Backdoor Banditry, and the Source of the Mekong

WOW
Mate, when u publish all your blogs in a book (and i think you should) let me know, so I can get a copy. Keep up the great writing !!

Destinations are for tourists
Very true, when youre in a one road town in Qinghai, you do wonder "why am I here". You're idea of the river as a theme of your trip almost is a great one, what a wonderful idea of the varying people and events which surround that river as it runs through Asia. To address three points; 1)Kangding has a nightclub (not sure if you know this or not), we visited on what must have been nappy night, lots of friendly high school kids. 2)Your guide in Dege, had the same one, that really all he says 3) Really understand when you describe trying to get a departure time or destination. You say you speak mandarin. It's often not the language, just the complete cultural chasm- western logic is rarely understood!

Fantastic Writing
I just wanted to leave a comment noting that I thoroughly enjoyed your blog. It is not often that a travel blog is so informative and engagingly written, so as Kiwi Steve noted some time ago, please keep me in the loop when you publish a book.