The buzz of being back in a big city has certainly upped my energy levels and as a result I spent my last day in Chengdu fitting in as many sights as humanly possible. Most people who come to Chengdu I'm sure are drawn by the attraction of the Giant Pandas, by far and away China's most cherished of animals. Panda in Chinese is 'xiongmao' or quite literally in English 'Big Bear Cat' and there are now only thought to be 1000 of them in the wild. The prospect of seeing this unique animal up close led me and two others [View Full Entry]

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I now find myself in Sichuan province or as it's often commonly known "the land of plenty" or "Heaven on Earth" More specifically I'm in Chengdu which is apparently China's 5th most populous city, home of the spiciest of spicy food, giant panda's and as most of my Chinese friends have pointed out the most attractive looking women in the whole of China! I was thankful I opted to fly from Lijiang as opposed to taking what sounds like a nightmare 24 hour bus journey. I arrived quite late on Tuesday evening and hence most of Wednesday was spent not doing [View Full Entry]

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I've just spent the last three days back in Lijiang. To be honest I haven't really done too much whilst back here and have been just taking it easy, catching up a bit with this blog, uploading some photos and taking in a few more sights. So there really isn't a lot to report. I have been staying at the very nice and friendly 'International Youth Hostel' the one on Jishan Alley and anyone thinking of coming to Lijiang should really consider this as a good place to base yourself. Unlike my previous trip to Lijiang where I stayed just on [View Full Entry]

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I arrived in the village of Qiaotou which is in effect the beginning of the Tiger Leaping Gorge on Wednesday afternoon. Due to my arriving at this time there was no point in beginning trekking that day and I therefore checked myself into a guest house at the foot of the track which leads up to the gorge. There didn't seem to be many other people about and I killed most of the afternoon reading. I'm not very experienced at trekking and had been told that the trek is best done with a partner. One of the main reasons for this [View Full Entry]

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Day two in Shangri-la and having slept soundly not to mention warmly it was time to head out exploring. My first stop was Napa Lake (Napa Hai) a decent hours ride out of the city. It was without doubt well worth it, in fact I would go as far as to say it was my best experience of the trip so far. Having the bike was great as it really gives you the freedom to fully explore the area. I basically just kept riding, heading for the mountains. The scenery was absolutely stunning. I like to think I'm the kind of [View Full Entry]

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I'm once again a few days behind as I've been in the Tiger Leaping Gorge for the past three days and they don't have a lot of internet access there! So here goes with a little catch up. Monday the 17th..... As I'm not going to Tibet (probably a wise choice at the moment) I find myself in Shangri-la, or also known as Zhongdian The five hours to here by bus from Lijiang was made all the easier by the spectacular landscape I passed through on the way. I think I might have made a mistake in a previous blog by [View Full Entry]

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Day two in Lijiang and the sun was shining once again, it's a good day to be me! Lijiang is famous for it's monumental Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (Yulong Xueshan) I hadn't seen it yesterday but was told it is easily viewable from all parts of Lijiang. Where was it then I was asking myself? A short walk into town and a turn around a corner and there it was it all it's glory, very impressive! The Irish guy had also told me it was possible to go up the mountain via a series of chairlifts to a staggeringly high 4506m. [View Full Entry]

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Saturday the 15th and Lijiang almost three weeks into my trip. My 8th place and the places just keep getting better and better. I've already seen so much and met so many interesting people that it's fair to say the trip has so far really exceeded my expectations. Touch wood! I've met so many people who have already been to Lijiang therefore it has been built up somewhat, I was half expecting as a result of this that it might not live up to the hype. As it turns out it more than lived up to it. Lijiang is going to [View Full Entry]

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Dali at last, I’d been hearing so many things about this particular part of China that I was anxious to get here. There has been a debate amongst travellers as to which is the better, Dali or Lijiang. As I have yet to visit the latter I shall have to reserve judgement on this until later. What I can say is I haven’t been disappointed with Dali in the least. The first thing that hits you about Dali is the sheer impossing Jade mountain (Cang Shan) which lingers over the city to the West. To the East but not easily visible [View Full Entry]

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The trip to Kunming was (once I'd got the ticket) probably the easiest so far. I think this was largely due to the fact that I met an American guy, Canadian girl and a Chinese pilot, who was on vacation, on the train. I believe that they had already been on the train since it set out from Beijing, at this point well over twenty four hours into their journey. Boredom had obviously set in with them and I could sense that they were grateful of some fresh blood. Without further ado we made our way to the restaurant carriage where [View Full Entry]

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