Civil Aviation Hotel Chengdu

... larve. Puis allons voir des plus jeunes en train de larver eux aussi, ils sont quatre, trois sur la plate forme et un en train de dormir sur une branche. Tout a coup l'un de ceux qui etait en basdecide de monter lui ausi sur la branche, il commence donc a escalader l'arbre, puis a escalader son pote, et enfin a se coucher sur lui. Au bout d'un moment, pas tres long, il commence a le pousser avec ses pattes arrieres, et enfin a le virer completement de la branche, jusqu'a ...

... vä kokemus. Luinkin, että Pekingissä ilmanlaatu on välillä niin huono, että päivä kaupungilla vastaa 70 tupakan polttamista terveydelle. Meillä taisi käydä tuuri Pekingin suhteen, koska lokakuun alussa ilma oli siellä hyvä. Saimme kokea tämän ihmeen Chengdussa.

Vierailu jäi lyhyeksi parin päivän visiitiksi. Ei pelkästään huonon ilman takia vaan koska ostimme hostellilta 3-päivän risteilyn Jangtse-joella. Reissu tuli yllättäen jo seuraavalle päivälle vapaiden ...

... this impressive religious relic so you get a snap of Buddha torso intstead.

Well, it's time to dash to the airport to fly out to Lijiang in Yunnan province (still in the west and close to tibet) for some more culture and hiking - yee-ha! Yet there is one stone left unturned in Sichuan. Try as I might, I have not had a near death chilli experience I was expecting. So I leave having not sung my favourite Johnny Cash song

Your pri'mate',

Rosie x

So much for loving trains, it was long overdue for a bad travel day. Everything started out all right, we left on the train after 10pm and then maybe 12 hours later we stopped, about 4 hours from our destination. Thats ok, maybe its a lunch break or something? And then hours went by...and no one to ask...so we just wait. Until finally we asked the Chinese girl in the car with us and her English was good enough to tell us that the train is ...

... was really great. We ate a bigger, more up scale place then lunch. We had dumplings of several types. Spicy noodles here are really spicy and they gave dinner a kick. We also had this dish of fried rice cakes mixed with vegetables and pork. The rice pieces tasted like rice crispy treats.

After dinner we were going to take a walk around Chengdu, but it was raining. Guess that will have to wait until tomorrow.

... choice but to take her at her word.

So back into town we headed to check into a slightly nicer hotel and relax until the next day. This time we bought our bus tickets ahead of time. We used the extra day to relax and catch up on our writing.

Finally, bright and early, again, we hopped on a dilapidated bus to Joijoigo and were off to our next destination, passing a gigantic coal-or-oil-fired powerplant on our way out of town.

... to go to the bathroom which was across the hallway, he opened the door in to the corridor and stepped into a 3inch deep puddle "aaaahhhh thats why there is a step in front of our room". Later on after we had mopped up and had breakfast merlin went off for his massage with the Israeli girl called "einav" who he walked down the mountain with. The masuse was supposed to repair our sore muscles.... but instead it hurt like hell,at ...

... warmer temperatures. Bring two or three T-shirts as well. Pants: For men, one pair of loose-fitting wool pants, wool knickers, or fiber-pile pants, and one pair of light-weight cotton pants. Women should wear a mid calf dress or skirt, though pants and knee-length knickers with socks are also acceptable. Shorts are not appropriate at any time in Tibet for men or women. Sporting shoes or comfortable walking shoes are highly recommended ...

A stay in the Sichuan Province yielded a feast of large things. Giant Panda's were one and a grand sitting Buddha another. We also spent two days walking at Emei Shan - and there were a lot of steps there! The giant panda's were amazing. They had just woken up for their the morning snacking session and the young 'uns were very playful. It was good to see how well kept they were at the reserve and how healthy they seemed. We also saw Gary ...

so... not yet in Lhasa. there have been debacles. maaaaaaaany chinese debacles. we headed off to catch our train on wednesday night, leaving a good hour to make the 15 minute journey to the train station. unfortunately, it is coming up to chinese new year, when every single person in china is on the move heading back home to see their families. so everyone else was also on their way to the train station. the 15 minute trip dragged out to 45 minutes ...