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Right, we have forced ourselves to get up to date, so having gobbled down another bowl of rice - here we go with our latest exploits....
Firstly: Taiwan
This was a slightly random destination determined by Trailfinders. We arrived puzzling how we had lost Saturday and how exactly the date line thing worked. As we had no guide book for Taiwan we had to figure it out ourselves. Taipei (Capital city if you believe Taiwan is an independent country) is a large modern city, very clean, very well organised with lots of people. We adjusted to Asia and the jetlag by taking it easy in our slightly weird hostel. We did some of the big monuments - the Chinese know how to do big! We explored the Night markets and marvelled at Snake Alley (snake to eat, drink and torment.) We took a couple of trips out of the city, to enjoy the thermal pools - very exhausting. The chinese are very into exercise and thermal bathing, good for the body and soul. From Taiwan we flew to Hong Kong to meet up with Roger and Wendy (Carrie's parents) This was a welcome break for us as it meant someone
else could do the thinking and organising.
Hong Kong was about as different to anywhere we had been all trip. The views accross the harbour at night were spectacular, especially when put to music!! We visited monasteries, nunneries and temples and now just about know some of the differences between Daoism, Confucianism and Baoanism... We went over to Hong Kong island and climbed to the top of Victoria Peak for some slightly hazey but impressive veiws. The skyscrapers were staggering, and the harbour busy with boats. We visited Lan Tau island with the largest bronze buddha sitting outside anywhere in the world - apparently! Hong Kong at night was a weird place to be, as it was lighter than in the day due to all of the neon and bright lights. We ate well and felt thoroughly cosmopolitan.
From here the 4 of us flew to Kunming in Yunnan Province in the south of China. Kunming was rainy and chilly - boo. It boasted some old Pagodas, a nice lake and a lovely park where the locals had come to play instruments and sing. We are a bit of an attraction ourselves, and the people here have no
Some of the local Naxi people
That is not a netball strip! quarms about stopping and staring open mouthed at the Laowei (foreigners)
From Kunming we travelled westwards deeper into Yunnan, to the very picturesque town of Dali. The place was full of cobbled streets with streams running down them and old wooden houses dating back to the Ming (?) dynasty - well at least 100 years!! From here we explored the mountainous area around which reaches to the Tibetan plateau. In addition to the quaint streets Dali boasts some of the oldest and best Pagodas in the area. The 3 Pagodas sit on the same site as an enormous Budhist temple recently rebuilt after an earthquake. The Temple goes on and on with thousands of gold buddhas in hundreds of temples. We climbed the mountain in a ski lift for lovely views across the fertile valley to Erhai lake - loads of paddy fields.
Lijiang
Lijiang is the even prettier sister town of Dali. It has even older streets and even quainter old houses. The grey rooves of which are real China picture postcard stuff. Lijiang draws thousands of tourists but manages to accommodate them well without it getting too out of hand. Snow Dragon Jade mountain and Yak
Tea with NO milk???
Here are our trusty travelling companions - ready for anything. meadow made for a lovely day trip with our hilarious guide - Louise. The local people had an odd habit which none of us had come across before. To entice you to buy some of their wares (Tat) they shouted "Hello, I love yooouuuu" Thankfully we were able to ignore this flattery and escaped without too many Yak related presents!!
Shangri-la( Aka Zhongdien, Shangrina, Longdien)
Shangri-la (heaven on earth) is very close to Tibet. The people are distinctly different here from the rest of Yunnan, with bright red cheeks and a rugged appearance, often wielding huge knives. They live simply with their animals in magnificent wooden farmhouse, with beautifull painted woodcarving. Thanks to the Panchen Lhamas' (similar to the Dalai Lhama) diva-esque demands we were moved out of our original hotel into a 6* hotel. This place was amazing, however Carrie and I felt a little out of place in our now dusty and tired looking clothes. We didn't let this bother us though as we made use of all the luxury facilities - especially the freebies!!
Shanghai
After saying goodbye to our travelling companions (R&W), we headed to Shanghai. This journey, another one we hadn't really researched,
The little Potala Palace at Shangri-la
We might not make it to see the big one. turned out to be a 58hr marathon, including a 47 hour train journey - but the end of which we were going mad.....
So you find us in Shanghai - exploring this modern city and trying to work out which buildings Tom Cruise jumped off in MI3.
We hope you are all well back home - we are thinking about you all...
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