Wednesday: Woke at 7.30 and went to go for a shower. No hot water, in fact no water at all! so you couldn't even flush the squat toilets. Not a happy camper! A water pipe had busted up the mountain due to another landslide. We were keen to move on and not stay another night in Zhamgmu. Ling arranged for us to go to Nepal a day early. Our drivers and guide drove us to the border crossing which entailed a hairy drive for half an hour down the mountain due to landslides, washouts and big trucks trying to pass us [View Full Entry]

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After a long flight we finally arrived at 11pm Friday in Beijing. Our cab could not get into the area of our hotel due to city being closed off for some student exercise. 100,000 students had been brought in to practice for national day march on Oct 1 at 11pm at night. We had to go to another hotel at midnight. After driving us for nearly 80 minutes we had no idea how much to pay him but the hotel told us it was $25 US. He did not seem happy but they said that was right and he left. Saturday: [View Full Entry]

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Friday: Up at 5am for 5.30 departure from hotel. Chengdu airport was bigger than I expected and for some reason we seemed to travel there via back roads. Boarded plane at 8am but our plane was delayed so the hostesses proceeded to serve us our meal while we sat on the tarmac. Very bizzare! The plane was empty so most of our group managed to get window seats and we finally took off 1 1/2 hours late. We were able to see Gongga Shan Mountain (7556m) as we flew west and finally arrived in Kunggar at 11am. Bus ride to Lhasa [View Full Entry]

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Ha Noi Flying Air-asia from the Gold Coast with really cheap flights got off to a bad start with flight cancellation due to engine fault, but they chartered us a flight the next day with Malaysian Airlines and all food and drink was included plus onward travel rearranged for us as we had connecting flights to Ha Noi with Air Asia that we missed. A good result in the end thanks Air Asia Flying into Ha Noi early September and with just a small backpack each, and nothing planned or booked till our departure from Ho Chi Minh City in 3 [View Full Entry]

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