great help and and all-around nice guy (too good to be true maybe?). We now had a room with a bed and an extra mattress on the floor which Raffaele immediately set about converting into a boudior. From his pack he produced white sheets, mosquito net, electric mosquito mat and a kettle element. V is never going to let me forget that… Thanks Raffaele 🙂 Dinner was also on the go – we agreed on chicken – and the lady of the house wasted no time in retrieving a live one from a basket in the kitchen and, well, cooking it. I seem to remember something about avian flu starting in this kind of place when chickens, pigs, horses, dogs, cats and people are all living on top of each other with poor sanitation… This is precisely where we found ourselves – oh well – no way out now !

Dinner was far from good. The chicken, which due to the lack of meat I can only assume was anorexic, was prepared in the traditional Chinese way: whack it into small pieces with a cleaver so that each morsel contains more bones and splinters than meat, then fry the entire thing, head, feet and all. The locally farmed and freshly roasted peanuts where the only part I found palatable and the look of fungus on my chopsticks gave my stomach the jitters. Anyway – we ate.

Up until this point we were truly enjoying the adventure of being immersed in real rural Chinese life. The dodgy food and accommodation just added to the story. That all changed after dinner when we managed to pin the Wans down on cost. Raffaele had repeatedly asked for costs all evening and was consistently told ‘everything will be fine’. They wanted £11 for the meal and another £9 for the room. For that price in most places we would have gotten two rooms with private bathroom and shower (possibly with air-con) and a good meal. It was outrageous. R&S led the charge (V and I are still terrible at bargaining and we hid in the background). It was really uncomfortable and soured what would have been a wonderful end to the day. Our negotiating position was terrible since it was so late and in the end the price was reduced to a total of £16. We headed up-ladder to our room feeling genuinely discontent.

[Pictures: At a crossroads close to nowhere, V and R return after checking out the broken down truck on the way up to Zenchong]

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I regret not ordering the rooster for dinner last night as the one in the kitchen decided we should wake up at some ridiculous hour and was not going to rest until we were moving. The four of us managed to scrape a breakfast from the meager supplies we had on us thereby avoiding another price war with our host before heading out to find a viewpoint. From high up on the rice paddies the village looks beautiful, traditional and pure but at street level you have to accept the conditions of rural life and all the consequences to your stomach that go with it. I think V and I prefer places just slightly less rough.

We initially planned to stay until late afternoon but by 10 we had exhausted the potentiometer for exploration leaving us with the problem of getting out of town. Hitching was out of the question as we had not see a single vehicle all morning and ordering a taxi from the city would mean a two hour wait if we could make a call and get someone to understand. We were desperate enough to consider hiking the 7km to the next village but thought it too hot. The only option was to ask our host for help again. Thankfully he was not holding any grudge after last nights disagreement and with the help of a cell and his brother he arranged another mini-bus within 20 minutes. The vehicle was in shocking condition – seats in the rear were all broken and the most essential piece of equipment for driving in China (the hooter) was missing. We didn’t care – we just wanted to get out of there. I sat on my pack for the entire bone crunching ride while R&S tired to utilize the collapsed seats. V had the ‘comfy’ front seat which was probably the most terrifying going around hairpin blind corners with a 1000m drop just centimeters away.

Once back in Ronjiang we arranged a bus to Leshan and walked about in search of food. With a 4+ hour bus ride ahead of us V and I opted for any food as long as it was sealed in a packet. R&S braved another Chinese mix and match meal at a restaurant alongside the bus station – they have far more experience at this sort of thing.

The bus ride turned into a 5 hour marathon up, over and down numerous extremely high (higher than I have ever experienced) mountain passes on roads slightly better than yesterday’s. It was an amazing trip with beautiful scenery, rushing rivers, quaint villages and endless rice terraces that, in our opinion, are far more impressive than the Dragon’s Backbone due to their immense scale. It was incredibly windy though. I reckon that at least 90% of the time we were not moving in a straight line and the people vomiting upfront only served to confirm my estimate (really it was THAT windy).

Coming into Leshan we noticed something strange – Tarmac ! and a centre line on a road wide enough for 2 cars. We were all completely spent when we got off the bus but had to face the possibility of yet another hop. Fortunately (two bumpy days of buses and we have had enough) we were too late and the bus terminal was closed for the day. Raffaele and I were nominated to find a hotel in town rather than taking an expensive mini-bus ride one and a half hours in the dark up into the mountains to our next destination. The town was a complete surprise. Neat, perfectly clean, wide roads and pavements all pristine with buildings that made me think I was back in Europe. We walked around for half an hour checking prices. Raffaele drew a set of stick figures to show we needed two rooms for four people which seemed to at first cause confusion but adding a dress to one member of each couple of stick men generated laughs and eventually some understanding. For £8 we could have taken a western style holiday inn clone but in the end we opted for the convenience of the cheaper hotel next to the bus station which was clean, quiet and had hot showers so everyone was happy.

Dinner in town with R&S was a real laugh. Raffaele kept insisting on seeing inside kitchens and the ingredients before accepting a venue. We eventually settled on a chicken hotpot – much better than last night and much cheaper too, but I have had enough of chicken for now – I think it’s the shattered bones, heads and feet in the pots that I am struggling with.

[Pictures: The view of Zenchong from up on the hillside – not much to look at is it ? New road coming soon in the background]

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It was great to wake up feeling refreshed for a change. My legs have been taking strain lately with mosquito bites (they leave V alone when I am around) and being in a ‘hotel’ last night gave me a much needed break from being munched. We caught the 9am bus (£1 – BTW when I write prices they are normally per person) out to Xijiang – another hour and a half on windy roads with stunning views but at least the road was in perfect condition – we were obviously on our way to a popular place.

The village is a bit of a mix. It is obvious that the lower flat section along the river was once rice paddies but has been converted into a typical Chinese tourist trap with trinket shops, restaurants and continuous ‘traditional’ performances. It’s not bad but a million miles from yesterday. The upper part has held onto a lot of its charm and character while being kept clean. Upgrades have been done carefully so as not to destroy the aesthetics (eg. rubbish bins look like tree stumps, concrete structures are painted to look like wood).

Raffaele and I headed uphill into the old village in search of a guest house recommended by friends of his and after finding someone who could speak English were able to locate the place (we walked straight past it on our way up !) Mama Lee’s Inn is really a very basic hostel with three tiny dorm rooms and a shared bathroom, but since it was empty we figured we would end up with two rooms to ourselves and for £1ea we could not hope for cheaper (well it was higher but Raffaele got it down).

Drumming in the new part of town attracted us to the main square with some traditional performances but the volume of the sound system quickly chased us away in search of lunch. Fried noodles and various other bits – there was no reason to fret (hmmm). We spent a few hours wandering around the old village and surrounding hills looking for good photos and just enjoying the place, its people and our friends.

Unfortunately V started to feel a little I’ll and by the time we got back to our Hilton was decidedly green. She has definitely contracted a bought of food poisoning and wasn’t even able to keep a few sips of 7up down. We attempted to walk down to the square and do a little more sightseeing in the late afternoon but aborted the attempt. V was limited to her bed and the nearest toilet. Definitely the most I’ll either of us have been – my poor little V.

Obviously V could not join us for the dinner that Mama Lee had prepared for us. I got to try some rice wine (basically Saki) and the food was very good (I’ll take R&S’ word for it on the main dish since the fish head hotpot was not my cup of tea). The three of us had an entertaining meal chatting away while V was curled up in a ball waiting for her meds to start working. Hopefully she feels better by the morning – if not we will stay another day here.

[Pictures: V at yet another bus station ticket window, Negociating at the Hilton (Mama Lee’s Inn), A view of the old village from up on the trails]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

V is not dead and is feeling a little better this morning but still weak and very tired. We have decided to stay another night and have moved to more comfortable accommodation on the far side of the river where most of the new guest houses are. As you can tell from the posts we have WiFi (but it is a little iffy). Today will be a day off and will update this evening.

We had to say goodbye to our new friends this morning. Thank you Raffaele and Simonetta – it was fantastic traveling with you for the past days. We’ll miss the laughs and the company very much. I’ll try to remember the valuable lesson in using matches 🙂 All the best for the rest of your trip. Take care. We hope to see you someday in Florence. Ciao.

PS. Thanks to all for the recent comments – we love getting them.

[Pictures: Crossing the river to the promised land: Air-con, WiFi and an ensuite bathroom]

[UPDATE: After spending most of the day in bed V is much better but we’ll decide in the morning if we are going to get on the road again. The next leg is a day long string of buses to Anshun. I just had an excellent beef, mushroom, ginger and chilli dish – V had a go at it too. I think we’ll start reviewing meals in 2 steps – taste and consequence. Pic added – the view of the village from our new hotel – ‘Full View Guesthouse’.]

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3 Months on the road today !!
We can hardly believe it ! Still having a great time here in China even if it has been rough lately – it’s still an incredible adventure.

The roosters have been replaced with various power tools – the construction gets going early here and this morning was no different. V is back up and running so we decided to head out. The 9:30 bus apparently left at 8:30 so we waited for the 11:30 one to fill up. Normally buses leave on time in China but only when leaving from a proper bus station. While waiting we started chatting to the only foreigner around. Marcus (a Swede) has been living and studying in China for a couple years. He was interesting to chat to but most importantly was heading the same way and can speak Chinese.

The first leg to Kaili was an hour. The driver used the downhills and good roads to his advantage, turning off the engine and coasting. Good thing the brakes aren’t assisted. It was a pleasant trip but V was stressing about her missing motion sickness pills.

In Kaili we had a short 20 minute wait for the next bus to Guiyang so we crossed the busy street get some supplies. With V’s recent food poisoning we opted for sealed goods including bananas. Marcus (who must be used to food in China) spent some time haggling over the price of some good looking grapes. The Chinese language often sounds like a fight and it’s really funny to watch when one party is a foreigner. The bus was all shiny and new – we even got free drinking water. We were back on concrete highways but shortly after setting out we hit roadworks and traffic. The 2.5 hour trip ended up taking 4 hours but was at least comfortable – not really for me and my stomach. Last night’s meal turned out to be +6 for taste, -5 for consequence 🙂

In Guiuang we said goodbye to Marcus who was flying north to Chengdu and after eventually finding the ticket office got on the last bus leg to Anshun. No delays and a good highway meant the trip only took 1.5 hours before depositing us in the mid-sized, cleaner than most, but not too attractive city of Anshun with our only Information being a small section in our 5 year old LP guide.

People are often amazed how we manage to travel without any Chinese language, but we always seem to get by and today was no different. A young lady traveling on the bus said hello in passing when we got off and as we stood trying to orient ourselves she came back to us with a friend and her mother to ask if she could help us. We tried to decline but eventually accepted the offer and followed as the ladies headed down the main street in search of a hotel for us (Anshun is not geared for travelers – there are no hostels and budget accommodation is rare). We chatted as we walked. Charlin is a student in Hong Kong who is back home for the holidays and her friend, Sandy, has just completed high school. We felt terrible that they were traipsing up the main street with Charlin’s luggage looking for a hotel for us when her mom and friend probably hadn’t seen her for ages. After stopping in at one hotel and being shocked at the price the girls were even more keen to keep looking – Charlin’s poor mom less so. We walked together a couple blocks to the far end of the street and eventually found a typical Chinese hotel at a reasonable rate (£14). Charlin and Sandy were wonderful. They translated for us, made recommendations, drew maps to buses and invited us to the spend some time with them at the city’s night market (if Charlin could get permission from her mom).

After a quick shower we called Charlin to see if she had gotten permission – she told us which bus to catch – they would wait at another stop and jump on when they saw us (we are easy to spot here – very few foreigners). The night market was huge and packed but what a difference it makes being able to ask what things are. This area is famous for braaied fish and we could see why – it looked fantastic on the coal and gas fires – wish I could enjoy fish. The entire braai section of the market smelt surprisingly appetizing. Having heard that this area eats a lot of dog we wanted to stay away from any meat and the girls recommended mini rolls for dinner. That was to be an odd experience. We sat down in front of 10 or so bowls of various diced roots and vegetables (we could only identify bean sprouts and cabbage) and were given instruction on how to wrap ingredients inside little pastries and add copious amounts of chili sauce. It filled the gap, but not really our speed. Wandering the market we came across a guy making sugar stick art. With his randomizing spinning wheel for choosing a design and his skill it was entertaining to watch. He told our guides that he would make a special one for V since we were foreign and proceeded to squiggle a beautiful dragon (on a stick). We were very impressed.

The girls wanted us to try some more local snacks so we sat down at another spot and were presented with mango and banana sorbet followed by various deep fried things from jelly to tofu and more unrecognizable vegetables. We had said that we enjoy spicy food, but wow, it was way too hot for us and made everything taste the same. We were stuffed. As we were about the leave, an American couple (teaching English in the city) said hello – they used the word ‘awesome’ around 10 times in two minutes 🙂

Before getting us back to the bus the girls presented us with a little gift (a small purple doll – purple being the color of love here) and we posed for photos – the V for victory sign that most Chinese make when posing apparently indicates happiness. They were absolutely tremendous hosts – a wonderful experience, thank you Charlin and Sandy.

[Pictures: Making V’s dragon. Will upload lots more photos from the market asap]

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Huangousho falls is one of the reasons we came to Anshun They are supposedly the largest in Asia and our goal today was to go visit them and possibly the massive Longgong caves as well if there was time. We knew that these two places would be very Chinese touristy but figured they would be worth the look anyway.

The day didn’t get off to the best start as we inadvertantly bought 3 bus tickets to the falls instead of 2 (don’t ask). Then when we were almost at the waterfall area ticket office the bus driver stopped next to a group of taxis on the side of the road and shouted for some people to get off, us included. After showing the driver a picture of the falls and getting ‘yes yes’ from him, we got in a taxi with another Chinese couple. We should have just stayed on the bus as the taxi took us to the ticket office and car park where a hundred other taxis were parked AND where the bus stopped next anyway. As far as we can figure, it must be that the bus driver has a deal going with his taxi driver mates to get a one up on the other taxis and grab people before they get to the ticket office. We’re not sure but we think the idea is that you buy an entrance ticket then get back in the taxi who then takes you around the falls and other ‘scenic spots’. At least that’s what we think the set up is as we never got further than the price board at the entrance and never paid the taxi driver anything.

The prices, in our view, were astronomical. £18 per person to get in and another £5 each for the bus that gets you from the entrance to the falls. It was Wutai Shan all over again. We only wanted to see the one waterfall and not that badly. We stood staring at the prices and debating whether we should cough up the £46 or give up when a young girl came up and asked if she could help us out. Turned out her name was Penny and she would show us the falls from outside the park for a fee of £10. We didn’t even bother to try bargain and just took her up on her offer.

We walked out of the ticket office and down the road for what must have been about 20 or 30 minutes until we reached a tiny parking lot :gps:(GPS)::25.99304::105.66449:gps: amongst the shops and buildings lining the road. Maybe 4 cars could fit in the lot and at the back there was a little blue door and a flight of stairs leading down to what turned out to be a fantastic viewing point directly opposite the falls.

The falls are very pretty, cascading down the limestone cliff into a green pool at the bottom. We spent maybe half an hour taking photos, admiring the falls and watching the very long trail of tourists on the official park paths below us. We were envious that they could follow the path all the way around the cliffs and behind the falls themselves, but since we got to see the falls for a fraction of the price they paid, we weren’t that dissapointed.

We decided against going to the caves on the way back to Anshun on the basis that they would probably also be very highly priced and even more crowded. Instead we will try to go to Zijin caves which is somewhat further out of town and will hopefully be a bit more of an adventurous day trip.

[Pictures: Very pretty Huangguoshu falls]

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Up early for us today – we were at the nearest bus station at 7:15 and already our LP guide was letting us down – it was to be a day of mis-information from Lonely Planet. The guy in the ticket office could not give us a ticket to Zhinjin and we guessed that what he was telling us was that we needed to be at a different bus station. Asking (with gestures, pictures and symbols) a few people around we got some Chinese symbols written down and a taxi got us to the north bus station (slight rip off: £1 for a 60p ride we would later discover) where we got our bus. Windy but good roads led us through farmland and small ugly (concrete) villages as we listened to Scientific American pod casts (V thought the book ‘Eaarth’ by Bill McKibben sounds interesting – I’m more interested in the biography of ‘Paul Dirac, “the strangest man” in science’).

There were a few delays on the road due to traffic blocking up the narrow roads in the villages, water buffalo crossing and roadworks but we soon realized that the LP’s estimate of 2 hours was way out. The bus slowed to a snails pace as we climbed into the beautiful karst mountains. I started to worry about making it back by the 6pm cutt-off. We did not want to spend a night out here. In the end it took 3 hours to get to Zhinjin where another problem needed solving. To quote the LP ‘Mini-buses will be clamoring to take you to the caves” umm… nope nada ! We started to think that the cave had collapsed and was closed. We approached a taxi but the cost seemed high – at least he understood where we were going and once again we got lucky. A lady with her son and mother (we assume) got hold of us and stuffed us into the cab she had arranged for herself (She could not speak any English but I guess it was obvious we wanted to go to the caves). Not far down the road she excitedly stopped the cab and got the lot of us running to a local bus – at this point we had no idea what was happening, just going with the flow. An hour of mountainous scenery, steep climbs and traffic jams later we arrived at the caves to find it full of tour buses and cars that MUST have arrived via a different route.

The LP claims that the Zhinjin caves (I need to read more about them sometime and get a GPS point) are reminiscent of Tolkienesque mountains and mines and in this they are, for a change, correct. As part of a Chinese tour group it was a little loud and the lighting was cheesy but the cave made up for it with it’s stunning beauty and enormous size. The Kango caves have nothing on this boy. Massive caverns and mind boggling formations. The windy pathways and step twisting staircases gave the feeling of passing through the Mines of Moria (except for the lighting, electronically amplified Chinese guide and the occasional cell phone conversation – yes China Mobile has the INSIDE of the caves covered !). At the more popular formations you can pay for ‘professional’ photos – we opted out and spent a lot time trying to stabilized our little camera on any accepting platform – hope the pics will look okay. Not being able to understand the guide as she pointed out interesting formations we let pareidolia run wild spotting mushrooms to cave trolls.

The tour lasted around 1.5 hours and cost £14ea. It was amazing and worth the four hours to get there (maybe not the additional four hours to get back though). We followed a similar route back using a mini-bus to get to Zhinjin (the ticket collector tried to charge us £2.10ea but a couple in front of us would not let him get away with ripping us off – we ended up paying the correct 70p ea. The same couple also helped us navigate across town to the long distance bus station – people have, in general, been very kind and helpful.

It was a long day on the buses and our butts were aching by the time we got back to Anshun. Unfortunately we are back on another long bus tomorrow grrr. Both of us are feeling a little tired from long days and sleepless nights (you would think that with all the time I have spent in hotels I would know to ask for a room facing away from busy streets – its been like sleeping in a bus stop the past two nights). We are also in need of a good meal sans consequences – looking forward to Kunming in a few days.

[Pictures: some iPhone photo attempts inside the cave]

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It was bound to happen sooner or later. A really crappy day. We left Anshun this morning. The bus trip was only four and a half hours and we did pass through some wonderful terrain. We crossed over a colossal suspension bridge that ran straight into a tunnel which was cool, and just before reaching Xingyi we crossed the Malin gorge with huge waterfalls plunging to the depths below – a beautiful new suspension bridge high above the gorge in the background. Other than that we were both feeling tired and subsequently irritable.

Xingyi is another characterless boom city of concrete, chaos and dirt. Our plan was to spend 2 nights here and explore the gorge tomorrow but on the bus we changed our minds and decided to spend the morning in the gorge and get out of town by late afternoon rather than spending a second night. Unfortunately we found to our surprise that the buses to Kunming only run twice a day and not wanting to stay longer in this dive we bought a ticket for early tomorrow morning.

It took some walking around the bus station to find accommodation – another typical Chinese Businessman’s hotel complete with in room supplies including condoms, ladies underwear, Chinese knock-off little blue pills and sanitary wash that ‘kills all diseases’. By the time we had checked in it was too late to head for the gorge. So we have stopped here for nothing. If we try to look at it in a positive light we could say that we are just breaking up the long trip to Kunming, but honestly, almost two weeks of bad meals, isolated villages and dingy cities has left us longing for some western comforts. We hope Kunming will revive us. Should arrive there tomorrow afternoon and expect to stay for at least 5 nights while our visa extension is processed. It will give us time in a backpackers hostel with travel oriented hosts, Internet, some other honkies to chat to and some western food. We’ll catch the next beautiful gorge fully refueled – bring it on !!

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Not much to report for today. When we got to the bus station our bus was missing – the only possibility looked like a crummy old sleeper bus. We started questioning ourselves – how long is this trip going to be !? Just before our scheduled departure a more reasonable looking bus pulled in and we climbed aboard holding out noses as we deposited our backpacks in the fishy smelling hold (yuk).

It was a five hour trip on good roads. I spent most of it with my eyes closed listening to ‘The Naked Scientists’ podcast (reminder to self: try mix coke and wallpaper glue someday) and Bill Bryson reading ‘In a Sunburnt Country’. V and I love his stuff. We both nodded off a few times and arrived in Kunming around 14h00 and shortly thereafter spotted our first westener in 4 days ! A misjudgment on my part meant that we ended up slogging the 2+ km to the hostel through the city centre on foot (should know better than to trust my instincts when it comes to directions). We deposited our gear, tried to check email (the Internet connection is painfully slow here) before heading out for western food. Suitably saturated with the Colonel’s masterful bounty we retired to our room with the ambition of doing absolutely nothing but the mosquitoes had other plans for us.

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So we are back on the western tourist trail and it feels good but the beds are very hard (typical). Our hostel (Camelia Youth Hostel) is a converted hotel that was recently renovated. The rooms are huge, minimalist and clean with a bathroom containing the first normal shower we have seen in China. Last night was reasonably quiet but warm without air-con and the mozzies feasted on us (well me). After toast for breakfast (yes please) we headed to the Public Security Bureau to extend our visa. The main reason to be in Kunming was that we have only a week left on our visas and reports indicate that the process can take a week. The helpful officer at the empty PSB office told us that we need not apply until our last day (although if declined, which is unlikely, we would only have the rest of the day to get out of China) and recommended that we rather get the extension in our next stop (Dali) as their system is computerized and should take only one day. I hope she was not just trying to get rid of us because she wanted to finish her game of mahjong.

Kunming, albeit pleasant, is just a big city with few interesting sights for us so we jumped at the chance to get out sooner. We’ll probably be back here for 3 days to get our Vietnamese visa in any event. We strolled around a couple of city blocks in search of supplies. First stop was a book store (danger) to find some maps of Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. Second to a WalMart (a real one) to stock up. We left the WalMart with a 100% success rate (which is rare for us) including 40 instant tea sachets, deodorant (something you cannot get in China), mozzie spray and an electric mozzie mat with enough tabs to decimate Kunming’s mosquito population. I resisted the urge to buy a £10 electric fan to add to the facilities in our room. Exiting the store we gulped down a Red Bull in an attempt to stay awake and stumbled back to the hostel (BTW Chinese Red Bull is nowhere near as nice as the western one – for starters it’s not carbonated).

We spent the afternoon planning, plotting, doing chores and unsuccessfully trying to stay awake. We have been using a trick to make the granite-hard beds a little softer: Remove duvet from it’s cover (every hostel has a duvet even in 30C+ heat), fold it in half and stuff it under the fitted sheet so that your torso is supported. Some of the beds are hard enough for these measures to make a difference.

In the evening we wandered downstairs to get online – the entire reception area and courtyard were packed but deadly quite – the only sound being the whirr of laptop fans and the muted clicks of keyboards. It seems backpacking around Asia has become a teleconference. There’s no need to socialize when you can get online with all your buddies back home. I suppose we do exactly he same thing when we can but it is a little sad.

[Pictures: Have been lazy taking iPhone photos for posts lately. Promise to get better at it soon !]

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So off to do some sightseeing. We first got excited about the Stone Forest outside Kunming :gps:(GPS)::24.754333::103.276944:gps: when V came across some photos last year – we HAD to see it even it has received a bad wrap as a Chinesified theme park. It was easy to get there – city bus out to the East bus station and then onto a 1.5hour inter-city bus out to Shilin. The entry fee seemed high (£17.50) but in retrospect it was well worth it and I was very happy to have a digital camera – the cost of film would certainly have left us bankrupt.

We crossed into the park on foot and immediately headed away from the crowds following the ring road road anti-clockwise drooling at the beauty of the rocks for some distance before coming to a trail on the Southern edge of the park. Having popped open our umbrellas to provide portable shade it was a stunning stroll, crossing paths with one other person, around lakes then to and through some amazing mushroom formations. The paths are beautifully built and snake their way past, occasionally incorporating, the formations with utmost respect for the environment and aesthetics – an impressive display for China we thought.

We continued the loop around and found our way into some even more impressive formations with paths dropping down through tight squeezes, under overhangs, around columns – it was just too much fun with colourful butterflies and the odd mongoose scattering ahead us. The map boards are not the easiest to understand but we didn’t really care.

Eventually we crossed the ring road and headed into the major forest with even more impressive paths, deep gullies, staircases and towering outcrops – it truely is a stone forest. Encountering a steadily increasing number of local tourists and the accompany noise as we approached the main viewing platform the experience became diluted but we were determined to snap the ‘got the t-shirt’ shot from the viewpoint. We got the shots after queuing for 20 minutes or so just as a thunderstorm was rolling over but luckily it barely drizzled. Our experience shows that local tourists are usually concentrated between the car park and the major attraction. With that in mind we sharpened our elbows and made for the eastern side of ring road as fast as the passing thunderclouds. It wasn’t long before we found another trail and solitude once more if only for a short while.

The Chinese love naming their rock formations with the excessive use of imagination and we enjoyed trying to decipher what they were on about at various places before getting back into the tour groups near the entrance/exist. This area is worth the crowds. The grounds in between rock formations have been flattened and manicured to perfection. It didn’t take long for V and I to find our dream back garden – all that was missing was a rock swimming pool (BTW: The skate park, trampoline and MTB pump track goes in the front yard). In all we spent over four hours wandering around the park and can say without a doubt that the Stone Forest rocks ! It was awesome like 100 000 hotdogs (We need to take a closer look at the ‘Hotdog Scale of Awesomeness’. I know it tops out at 100 Billion for celestial encounters so we may need to adjust the curve a little).

And the bus ride back…. Well that went great until we got off the city bus at the ‘wrong’ stop. Got back on it and did an entire loop to the long distance bus station again only to find out that we actually did get off at the correct stop on the previous attempt but started walking the wrong way. I think we were just totally stoned after all that awesomeness.

We’re back 🙂 Excited and to be moving on to Dali tomorrow.

[Pictures: Behold ! Having a ball in the Stone forest and a pic of our future garden (in my mind)]

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(more…)

100 (百) Days on the Road !

We’re even impressed with ourselves. Special reward: a late afternoon nap 🙂

Of the 4500 hours on the road so far I doubt that V and I have spent a total of more than one separated by a distance greater than 10m. It all comes down to the fact that my V is just awesome (still calculating her position on the Hotdog scale) and I love her more every day !

So what to do to celebrate ? How about an hour on city buses followed by 6 hours on an inter-city bus (mildly frightening at times) and another half hour city bus to get to the next destination. Sounds just about right. We are now in Dali (another travelers paradise with all the toppings) in what seems to be a magnificent hostel (The Lilly Pad) just outside the old city wall. We are both exhausted but I think we may go in search of a well known bar (rumored to be fully stocked) in the hope of finding a good scotch. Cheers all.

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Well we’ve taken a couple of days off from sightseeing and generally energetic activities. Yesterday we went into Dali (the new city) to sort out our visa extensions. What a great experience – the first time in my life I have ever been inside a government building where the staff outnumber the people needing assistance. Very pleasant and efficient but our visa will only be ready on Tuesday so we will be here for another two nights.

In the afternoon we took a short stroll around Dali old town to pick up some supplies for a hike and some odd looking fruit to try. The old town is a bit of a mix – some parts have been rebuilt (not restored) and look quaint but sterile. There is a bustling ‘Foreigner’s Street’ where a travelers needs can be adequately fulfilled complete with last night’s Glenmorangie (even though two doubles cost most than a nights accommodation it was worth it). The main ‘shopping’ streets are far from interesting, photocopies of what you see everywhere – we are bored of this stuff – bring on the mountains ! Away from the main streets we found less than authentic buildings in hastily poured concrete peppered with the odd derelict original structure. Golf carts full of domestic tourists rolling up and down the streets does not help – possibly we are missing something or we have just seen it all before.

Today was a bit of a cop-out. We planned to go for a hike up and along some of the mountain trails but neither of us was in the mood. I’ve picked up a stomach bug and a bit of man flu (and everyone knows that is far worse than any other kind of flu) so we decided to rest up and chill out. With time on our hands we have started to think about changing plans again – not good me thinks. We are barely 1400km from Mt. Everest at the moment and it’s killing us (that’s like being in Cape Town and having Everest in Joburg !). We have mixed reports of road closures on the route we want to take to Tibet and there seem to be a lot of complications and costs involved. The option of going to Nepal is incredibly tempting. We will definitely exit China over budget (but then again we expected to stay only six weeks – we’ve been here two months with another four weeks to go !). So after many, many hours agonizing over the options we have decided to stick to our rough original plan – Lijiang and the Tiger Leaping Gorge, then Shangrila where we will try to find a route to Lhasa (hopefully we won’t need to fly or double back to Xi’an). From Lhasa we’ll do a standard ‘tour’ including the Chinese Everest Base Camp, return to Lhasa and make our way back to Kunming (as cheaply and quickly as possible). Real trekking in Nepal is going to have to wait for another trip. So close. The costs, time and lack of gear will just not do it justice.

We spent another few hours walking around Dali old town again looking for some tops for V (and finally have been successful) but I think we are both reaching saturation point in China. We need to get to another country. Tibet will do just fine 🙂

PS… The last 5 eps of this years ‘Doctor Who’ were brilliant and bow-ties are cool. Geronimo !

[Pictures: So that’s what a nights accommodation and a meal looks like – but it did taste amazing, Dali old town, Ridley Scott’s ‘Alien’ egg fruit]

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The ‘Longji Terraces to Anshun’ gallery is complete. Grab a strong coffee. Should be able to catch up the rest tonight/tomorrow.

[UPDATE: It’s done.. Added ‘Anshun & Around’, ‘Kunming & Around’ and ‘Dali’ which is incomplete – enjoy]

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I woke up this morning feeling pretty terrible – so another day off for us after a quick walk into town in search of real medication. Pharmacies in China have been a challange. We walked in and were greeted by helpful staff who could not understand a word we were saying (our fault not theirs). We passed walls of little wooden drawers each containing various kinds of dried roots, mushrooms, animal parts etc. Chinese traditional medicine seems to be a booming industry (as ever). Along with all the other ‘Snake Oil’ we passed what could only be decscribed as ‘real’ Snake Oil – or what looked like a partially disected snake in a jar of liquid. After scanning the shelves in vain I made some ‘sore head’ and ‘coughing’ actions – the staff presented us with a few items in Chinese packaging. Evetually we found some real medicine with bad English on the box and inserts that at least indicated a few familiar active ingredients.

Back at the hostel we lounged in the lounge. V got a chance to scan some recent National Geographics and other books – I lasted less than an hour after taking a pill. After a good snooze I am feeling much better. It was raining on and off for most of the day – hopefully it clears so we can get out for a hike tomorrow.

Dinner on Foreigner’s street was cheap and nasty. I think we would rather have simple Chinese food than ‘western’ food prepared with all good intentions by a Chinese chef, it was barely edible.

[Pictures: Boring one. The lounge at the hostel. It is a fantastic place. The Lily Pad Inn – highly recommended]

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So the big day arrived. Time to stop relaxing and procrastinating and get out into the hills a little. After a quick breakfast at the hostel and a brief chat with some of our hostel buddies (a lady from New Zealand who works for Ice Breaker, the guys who made my merino wool t-shirts, and her dad who teaches English and lives in China) we hit the trail with a map in hand – what could possibly go wrong ? We started off in the general direction of the mountains and found ourselves walking through small farms and around new streets. There are lots of new building clusters in this area with a similar feeling to a complex in SA but without the walls, guards, electric fences and sewers.

Coming across a movie set turned tourist attraction we knew that we were at least heading in the right direction. No idea what the movie was, but the ‘set’ looked more like a mini fortified village. The ticket cost and general cheesiness prevented us from going inside and we carried on to the trail-head where we acquired tickets and a pamphlet. One of the guards insisted that we read the information carefully – it outlined security and other risks on the mountain along with tips on what to do in case of an emergency or getting lost. We had been told that there had been muggings in the past on the trails and had left everything valuable behind so we were not too concerned.

We soon realized that getting lost or into any kind of trouble on the mountain would take a superhuman effort. The ‘trail’ is a 2.5m wide, perfectly paved stone concourse complete with handrails, warning signs, toilets, rest pagodas, water taps and fire hydrants ! We were all alone as we climbed stairs up and up toward the contour path passing only one guy who was pulling weeds from the side of the trail. It took around 90 minutes of hard step-mastering on the mossy path through thick forest to reach the contour path – I can see why most people take the cable car but chatting all the way made it easy.

After a short rest on a convenient bench we strolled off along the path. It was wonderful. The trail wound it’s way along the mountains offering stunning views of the town and lake. Sections have been carved (reasonably aesthetically) into sheer rock faces and the trail cuts back into gullies as it approaches waterfalls with the greater mountains towering possibly 1000m overhead. Light rain encouraged us to stop under misty and cloud covered mountains to have a little lunch before heading back towards the chairlift. We took the hard way down – a muddy, slippery and dis-used horse trail that weaves it’s way down under the path of the comfortable looking chairlift. After trekking downhill and through a vast mountainside graveyard we successfully navigated our way back to the hostel. An excellent five hours out in the hills – we deserved the beer.

The proprietor and head chef at the hostel is a French guy who has been in China forever and he sold us on a ‘Special’ dinner menu. At 7pm we were on the benches with most of the hostel’s guests eagerly awaiting sups. It was excellent and simple. A cheese platter with real cheeses (including pecorino, brie & rocquefort) real breads, a salad that I even found delicious and a fruit salad for desert. We have not had real cheese and bread since Russia and I was shocked that he had been able to source it here. Combined with his home-brewed witblitz and the lively company (we preferred the quieter Belgium couple as opposed to the Poms and Israelis) it was a fantastic dinner, an unexpected treat.

[Pictures: None – we didn’t take the phones on the hike for fear of being mugged. Will upload pics from the camera soon]

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Not much to report for today. We fetched our visa extensions from the PSB in Dali with no troubles – we now have until September 17th to get out of China. I have to admit that the PSB in Dali is brilliant, unbelievably efficient and a pleasure to use. Back at the hostel it took 15 minutes to arrange and catch a local bus for the 4 hour trip to Lijiang. We have become accustomed to getting buses to anywhere without any hassles – it’s just such a pity that for Tibet the regulations don’t permit it.

The trip was on reasonably good and straight roads with the odd bit of rain. Unfortunately the mountains to the west were hidden by cloud. We listen to audio-books and dozed. Our hostel information recommended that we take a taxi from the bus station – a minibus quoted us £2 we laughed at the guy and got a taxi for 90p (we are occasionally getting it right).

Lijiang old town is a compact and demarcated theme park village surrounded by the new town. Our hostel is good (the Garden Inn) even if they botched the reservation they made good by putting us in the ‘deluxe’ room for the first night. On arrival we got straight to the business of sorting out our Tiger Leaping Gorge hike and asking about Tibet. It looks like Tibet may not happen overland from this side but we haven’t given up yet. This news put us both in a disgruntled mood which was enhanced by the lack of food in our tummies – not a good combination we have decided.

In the evening we went for a stroll in search of food. Lijiang has very little to offer in the form of authenticity but what it lacks in that department it makes up for in over zealous lighting and blaring music from the endless bars around the main squares. The place was teeming with tourists (of all kinds) – not really our scene but we’ll give the place a thorough once over tomorrow.

[Pictures: Looking down the stream behind the snack street in Lijiang old town.]

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The ‘Dali’ and ‘Lijiang’ galleries (up to 13 Aug) are now up to date. I have also started adding some code to posts so if you click through you should now get a thumbnail gallery of all the photos taken the day the post was written (at the bottom of the post). Obviously, since I don’t upload photos as often as I post, it will be a little retroactive and will take some time to add the tags to all the old posts. Keep an eye out for the ‘Click to see full post, comments and linked gallery photos‘ links at the bottom of posts.

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Turns out that the deluxe room doesn’t have solid walls all the way to the ceiling so we were up with the Spanish couple next door on skype till late last night. The morning’s mission was to finalize our Tibet plans and it ended up absorbing the entire morning. We exhausted all the possibilities for an overland crossing from here with the help of the hostel owner (May – who is from Inner Mongolia). She was fantastic; on the phone to agencies for us and getting information via QQ (Chinese Skype) and email all the while checking people in and sorting complaints. It seems impossible to get the additional military permit you need to cross from Shangrila into Tibet this year (even for locals). No matter which way we decide to do it (and there are a lot of options) it’s going to explode our budget.

We overheard an American chap talking about a similar plan but after spending a few minutes chatting to him it soon became clear that he was substantially more clueless than us and also unbelievably annoying. We couldn’t believe his arrogance. Complaining that there were not enough staff to solve all his travel problems instantly. These were hostel staff going above and beyond to help, not travel agents ! We decided to take a walk to clear our heads and consider our options (with the added benefit of getting away from the yanker).

We strolled through town and out towards the Black Dragon Pool with the ambition of taking the mandatory Lijiang photo. We had heard that you could avoid the £8 fee getting into the attraction by going around it but we didn’t try very hard and ended up coughing up. The weather was really not being helpful and we were generally disappointed with the park (and our shots of the pool). We also found the ‘free’ entrance which was easily accessible with a 20 minute walk up the road to the end of the park where a stretch of Mao era graves proved interesting.

On the way back into town we decided to celebrate Ro’s birthday (Happee Happee) with a treat and stopped at The Nordic Cafe. It was just like stepping into an American coffee shop – amazing find. We overloaded our sugar tanks on Oreo cheesecake and diluted it with an excellent coffee. For the next few hours we wandered around the old town gathering supplies for the Tiger Leaping Gorge (TLG) hike and trying to decide on Tibet. Lijiang is the least interesting of the tourist towns we have seen. Alley after alley looks as if the town planners used a Photoshop clone tool, even down to the ‘Silver-smiths’ hammering out flat-bar.

Back at the hostel we spent a frustrating evening plotting, but we now have a plan. We will spend a week backtracking to Chengdu after Shangrila (first time on the trip we have had to return to a place). The tour will take us by train to Lhasa and we’ll spend 8 days in Tibet (Land Cruiser and a guide) taking in the sights including Everest Base Camp. It will cost a whack (conservatively £1000 ea) and we hope to get the price down by having other travelers join us.

Have to mention dinner. We selected an arbitrary restaurant and sat down. After being presented with tea we watched a 20 minute hissy fit by what we assume was the head (or only) waitress. No idea what it was about but it was accompanied with flying order books and a lot of shouting. What a primadonna ! Eventually we gave up waiting and left – ended up eating back at the hostel. We are both looking forward to getting out to the TLG tomorrow – hope the weather improves.

[Pictures: Our shot at Black Dragon Pool. What it should look like with fancy camera, good weather and a generous helping of talent. Cake !]

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An early and yummy breakfast with real bacon and we piled into a minibus with five other people for the drive out to the start of the Tiger Leaping Gorge (TLG) hike. We tried to get a bit of dialogue going, but the two poms were reluctant and the rest just plain unfriendly. It was a quiet trip out made even longer by the continuous traffic jams and roadworks but V and I passed the time with a little more Bill Bryson. The weather was clearing as we arrived at Jane’s guest house around 12 and realizing that we had at least 6 hours of hiking to do we stored our packs and hit the trail while the rest of the arrivals sat to have lunch – we guess due to the delays that they decided to hike tomorrow.

We almost took a wrong turn early on but my V got us going in the right direction and we started to climb. It was a pleasant hike and we were making good time in the overcast but warm conditions. A small 10l day-pack ensured we weren’t slowed too much by excess luggage and we hit the first toll booth (a ‘donation’ of £1 each and some expensive bananas), after passing through a few farms, feeling strong. Form there the trail got steeper and more tricky but by no means hard. Very few people were out on the trail and after passing one of the bigger Naxi villages we started up what was supposed to be the hard part – 28 switchback bends to get to the top of the gorge.

As we approached what we thought was the top (around N27.18825, E100.09781 :gps:(GPS)::27.18825::100.09781:gps:) we walked past a roughly painted sign at a farm-stall indicating that we should rest up and refuel for the 28 Bends ahead ! We ignored the warning and plodded on. Just after going round the ridge was another sign… “Game On”… I had to laugh.

I counted 29 bends to the top (the error possibly induced by lack of blood to the brain as it rushed to my skinny legs) and it was tough going but we topped out in 4 hours (precisely what was estimated from Jane’s). The view from the top, in fact for the entire afternoon, was magnificent. Some industrious and annoying locals had erected a boom and were charging for photos to be taken from the viewpoint – we declined. From the high point (around N27.19024, E100.10272 :gps:(GPS)::27.19024::100.10272:gps:) at 2600m the path descended, much to V’s frustration after climbing all the way up, through stunning forests and along gorge edging trails. With the views of the TLG it was an amazing walk. We had been concerned about our gear selection for the hike – some websites had recommended hiking boots, rain gear etc. We had no problems at all with strops, shorts, a change of underwear, thermal tops and umbrellas. Two hours after leaving the viewpoint, and not a moment too soon, we ambled into the Halfway Inn (Total of Six hours including a 15 minute lunch break and about 30 minutes of ‘strategic rests’).

There are some annoyances on the trail. Telephone poles and wires obscure the view for large portions, the roads at the bottom are an eyesore, litter is as always an issue along with horse dung, and every obvious rock has guest house advertising painted all over. It is still a stunning walk. The Halfway Inn is huge, slick, clean and advertises great views of the gorge from the toilet. We sat on the terrace enjoying the incredible view with a beer and barbarian portions of food until the cold and then rain sent us inside. Another awesome day (maybe 15 000 hotdogs).

[Pictures: V looking a little worse for wear at the top of the 28 bends and looking back from where we hiked. More in linked gallery]

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Day 2 of TLG turned out to be an epic through no fault of our own. We did not get lost again in case anyone was wondering.

Part 1: A lovely stroll
Not off to a great start with luke warm showers and a bland breakfast of scrambled eggs for Sim and rice porrige for me against Sims advice. Next time I promise to listen to my love when he tells me to pic something that’s good for walking instead of trying something new. Anyway we were back on the trail by 9.

The weather was cool with the occasional drizzle but it was a marvelous 2 hour walk from Halfway to Tinas guesthouse. We passed 2 waterfalls in full flow after last nights heavy rainfall, and the only people we saw on the trail were a couple of locals. It was great.

Part 2: Raging river and ladders in the sky
After arriving at Tinas which is located on the main road we continued on down to the river. It was quite steep and necessitated another ‘donation’ but we were pleased to find that the donation got us a clean path with regular bins and chain handrails in some of the more precarious bits. At the bottom we came across a huge rock in the middle of the river and some enterprising locals who had built a rickety walkway to it and were charging a fee to get across. This was becoming a trend on this trip. We declined payment and carried on along the path to where another local had set up shop. This time they were charging for the path to get to the actual Tiger Leaping Rock (around N27.25621, E100.16494 :gps:(GPS)::27.25621::100.16494:gps:) and to get out of the gorge on their path and ‘sky ladders’. This time we paid of course and if the weather had been sunny instead of drizzly we would have hung around at the lady’s makeshift cafe as it really had a wonderful view and was quite nicely done. The river not far below us was roaring away. The rapids looked particullarly vicious and you would not want to fall in.

We continued on to the Tiger Leaping Rock which was basically 3 large rocks jutting out into the river. The LP says that the legend is that a tiger used the rocks to leap over the river thus escaping the hunter that was pursuing him, though where he would have gone once he got to he other side is a mystery as it’s a sheer rock face. I suspect that there may be more than one big rock jutting into the river and they are all trying to capitalize on the legend.

Regardless we had fun clambering over the rocks and staring at the rushing rapids, but since we were both getting a bit damp we decided to push on. Next we came to a fork in the path with a sign directing us to the ‘safe path’ and the ‘ladders’ no surprise which path we took hey. The ladders were made out of bits of welded reinforcing and wood taking you straight up the rockface. Probably would not have passed any sort of safety inspection in the UK or anywhere else for that matter, but they were actually quite solid and we made it up with no trouble at all.

Part 3: Beeeg rocks
We arrived back at Tinas at around 1pm. The descent into the gorge and back took us around 3 hours and was hard on us but well worth it. Though it had drizzled pretty much continuously since we had started down, the trail was still negotiable and we thoroughy enjoyed it even if my knees were starting to complain. We stopped in at Tina’s for a coke and had the intention of hanging around for some more hikers to share a taxi back to Janes. The info we had been given was that a taxi would cost us about £8 but on further enquiry we discovered that they were charging £20 as there had been some rockfalls on the road. We gasped at the price and opted to start walking as we had not seen any more hikers coming down. We calculated we could probably make it back to Janes by 4pm with a combination of walking and hitching. At worst we could walk all the way if we had to. About 10 minutes in, a taxi pulled up and we landed up paying £3 for him to take us to the first rockfall about 3 km away, an exhorbitant price in retrospect but it got us further along our way.

The rockfall was a serious one. Huge boulders had broken off of the vertical cliff face and had smashed down onto the road completely covering it. You have to check out the pics to understand. At first we though no way are we climbing over that but seeing some locals cross over we decided to press on. Sim went first with me not too far behind him. We got it over and done with as quickly as we could. It was not an enjoyable experience and when Sim loosened a watermellon sized boulder it reinforced the fact that this probably wasn’t one of our brightest ideas.

On the other side of the rockfall, was a large group of Chinese tourists who had evidently had part of their day tour upset by the blocked road. They cheered us when we got safely down and one of them kindly offered me a wet wipe after we had rinsed our filthy hands in a puddle in the road. The lady spoke good English and told us that there were a further 2 rockfalls disrupting the road but that they were much less serious than the one we had just clambered over. There was a fleet of stranded taxis (stuck between 2 rockfslls) a little further along the road and we paid £5 for one of them to take us 10km to the next rockfall.

The Chinese lady was correct, this rockfall was much smaller, just a couple of smallish boulders strewn across the road and was already being cleared by the workers who were constructing the road. We were still a bit nervous at the thought that there could be more rocks coming down, but the workers did not seem terribly worried.

There were no minibus taxis waiting on the other side though so we walked maybe half an hour before coming to a tunnel and the third and final rockfall blocking the tunnel exit. Serious construction was going on on the other side of the tunnel sending massive boulders flooding the tunnel exit so we waited with a French couple and some workers untill the excavator on the other side took a break.

A quick scramble over the rockfall along with everyone else and we were on the other side. We had hoped to be able to team up with the Frenchies and share the cost of transport if we found any, but they clearly were not interested in being anywhere near us and at first walked off very fast but then stopped and let us pass when they realized we were keeping up with them.

So we walked, and walked along the muddy half constructed road. When the wind let up and the rain eased it was rather pleasant and not at all difficult. We eventually managed to hitch a lift for £1 after maybe an hour of walking. You rarely get anything for free in this country and people who are going in your direction anyway will still charge you. The French couple passed us on the back of another vehicle along the way.

Part 4: More spiky French and getting to Shangrila
Back at Janes we retrieved our luggage and enquired about getting to Shangrila. There were 5 other people going that way, another French couple, a British couple that had hiked back from Halfway guesthouse plus a chinese girl. The French had already organized a minibus taxi for £20 and were sharing with the other three. We asked the French couple if there was space for 2 more, but got an evasive half answer. On further enquiry we were told that there was not enough room and that 7 people in the taxi was dangerous. Bear in mind that 7 people and their gear fitted just fine into the same type of minibus taxi that got us to Janes in the first place. This was the second time today that we had come across spiky (to put it politely) French people. Do we smell? Do we somehow offend them by our obvious lack of style? What? We always try to be friendly and at least polite to other people we meet along the way and would jump at the chance to share costs.

Sadly we also suspected that the staff at Janes were trying to get us into another £20 taxi. I say this because it took further prodding from us for them to eventually tell us that there are regular buses to Shangrila that leave from just up the road and cost £2.50 per person. Plus when the young girl told us this she immediately got an earful from one of the other ladies.

We trudged back out into the drizzle and down the road. A couple more enquiries along the way got us to a parking lot on the side of the road. We saw the Chinese lady who had given us the wet wipe and told us about the other rockfalls. As soon as she spotted us she came over to see if we needed help. Just goes to show that there are still goodhearted people out there.

We were on the bus by just after 4. Sims pretty good with his estimates of time and was spot on again. It took us around 2 hours to get to Shangrila. Along the way the scenery took on a decidedly Tibetan nature. The house styles changed (all have prayer flags on top) and we saw yaks grazing. Instead of fields of rice, some other grass like crop were being farmed (hey we’re not farmers ok) and the people’s faces seemed to have taken on a more Tibetan look.

Shangrila or Zhongdian as it was previously called until the government decided to change the name to something that would lure tourists to the area, was chillly and since we were dressed only in shorts, t-shirts and strops, we definately felt it whilst we waited for the city bus.

After an exhausting day we found our hostel to be a thoroughly charming mud brick construction, with a friendly owner, nicely decorated though windowless room and a super hot shower. We finished it all of with well deserved and delicious ‘free range’ yak burgers (probably thd best meal we have had in China) and went to bed, scrubbed clean and well fed.

[Pictures: V at the first waterfall on the way down from Halfway Inn. V Crossing a bridge at the bottom of TLG. The sky highway on the way back out of the gorge. Sim topping out of the insane ladders. The TL rock far below. Yak burger on the menu]

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It’s very difficult to wake up when your room has no windows and it’s freezing cold and raining outside. We both battled to get going this morning – sore and stiff from two days hiking. We decided to take it easy and spend an extra day here before heading back to Lijiang and then to Chengdu.

We have had to dig our shoes and fleeces out of our packs – my feet don’t know what is going on but it is rewarding to stroll through puddles without getting wet for a change. We went in search of breakfast on the way to the bank and found the well know Noah Cafe and an excellent western breakfast. That’s 2/2 brilliant meals here. Fully stuffed we walked it off while looking for a China Construction Bank branch. The only item on the to-do-list for the day was to deposit cash for our Tibet tour. Once again through sign language and a bit of blind luck we managed to deposit money into an account – could have been anyone’s account. We got confirmation later from the tour operator. Relief and success !

I got to spend a couple of uninterrupted hours on the PC at the hostel uploading photos and getting the photo link to posts working more or less how I want (it’s not pretty but it works).

After getting some laundry done using a fantastic contraption (I think it is called a ‘washing machine’ ?) we hung it out on the hostel roof with the aid of Martin’s wash-line and a break in the weather. The afternoon was spent wandering the streets and alleys of Shangrila old town. The place is tiny, completely geared for westerners and empty but with slightly more ‘character’ than the other ‘tourist’ towns we have been in. It has the added benefit of having a number of outdoor gear shops, mostly ‘North Fake’, and mostly clothing, but any gear puts an unjustifiably large grin on our faces 🙂 We didn’t find anything except a cap for V but it was ball. It only took only a couple of hours to stroll around the entire town. I snapped some cool looking buildings, streets, doors and windows. A great way to chill out in an enjoyable little spot.

After another (that’s 3/3) excellent meal (home made pasta and pizza) at a well know, Italian run restaurant in China ! (Helens Pizza), we returned to the hostel and started chatting to an older Italian guy. He is a true walking encyclopedia of Chinese towns and transport links (apparently he has been touring here for years). Once he starts imparting information it is impossible to get him to stop but the end result is that we will head North and loop back to Chengdu. Only the first 300km is difficult (takes 12 hours by bus) – we’ll see some incredible scenery and possibly a beautiful national park if the weather clears. A large portion of the trip is above 4000m – I’ll leave the details to V but it looks like we’ll be buying bus tickets tomorrow and heading off on Monday morning.

[Pictures: a Tibetean Stupa in Shangrila old town. The yak burger restaurant is to the right (out of shot)]

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It was even more difficult to get up today. Colder, wetter and no electricity in the city meant no hot water for a shower, no lights in our damp cave and no Internet connection – oh the humanity. The weather called for not only our fleeces, but jackets too.

Finding breakfast was a bit of a pain with most of the restaurants unable to function without power. Luckily our local hangout (Noah Cafe) is on the way to the bus station and they were still able to serve an excellent meal. We have acquired tickets to Daocheng for 7am tomorrow morning ! Seat numbers 1&2 which means we were the first to book, or the only ones crazy enough to risk the trip in this weather – hope we don’t end up having to push the bus out of the mud !

The rain has limited what can be done around here. It’s perfect video weather save for the lack of electricity. V found a book in the hostel and by the time she was half way through it we were both getting really cold. We headed back out into the rain in search of hot chocolate and cake in a warm cafe. This combination proved elusive so we stopped in at a supermarket to stock up for tomorrow’s bus-a-thon. As fortune would have it the supermarket is next to Noah Cafe. I think we now qualify as regulars. Hot chocolate and chocolate pancakes in a warm cafe… close enough. Before long I was falling asleep at the table as V ploughed through her book.

We got back to the hostel and with nothing to do had a snooze while hoping the power would come back on. About an hour ago we started packing up in the pitch dark of our room using our headlamps – this is what it must be like to live in Northern Finland during winter without electricity. The cold and humidity here collaborate to create a weird damp climate that causes steam to rise in the beam of my headlamp when I pee. Fearing the worst (no hot water for a shower) I started making a shower based on V’s design out of a 2l water bottle. We prepared a large flask of boiling water this mornig for tea, but a shower is more important. As I completed initial tests V open our bedroom door to discover the power was back on ! We have no idea how long we were unnessesarily clambering around in the dark for. LOL.

To celebrate the return of electricity, internet and hot water we are off out to find some type of yak meat to devour. Possibly no net for the next few days.

[Pictures: Noah Cafe’s mascot taking a keen interest in V’s book]

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Well we didn’t get our shower last night. Just after the power came back on the water was cut off – no idea why. We were up just after 5 to get a taxi to the bus station. It was way to early for us and I was feeling terribly groggy as we waited for the bus station to open – we were the first people there. Within a few minutes a local arrived. He was way too happy and talkative for that time in the morning but the smell of booze offered some explanation. Next to arrive in the dark on the steps was a food vendor. His bike trailer was packed with food, snacks, pots and stoves already burning. Our new drunk/happy friend insisted on buying us some steaming hot corn on the cob. We ate it with long teeth weary of the 12 hr bus ride ahead and the consequences of street food (in retrospect is was very good, and safe).

Seats 1&2 were extremely uncomfortable due to the layout of this particular bus – it was going to be a long day. The 3 hour ride up the Shangrila gorge was on good, if windy and narrow, roads. We tried to snooze without luck – good thing too because the scenery was amazing (even though it was overcast and drizzly). The driver was kind enough to stop so all the guys on board could have a pee break, a kilometer or so later he stopped for the girls. Around 10am we pulled into a stop in a little village so the driver could get some food and fill a water tank in the bus. The fun was about to start !

Shortly after leaving the village the road turned into a narrow dirt track which quickly became very steep and very slippery. The recent rain had turned the already bad dirt road to slush. The bus occasionally bopped, shimmied and slid as the wheels battled to find traction. I spent a good portion of the climb with muscles tensed and not at all distracted by podcasts as our driver relished in his ability to get precariously close to the unprotected edge of the road. The higher we climbed the steeper and worse the road got. Eventually we got stuck behind some bogged-down trucks. A chance to breathe ! Nope. As soon as we started moving again our driver decided to overtake the trucks on the perilous side of a road that I think is worse than the one in Bolivia. At the top of the pass (around 4300m :gps:[GPS]::28.57774::99.82734:gps:) we pulled over at an incredibly beautiful spot – towering mountains in all directions. The bus (driver included) emptied instantly as passengers scurried to relieve their bladders after the ordeal. It was worth it for the views in spite of the weather.

The cloud started to clear for the trip down and the road condition improved drastically. It almost seemed like we had driven to Morocco from the look of the buildings. Large trapezoids built from mud/clay bricks. Some painted white and most with brightly coloured doors and windows. Typical Chinese faces are almost as rare as western ones. While winding through valleys and criss-crossing rivers the landscape started to flatten out into wide plains still surrounded in the distance by mountains. We stopped at a police checkpoint in a small village and for the first time were asked for our passports. No trouble. More beautiful climbs and descents occupied the rest of the afternoon. 11 butt-breaking hours after we set off we pulled into the bus station in Daocheng feeling completely spent.

Getting off the bus we were surrounded by touts wanting to supply accommodation and/or transport. We just needed space to get our bearings and think for a bit but they would not take a hint. I ended up losing it (just a little) as we strided away from the madness. V was also on the receiving end of my mood but she knows how to handle me :). It didn’t take long to secure a room at a cool looking hostel we had seen advertised in Shangrila (Here Cafe). Built from mud bricks and wood, the ground level has loose stone pebbles on an earth floor with thoughtful authentic decor (except for the 20″ iMac and MacBook Air for Internet access – no complaint from me). The internal second floor is all wood and houses basic, but acceptable bedrooms. We dumped our gear and went for a stroll around town. Tiny, with only one major street, we walked looking for something interesting. Not too much was going on except to say that this place has a lot of mushrooms ! Huge bins full of them. Even clothing stores had racks of shrooms drying in their entrances.

Realizing how tired we were we headed back for food, the first shower in 2 days and bed (we didn’t care that it was hard). The weather is not looking at all promising so we won’t go to Yangding national park tomorrow, instead we’ll push on to Litang.

[Pictures: The cloud covered view from the top and V outside our hostel in Daocheng]

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Up early and waiting for the minibus to Litang. After being picked up the driver decided to pfaff around for half an hour sorting out one of his tires (they jacked the car and replaced the tires with all the passengers inside – but not as fast as an F1 pit stop). We got going eventually. The road was a little bumpy but not too bad. Would have been some nice scenery along the way but the weather was still being uncooperative. The young Israeli couple that were at the same hostel last night were very quiet. Sim asked them about their military service. They had been in intelligence and were not allowed to talk about it. We left it at that fearing that if they told us more they would have to kill us.

Arriving in Litang after 3 hours or so we checked into Peace Hotel which was a grubby little place down the road from the bus station. From our research we had been led to believe that there wouldn’t be anything better so we settled for it (When will we learn to check more than one spot ?!)

Litang, one of the highest cities in the world and an important place in Tibetan Buddhism (a couple of Lamas were born here – the Dali kind, not the ones with 4 legs), is described as one of the most atmospheric stops on the Sichuan-Tibet highway, ‘more Tibetan than tibet’ and a true treasure. It looked horrible. Construction causing chaos everywhere, pigs and yaks roaming the streets. Apparently atmospheric actually means poverty stricken dump that requires a 4×4 to safely commute down main street. Reports say it’s nice once you get out of town and into the hills but since it was still overcast, drizzly and freezing cold, that wasn’t going to happen for us. We wanted to move on, as far as we could which meant a bus to Kanding.

We immediately headed for the bus station to buy a ticket. When we eventually found the station turns out everyone was at lunch. We went to lunch ourselves at a smart looking Tibetan restaurant. Can’t say the food was that memorable. Back to the bus station we hung around the window until 2 people who appeared to work there arrived. One of them opened the window but then went and sat back down to carry on with washing her clothes in a bowl. Eventually the other one decided she felt like breaktime was over and seemed to come to the window. We were right at the front of the window but another woman immediately pushed in and ordered 4 tickets to somewhere. The ticket lady took 10 minutes to issue those 4 tickets I kid you not. I have never seen anyone work so slowly. First they all had to be given the official red stamp (nothing in china is official without some sort of red stamp on it) then she had to initial every one then count them all twice, then tear them off of the pad, fill in some other form, count them all again and pause every now and then to say something to her mate doing the washing. It was ridiculous. Then finally after the buyer had handed over her money, a monk tried to shove in front of us. Simon, fed up by now, promptly shoved him back out of the way. Think he was pretty surprised by this.

We eventually were told through the usual sign language that there were no tickets for tomorrows bus only for the day after. We could not bear the thought of staying in this cruddy looking town and went back to the hotel to ask Long life (the guy who runs the hotel) for advice.

We got chatting to a nice Israeli bunch that were on their way to Daocheng. They had come from Tagong and Danba which was where we were aiming for next. Even gave us a detailed map of the province and some advice to get off at XinduQiao instead of Kanding. We in turn recommended the hostel in Daocheng and the stone forest when they reached Kunming. It was a pleasant exchange.

Long life told us he could organize a ride in a minibus to XinduQiao the next morning for about £8 each which seamed reasonable. That organized we set of to go see the only sight in town, the tibetan buddhist monastery. It was a pleasant walk just outside town past interesting buildings and polite locals who all greeted us. A couple of cheeky kids dived into Simon’s pockets expecting sweets but were sorely disappointed to find nothing at all. [sim: I felt like swatting them – really annoying]

We reached the monastery, which was huge, in the drizzle, took a photo and took a slow walk back through the main part of town which turned out to be larger than we thought it was. Lots of monks around, on motorbikes too which always cracks me up for some reason. Tibetans swinging prayer wheels, and people working away fixing, making, cooking or selling things as usual. It was a nice enough afternoon walk but it was getting chilly (we were at 4000m after all) and we headed back to our hotels fly infested communal area for a hot chocolate.

We had dinner at Potala guest house which had gotten a lot of bad reviews but looked a lot better than the place we were in. Sim had a yak pie thing and I had cheese dumplings that were a bit odd in taste and texture (they come with a sort of condensed milk type dip) but were edible.

We retired to our room which thankfully had electric blankets though how they expect people to plug both blankets in when there is only one plug socket I don’t know. [sim: hehe. They didn’t expect me to have my own adapter – problem solved] We went to bed content in the knowledge that we had been to Litang and would be leaving the next day.

[Pictures: Useless bus station staff doing their laundry and the monastery complex entrance gate]

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What an absolutely atrocious day we have had. 7 hours of bone jarring traveling in minivans, Simon sick as a dog and the curse of the camera striking again.

It started out with Sim waking up with some sort of flu in the middle or the night. By morning it had developed into the worse case he has had in years. He was feeling horrible, but we were desperate to get out of Litang so instead of bundling Sim into bed for the day we chose to move on. It must have been from the bed – The sheets did not look clean and possibly the previous tenant on Sim’s bed was a day away from death.

Change of plan with the mini driver telling us he could only take us to Yajiang. We would have to transfer to another bus once we got there. It took us 3.5 hours to travel along 140km of very bumpy road that rollercoastered up and down mountains. We are getting bored describing how bad the roads are in China – let’s just say that in a mini-van with ‘go-kart’ sized wheels they feel far worse than in a bus. About an hour into the ride the driver took on more passengers so in addition to us and the two monks already in the van 4 more people plus luggage were added. The 4 of us sitting on the back bench made the remainder of the even more uncomfortable and cramped.

When we arrived at Yajiang we were bundled into another minibus controlled by the most sadistic madman in transportation and sandwiched between 6 other passengers plus a toddler. So again there were 4 of us on the back seat. But his time there was no room for our packs anywhere except on our laps. I cannot describe how awful this part of the trip was, more so for poor Sim who was already feeling like death without having a further 2 hours of what I can only call torture.

We bounced over every bump, lump and pothole in the road, our bums repeatedly leaving the seats and heads frequently hitting the roof. The driver didn’t give a damn about slowing down or trying to avoid any of the sharper jolts and indeed seemed to take delight when our heads hit the roof of the van. Sim, who had been quite all day with his eyes closed save for the odd groan, broke silence swearing loudly at the driver every time he crunched full tilt into an obstacle. We hope he understood the English. He deserved every curse. [Sim: I would loved to have smashed his stupid little face through a windscreen by the end of the trip]. We passed through towns along a vicious raging river that was frightfully at at eye-level from time to time. The kind of scenes you see on CNN when there is footage of an apartment complex collapsing into a river. Along sections the military where out rebuilding sections of the road and reinforcing the dykes as traffic continued to weave past. It was a very bad experience. By the time we reached XinduQiao it felt like our someone had pulverized us with a jack hammer. We would have been in better shape if we had spent 4 hours in the ring with an angry Mike Tyson ! Plus we were severely dehydrated as it was impossible to do anything except hold on for dear life. By far the worst part of our journey so far.

We sat on our packs on the pavement barely a metre from where the driver dropped us off and had to gather ourselves, eat and drink before searching for a ride to our final destination. Simon was by now feeling completely knackered but the end was almost in sight. Just another 30 or 40 km to go to Tagong.

This time thankfully there was some recently constructed super smooth concrete to drive on part of the way. It was bliss. I even managed to enjoy a little bit of scenery along the way. Lots of hills with thousands of colourful prayer flags, beautiful looking houses. It was just pretty.

Tagong is a bit ugly but a vast improvement on Litang. About 5 minutes after arriving Sim realized he didn’t have the camera on him. Usually it gets clipped to the day pack but he had unclipped it to take a photo and somewhere between getting in the van and taking our jackets off neither of us thought to clip it back on. Both knackered from the long drive neither of us noticed we had dropped it in the van until it was too late 🙁 The driver had carried on along the road and we spent about 2.5 hours waiting at the side of the road hoping to spot him on his way back. No such luck 🙁

We think we have backed up all the photos up till Shangrila and we don’t think we took too many of interest after that. It’s just so depressing to have gone through 3 cameras in just over 3 months. Sim feeling so sick is feeling particularly bad about losing the camera this way. I guess we are going to have to buy another camera, in Chengdu probably. We are both annoyed and saddened over this.

Sim is finally in bed dosed up with whatever meds we could find in our packs. The hostel, although better than Litang’s, is very basic and not really comfortable. No Internet, no electric blanket, shared bathroom. We will see how Sim feels in the morning. If he feels up to it we will try to move onto Chengdu as quickly as possible where we can be guaranteed some comfort for him to recuperate properly (and me if I catch whatever he has by then). If he is still really bad, a solid day in bed will be better for him.

Taking a loop north to get back to Chengdu has been a total disaster. The places are supposed to be amazing for views and day walks but we have been plagued with terribly cold and wet weather. The travel time and conditions are also so bad that you need time to recuperate in between each leg but we are on a tight schedule and can’t stop long. Add to that getting flu at over 4000m and losing our camera – you see what I mean !

[Pictures: Prayer flags on the hills above Tagong – construction cranes in the foreground – typical]

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Sim is still feeling sick, so he has spent the day in bed staring at the funny creatures painted on the wall of our room, desperately hoping for his headache to go away and the fever to break. He managed to get some sleep and was feeling marginally better by the evening and coughing less.

I attempted to forage for supplies but was not entirely successfully. In my defense the dozen or so tiny spaza type shops were all selling the exact same things and there was not a lot to choose from. I spent the day holed up in the room with my love trying to nurse him back to health. The alternative would have been to go for a hike in the countryside on my own in the rain.

[Sim] My V was absolutely fantastic taking care of me and getting what we needed to survive – she is the best ! It was a really long crappy day drifting in and out of drug and virus induced comas. I was feeling so dizzy that the steep, narrow stairs down to the shower were a real danger. DuPont may have been interested in the stuff coming out of my lungs. It would have stuck to Teflon and confounded their scientists – no problem ! Not much else to say about the day. Was just bad and we want to get out of here but aren’t looking forward to more minibuses. I haven’t felt that sick in a very long time.

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We were dreading today. Another full day of road travel and we suspected that the minibus to Kanding would be as rough and uncomfortable as the last one. Sim is marginally better – still not at all well. We’ve seen the worst driver China has to offer and this morning we got into a much snazzier looking minibus that felt like it could go the distance. Pity the driver was the slowest and most inexperienced in the country.

We left the hostel at 8:30 but it was gone 9 by the time we actually left Tagong. Drivers tend to only leave when they have enough people so you end up waiting while they troll up and down the street yelling out their destination. Our one drove 10 metres then would stop, get out and have a conversation with some mates then repeat this process 3 or 4 times. We stopped in XinduQia and did the same thing. Our driver was incredibly slow (in more ways than one) and did not inspire confidence with his indicating when going round bends or slowing to a stroll when answering is cell. It must also have been a new vehicle – he stopped about 15 minutes from our destination and spent 20 minutes washing his van with all the passengers waiting patiently inside. In the end it took 3 hours to drive 100km! but at least he got us there and the roads were thankfully nice smooth brand new Tarmac.

Outside Kanding bus station we were immediately assaulted by a half dozen minibus drivers. We brushed them off and went into the bus station to buy tickets to Chengdu (Our LP indicating they leave every half hour and take 6 hours to get there). To our utter disbelief the only tickets available were for the following day. We really did not want to stay a night in Kanding so we went back outside, agreed to £20 each and braced ourselves for yet another minibus journey. It took another hour to fill the 2 mini-vans that were traveling in convoy. Ours was stuffed with 15 people (incl the driver) but it was a far more comfortable Hyundai people carrier.

As we got going it became clear that our driver was a real character. First thing he did once out of town was stop and change his number plates (fakes I guess) and add s Buddhist prayer ribbon to the front – yikes. He was a lunatic driver, chain smoker and cell user. Something like a SA taxi driver but without the carnage. He managed to hoot, nudge, shout and squeeze through some huge traffic jams and must have saved us hours of waiting (we did get completely stuck for 2 hours because of an accident though). After a stop for food and another disagreement with traffic we made it to a freeway and freedom. After removing the number plates completely our driver dropped the hammer and cranked up the stereo (only adding to Sim’s pain). We came to a screeching halt in Kunming 11 hours after leaving Tagong. A short taxi ride and we were lucky to find Mix Hostel (good thing V had picked up a map somewhere along the way). It was a very hard day again.

Seems all we have been writing about for ages now is long days on the road. We are seriously done with minibuses and have only one more long bus ride in China (the one from Kunming into Laos). Hopefully we’ll be able to write about cool things again and can leave the tales of bruised buts behind… for now !

On the up side. Sim is getting better. V is possibly getting a sniffle (but thankfully not flu) and Mix hostel found two more people to join us in Tibet which makes a big difference to the price. What’s next ?

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

We’ve been hiding in our hostel room trying to recover for the past three days. I’m feeling much better but V’s is turning into a head cold. Besides watching too much ‘West Wing’ and listening to weird books (like Neil Gaimen’s ‘American Gods’) we have snuck out only to get essentials such as tea, biscuits & meds. Excursions are limited to a couple hours – after that we both start feeling horrid.

We’ve paid up our Tibet trip and made another change. We leave tomorrow night by train. It will take around 36 hours to get to Lhasa. After our 8 day tour we have booked a flight to Kunming (the cash we saved having two extra people join us has saved us from spending 3 nights on trains getting back to Kunming). We haven’t yet met the other two people – apparently two girls (from Belgium and Holland).

Yesterday we went on a bit of a mission to replace the camera. We hopped on a bus and headed South to the area known as ‘Digital Plaza’ (intersection of the first ring road and Ren Min Nan Lu). The place is incredible. Imagine a 6 storey mall with almost every square metre of floor space crammed with stalls and shops selling every piece of cool tech known to man. What a spot ! I could have blown our entire trip budget in 30 minutes. Walking around made us feel instantly better – it must have been all the excited electrons and wifi signals affecting our auras 🙂 We replaced our camera with exactly the same one (so I can pretend it never happened) for the same price we paid in Hong Kong. For sure we could have bargained it down but we were getting tired. One thing to note about the place – every time you go up a floor the price drops (and not by a little). I left there drooling. Across the street we found a strip of outdoor gear shops. Double bonus. Maybe not. Not the greatest selection of gear – mostly clothing.

On the we back to the hostel we stopped in at a pharmacy armed with some aids – photos of pill boxes that have worked before and a translation for Cortisone Cream – 氢化可的松（副肾荷尔蒙之一种）药膏 – from Google (I have got a nasty rash that is quite concerning). We entertained the pharmacy staff for 20 minutes before leaving with a pile of drugs – mission accomplished.

We only leave in the evening tomorrow so we have the day to get supplies for the train. Spotted a fancy bottle store the other day. Here’s hoping for a small bottle of decent Scotch.

[Pictures: There be a Mecca in there]

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We met the two girls who are sharing the expense with us at the hostel just before leaving for the train station. One is from Holland – a final year Med student who was born in Korea and lives in Holland. The other is a very young Lithuanian studying international business in Denmark – sounds like she and her family have spent their lives moving around Europe. So easy to get exposure to so many different cultures and languages growing up in Europe. The train station was business (chaos) as usual and we got to our train without hassles. It’s a newish train so is still clean and tidy. We are in ‘hard sleeper’ class again – open carriage bunks stacked 3 high. V and I had been booked two opposing bottom bunks – we prefer to be tucked away on higher ones but that is jut how it turned out. An old Tibetan looking lady arrived at our isle showing us her ticket. She had one of the top bunks (over 2m up) V was happy to trade with her. She was too sweet and ecstatic, even insisted on paying for the change (bottom bunks are more expensive). At 10 the lights went out plunging us unexpectedly into pitch darkness. With nothing else to do everyone turned in. We slept well.

Today was the first full day on the train. Nothing to do but sit back, relax and make a huge loop North and West (a very long way round). I attempted some audiobooks but the novelty of moving forward without being bounced and bruised encouraged me to nap just about all day. It was great. Overcast and rainy – perfect video weather but without working electrical sockets we had to ration WW eps. By late afternoon we had left the last of the big Chinese cities behind and darkness fell quickly over what looked like hilly tundra (something like the Karoo).

[Pictures: Landscaping]

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This morning we woke to amazing scenery and clear blue skies. Endless grass plains with rolling hills and large lakes. The background is dotted with snow covered peaks. Truly beautiful. The train PA provides the occasional English announcement talking about the construction of the railway and what you can see on the way. A large portion was constructed on permafrost at great expense and is apparently the highest railway in the world (we passed the high point at over 5000m this morning). The compartments are equipped with emergency oxygen (we heard airflow at the valves but i think they try to pressurize it like a plane a little) and an announcement urged staying inside at the train stations even though it has an ‘oxygen production plant’ – whatever that is.

Dropping onto the Tibetan plateau there were patches of desert and a few station stops in between the engaging landscapes. 44 hours after leaving Chengdu we slid to a very smooth stop (the entire trip was very smooth) at Lhasa train station. The station is new (5 years old), immense and reminiscent of a scene from a James bond flick. Immediately obvious is the extra ‘official’ presence – Police, military and government all standing guard.

We were met by our guide (we’ll call him ‘Bob’ so he doesn’t get into any trouble if I report that he has told us things he shouldn’t have) who presented us with white Tibetan prayer scarves. They don’t seem to work… I instantly dropped the new camera to the parking lot floor – damit ! We boarded our ride – a solid old Toyota Land Cruiser that definitely looks the part – for the short trip into Lhasa. The place is nothing like what we had imagined. Four lane freeways, shiny new spaghetti interchanges and manicured traffic islands – a far cry from the atmospheric home of Tibetan Buddhism clinging to our minds. Our guide delivered us to some rather bad accommodation – but we had expected this as Lhasa is know for its crummy budget options. After settling in and a quick shower we set out with the girls for an early dinner along the main streets. Both the town and the meal did not impress but we were so hungry and tired it did not really matter.

[Pictures: More Landscaping – there be snowy mountains !]

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What a night ! Our room is above the main street in Lhasa and it only quietens down between 1 and 4am. It was like having a demolition derby in our room with the addition of raucus crowds, bell ringing rickshaws and hooting taxis. Today was going to be hard going. First on the agenda was to arrange a time slot to visit Potola Palace. The place gets so busy that you have to book a time the day before you visit. Our guide led us there on foot (about a 20 minute walk in the rain through Lhasa) and booked us in for 10am tomorrow. The Palace looms above the town and looks impressive from the road – the quintessential Tibetan postcard shot – even in the wet.

The plan for the rest of the day was to tick off a few temples. It seems temples (and/or monasteries) are what you do in Lhasa. First up – the Summer Palace (Norbulingka). Another couple kilometers on foot to get there. By this stage we were feeling out of breathe. Not sure if it is the altitude or the flu still toying with us. Bob led us around the palace grounds, gardens and through a few ‘chapels’ passing the offical seats (not really thrones) of various Dali Lamas (it’s good to be the king) – interesting but not excessively impressive. The Chinese horseplay is obvious at times for example: the officially recognized Tibetan 2IC (Panchen Lama) is ‘missing’ but not to worry because Beijing has ‘found’ a second one – who happens to be Chinese. Fishy me thinks.

With throbbing temples I vetoed walking all the way back into town, instead opting for a taxi which refused to let us squeeze 4 onto the back seat (no problem anywhere else in China) – so two taxis then making it even more expensive. The rules governing tourists are a little crazy. We are not permitted to enter any tourist attaction without our guide and are not supposed to use the cheap local buses – capitalism run amock.

Jokhang Temple in the centre of old Lhasa is one of the oldest and most revered temples in Tibet. It was packed with long queues of pilgrims and worshippers going through their rituals. The temples are very dark and feel stuffy with the smell of burning incense and yak butter candles. Not at all ‘inviting’. The pilgrims loop around all the chapels (each for a different form of Buddha or holy person) mumbling prayers and leaving cash and yak butter as they go. Some pay for the monks to write prayers for them to be executed at the next session. It was educational even if extracting information from our guide is like pulling teeth (he really isn’t enthusiastic).

After lunch at a resturant full of tourists (I suspect all the guides get a comm) we twisted Bob’s arm (he wanted the afternoon off) to take us out to Drepung monastery which is some distance out of town – so another expensive taxi (or two). Drepung was one of the largest at one stage and home to 10 000 monks but was mostly destroyed during the cultural revolution. It is being rebuilt and renovated at the moment – soon to become another typical Chinese tourist attraction. The most interesting part was the original kitchen with every surface and fixture stained black with soot. No taxis waiting when we finished meant we had to walk down to the main road but at least we were able to sneak (not really) onto a local bus for a ride back to town for one tenth the price of a taxi.

I have now had enough of temples but there are at least two more on the schedule for tomorrow. Back at the hotel we were not able to change our room so another sleepless night is waiting for us. We did however find a good dinner and our first ‘Bounty’ bar since Russia.

[Pictures: One of the main chapels and it’s courtyard at the Summer Palace. Back alleys and a Stupa at Drepung. No photos allowed inside the temples – unless you are willing to pay more ! ]

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More noise. Even less sleep ! We are both zombies today. We walked again to Potola Palace in the rain but the weather started to clear a little as we had our water confiscated at security (guess they only allow holy water). The main complex in Potola is quite a climb up but the views of the city and surrounding mountains are fantastic. We toured around the buildings, chapels, audience chambers and past one of the Dali Lama’s private bathrooms (complete with bathtub and prayer flag wrapped western toilet – it’s very good to be the king). The Palace also houses the tombs (in the form of Stupas) of past Lamas. Some of them are massive and all are covered in gold and precious gems. When an important religious figure dies the Tibetan people donate a wealth (and more than they can afford) of gold, gems and money to build the tomb. The more they donate, the more credit they get for the next life. P.T. Barnum would be proud. The excessive amount of gold and mountains of cash donations lying around (seriously – 100 US dollar bills in some chapels) started to annoy me as I imagined how many people it could feed or how many medical schools it could build.

We moved quickly through the place as Bob is a stickler for rules but I think he also wanted to get done early. I was relieved having seen enough after an hour. While the girls where taking more photos I had a chat with Bob. He identifies himself as Tibetan (not Chinese) and is very weary of the authorities. He is also paranoid with regards the rules for tourists. When tourists do stupid things or blatantly ignore their guides more rules are added and life becomes more difficult for the Tibetans. It can’t be fun living like that. So our soapbox advice to travelers in Tibet: Just behave and try not to make the situation worse for the locals.

After Potola we managed to get a bus out of town to see the final tourist hotspot (the Sera Monastery). We saw some beautifully crafted mandalas made from coloured sand and again were led around the dark chapels. One of the chapels attracts a lot of attention with its horse-headed Buddha of health. Worshipers Queue for ages with infants and the elderly to be able to touch their noses to the statue in the belief that they will be healed quicker. Bob explained that they come to this temple and then head to the hospital. Better late than never I guess.

We got back to the hotel early and were able to move our room to one with a few more prefab boards between us and the road. To celebrate the deafening silence we went in search of a well known Internet cafe and coffee shop. A brilliant spot – the cake and milkshakes were excellent (expensive) and if the Wifi had been working I doubt we would have left there until bed time. On our way back we stocked up on supplies for the next few days on the road and managed to spend a few minutes online at an Internet cafe. It’s seems so odd to find a huge hall brimming with fancy computers manned by hoards of online gamers in downtown Lhasa when our hotel a few doors down doesn’t have flush toilets !

V spent a good hour reading me sections from our LP about Buddhism. It really is an odd, complicated and confusing mix of beliefs. Tonight we should sleep (finally) and tomorrow we are off into the sticks – can’t wait.

[Pictures: Potola Palace]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

Woohoo! 4 months on the road and still going strong if a little fatigued with China. I get a bit snippy after being in a car all day long but Simon is a sweetie and puts up with me still.

And today we were able to actually get on the road and out of Lhasa. We bundled into the car at 9am and headed off stopping ten minutes later at our first checkpoint. Papers had to be checked before we could even leave the city.

As soon as we left the grubby city we were rewarded with beatiful views of bright yellow rape seed fields against a backdrop of barren mountains and charming rivers. The road was new and smooth and trees had been planted alongside large portions.

About 2 hours out we hit another checkpoint. They don’t seem to do speed trapping here, instead at each checkpoint they write your arrival time on a slip of paper that the driver has to carry and then you get fined if you arrive at the next checkpoint too early. It’s ridiculous as what generally happens is that just out of sight of the next checkpoint all the drivers land up stopping for up to 20 minutes waiting till they have killed enough time to carry on. It’s either that or stick to the incredibly low speed limit of 40km/h.

About 4 hours in we reached the top of a pass which had views of Yamdrok lake. It was freezing up there and the lake view was obscured by cloud. Of course we had to buy tickets just for driving past the lake and to my annoyance, pay for the filthy poo plastered toilets. We also encountered what was to be at every stop, hawkers trying to sell stuff.
They were either trying to sell the usuall crappy trinkets, ropes of yak cheese or were trying to get you to pay for pictures of their yaks, dogs or goats. Occasionally they would try to muscle in and get themselves in your photo to try make a few bucks. The yaks were usually done up quite nicely and the dogs were Tibetan mastiffs with bright red fluffy collars which made them look like they had a lions mane. The goats were these cute long haired miniature ones that we had not seen anywhere else. We did not feel like paying 5 to 10 Yuan for a photo though.

As we drove on down to the lake, the clouds cleared and we could finally see the lake propper. It was a beautiful turquoise colour and we stopped at the bottom to take some more photos. There were plenty of other tourists all stopping at the same points and at least one idiot was taking a swim (against the current regulations).

We carried on and stopped at another point much further :gps:(GPS)::29.16094::90.50997:gps: on where the colours of the water were more striking and spent ages taking photos. Something to be noted is that at almost all the stops there were prayer flags plastered over everything, rocks, pylons whatever they could be attatched to and coloured prayer confetti ( 50mm x 50mm coloured pieces of paper with prayers printed on them) littering the ground. Plus the usual trash left by the people who stop at these points to take pictures or go to the toilet.

We continued on to our lunch stop in another nondescript Chinese looking town that pop up every now and then along the route. Pretty much every other land cruiser on the route had stopped at the same place.

Continuing on for a few more hours and we arrived at the town of Gyantse. It was one of the the more pleasant towns we had seen so far. Driving in we could see the Gyantse dzong (fort) on a rocky hilltop and in the afternoon light the scene really look quite wonderfull.

Closer to the fort, there was a large Chinese monument. We were told that the Chinese had erected it to celebrate their driving off of a contingent of British soldiers. On checking our guidebook however, it turns out that the British did send a diplomatic force into Tibet and did have a bit of a skirmish with some Tibetans. But since the Tibetans were armed with a motley assortment of arms that included rocks and protective charms from the Dalai Lama they soon got their bums kicked. The British hung out at Gyantse for a while before getting bored and moving onto Lhasa. So not quite what the Chinese make the situation out to be.

We stopped at yet another monastery :gps:(GPS)::28.92067::89.59610:gps: this time the Pelkor Chode to see the famed Gyantse Kumpum (building) Underwhelmed yet again, but the views of the town, monastery and fort from the Kumpum were quite pretty.

We moved on and arrived in Shigatse where we were overnighting. We tried a local restaurant that had an English menu but it turned out that it had not been translated properly and Egle spent a good while trying to explain to the waitress and then to the waitresses 8 year old daughter in Mandarin that she had ordered the fried yak with vegetables and they had given her fried yak with mushrooms which she could not eat. They eventually just walked away which inevitably led to confusion with the bill which was uncomfortable to resolve.

[Pictures: Beautiful lake. View from Kumpum of the fort. The view of Kumpum]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

The Tenzin hotel in Shigatse was very good by our diminishing standards – clean and quiet. We slept in a little while our guide went to arrange permits for Everest Base Camp (EBC) and then we delayed the start even more trying to find some palatable breakfast. The town was still waking up so we settled for munchies from a supermarket and got on the road just after 10. The roads all over Tibet have been fantastic with crash barriers and centre lines. Potholes have been a rarity. The weather was perfect with blue skies as we started climbing up towards the Himalayas through beautiful flowering rape fields.

The trip started to drag out as we slowed to 30km/h for the longer and steeper climbs – Our Land Cruiser seems to have a few issues with going uphill. Eventually we reached the top of a pass just over 5000m. V had read in her guide that a view of Everest was possible from this viewpoint. It was a stunning view of snow covered peaks stretching across the horizon but Everest was obscured by heavy clouds to the South. We didn’t last long in the freezing cold before bundling back into the 4×4.

The road dropped down into another huge valley and four hours after setting off we stopped for a quick Tibetan lunch and to buy park entrance tickets in a tiny village followed by a visit to one of the worst toilets we have seen yet. Back on the road we cleared more checkpoints with our ‘Alien’ visa before turning off onto the 100km of dirt road to EBC.

The road was still good (not being in the back of a minibus helped) and our driver occasionally veered off onto side tracks I think to play with or test his off-road skills. We climbed up endless switchbacks past mind-bending geology including towering outcrops of folded rock (need to learn more about this stuff). From a viewpoint at the top of the highest pass we could still not see Everest through the cloud even though we had blue sky overhead. Another two hours of dramatic switchbacks took us down to the valley floor and then slowly up to EBC passing crazy groups on mountain bikes that made us feel even more like soft-core tourists.

We arrived at the lower EBC around 18h30 – only the base of Everest visible though. EBC is a large rectangular, baren and dusty clearing lined by ‘Hotels’ and has a post office but no mains power or running water. Probably will have all that and a cable car in a few years if the rest of China is anything to go by. Our driver pulled up to ‘Holy Mountain Hotel’, a large semi-permanent tent with comfortable sleeping space for 5 and an attached kitchen. Our host provided bottomless cups of green tea as we sat chilling out after the long day on the road while occasionally popping our heads out into the cold thin air to check the view status.

[WARNING: Gush]

Around 20h00 one of the girls popped her head into the tent to announce that the summit was visible. We rushed outside and were joined by tourists from various hotels in the open area, everyone excited and clambering to get photos. If it were possible for me to have a spiritual experience, the sight of that chunk of rock peeping through the cloud would have been it. V and I were ecstatic. We stood gawking in awe. Awesome ! Another highlight, possibly the highlight (haha) for us. We felt very lucky to catch a glimpse. After 30 minutes or so and more than enough photos the clouds shuffled back in and we retreated to the warmth of the tent high on the experience (or possibly the lack of oxygen).

Dinner in our little tent was simple but excellent (not sure if the food was good or it just tasted good after the high) and shortly thereafter our host converted the chairs to beds complete with duvets and 3 layers of warm weighty blankets. Perfect. What a day !

[Pictures: Himilayan view from the first viewpoint. Oxygen anyone ? Cans of air in a shop on the way (just above the chips). The Big E is in those clouds ! V warming up with some tea]

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Last night was very cold but it was cozy and comfortable under the blankets. V and the girls did not sleep at all well. At about 1am I woke to find V sitting upright and gasping. She was struggling to breathe and every time she tried to sleep the feeling of suffocation would wake her. Egle & Manouk had similar experiences. I guess it was a small taste of what high altitude mountaineers have to deal with – not a lot of fun. We had breakfast in the dark at 7h30 (being on Beijing time this far west is silly) and then set out on foot for the real EBC an hour up the track.

The walk was breathtaking in every sense of the word. V and Egle had a tough time with the steep sections in the thin cold air and the sun broke through making the surrounding hills glow against blue skies. On the way up we were treated to a stunning highlighted view of the summit on a deep blue background as the clouds swirled. Unbelievably magnificent. By the time we reached EBC the cloud had unfortunately moved back in for the day. We waited around for 40 minutes hoping it would clear as the sun strengthened behind our backs. My GPS put our location at 18.3km almost due North of the summit :gps:(GPS)::28.14052::86.85184:gps:. 18.3km !! Now that is just cool. After collecting a pebble each V and I turned our backs and walked away. We definitely have to get back to the Himalayas one day. It is just too incredible !

V and Egle opted for a bus ride back to the tourist EBC – I walked with Bob – we chatted and took a lot of interesting shortcuts. Time to stand on my soapbox again:

Bob told me stories of previous groups of tourists he had taken up to EBC. In a recent group, two of the travelers had walked up to the higher base camp alone after Bob had told them that they needed to go as a group with him. Their passports were confiscated and the entire group was held there for two days while the transgressors refused arrogantly to assist Bob in the diplomacy and begging required to get the passports and permits back. If you want to travel in Tibet, obey the rules ! Failing to do so only makes the situation worse for the locals and future travelers.

Turning to the issue of Tibet, Bob and I continued our chat. It seems to be a complicated issue and I know very little about it. There are a lot of problems and the way Tibetans are forced to live under China is almost comparable to apartheid with no end in sight – not cool. Tibetans are now out numbered 20 to 1 by Chinese immigrants that have been encouraged to move here. Four trains a day arrive full of Chinese – Tibetan culture is doubtless endangered.

That being said, Bob’s biggest fear is his tour groups doing stupid things like unveiling a Tibetan flag in public. A stunt like this will get the traveler fined and deported (back to the comfort of home and video games) while the guide could end up spending 18 years in prison.

So, if you want to protest to ‘Free Tibet’ here are some tips and notes;
– Travelers are bound by the laws of the country they are visiting. Don’t try to be a hero in Tibet. It will just make everything worse for everyone.
– Go home. Start a blog, a petition, organize a protest at an embassy. Protest within the law.
– Most importantly be aware of what you are asking for. The return of the Dali Lama to power is NOT a good solution. It could even be worse than the current situation. Remember when the Dalai Lamas were in power, Tibetans were reduced to a population of peasants forced into subservience to the Lama class. It was never a democratic country, it was a theocratic dictatorship. I recommend checking out Penn & Teller’s treatment of the subject (Bullshit episode – ‘Holier than thou’. I think ?)

Stepping off the soapbox… Phew.. Won’t do that too often !

The rest of the day was spent uneventfully on the road back to Shigatse. Our third full day on the road, we were all knackered and longing for some palatable food which we found in the Chinese fast food chain ‘Dicos’. Tomorrow we have another full day on the road to get back to Lhasa.

[Pictures: Big E in the morning. Don’t worry. We got much better shots with the camera]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

Before another full day on the road from Shigatse back to Lhasa we had one more monastery to visit but none of us wanted to go inside. Bob led us around the outside of the place with all the morning worshipers as they loop around spinning the endless prayer wheels and leaving offerings at shrines. If was far more interesting than touring the interior. We left Shigatse around 11 after a quick brunch.

I’m starting to feel bad for our driver. The roads are good but the speed limit is, well, limiting. We retraced our route from two days ago passing the lakes and then stopping for lunch. V and I started listening to Jon Krakauer’s ‘Into the wild’ – by the end of the trip we only had 40 minutes left to listen to. It’s a brilliant book.

The views were beautiful and the weather better than on the way out but the trip was uneventful until two hours outside Lhasa. Slow news day so I’ll explain. We stopped at a speed checkpoint and after having the time slip checked started off. A shiny new 4×4 behind us tried to pull in front of us on the inside and scraped his wheel arch against us. What ensued was a protracted argument between the drivers and discussion with the police. The driver of the other vehicle (clearly at fault from our viewpoint) was insisting that we had reversed into him ! The issue would have been easily resolved if the other driver wasn’t a friend of one of the policemen at the checkpoint. There was almost no damage – probably would have polished off – and in the end the police agreed with our camp. Ooo the excitement.

Arriving in Lhasa our guide informed us that the dive we had stayed at before had rooms and that the other options would either be full or expensive. We caved and were delivered to the Banakshol where we discovered that the only rooms available were on the road. I was not prepared to accept two nights without sleep and decided to keep looking for accommodation. Our guide was not happy (he must have a comm agreement with the hotel and/or he just wanted to go home – but we needed him and our permit to secure a room). Pissy and very tired from 4 days on the road we eventually settled on the Yak Hotel and the most expensive room so far in China (£20/night). The disorganization over accommodation soured the end of the trip for us. We were not given options or at least warned that we needed to book beds in advance in the more reasonable spots. If fact I was told that booking was not required. Oh well. At least we will be comfortable for our last two nights in Tibet.

[Pictures: None from the phone]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

[UPDATE] Have uploaded a whole bunch of photos but they have not been tagged or categorized.

Our last full day in Lhasa (and Tibet). We took full advantage of the included breakfast at the hotel and spent the rest of the morning relaxing and strolling around the old part of town glancing periodically at the tourist trinkets and such on sale. At lunch time we said goodbye to Egle – great to meet and travel with you Egle ! We popped out to that wifi enabled coffee shop for another excellent milkshake and to upload all the Tibet posts (you may have noticed). We stopped at a clinic on the main road (Beijing Road) for a consult on my rash that has spread enthusiastically. The Doctor (we assume since he was wearing a white coat but could not speak English) inspected me and provided some cream. We got Dr. Manouk later to confirm it is just another cortisone cream so will give it a try and hope for the best. Our last errand was to upload photos at that Internet cafe full of gamers (you may have noticed that too) before heading back to the hotel and a bit of a shock.

Our room key was not working so I visited reception. They informed me that I needed to pay for the second night. Confusion reigned. Eventually we discovered that we had been billed £30 for the first night and needed to pay another £30 ! That’s double our most expensive accommodation anywhere else in China and about 10 nights for both of us in a dorm ! I was fuming. We had been told £20 by the hotel and our guide but the receipt I had had been urged to sign (while exhausted) the previous evening stated had £30 per night. My fault, I didn’t read it, but we are really annoyed with the hotel and guide – they pulled a fast one ! For that amount we would never have agreed to stay there. Live and learn. Tomorrow morning I’m going to empty the bacon tray at the buffet into a stuff sack for later ! Google searches on: The Yak Hotel, Lhasa, Tibet – Beware… The rooms are severely overpriced. We’ll be very happy to be moving on in the morning.

[Pictures: None from the phone]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

An early start to an arbitrary day, off to the airport. We brought up the issue of the room rate with our guide who shrugged it off as a misunderstanding. We now regret having given him a tip. Anyway we were both very excited to be getting on a plane, our first since January. Lhasa airport is snazzy and looks brand new. It was very busy and slowed by the excruciating security checks. Oddly, once past security there is nowhere to buy nibbles. Food and water are marked up by around 300% – the worst price gouging we have seen in China (except for the Dadong duck restaurant water saga). Boarding the plane was a real novelty as it was the first time in a long while that we have see a queue in the English sense of the word – very civilized. The plane left on time at 11h25 and after exhibiting stunning mountain views below us and a short stop in Shangrila we arrived on time in Kunming at 15h30. Unfortunately the baggage handlers were slower than those at JNB and after a very long wait we said our goodbyes to Manouk (great to meet you Manouk and thanks for everything and especially for the Gibbon thing). We then spent another 30 minutes in a typical Chinese queue for a taxi fending off locals as they tried to push in and past. V was like the Great Wall. No one got past us, we must be getting good.

We have returned to the Camelia Hostel. It’s a really great feeling to be back somewhere that you know. Everything is familiar and easy. The Internet connection is still miserable and the public use laptop in reception (the only one we have seen in China with Windows and Office in English) still has the software and settings that I installed last month 🙂 . V had been dreading the rock solid beds at Camelia but we ended up with an unusually comfy one – what a relief. We will rest up here for two nights, stock up on supplies from WalMart and abuse the washing machine before heading off to Laos. We are incredibly excited about Loas and have been checking maps and plotting routes. Manouk sent us a link to ‘The Gibbon Experience’ which looks incredible and just up our street (if expensive). Laos… bring it on !

[Pictures: Home sweet home – Camelia Hostel]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

Today has been all about getting organized for Laos, stocking up on odds and ends and sorting bits and pieces.

We have washed everything in our packs including our jackets. We don’t expect to be using any cold weather gear until we hit the mountains in New Zealand. I’m also chucking my old thick blue fleece away as I really don’t need it anymore (have not used it since Russia).

We went to the Southern bus station and bought our bus tickets for the first leg of getting to Laos. If we had known it would take us 2 hours to get to the station by city buses we would have taken a taxi. It only took us 20 minutes by taxi to get back.

The plan so far is to take a sleeper bus to Mengla. We should arrive in the early hours of Monday morning. From there we think (from what we have read on the Internet) that there are direct buses to various towns in Laos. We are hoping to get one to Luang Nam Tha. Failing that, there are apparently regular buses that go to the border town of Mohan. By all accounts the border crossing should be easy as they issue visas on arrival. Once in Luang Nam Tha we will try to organise maybe a 2 day hiking trip before moving SW either by bus or by boat to Houayxay near the Thai border to try get on the gibbon experience thing. Then SE to Luang Prabang by boat.

Across the road from the bus station was a humoungus shopping mall. We went in to look for an ATM and see if we could find some of the items on our shopping list. There were thousands upon thousands of really small shops inside the mall (no really at least 5000) and we eventually gave up and left as we were tired and hungry and the layout was confusing.

The rest of the afternoon was taken up with a trip to Wallmart (we don’t think we will find the 3 in 1 Lipton tea sachets in Laos) and messing around on the internet when it was working.

Sim has been trying to sort out the graphs for our expenses. Though Tibet has put us over our original budget plan we still think we will be fine. SE Asia is expected to be cheaper than China and even with trekking and gibbon type excursions (which will be preicey) we will be ok.

Although we have not realy seen much of Kunming despite visiting it twice, we like it. It’s not too hot and not too cold and we feel like regulars at the local KFC. Walking home last night we noticed yet again that lots of people were out walking their dogs. We spotted a great Dane carrying his own leash and huge white dog that looked like he had been blow dried he was so fluffy. Pets seem to be common here and always look very well looked after. In Tibet, mangy packs of strays seemed to be everywhere. Maybe strays don’t last as long in Chinese cities.

[Pictures: Another very fancy looking bus station. The southern one in Kunming]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

Tibet was a good and worthwhile (if expensive) experience in the end. The highlight was obviously Mount Everest and the Himalayan landscape.

Some notes on Tibet (possibly will only mean something to us):
– A lot of stray dogs. Dogs seem to rule in Tibet. They are not harassed and you see them sleeping soundly in the middle of busy roads and on the pavements next to piles of raw meat in the markets.
– The cities were not at all charming or interesting to us.
– There are plenty of monasteries (mostly boring) but very few monks (possibly due to the Chinese?)
– Reportedly 20 Chinese to one Tibetan. Very obvious in Lhasa.
– Must be one of the highest Toyota Land Cruiser per capita rates in the world.
– Tonnes of tourist trinkets and curios. Unfortunately just about all fake and made in Nepal.
– Insanely beautiful and vast countryside. The Himalayas rule!
– Wonderfully friendly, hospitable and polite people (compared to the Chinese).
– Seemed to be a lot more English spoken but even better is that the Tibetan language sounds soft and quiet compared to the loud, crass Chinese.
– Hooters (not the fun kind) need to be banned in Lhasa
– Tibetan culture is endangered. Complicated and unfortunate situation.
– Hotels: The Banakshol is beyond basic and never take a street side room. The Tenzin in Shigatse was great. The Yak Hotel Lhasa is overpriced.
– Food: Namtso, Snowland and Summit were great. Dunya’s yak burger didn’t come close to the one we had in Shangrila.
– Potola is a cool looking and picturesque (from the outside) icon of Tibet but they really should silence the huge advertising screens near the entrance that you can still hear from the top.

If our comments sound negative; 1) You should know me by now. 2) The cities could have been a thousand times worse and it still would have been worth it to stand at EBC and look up at that marvelous outcrop (We’ll be back one day – but probably on the Nepal side).

Thank you to Bob, our travel companions and Tibet !

[Pictures: clip of the Alien travel permit required outside Lhasa ]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

Not much to do today except wait for our bus this evening to Mengla (50km or so from the Laos border). We got up as late as possible and spent 2 hours !! carefully packing our gear – the new supplies we purchased made it substantially more difficult. We spent the rest of the day in the hostel’s courtyard making plans and getting frustrated with their Internet connection.

We got a taxi to the southern bus station (20mins instead of 2 hours) and with even more time to kill ended up at the mall (with it’s 5000+ shops) across the road from the station. We found a decent camera case (£3.50) just as the entire place was shutting down for the day. The scale of the place is mind boggling.

The Kunming South bus station looks new, clean and tidy – Stainless steel and marble like most western airports, but we were once again shocked by the toilets. Gross I know, but the trough in the mens was blocked leaving the entire floor a half-inch deep in overflow. Eeuuuww.

Our overnight bus (which wasn’t bad) left the station a little late and half empty. A problem the driver tried to remedy once outside the station but his efforts only netted him one additional passenger. Just when I thought we were off we pulled into another back alley to load up with freight – we ended up leaving around an hour later than scheduled (20h30). The roads were very good, I managed to move from underneath the TV to a bunk above V’s, and we settled in for the night. With no toilet on board (good thing) the bus kept stopping throughout the night for loo breaks and to rotate drivers leading to a disrupted nights sleep. Around 1am we hit a bumpy and windy section of road that threatened to throw me out of my bunk but it did not last long. Tomorrow will be tough with the lack of sleep but we are both extremely excited to be leaving China and entering Laos. (Note: The GPS tag for this post is Mengla where we arrived at around 6am on 13/09).

[Pictures: A mega mall in Kunming – it just keeps going]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

We arrived at Mengla at 6am. V and I really can’t handle lack of sleep ! It was still pitch dark but we had no trouble finding a minibus that would take us to Mohan (the border town) for £2 each. It was a large minibus and the driver started the usual ritual of driving up and down the main street in search of more passengers. We figured it would take hours so we just accepted our fate. To our surprise and with only four passengers on board he headed out of town just as dawn was breaking.

We are really in the jungle here. The hills all around are packed with dense forest. Heat, humidity and a little light rain sprinkled us as we headed to the Loas border along excellent roads bypassing the toll gate by detouring through some small villages for more passengers. We transferred to normal taxi who drove us into the pretty little town of Mohan and dropped us 1km from the border. We tried in vane to change Yuan to Kip at the two local banks and started walking up to the border checkpoint. As we arrived we were approached by money changers. The rate was good and we decided to change 500 Yuan to 550 000 Kip. Being tired we carefully checked the 500 000 Kip in strange new 20 000 notes and confirmed the amount but when it came to the 50 000 we missed a 0 and only realized much later that we had been sucked to the tune of 45 000 Kip. Cow !! Not to worry. It’s only R40. We decided to call it our tip for China (in Kip).

The Chinese border post is an imposing office block and stainless steel structure that towers out of the jungle. Clearing the border on the Chinese side was painless and we hopped onto a golf cart for the short ride through no-mans-land to Laos !

So long China. What a great experience ! 87 days of adventure in one monster country !! We have definately had enough though 🙂 We’ll post a pile of notes about China at some point in the next week. Roll on Laos !

[Pictures: Mohan main street. Looked like a pretty little town (if only just a single street)]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi