Day 86: I'm sure I've lost count somewhere...

Mood: Chirpy
Music: Symposium - Fairweather Friend

I was picked up in the lobby of my hotel today at 8:40am for the 45min drive to the pontoon from which the sight seeing boats leave. There were 5 of the 3 story vessels in our little convoy down the river and I was soon stood on the top deck watching the alien scenery waltz past. The area is famed for it's small limestone hills, all jutting up from the ground haphazardly, and the winding river that runs down in between them.

As I'm now back into the tropics, the weather is misty / foggy most of the year round. This didn't exaclty make for good photographic conditions for the frankly bizarre landscapes that I was presented with. The boat trip in total is 4 hours long and set off at 9:30am. Although my guide was also on board, I was sat with the only other english speakers on the boat, two Brits and two Americans. I had some quite interesting conversations with the british lady as she works for Westminster PCT and as such had an understanding of what we had done at ScriptSwitch. Just before midday they served lunch on board but while we were sat eatin we passed the most famous part of the landscape, as featured on the Chinese 20 yuan note.

Once off the boat, I was taken to my hotel and then agreed with my guide that I'd meet her tomorrow afternoon to take a bike tour of the area and then go to the light show in the evening. This is arranged by the same guy who put together the opening ceremony of the Olympic games and is the largest outdoor light show in China (apparently).

This evening I went to a restaurant for food but ended up getting a dish that was nowhere nearly as spicy as I'd been looking for. Afterwards I was told that they tone down all of the dishes for western tourists, as most of them don't like spicy food! I'll go back there tomorrow as the food was rather nice, but I've got to ask for it spicy next time...

Day 85: And don't mention the socks!

Mood: Tired
Music: Greenday - Dookie (among others)

I woke early again this morning. Checking my watch on the sideboard revealed the rather dissapointing sight of 4:45am. I had a number of things circling in my head and I struggled for some time to get rid of them so I could get back to sleep. I'd intentionally set my alarm early so I could take some photos of the reflections in the Black Dragon Park again with early morning light (the park only opens at 8am but was a 15 minute stroll away) but when it went off I decided on more dozing to offset waking so early.

Come 9am, when I eventually did get up I spent a while packing and sorting out my stuff again. While doing so I found the the hotel's "fixing the missing sock" was to put the two odd socks (only one of which was mine and big enough for my foot) back in my room. I thought I'd take it up with them later, when I actually had someone who could speak the same language as the staff to help!

I wondered up to the park and took a number of photos, almost all of which didn't come out as well as those I'd already taken and then headed back to the hotel via a restaurant. Here I had a nice chat / debate / friendly arguement about religion and politics in the news, evolution and free will with an American Christian. After that I had about enough time to get back to my room and get my bags out to meet Alvin, who was there to pick me up with the driver.

At this point I was asked to pay for the laundry but in doing so I refused to pay for the washing of the pair of socks that they had lost. They kept pointing to the note on the washing lable, made by the person collecting the washing, that there were a pair of odd socks. There were indeed a pair of odd socks, as I lost two unmatching socks while in Bolivia. They'd given me two pairs of unmatching socks and refused to apologise and it was as much as it was worth just to get them to knock the 50p off the total of the washing (out of principle) rather than asking them to refund the cost of the lost pair of socks! In the end I decided it wasn't worth the argument as they quite clearly don't have a western take on customer service. I very nearly opened up my main bag to show them the mismatching pair of socks that I'd given them and they'd washed for me.

Grr.

Anyway... Enough about the £2 sock. It was the principle of the thing.

From there I was whisked to the airport and reminded of my connecting flight details again before saying goodbye to Alvin for the last time. I was a little sorry to be parted as we got on very well and found it very easy to talk.

My first flight was to Kunming and from there I transferred to Guilin. The only slight hiccup in the plan was my slight confusion when looking for the flight details to find where to check in. The board displaying the flights was showing the boarding times of the flights and I only knew the departure time of mine, so didn't look carefully enough at the scrolling display for the first couple of rotations until I spotted the flight number I'd been given.

While waiting for the second flight I bought a tube of pringle like crisps to ease my slight hunger. On opening them I found the contents to be completely smashed. I'd really like to know how you can so utterly destroy a tube of crisps like that, leaving no more than a quarter of a crisp as the biggest part, without making a dent on the outside of the packaging!

The only notible thing about my second flight was the "chicken rice" meal which contained chicken pieces that had the consistancy and texture of a mushroom. I'm guessing it must have been chicken, although what part is a question I'd rather not have answered.

I met my guide once I'd got my bags on arrival in Guilin and was then ferried to my hotel for the evening. The hotel is on the edge of the canal that makes up the old moat of the city. Around this I could see numerous lights and so set out with my camera and tripod to take some photos. I spotted a half moon bridge a few hundred meters away and so wondered over to that to find two of them side by side. The area was swarming with young couples sitting on the benches by the canalside. Further on I heard a loud cough as I followed a tiny cobbled path while trying to get a better shot of the reflections in the water. I decided to beat a hasty retreat...

Anyway... It's way past my bedtime as I best leave things there.

Night all.

Day 84: Rolf Leaping Gorge!

Mood: Sleepy
Music: Air - Moon Safari

I was woken early again by the dripping water in my toilet cistern (now fixed). From here I thought about getting up and taking more early photos of the Jade Snow Dragon Mountain but decided on trying to sleep more instead! It didn't work too well but after a long period I though I'd check my watch as I was sure it was getting late. Sure enough, my alarm clock had failed to go off on my phone and I was due to be meeting my guide 8 minutes later.

I scrambled into the shower and pulled my stuff together in time to realise that in the pile of returned washing I'd recieved one of someone elses socks instead of a matching pair of my own. Hopefuly this'll be sorted out and my missing sock located!

Today's outing was to the Tiger Leaping Gorge, a deep gorge forged by the Yangsze river between Jade Snow Dragon Mountain and Ha Ba Snow Mountain. It has a large rock in the middle of the narrowest section and it said onto this a Tiger leaped to make good it's escape from a group of hunters from Lijang.

The drive took us a couple of hours and the only stop along the route was a bit of a let down. It is a viewpoint looking out over the whole valley, and from here we should have been able to see the twin peaks of the mountains that overlook the gorge. Sadly there was mass of white smoke in the valley and we couldn't see very much at all, in any direction. We later saw that this was due to a forest fire that was raging on the slopes of the opposite, Shangrila side of the valley.

The walk to the rock from the car park is about 30minutes and this is on a path cut into the face of the gorge and also a series of tunnels opened a few years ago to bypass some of the more dangerous parts of the gorgeside track. The focal area has a massive amount of water rushing through it constantly and I was told by Alvin that during the summer months this can increase such that the large rock in the middle of the flow is completely submerged, as are the lower viewing platforms (labelled as "Stands of Watching" on the site map).

On the way back we stopped for lunch in a small local restaurant. Here we tried the local carp, which was plucked fresh from a storage tank out the back and weighed for us. I have to say, boning fish with chopsticks is a rather skilled task, although I managed it fairly well. Alvin and Mr Hu, our driver, were just eating the fish and spitting out the bones. Mealtime manners in China are a not exactly aligned with those in England, as I may have pointed out previously.

I'm now back in my hotel and have discovered a network cable that had been dangled over something behind my bed. This means for the first time here in Lijang I don't have to write up everything and sort out the photos in a cafe before my battery runs out. I think I'll still head back to the cafe once I'm done though. It'll get me out of my room for a while.

Bye for now.

Day 83: Crouching elephant, hidden black dragon

Mood: Very relaxed and happy.
Music: Bon Iver - For Emma, forever ago

I woke early this morning. Most likely due to going to bed fairly early. I read my book for a few hours after dinner (where I chalked up 'yak' to the list of eaten animals this trip) but then just flaked out. I dozed until about 6:30am and then got up and walked around the Lijang old town with my camera. Alvin said that this was a good time to get photos of the place as the light would be good and there are no people around. He was a little wrong on both counts but I still got some nice pics in before I returned for breakfast.

After this I met Alvin for today's tours of the area. This started with the Black Dragon Park. From here is taken the picture postcard photo of the area, over the pond with the bridge and pagodas, the Jade Dragon Snow mountain in the back drop. The park is called black dragon as there are many springs in the area leading the locals to believe that there is a black dragon under the area sending the water up from it's mouth.

We walked around this area and then into a museum of the Naxi people, those native to this area. The museum had a living piece too, the head of the Dongba (local shaman). The local shaman are responsible for maintaining the history and customs of the Naxi people as well as keeping alive their hyroglyphic language, on top of their ritual obligations.

After this we walked back through some of the new part of town, back to the old city. I was then shown around to serveal areas I'd missed on my morning's expidition. This included several beautiful little bridges over the small canals that run aroud this 800 year old city. The wooden buildings and tight alleyways give it a huge amount of character and the bars and shops that line the streets make it a lovely place to wonder about any time of day. After this we went to grab some lunch at a local restaurant that Alvin often frequents.

This afternoon we hired bikes and rode out of town to the other two ancient little villages a couple of kilometers away. On the way we stopped at the local reserviour (very picturesque) for a litle stroll around. It was here that Alvin pointed out a few of the surrounding mountains and their names. He made a slight mistake and called one of them "Crouching Elephant" (rather than something akin to lying down elephant). The thought of an elephant crouching in the long grass waiting to pounce on something passing by has me in fits of giggles for most of the afternoon! The first of these was slightly less touristy that the old town of Lijang but set up in a similar manner. The second was mostly an tiny working village but contained the home and surgery of Dr Ho (pronounced who...) who is a world famous Chinese medicine practitioner. He shows people who visit cards and notes of thanks from other people who have visited him, including the former British Ambassador to China, Micheal Palin and John Cleese and many others.

After this we headed back to the city and I left Alvin after handing the bikes back in. From here I walked to and then around the old city with my camera in hand. After a while I heard a cry of "Hello! Hello!" from a bar I was passing. I'd become desensitised to this on my visit to Shanghai, where everyone who said hello either wanted to sell you something or extract money from you in some other manner. In this end of China it seems a lot more friendly however, as I've previsouly mentioned. Lots of people passing say hello at the western tourists and lots of people want their photo taken with you! I even had a 4 or 5 year old child say "How are you?" in the restaurant over lunch. Apparently they learn English from a very early age here. Anyway, I was waved over and sat down next to a group of Chinese men and women who were in Lijang on holiday as a group. I was then plied with wine as we tried to communicate in very broken English for the next hour or so (I must have had at least a bottle or so in this time) after this I came back to the cafe I wrote last night's blog from to have a couple of milkshakes and some dinner.

Time for a quite beer and then early to bed again. Tomorrow I'm off to Tiger Leaping Gorge!

Day 82: Wibble

Mood: Cheery
Music: REM - Automatic for the people + a load of others in the car

I was picked up this morning at 9am and have pretty much been on the road all day. There was nothing much to tell about the first part of the journey apart from the wonderful views of the whole lake before we climbed over the first mountain, leaving it behind us. From there is was a mixture of road and rough track (they are building the new road) winding around the edges of the mountains for mile on end. Occasionally I caught glimpses of long distant valleys as we snaked are way towards Lijang. The scenery changed at points we reached the base of each valley. There the steep cliffs gave way to rice paddys and fields, mostly planted with wheat. Most of the people we saw on the route were tending the fields, both men and women.

After stopping for lunch in a small town, we carried on our long and winding trip. After a long period of climbing we reached a peak from which we could first see the Yangsze river, China's longest. After crossing this we began our 1000m climb back up and over to Lijang itself. This road has 18 bends and a view point at the top where Rolf is pictured today. In the far background you can see the river curving off into the distance.

On arrival in Lijang I was shown a few places around my hotel to get some food and also where wifi might be available. I'm sat in one of those places. I think tonight I'm going to get some food and then have an early night with my book. I'm here for a couple of nights so I can explore more tomorrow evening if I feel like it.

Bye for now!

Day 81: On the lake

Mood: Happy and relaxed
Music: Air - Moon Safari

I was awoken this morning to the sound of the people above me and to one side preparing to leave. I tried to get my head down a little more until my alarm went off. I then got myself up, showered and dressed so I could take some photos from my balcony of the sun rising and reflecting in the water.

After breakfast I met my guide for the next few days, Alvin. He's a lovely bloke and although he looks about 16, he's only a couple of years younger than I. For some reason he thought I was younger then he is!

Our first stop for the day was a small lakeside village about 10 minutes drive from my hotel. From here we took a boat with a young chinese couple over the lake to the island in the lake that houses a buddist temple. This area of China has Tibetan Buddhism as their main religion. The temples are very simple but the prayer wheels around the edges are something I'd not seen before.

On the way out to the island I was getting cries of "Hello!" from the other boats going in the other direction. Alvin was translating some of the other things the people were shouting after I'd replied "Nehow!". It seems like many people in this area aren't used to seeing foreigners and as such I had my photo taken with and by countless Chinese people during the rest of the day.

After we got back to the land, we went to a museum / house of the local Mosuo people. They have a matriachal society where the grandmother of the family rules the roost. They also have no formal marriages but are known for their "walk in" marriages, where by the male is allowed into the girls room from midnight until sunrise (assuming he can climb up the timber wall) and from there has no part in the child's life. They are brought up by the family and the only role men have (other than providing food) is in the education of their sister's children.

From here we went and had lunch by the lake, eating in a restaurant run by people from the Si Chuan region (which borders with the province I'm in about 5 minutes up the road). I've been expecting the local food to be spicier than it is. Given the area is famed for such!

On the subject of food... I've acually been quite impressed. The Chinese have a lot more vegetable dishes then we'd ever see at home, one of my favourites so far being To Dou Shi or stir fried grated potato. They also seem very fond of a dish of chopped tomato stir fried with egg. I'm sure I said this before but 've been eating my fair share of Gung Bao Rou Shi too (Kung Po Shredded Pork).

This afternoon we went for a walk up in A Xia Yu Gu. This path follows a stream up a valley to a waterfall. The path is quite steep in places and it didn't take me long to remember that I was at altitude again (albeit only 2700m above sea level). The only scarey bit on the normal path was a small field that we had to cross that contained two Yaks. They were rather big and kept facing us the whole way around. I've never been too keen on being chased by cows but when they've got massive great horns that desire goes down somewhat!

After reaching the waterfall we followed a sign that pointed towards another path leading further up the mountain. Unfortunately we ended up unable to find where this path went and after 30 minutes of clambering through dense forest clinging to the side of a mountain, we desided to turn back!

I was then taken back to my hotel, where I've been sat on the balcony / terrace outside my room over looking the lake for the past couple of hours. As the sun has gone behind the hills it's starting to get a little chilly now. I've got dinner this evening and then I'm going to go and have a look at the local square dance. This might prove interesting as I'm fairly sure I'll be the only person present who doesn't speak Mandarin and I'd guess there are going to be few or no English speakers...

Wish me luck!

Day 80: Lu Gu Lige

Mood: Cheery
Music: Some random Chinese music with lots of strings on in the hotel
bar

Today started bright and early when I woke up hearing next door's alarm clock (6:30am). I was up and about by 7 and had time to take some photos of the lake on which the hotel is situated. After that I had time for a buffet chinese breakfast and then was met by my guide / driver.

Today's destination (Lugu Lake) was 300km away by car and it was going to take us a good 7 or 8 hours to cover that ground. The roads were rough, to say the least, and the little VW Polo was bouncing around at times. Although there was lots of overtaking today it was a lot more controlled than my last drive.

Soon the trucks we were passing changed into tractors and for a small while horse driven carts as we drove deeper into the countryside. The terrain was still steep clay hills and mountains but in each valley people were tending the soil, at times I saw large water buffolo pulling ploughs. Just as you might expect in images of such places. The landscape was quite a bit browner than I'd imagined. Mostly because it's the start of spring and everything has just been plowed.

We stopped for lunch in the only small town we passed through and I ate Gong Bao Dou Ding (Kung Po Pork Cubes) with rice and a couple of other vegetable dishes. The food was good and really rather cheap.

After a little more driving we came upon the lake. My hotel is situated on a very small peninsular connected to the land by a thin spit, On the is are a number of small hotels, each with 6 or 8 rooms. All of these face out onto the lake. My room has a balcony that sticks slightly over the lake.

I've been told that the sun rises facing the rooms, I'll let you know / see tomorrow if that's the case.
I'm going to leave it here for today, I'll spare a brief mention for the American / German couple who kindly ordered food in the restaurant next door, as they speak Chinese. We also ended up chatting for a large protion of the evening.