3 weeks in China!!

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A few more notes on Tibet and China!!

#1 transportation is SOO unreliable here it will make you crazy!! We've taken 4 flights in total and 3 have been delayed. We've taken 1 train and its been delayed. We tried to leave Tibet but we were denied!! We just wanted out at this point!! Our flight was delayed and delayed and finally in Chinese they told us it was cancled!! So we got taken back to the capital, Lhasa to a fancy place with a huge chandilier and would have been 100 american dollars for one night....we're used to paying around 3 to 6 canadian!! But is was free so we milked up the free bathrobe and slippers and stole as much as we could from the bathroom!! But once again the food was terrible!! Relaxed and had a shower in a real shower....forgot what a bathtub looked like....and back to the airport!! But the plane that was broken the day before was still broken and they didn't know when it would be fixed....so we waited and waited....24hours after the original time we were flying in a plane that may or may not have been fixed!! It was really sketchy and made some weird clunking sounds but we survived!!

#2 Our friend figured out that we drove around 1775km in 5 and half days with Teddy and half of that was offroading and on dirt roads!!

#3 I'm almost positive they've put laxitives in all Tibetan, Chinese cooking oil!!

#4 I'll never again underestimate the luxury of a Western toilet!!

#5 I like canadian chinese food better than chinese food from China *so sue me!!

#6 I don't love carrying around 38 pounds of luggage on my back!!

I could go on but enough is enough...i'll stop complaining!!

So we landed back in China with 4 other people......got a bus to the Tiger Leaping Gorge in Qiao Tou. We did a 2 day hike through the gorge with 2 other Americans and it was very challenging....It was crazy beautiful and satisfying but I didn't see a Tiger leaping or this apparent rock from which it leaped!! lol!!
We stayed one night in the middle of the mountain and that was the climax of it all....very stunning. Throughout the whole trip through the mountains, water falls and trekking we were following these yellow arrows that this man named 'Saun' had done for the trekers and so you could find his guesthouse at the end of this journey and get the bus back to town. BUT....we spent 2 days following these precarious arrows up and down and around and getting landed on by bugs and falling down loose rock for 24 kilometers....we get to this guesthouse named Sauns guesthouse and start yelling for this man.....we wanted to meet him and slap him for his confusing trail.....but no one had seen him or knew where he was.....so he's about as much a mystery to me as this apparent leaping Tiger!!! Jokes aside it was really a very good experience.
So exhausted and filthy we caught a bus to Lijiang where we are know. Again with the two Americans and we picked up two new french canadians!! Power in numbers. We're in the old part of town and it looks like if you were to walk into China town in Disney land. There's all the old houses and water canals running inbetween and chinese tourists absolutely everywhere taking pictures of us like we're apart of the scenery....this one guy tried to hide behind a tree to take a picture of us but we busted him!! So its a very nice town and very picturesque. They say its the Venice of China!! No comment on that one but its so far our favorite city in China. Oh and since the food makes everyone sick we've found this great American restaurant to feast on!!
We stayed here for one exciting night...its all lit up at night with lanterns and the trees and candles floating down the little streams and crazy Chinese singing fights!! They get all crazy on their holidays!!
BUt we're off tonight to make our way down to Vietnam....an over night sleeper bus which should be interesting....nothing 2 gravol won't help me with!! And then another sleeper bus or train to the border crossing!! So hopefully everything works out and we'll be in Vietnam in less than 2 days!! 3 weeks in China...hello South East Asia!!

I heard there was some kind of heat wave in Canada right now....true or false!
Hope all is well....take care!
ps. If you didn't get my last title than i think you should watch Lord of the Rings one more time!

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