There it was, my solo adventure in China was coming to an end as I was about to join the Dragoman truck the next day. First had to pick up my visa and get to Xi’an though... Didn’t really have a lot of time in the morning to do that as my train to Xi’an was leaving at 12.50. I booked it before I even went to Emei Shan but already at that time my choice of trains was very limited – didn’t know the route was so popular with locals! There sure were many trains going to Xi’an from Chengdu each day but at the time I was booking my ticket there were only two morning trains left – had my group meeting at 9 the next morning so really needed to get there before ... read more

Before deciding to take on the 24hour bus journey to Chengdu I did look at different options of getting there and obviously flying would’ve been the best one but it was way out of my budget, then there was an option to take a bus to Panzhihua and a train from there (which didn’t seem that bad but there were a couple of risks involved like delays and hence a necessary overnight there…) but a direct bus from Lijiang all the way to Chengdu sounded like a much easier way to travel so finally went for the 24 hours journey! I knew I was getting an upper seat (it was actually a bed rather than a seat) but still was quite surprised to see the way the beds were arranged in the bus – my ‘seat’ ... read more

I got to Lijiang in the early afternoon, which was just perfect as had almost the whole day to explore still! The Chinese guy who joined me on a bike on the way to Caicun the previous day told me if I liked Dali, I was going to like Lijiang even more. As promising as it sounded I wasn’t totally convinced but have to say that he was absolutely right! What a charming place – narrow cobblestoned streets, beautiful wooden finished buildings, bridges and canals all around, absolutely beautiful! Jade River splits into three streams here which flow along the streets of the old town and apparently some people go as far to call Lijiang ‘Chinese Venice’… There would have to be a few more canals to be called that I’d say, but there is something ... read more

Originally I was supposed to enter China from a totally different side – through Tibet, but had to change my plans in the end… Than I thought that maybe it was for the best as thinking of going to an altitude of over 4,000m was making me slightly uneasy – I think I’ve had enough of high altitudes for a while… The new plan was to start off in Yunnan, then through Sichuan head all the way to Beijing and finally back south through Shanghai to Hong Kong. But then since I was applying for a Chinese visa in Kathmandu, only got a visa for a month, which definitely wasn’t enough time for my itinerary. Ah well… I decided to stick to the plan though and see how far that would take me… Coming from Kathmandu ... read more

Having heard so many good things about Bhaktapur, I just knew I had to make it there one day, only had to fit it in my busy schedule somehow... ;) But finally a wonderful opportunity came up to share this experience with my dear friend (that would be you Grant! :)). We thought about taking a local bus there first, which could’ve been an interesting experience on its own, but since it was well over 30C degrees outside, we just decided to spoil ourselves a bit and took a driver instead – and what a treat it was, a sports car with airco! It just doesn’t happen in Nepal… Once we got to Bhaktapur we were offered guide services straight away, the guy seemed very nice and his price was very good also, but having him ... read more