Arriving at a small town called Qiau Tou, I left my bigger bag in storage and embarked for one of the best trekking experiences in Yunnan province: The Tiger Leaping Gorge. The gorge is nestled between two massive mountains, Haba and Dragon Snow Mountain. It is said that countless years ago a tiger was seen jumping from one side to the other and hence the gorge received it's name. From the start I made my way up into the mountains to one side of the gorge, the scenery just got better and better the higher I rose. Passing a small village, I carried on until I reached a section called the 28 bends, a path which zigzagged up the mountain until the top at about 2600 metres. From here the views were great but I had ... read more

Wu Wei Si is a Buddhist monastery nestled in the picturesque Cangshan mountains, not too far from Dali Old City. I had heard about this place through word of mouth and figured it would be different way of experiencing some Chinese and Buddhist traditional culture. The monastery itself dates back about 1200 years. Mahayana Buddhism is the form practiced here. This form of Buddhism differs slightly from Theravada Buddhism in that it is believed that nirvana (a transcendent state in which one breaks free from karma and life/death cycles, the final goal of Buddhism) can be achieved by anyone within a lifetime by putting mind and sometimes body towards the goal. Those that have reached enlightenment may delay nirvana to help others achieve this goal. I was to spend the next week training in the ancient ... read more

Kunming was my first taste of a Chinese city, though a small one by Chinese standards with a population of about three million. It has a pretty warm climate and is the hub and capital of Yunnan province. The nice thing about it was it wasn't as polluted as many other cities in this country but still had a fair bit of traffic during rush hours. My first two days here were spent almost entirely in the can with explosive diarrhea, with plenty of movies in between supplied by the hostel when I wasn't emptying my insides. I must have watched about eight movies in about two days time. I had anti-diarrhea pills in my bag but I wanted all the bad bacteria to clear out so I let it flow. By the third day I ... read more

Sapa is a town with a small village feel and characterized by rugged mountains and numerous rice paddies surrounding it. Minority tribes can also be found here like the Black Hmong and the Red Dao, who mostly because of tourist growth, travel from their villages to sell different trinkets and try to make a living. I took the overnight train from Hanoi to Lau Cai. There were six beds in my berth and when I awoke a bunch of Vietnamese were watching me sleep. I yelled out "Good Morning!" and then threw off my blanket. From Lau Cai I took a transport directly to Sapa and checked in at a dormroom. The three others sharing the room were Lyndsay, Erica and Anna, whom I had been expecting to see here. Wanting to make the most of ... read more

Hanoi, capital of Vietnam, and home to 6.5 millions inhabitants is, much like Saigon, a frantic migration of people and motorbikes at all times during the day. The red river runs through and lakes can be found all over. Hanoi, especially its old quarter, has become quite elegant since it was rebuilt after severe American bombing during the war. This year also marks the one thousandth anniversary of the city and festivities can be found throughout. I arrived in the early morning after an especially uncomfortable and mostly sleepless night on a sleeper bus. After getting off the bus I noticed my shoes, which are normally tied to my backpack, were nowhere to be found. Bad start to the day. To boot, motorbike taxi drivers were converging onto me from all directions asking me where I ... read more