We had decided, along with Sue, that we would do the same trek Parshu Ram (Harry) had taken us through on our previous visit here. That is, a 10-day trek up to Muktinath & flying back down from Jomsom to Pokhara. Last time I did this walk I felt, at the end, I did not want to do much more than I had, & this time, with a back 5 years older, wanted to carry less of a load. Costs for our 10-day Muktinath trek Trek Permits 6000R=$107; Guide 9000R=$161; Porter 5000R=$89; Sleeping bag/Trekking stick hire 800R=$14; Maoist "voluntary" donation 3000R=$54; Van to take us to start point 1500R=$27; Plane Flights 16530R=$295; Flight Tax 840R=$15; food & accom get paid as you go. Total 42670R=$762; $254 each A trekking routine that seems to be upheld by ... read more

Arrived Lhasa from Xian on Fri 19/Oct. The flight was great, a little turbulent at times, but I do love the flying thing. The terrain we could see as we approached our destination was pretty special. Mountainous, but stark, any growth on these slopes has cammouflage colours of those grey/greens. Some distant peaks were snow capped & the odd turquoise lake was visible. Beautiful, but it looks, even from here, to be such a hard land to live in. Lhasa airport was small compared to the ones we've seen lately, looking more like an Aussie regional stop, but the facilities have all been revamped & look new & slick. We soon had our baggage & had found the 25Y=$4 shuttle bus to the city. The first few K's of this route were gunbarrel straight as we ... read more

I remember hearing of the Curse of the Yangtze some time ago, but, like most, dismissed it as a load of poppycock. I find, however, I have had to rethink my position in light of recent events. See what you think. The next item on our list of things to do was a Yangtze River cruise, so the place you go, where most of these tours start from is Chongqing. We had a 7.50pm flight out of Lijiang (on Wed 10/Oct) and after some concerned moments in our taxicab, where we thought "He's misunderstood, the airport can't be this far away!" we made it to the fairly new Lijiang airport. We were heading to Chongqing via Kunming despite the two being in opposing directions but finally reached our destination a little before 11.00pm. After the usual ... read more

Tiger Leaping Gorge is an almost compulsory mini-trek for visitors to this region. We were no exception. We looked around Lijiang for information & found package tours on offer for 600Y & 580Y, found some hand drawn maps at local cafes & asked questions from locals 'in the know' and decided to do it ourselves. Tiger Leaping Gorge is where the mighty Yangzi River cuts its way between Haba Snow Mountain and Jade Dragon Snow Mountain creating one of the deepest gorges in the world. The entire gorge measures something like 16km at river level & its a giddy 3900m from the waters to the snowcapped peaks. This spectacular natural attraction may not be around for too much longer, either, if Yangzi damming plans go ahead. There's talk of building 8 dams stretching over 564km of ... read more

Apologies, in advance, to any interested readers that much of this may sound like a lesson, but this is essentially a record for my own keeping & will probably contain some dry stuff for others.You've been warned!When originally planning this holiday we chose to visit the Yunnan province as it is renowned for its diversity of local nationalities. This SW area of China borders Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and has, since ancient times, been a overland trade link through Asia, so it probably isn't that weird that there are something like 24 different ethnic groups in this region. A consequence of this fact, is that there is a rich mix of cultures, foods, religions, costumes & appearances to be found here.Kunming is the capital of this province, at an elevation of around 2000m, & it alone has ... read more