The Tiger Leaping Gorge was... gorgeous :-) Yes, I know its an easy one... Friday, April 25th I left the little guesthouse at 9 in the morning. The weather was mild and cloudy. I couldn't see the summit of the mountains. There is a partially tarred road where cars and buses bring tourists groups to the main view points. I soon left that road to follow the upper path that goes gradually up to the first mountain guesthouse. I had a drink on the way and started to climb the so called 28 bends that lead to the top of the [View Full Entry]

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Je sens que j’en ai assez de voyager. Les paysages sont magnifiques, mais ils ne m’impressionnent plus. Les monuments sont beaux, mais ils ne m’attirent plus. Les gens autour de moi sont toujours aussi sympas, mais je me replie chaque jour davantage dans ma coquille. Je me mets en colère quand les prix sont surfaits et je négocie mal le prix des objets que j’achète. Il est temps de me poser et de me reposer. Cette année n’était pas faite pour voyager, mais pour me reposer. J’ai l’impression de beaucoup de temps perdu, de beaucoup d’occasions manquées, de gaspillage. Si le [View Full Entry]

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Ce soir, j’ai poussé l’aventure gastronomique un peu loin. J’étais au centre de la vieille ville de Lijiang et après une journée à vélo. J’ai choisi un restaurant fréquenté essentiellement par des touristes chinois. J’ai pris des escargots à la mode naxi (ethnie locale) et des pommes de terre frites et du vin de seigle. J’ai reçu une bouteille de « vin de seigle » : 400 ml d’alcool à 46°. Je n’ai plus pensé qu’en Chine l’alcool est très bon marché. Pour le prix d’un verre de vin, on peut effectivement recevoir une bouteille d’alcool. Heureusement, la bouteille n’était pas [View Full Entry]

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Hello, After Yantze river cruise, terra cotta army, longmen caves, we're entering Shanxi by the back door. Last step before, Pingyao. We're in Yungcheng, rural china as the lonely planet says. actually, a 200 000 inhabitants town between Xi'An and PingYao. We visited a near by temple dedicated to a general who was promoted a powerful god after his death. The temple shows some exemple of fine chinese architecture and last but not least does not resemble a theme park. There are not so many Western tourist here and so are also part of the tourist attraction [View Full Entry]

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This blog is more about practical information for people who wants to do the journey. There is a night train from Hanoi to Beijing that stop in Guilin, but there are only soft sleeper for 80$. So, I took a bus from Hanoi to Nanning for a price of 20 to 27$ (dependig on travel agency and day of travel). The bus left at 7:30 (Vietnamese time, GMT+7). At the border, I had to cross the border on foot and change bus. The Chinese bus arrived in Nanning at 16:00 (Chinese time, GMT+8). Both the vietnamese and the chinese buses where [View Full Entry]

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Pictures [View Full Entry]

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Some Pictures [View Full Entry]

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Pictures again [View Full Entry]

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Pictures only [View Full Entry]

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Some more pictures [View Full Entry]

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