Sean'S Spring Guesthouse Shangri-La

... we spent there few hours, then went back through the swamp and fields.<br><br>Tomorrow I plan to go to Deqin for days, then to Baishtai 1 night ad, if possible - - from there to Lijiang. On 12/9 I have a flight to CHengdu<br><br>8/9 - Deqin<br>I took the 8:20 bus to Deqin, 6 hours. The way is so nice: tall mountains with pine trees, villages, rivers. The road goes on the mountain side,and o the mos beautiful part there are no places to park aside ...

... fall onto the lake and rivers, these spores have a small amount of poison and when the fish eat them from the surface of the water they get 'drunk' floating upside down on the surface of the water. Then birds see the fish, fly down and eat them, getting drunk as well. Unfortunatly this had happend several months befor our arrival.<br><br>The walk around Bita hai took 2 hours, it was raining on and off and when we had 10 mins left it was raing heavily.<br>

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... Sacred, for providing a little oasis after all that climbing, it included an eclectic art gallery (great if you like dogs) and for helping us run into John again, the intrepid hiker from the Gorge; and The Cow, where they grow Weed on the rooftop and serve mean Ginger Tea (and where we met three lovely Hong Kong girls). <br><br> <br><br>Shangri-la also excelled in the monestaries and museums department. On our first day we climbed ...

... but let me tell you about this soup. It was a free range chicken stewed in hot boiling water with a little bit of salt, garlic, ginger, and whatever other magic ingredients they put in there. It was fresh, fragrant, and unbelievably tasty.<br><br>After breakfast, we continued our journey toward Middle Tiger Leaping Gorge. The first part of the walk was mostly flat and downhill, and the view is still breathtaking. We ...

... the horse riders were an interesting group. They saw us walking up the trail head while riding towards the opposite direction and turned around immediately to meet us. Always ten steps behind, we had their company for an hour until the Naxi Family Guest House at which point I yelled: "We're not going to ride horses! Why don't you follow the other travelers, they're older than us!" That tactic got one off our back. The other stubbornly continued until ...

... there are still 600 monks living, working and praying here, but I have seen less than one percent of that with my own eyes!They have their own villages with tradional tibetan white painted stone houses.Its all in one compound on a hill, and on top of it the monastery with its golden roof and decorations, a very attractive sight.To find the way to the "viewing platform" on ...

... that grew increasingly taller before arriving in Kangding at 2700m. The town is situated in the only flat space for hundreds of miles, forming a thin Y shape between 3 imposing mountains; at points it is less than 50m wide. This is where Tibet begins and is an intriguing mix of Chinese and Tibetan culture. We made the mistake of sleeping in a hostel next to a monastery and were woken at some random hour by some monk praying on a load speaker system. Whereas the ...

... tour with the "Geriatrics" (as he calls them - 4 old retirees). We will borrow photos from Helen and Fran to post here.... We had stopped in Lijang for a night before our trek and LOVED it. The old city here is gorgeous and we were able to see a performance by the traditional Nexi orchestra. It was a SUPER show where we learnt a lot. loved the old man and lady - she played a ...

It's a shame to leave Lijiang but leave we must, as we are heading off to the Tiger Leaping Gorge to climb a mountain! It's not looking too good - the rain is still coming down, and some of us are a little worried about climbing a mountain in the rain. Not sure if slipping and sliding down a mountain in the mud is my idea of a good time! ;) But we will go anyway, and see what the weather is like there - the tour guide has said that if it is not safe he will ...