We spent ages in a traffic jam in our taxi (15 yuan) as we headed to the bus station enroute to Baoguo, the small town at the foot of Emei Shan. If we had only realised that we were two minutes walk from the bus station we would have deserted the taxi and arrived there twenty minutes earlier... The bus station, unusually situated very close to the main city centre, was as crazy as the traffic outside. No wonder the taxi had trouble getting to the station - dozens of buses were lined up outside trying to get in to or leave the area. I'm surprised the taxi driver didn't try for a better fare when we told him we wanted to go there... We were pleased to be leaving the chaos of Chengdu for what ... read more

Up very early next morning, after an uncomfortable night, we scrambled over the rows of motorbikes in the hotel foyer and pulled our suitcases through the damp streets of Menglun to the nearby bus station. It was only a two hour drive, again through fog shrouded hills and valleys, to Mengla. Mengla certainly had a lot more going for it then Menglun - including a brand new shiny bus station. We had an hour to wait for our connecting bus so filled in the time people watching as we ate a late breakfast in a cafe at the bus station. Jerry was pretty happy as he got the best plate of fried rice he had eaten so far that trip! I saw a couple of beautifully dressed ethnic women wearing indigo tunics which were finely embroidered ... read more

We met our driver, Mr Jong, in the dark at 7am outside our hotel. We were going to Xiding Markets, a two and half hours drive away thus requiring an early start. Markets are always busiest earlier - by lunchtime often traders are starting to close down stalls and people are heading off for the long haul home. Xiding market, held every Thursday, is one of the largest in the province. As the sky lightened we were aware of workers, hoes over their shoulders, heading into the fields. It was very foggy but as the sun rose higher the fog began to lift. The road was lined with large flat rice paddy fields - the workers were in the process of clearing the fields of the previous seasons rice harvest waste. Eventually we started climbing into ... read more

The holy mountain of Emei Shan is a sacred site, and has been for the last two thousand years, of the Buddhist people. Though it was originally a Taoist retreat in the sixth century a famous Buddhist pilgrim, who was accompanied by a six tusked elephant, visited the mountain where after all the Taoist temples were converted to Buddhism. Today it is also a very popular tourist destination as the mountain is situated in a very picturesque area. For many years the mountain has been a magnet for western tourists, and more recently young Chinese backpackers, who choose to take the long and very difficult trek to the summit. And it is a gruelling trek - the long route up sixty kilometres of steps whilst the short route is a mere forty kilometres of steps! Emei ... read more

We didn't get lost in the maze of airport construction in Guiyang and after an hour of flying we arrived at Chengdu airport. Chengdu, the capitol of Sichuan Province, with a population of over 14 million, is the fourth largest city in China and the size of the airport alone was astounding. It was enormous - we arrived at gate 65 but there were signs pointing to gate 135! We had trouble finding the shuttle bus into the city because what we thought were actually local buses - there were many routes shown on the signboard - was actually the shuttle buses we had been looking for. I had prebooked a hotel months before so we caught the shuttle (10 yuan each) which went closest to it and then a taxi from there to the hotel. ... read more