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Published: November 24th 2007
Dali
On our way to neighbouring villagesHello all, this is our final blog from China. In the last few weeks we have had an amazing time travelling through South-Western China and Tibet.
Our first port of call after Guilin was the city of Kunming in Yunnan Province. When we arrived it was a bit of a shock to the system as it had suddenly become cold and was no longer T-shirt and shorts weather. We used Kunming as a stopover, en-route to Dali in the North-West of the province where we got off to an inauspicious start. A tyre on the local bus we were travelling on exploded, meaning that we had to walk 45 minutes with rucksacks to our accomodation. At the hostel, Andrew dropped his rucksack in a pond and our mood wasn't improved by the fact that our room was cold and damp with no hot water - happy days!
Moaning aside however, Dali was a nice old-style town, if not slightly over-commercialised with plenty of tat on-sale and numerous Chinese tour groups. The highlight of our time there was a walk to some nearby rural villages. There were no tourists and it was interesting to see people going about their daily
Dali
Women carrying bricks lives, tending to their crops. The women here are as tough as old boots and seemed to do lots of manual labour. One group, were carrying hods of bricks on their backs using a strap across their forehead to support the weight, others were carrying heavy pails of water balanced across their backs. This probably explains why we have seen so many older Chinese women walking around with their backs bent double.
Changing the subject slightly, we've discovered since being in China that Chinese men don't get BO (we're told that they find it repulsive), and therefore it's very difficult to buy deodorant. Unfortunately I don't have Chinese genes and we'd noticed that lots of Chinese people were beginning to give us a wide berth. Desperate measures meant that whilst in Dali we had to take a trip to Avon (the same Avon as back home) where we managed to get hold of a roll-on which we were assured was for men but had a slight feminine odour. What I wouldn't do for a can of Lynx!
From Dali we took a bus to Lijiang which was another preserved old-style town. This was even more commercialised than Dali
Dali
Soulmates of Matthew O'Sullivan! and had lost any sense of being a real place. However the architecture was beautiful, with lots of canals crossed by numerous bridges. We used Lijiang as a base to trek the Tiger Leaping Gorge which we had heard was a must.
The first day we trekked for 6 hours alongside spectacular mountain scenery, passing shepherds herding their animals and local villages. About 3 and a half hours in, we reached the "26 bends", a steep ascent up the mountain, where we reached a height of approx. 2500m. Hard work, but worth it as there was were amazing views over the gorge. We finished for the day at about 5:30 where we stayed at the aptly named halfway guesthouse. Overnight, there was a lot of rain which meant that the trail had become very slippery and many of the waterfalls had swollen and now ran over the path. This made the second day much more precarious, as we were crossing waterfalls with a sheer drop down the mountain on the other side of the path - luckily our trusty boots did the job and prevented us from slipping down the mountain to an instant death (Big shout out to
Dali
Andrew with China's most persistent auto-rickshaw driver Milletts + only joking Mum it wasn't that bad!)!
On our return to Lijiang, Kim demanded we splash out on a luxury room with heating, hot water, towels and a hairdryer, what a diva! Although the timing was good as we discovered that she had developed Giardia, nothing that a dose of anti-biotics wouldn't sort out, but could do without it.
After 2 days of luxury, we moved to Shangri-La which was at an altitude of 3200m and very cold, the thermal underwear made its first apperance of the trip and very fetching we looked too (sorry no photos!). We also splashed out on a pair of matching his and hers puffa jackets made by that well-known brand "Flansden," not sure that you can get them back home! Breathing was noticeably more difficult at this altitude, walking up a small flight of steps would leave you out of breath. The town itself was also slightly strange in that they were constructing a new "old" town in order to try to attract more tourists to the area which made the place feel very fake.
From Shangri-La we embarked on a series of overland bus journey's (not the national
Lijiang
This notice is to the point! express kind) that would take us into remote areas of Sichuan province, heavily populated by Tibetans, and commonly known as "the wild west." We had read some blogs from people who had also travelled this road and it sounded fantastic but we knew it wouldn't be easy, as the Lonely Planet referred to it as the "hardened" travellers route. The toilets en route were enough to justify this description. The first journey was 7 hours to Xiangcheng and was made up of cliff-side roads, some covered by snow and ice. Luckily the driver was a legend, who drove like a true professional and helped put our nerves at rest. On the bus we met a friendly Japanese traveller, who spent 8 months every year travelling in the Tibetan region. However we became slightly concerned, as whilst sharing a nice bevvy he decided to show us his 10 inch blade! He explained that this was for self-defence from Tibetan bandits, needless to say the drinks were on us! However. we took what he said with a pinch of salt as we hadn't found any evidence of bandits in our research. It was an interesting first stop as we ate in a
Lijiang
Kim modelling her new hat by the canal place where we chose our food from the kitchen and saw a sheeps throat being slit on the street by a halal butcher! Apparently Tibetans don't like to kill animals as its against their buddhist beliefs, but they like eating them so have to hire butchers to do the job for them!
We caught an early bus the next morning from the bus station (which was actually a small mud patch) to a town called Litang. This bus journey was very nerve wracking especially the first couple of hours, as the driving style was reminiscent of the coach driver at the end of The Italian Job! Our confidence didn't improve when a Tibetan sat next us and began praying - presumably for a safe journey! Luckily his prayers were answered and we arrived in Litang after passing some spectacular mountain scenery.
Litang was a fantastic place, surrounded by mountains. It was really like being in "the wild west" as the local Tibetans were all wearing cowboy hats, riding motorbikes and playing pool. On the pavement, locals were selling Yak furs where you could still see the blood from the animals inner lining. Litang is 4014m above sea level
Tiger Leaping Gorge
Andrew contemplating the hike and unfortunately within a couple hours Kim had developed mild altitude sickness. This confined "Sicknote" Gosling to bed for the rest of the day with flu-like symptoms, luckily Nurse Parling was on hand with fresh water, pot noodles and cheesy air crisps to help her out! Even though Kim had recovered the following day we decided it would be sensible to head to a lower altitude a day early.
Cue another fun-filled, bumpy journey with the worst hacking and spitting we'd heard yet! It was "phlegmomenal!" On one occasion, the wind wasn't in my favour as a bloke behind me pulled open an adjacent window to spit and I caught some spray in the face! Lovely stuff! The bus was full of blokes chain-smoking 50% tar ciggies and loads of suitcases, laundry baggages and sacks of meat. However my moist cheek didn't seem to matter as we passed the amazing scenery of Mt. Gongga.
After 7 hours we arrived in Kangding where "Diva" Kim demanded another decent room for the night in order to fully recover from her illnesses - so we checked into a lovely hotel with white towels (still only 10 pounds a nite). In Kangding
Tiger Leaping Gorge
View of the mountain at the gorge we tried some of the local yak meat and dumplings, and it goes without saying it got the thumbs up from Andrew.
Our next destination was Chengdu 6 hours away. Our driver was another pro except for when he decided to give himself a quick shave with his electric razor. But this time we were on a motorway so we felt postively home and dry. Chengdu was a pretty chilled out city with a laid back feel, it had a fantastic park called "People's Park' where mainly older people gathered and sung songs, danced, played games and generally hung out. A crowd had formed in one area of the park, we went to investigate and found that everyone was watching China's version of Kenneth Williams performing a dance, he had more mince than a shepherds pie! In the park there were also some great tea houses where you can choose from a wide selection of tea and watch the world go by. We also visited the Panda reseach centre which was truly amazing. To see pandas up close was really quite special, the centre is doing a brilliant job of ensuring the Panda's survival. After our week of hard-core
bus journeys and feeling ill I thought I would treat my self to a massage....big mistake! At first it felt good and I had given the lady my full trust so when she said 'scraping 10 Yuan very good' I thought she must have thought I needed it. Well let me tell you I needed it like a hole in the head!! One week later I still have the bruises on my back and all I can say is that I am counting on the theory that bad things come in 3's and I have had my three for the year! (giardia, altitude sickness and being beaten up by a chinese masseuse!)
Since we were running out of time on our visa we decided to get a flight to Lhasa. Lhasa is another high city at 3700m but the weather is superb! It is on the chilly side but the sky is a crisp blue colour without a cloud in sight. We stayed in a hotel (Andrew is coming round to my way of thinking on the accommodation front) with a great view of the Potala Palace, which is a magnificent building. We visited Jokhang Temple which is a
Tiger Leaping Gorge
The view down the Gorge site of pilgrimage for Tibetans. Throughout the day hundereds of Tibetans gather there to complete a circuit of the temple. It is quite overwhelming to see, and visiting the inside of the temple was one of the most intense experiences of our trip.
In Lhasa, we arranged a 4X4 and driver to take us to the Nepal border via Everest Base Camp. During the journey we saw stunning scenery, turquoise lakes, monastries and of course that big mountain they call Everest. The morning of the trip to Everest Base Camp (5200m high!) was freezing, we could only view it for 10 minutes or so as our lips were blue in seconds, Andrew's long johns were in quarantine so we had to abandon our plan to scale the mountain! Due to a call of nature, Andrew can also claim that he watered EBC, although he had to be quick as there was a real risk of frostbite in some very delicate areas!
After EBC we ventured back onto the Friendship Highway where we got a fantastic view of the Himalayan Range. We're not quite sure why they call it the Friendship Highway as there is nothing friendly about the
road quality, hairpin bends or landslides on this part of the road.
Our entry into Nepal was pretty hectic (i.e the passport control was nothing more than a garage and a couple of blokes in their sunday casuals) and we headed straight to Kathmandu. On the advice of our faithful Lonely Planet and in order to avoid another 7 hour bus journey we got a lift to the city.....with a bloke who drove like a 17 year old that had just passed his test! We've had enough nerve-wracking journey's to last us a lifetime.
We have absolutely loved our 2 months or so in China, and Tibet has definately been one of the highlights. It is mad to think we are in Nepal now, there are some luxuries here so I am gonna have a packet of wine gums for my pudd tonight!
If you're still reading this thank you and please accept our apologies that this account goes on a bit, but we've packed a lot into the last few weeks.
Hope you're well and have got your Christmas shopping underway. We've seen the England news, luckily the distance has numbed the pain slightly but
it doesn't stop me ranting to myself under my breath - useless #*^@#*&!
Missing you all, lots of love
Kim & Andrew
p.s let us know of any news
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dee
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So very jealous - not of the toilets, the giardia, the altitude sickness, the plegm in the face, the wet backpack or the treacherous drivers as I've had my fair share of all of those, but of the fabulous scenery and experiences and of course, of those puffa jackets. Kim, the wine gums were clearly a highlight of the trip and I only hope that we can find some wine gum action for you when you get to Aus. I don't know if we can stretch to hot water and towels in Coogee though so please don't get too excited. As always, there is little news from here compared to all your great stories. One exciting thing for me is that I've bought a new horse!! She's in Victoria at the moment though and because of the equine flu, I can't get her to Sydney just yet but she will come half way to a place where agood friend of mine can start working on her and then she'll come to me around mid-late January. Very exciting. Dave's still busy applying for jobs - many which are a big leap from where he is now so he's madly trying to convince someone to give him a go. Actually I hould give George a call for some tips because he's trying to get into a similar field to hers. Blimey that Faulkner/Cushing baby's not far away now is it. Can't wait to find out what it is and see some pics. When do you get back to England? Will you be back in time for Karen and Adam's wedding? I'm about to start searching for flights now but Dave's not sure if he will come (due to finances and the fact that he's getting fed up of all his holiday's being to England - well what do you expect if you marry a pommy lass??!) Well, that's all for now - hope you manage to stay healthy for the Nepal leg of the trip. Where will you be for xmas - remeber what we had for xmas lunch in Indonesia Kim? those parent phone calls were fun weren't they!! Lots of love, keep safe Dee xxx