Willy n Leslie

So much to tell and little time to say it. We left Tibet by air to Guilin and down to Yangshuo. The area is famous fro it's Karst hills. Hiked, Leslie fell in a rice paddy, hitched a ride in TucTuc, rode the local bus, way way more. I think there will have to be a marathon post with pictures when we finish our trip. A place called Ping An has to be one of the most stunning landscapes anywhere. We arrived in Kunming and met Heidi in the airport, hopped on a connecting flight and now we are in Lijiang getting organized to hike for 2 days in Tiger Leaping Gorge, the place where it is said the tiger leaped across the gorge of the Yangtze. We are all well, even eating some local food. ... read more

Hi guys, Thanks for the emails - great to hear from you all. Having a great time - Lhasa is phenomenal. So "old" and different and amazing. Our guide is fantastic - studied in a monastery and knows so much about Buddhism etc. etc. A busy market is just outside our hotel...."Lookee Lookee Cheapee Cheapee" I have made a few little purchases - it's very tiring batering -eg. the initial price one woman asked for was 150 yuan and we eventually paid 28.($4). Lots of insence prayer flags prayer wheels etc. so amazing. I love to see all of the children strapped to their mom's back...big kids too. Everyone is so pleasant - lots of women hugging women in the market and men being affectionate to men and everyone enjoying the children - nice to see. ... read more

We are not quite there yet. Leaving Saturday to make our discovery of China. The 10 pounds of research accummulated over the past 4 months has been pared down to tarvelling size. Kind of like my own tour book. Air and hotels have all been booked and apart from a guide and 4WD in Tibet everything else will be booked on the run. I think we know what we want to see and do along the way. How and at what cost remains to be seen. Check the route map. We start in Beijing. ... read more