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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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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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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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…)

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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]

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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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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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