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We set off early from Mama Naxi's for Qiaotou. The drive took our packed minibus through some gorgeous scenery. We stopped at a lookout where there were fantastic views of high peaks in the distance. We arrived at the small town of Qiaotou and stopped to buy our entrance tickets for the gorge. We had heard from other travelers that you could present any form of id and get the student discount. I showed them my CO drivers license and sure enough it worked. After picking up our tickets we drove a bit further and then we were let out at the trail head. The hike began with a moderate climb up through a small village. We stopped for a snack at a great sunny spot with our first view of the Yangtze as it ... read more

Well, after a rather long bus ride through the Chinese countryside we found ourselves in Dali. Sort of. Apparently, there is an old Dali and a new Dali. The bus dropped us in new Dali and so we had to find our way to the old town several kilometers away. Luckily for us, the LP explains just how to do that. Except that the bus station on it's map is no longer there. We ended up walking for about 30 minutes before giving up and hopping in a cab. Of course, after about two minutes the cab drove by the bus station that had clearly moved 2km towards the old town from it's location on the LP map. Oh well. My first impression of Dali was "look at all the tourists!" Definitely the most western tourists ... read more

The morning I left to go back to the farm Jen and I had a discussion about Tibet. Jen expressed quite a bit of interest in seeing Tibet as well, so we decided that Jen would think about it a bit more and then we'd talk in a few days. I caught the bus to Vang Vieng after saying goodbye to Jen and the Kiwis (Nick, Rochelle, and Jimmy). I thought seriously about flying back to China, but I decided to go overland instead. I've been negligent in my blog updating so I've forgotten some of the specifics from the farm, so this is going to be a pretty short entry. With that disclaimer out of the way, let's get on with the post! I ended up spending eight days at the farm, and it was ... read more

I knew we had finally arrived in Vang Vieng when I started to see restaurants with pillows on the floor and Friends reruns on the tv. Every description of VV I've heard mentions those Friends reruns, and sure enough they're still popular. Some of the restaurants are also showing Family Guy and The Simpsons these days, but Friends is king. The bus dumped us along the roadside in the middle of town. There were more falang (that's foreigners) on the streets than Lao people. In fact, I'd venture that there might be more falang in VV than even Luang Prabang, but it's hard to say for sure since they're such different places. The combination of the falang and then restaurants immediately brought back memories of Ko Pha Ngan, which isn't necessarily a good thing for VV ... read more

My journey, or perhaps ordeal is a better term, to Laos began with a ten hour bus ride to the provincial city of Jinghong in southern Yunnan. Much of this first leg was on brand-new Chinese superhighways. Eventually, however, we reached the end of the finished freeway and were forced onto a two-lane highway that alternated between tarmac and dirt. Often I could see the under-construction freeway nearby. It looks like they'll have this freeway all the way to Laos in the very near future. It's amazing how they don't bother to thread the road around the topography. In this mountainous region of southern Yunnan, the Chinese are simply blasting through hillsides, bridging valleys and tunneling through anything that seems too big to blast. It must cost a fortune, but the result is a straight, level ... read more