We left Dali on a tiny minbus and headed north to Lijiang - a trip which took 3 hours. Lijiang is situated in a beautiful valley and is surrounded by mountains, including the 5500 metre high Jade Dragon Snow Mountain - the peak of which we didn’t get to see! The bus dropped us in modern Lijiang, which was the usual conglomeration of cement, dirt, bustle and sprawl. Not at all attractive. We caught a taxi the 3 kilometres to the old town and were dropped off at the entrance. The streets within the old city are too narrow for any traffic so it very peaceful - or at least the streets away from the centre were! The city was crisscrossed with canals and tiny bridges and was a maze of tiny cobbled streets. Lijiang was ... read more

We had a very pleasant two hour plane trip from Guilin to Kunming. The airport in Kunming is in the centre of the city so after a short (and cheap) taxi ride we were dropped outside the hotel where we planned on staying for a few days. The hotel was recommended by every travel book printed so it was no real surprise to find that they were booked out! We should have reserved a room… However we were offered a very basic room in the old youth hostel section for 80 yuan a night and were able to upgrade into one of the rooms in the older section of the hotel the next morning. That room was great value as it was comfortable, if a little shabby, with an ensuite bathroom and satellite television for only ... read more

Yangshuo was a very laid back tourist town! We saw more Western tourists there then anywhere else that we had visited in the previous month and absolutely hordes of Chinese tourists as well. It was very busy, particularly after dark when it was cooler. The weather was very humid and constantly fogged up our sunglasses and camera lens. Our hotel was very comfortable and we immediately negotiated a room rate for the extra few days we wished to spend in Yangshuo after we had left the Intrepid tour. They were all going on an overnight train to Hong Kong but we decided we didn’t wish to have the added cost and time needed to return to mainland China. Also we had decided to visit the Dragon Back rice terraces which were north of Yangshuo. My first ... read more

We had a long 10 hour bus (averaged 26 kilometres an hour) journey to reach Songpan. The towns that we visited in that area were quite isolated and all travel between them took a long time. There are no trains or planes, only road transport. Songpan however is the gateway to one of China’s premier scenic national parks, Jutzhaigou and does have an airport nearby, but with no flights to the Tibetan grassland areas. Most of the tourists would fly in from Chengdu, the closest large city, a 10 hour bus drive further south. We arrived late in the afternoon and passed a satellite town full of dozens of hotels and restaurants. Songpan itself though was pretty. Though the main street is mostly modern and lined with shops selling Tibetan souveneirs there were no large hotels ... read more

We left Xian railway station bound for Lanzhou on yet another 13 hour overnight trip - the best part of which was being able to see the first class waiting room! It was full of very comfortable sofas and large screen tv’s and quite a contrast from the usual railway waiting rooms. Nick said that Xian is the only city that automatically allows foreigners to use the first class waiting room, regardless of whatever class of tickets they hold. We arrived in Lanzhou early next morning and only had time for a quick trip to the loo and then onto a bus for the six hour trip to Xiahe. Xiahe is home to the Labrang Monastery, one of the largest working Tibetan monasteries outside of Lhasa. It is set in a beautiful valley in Gansu Province ... read more