Given how few Westerners seem to come through Zhongdian it was surprising that the bus station announcements were in both Mandarin and English. Half the passengers on the bus to Deqin seemed to be Chinese tourists, including one irritating woman who'd tied a cowbell to her backpack and hence sounded like an approaching cow every time she moved. The road was generally winding and slow - not unlike Corsica - and the journey felt about 50% longer than it actually was. To compensate, the scenery was excellent, with plunging valleys and wandering yaks, and snow-topped mountains looming closer and closer until we were essentially on the other side of the valley from them. A startling blue sky provided a vivid backdrop. At Deqin, 2 tourists from Beijing (Song and Li Jingjing) and their friend Jimi from
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