Tianxi Flower&Moon Hotel Xichang

... to find a way to get to Muli. There were no buses going there so we had to try and find a private ride and of course the people that are offering are trying to rip you off. Finally some guy says he can get us one for cheap. So we're hanging out in this bus lot for quite sometime. There were tiny tiny kittens hanging about Thibaut fed one some crackers. We finally got a ride for a decent price and headed out.

... before...then some get their cameras out and want a pic of you...we feel like celebraties! As we were walking back this dude came up to us...his name was Mark (only 18) and wanted to practice his english...we ended up at his house as he invited us for dinner...mmmm was very good...he then proceeded to show us loads and loads of pics on his computer of places in China he had been, very sweet and very keen to learn... Today we hopped on a bus ...

Yet another story in the category 'I was the first Westerner they've ever seen in their lives' Given that Sichuan and Yunnan get tens of millions of visitors a year, including millions of foreign backpackers, flashpackers, weekend tripers, cyclists, motorcyclists, trekkers, hikers, botanists, researchers, students, English teachers . . . and have been for more than two decades . . . " We're caught in bumper ...

... to eat the fruit we had been given by our previous night's host. We used the knife we brought to peal the apples since there was nothing to wash it with, and thats really how they eat apples here anyway. It was a nice break. We hopped back on the bus where there was an obnoxious boy who had his music blaring and was singing. Normally, ok whatever, but on a crowded bus where I can't even move my arm without hitting a child? Get the music out of my ear, thanks ...

... square. They are elegant middle-aged women who move with an easy grace in long, gray-blue pleated skirts. These ethnic Naxi women come to town and dance, after finishing morning chores around their homes and farms to earn a few tourist dollars. As you stroll down the cobbled lanes that wind their way alongside brooks fed with fresh spring water from Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, north of Lijiang, an enterprising woman peddles wild strawberries picked that morning. Down an ...

... Lugu Lake (泸沽湖) is located in the northeast of Lijiang prefecture, approximately 200 kilometers (124 miles) from the city of Lijiang. It is generally reached from the Yunnan side by bus or car from Lijiang, with mudslides and flooding often making roads impassable. The lake straddles the border between Yunnan and Sichuan provinces at an altitude of 2,685 meters and features eight islands and several beaches and bays. It is popular with domestic ...

... was near Panzhihua city, about 550 km south of the May 12 Wenchuan quake's epicenter. The area is mountainous, making transport a time-consuming affair. Hence, reaching construction material there poses a challenge, too. But the quake-hit Sichuan-Yunnan border area is not short of food or clothes, Pang told a press conference, organized by the State Council Information Office. Instead, providing proper shelter before winter. From China Daily

... tents, though. Among the worst-hit areas are Panzhihua and Huili, both in Sichuan, and the Yi autonomous prefecture of Chuxiong, Bai autonomous prefecture of Dali and Zhaotong city in Yunnan. Most of the deaths were reported from Huili in Liangshan, followed by Chuxiong and Panzhihua. The three are on the southern end of the fault line of the devastating May 12 quake that killed 69,226 people, and left 17,923 missing and 374,643 injured. Liu Jie, chief ...

... something, the monkeys were chattering something and I was laughing my **** off! (I'm not sure what the monkeys do with incense sticks.) I finally got a ticket lined up and spent my last day just wandering around town.....as luck would have it I found a couple of the old gates and part of the wall that used to surround the city. (Most cities in China used to have walls around them) I found an 'alleyway' beside the river that had a lot of ...

... stores to large businesses (I'm sure a social scientist would be able to describe the phenomenon a lot better, I have no idea). I reckon there will be plenty of positive changes- more social security, children won't have to take over the family business/can continue education, standard of living raised for many. The forces of market capitalism are definitely running amok in China. I'm wondering how much "traditional" Chinese culture will be retained, for better or worse.