Mulaoye Hostel Lijiang

Lijiang

No-one is quite sure where Hilton's Shangri-La is but it is generally accepted to be in the Tibetan region. Zhongdian, in north-west Yunnan province, part of Greater Tibet was offically renamed Shangri-La after a competition in 2003. We decide not to visit Zhondian because of potential snow but head to Lijiang instead where we buy a copy of Lost Horizon by James Hilton.

Lijiang is a delightful old town. There are the charming water wheels at ...

... should be broken up with a stay at one
of the hostels in the farming villages along the route. The Halfway
House is a simple inn that serves up cold beer, magical apple pie and
the "Toilet ...

... trail alone. I returned to the main trail and continued to Halfway House which had intrigued me on my way up. The family was happy to see me showed me nto the dorm room (20RMB) which had a lovely terrace overlooking the village and mountains. I can't comment on food as I had my dried food packages which I need to finish as they were a burden to carry with me. I did, however, try their walnut and honey pancake which was delicious though a bit ...

... to pay and get a laminated copy. As I was paying, a group of chinese tourists asked if they could have their photo taken with me. I said yes and photographer naturally keen to make a few extra bucks ran over. So all the men in the group gathered around and we took the photos. I found out after that they were from Nujiang.

Just as a matter of interest, Lijiang has a population of 300,000 and has 6 million tourists visit per year.

Lijiang, Yunnan, China hrccpam

Generally, it is quite safe to hike in Tiger Leaping Gorge in Yunnan. But not in the rainy season. Now is not the rainy season - that will happen from June to September. I like in this story how the beat up the story: a primitive hospital in the town of Lijiang. And I can't believe that they claim it was two days before they got modern medical treatment. I guess it shows the value of having insurance, or rich friends and family. I've been to the hospital, and while it might not be ...

... my heart rate was OK and only got to a maximum of about 140 but it felt like it was a lot faster than that so maybe the HRM is a bit wonky. Even though it felt like really hard going at the time, I still felt OK after a short rest so that is at least encouraging because we have even harder challenges ahead tomorrow. The day finished ...

... worried. One business I know on a popular street pays over $30,000 in rent a year for a small restaurant, and times are tough, so they've raised their prices in the hope of being able to get enough to pay the rent. Here's the story: Summer has arrived in Lijiang of Yunnan province and with it expectations of the annual peak tourist season in the popular travel destination. But tour agent Niu Zhenlin has felt only the chill of empty streets in the city, as if the unusually heavy ...

... It is such a bad thing that we can't talk.' 'Not necessarily. Would your parents like him? Probably not, given now the Chinese don't like the Japanese because of how they invaded China and what they did. So maybe it is a good thing that you can't talk with him anymore.' The invitation to go to Guesthouse Number Two meant that Lucy could see the Japanese man again. When we arrived, the guy in question emerged from the shower with a towel around his waist. He ...

... no more than a few hundred meters away. Located at the end of a claustrophobic alley, the hostel has no signs, English, Chinese nor any other indication that there is even a guesthouse nearby. The only landmark is a crooked cardboard Santa Clause leftover from Christmas taped to the large wooden door. I didn't really know what to expect, but I was surprised with what lay behind those doors. Stepping through them placed you into a small, stone courtyard wrapped on three ...

... not go over well with the travel agent though. The woman on duty spoke no English and after 15 minutes of trying to argue with her using our limited Chinese, I threw up my hands. Mellisa, however, was ****** off and determined to get some sort of refund. She grabbed a passerby (a Chinese man who happened to speak some English) and off we went to the police station. At the police station, we were told politely to go away, that they could not help us. We would have ...