Ibis Xichang Hangtian

... to xichang...ha.<br>I sort of wanted to stay in Chengdu for the holiday so I could just be lazy and study and practice guitar...but I was committed to this trip and so I went. We got there and found a hotel. (We= Eric, Thibaut and myself) We started out to find a place for dinner and then suddenly I got that funny feeling in my belly (you know the kind that's like...hey better find a toliet and fast ...

... to give me his phone number...blonde hair and white skin seems to be a big hit in China....he shows us this temple at the top of the hill which was lovely...and we met a gorgeous elderly Yi woman who had such a lovely gentle face and warm smile....I wanted to put her in my backpack and take her home...shame she couldn't understand a word of what we were saying tho.... Other general weirdness I've noticed:...similar to how we put on fake tan ...

... dressed in embroidered skirts and bright headscarves, huddle together, animated in conversation. The men sit by, smoking. One woman stops suddenly, oblivious to the jostling crowd around her. She is unblinking, transfixed, her jaw ajar in cartoonish shock. Surely I can't be the first Westerner she's laid eyes on? Or maybe I am. This is my fourth visit to China but the first time I have ...

... uncut noodles for a reason. Normally you can't use your chopsticks to pick up all of the noodles in a dish. On Chinese New Year it is bad luck to cut noodles because the noodles represent a long life. I was glad to participate in that tradition. After we ate we walked back to our hotel. It was early but everything was closed and we were tired. I also really wanted a shower. So we get back and I take a horridly cold shower. It was like showering in an iceberg ...

... or tidying up native handicraft on the shelves. When you tire after meandering up and down this hilly town gawking at intricately carved wooden doorways and cornices of two-storey Naxi-designed wooden houses, it's time to find a restaurant and eat some fresh food, like the five mushrooms hotpot I tried at a restaurant run by women. Then, just when you think you will not be surprised any more, you wander into a busy market where only the locals roam and find rows of meat ...

... a true matriarchal society. The Mosuo are also known for their 'walking marriages' (&#36208;&#23130;), in which women choose male partners to visit their bedroom after dark. The man typically returns to his own home early the next morning. Although the majority of walking marriages tend to be long-term, Mosuo women have been misleadingly portrayed as sexually promiscuous to domestic tourists, many of whom visit Lugu Lake looking for more than clean air and mountain ...

... east-longitude and at a depth of 10 km. The earthquake jolted Huili and Panzhihua, both in Sichuan, and autonomous prefectures of Chuxiong, Dali, Lijiang and Zhaotong cities, all in Yunnan Province. Kunming, including the capital of Yunnan. The Ministry of Civil Affairs announced 01 September that the quake affected 941,000 people, killed 40 and injured 675 people in two provinces. More than 392,000 houses collapsed or were destroyed and approximately 181 ...

... reservoirs, 22 highways and three bridges. Firefighters try to rescue a buffalo from debris in quake-hit Panzhihua, Sichuan province Sunday August 31 2008. [Xinhua] Jing Peilang, a Panzhihua quake control and relief official, said more than 40 primary and middle schools would not open for the new semester that starts today. In Yunnan, about 440,000 people have been hit by the quake in four of its regions . The CEA has sent rescue and relief teams to the ...

... One of whom, upon sitting next to me on the bus, decided I looked comfortable and leaned quite heavily on me, crushing me up against the window for some minutes. Until relatively recently (1950's), the Yi further subdivided themselves into clans, with the Black Yi being the wealthy, aristocratic class, the White Yi a subservient caste, and two lower classes being little more than slaves, freely bought and sold. Supposedly, their traditional costume is as bright ...

... 10 Megaliter kristallklare Fluesse, eine Prise Wasserfall und 2 Loeffel voll See. Fertich ist das etwas kalte Paradies (Meine Stiefel waren jeden Morgen steifgefroren). Waere perfekt gewesen, haette ich net Tian Chi besucht....ist noch ein viel hoeherer hochgebirgssee...komplett zugeeist und von hohen bergen eingeschlossen...hab sowas noch nie gesehen...als wenn ein Gott mit seinem Finger ein Loch in ein gebirgsmassiv gestochen hat. Der zugang ist nur ueber einen ...