What an incredible smell you've discovered!

The train arrived at Panzhihua/Jinjiang (has two names simply to confuse weary backpackers I'm sure) just before dawn with the three of us shuffling off the train still half asleep when one of the Chinese we spoke to briefly back at Emei station took a picture with a flash right in front of me (what is their obsession with taking and getting their picture taking with foreigners?) so all I saw was spots for the next 20 minutes.

Dinner

Seeing little probably made little difference though as we emerged from the station and found only one bus in the car park we were limited in our choices as to which one to choose to get to the bus station. Asking the driver if indeed this was the bus to the station he simply kept pointing at some Chinese characters on the side of the bus which could have said Beijing for all we knew but that didn't stop us boarding in the hope it was heading to where we needed to get to.

Lit Up

Despite travelling for more than 20 minutes and beginning to wonder where the heck we were going we did thankfully arrive at the bus station with a bus to Lijiang leaving in half an hour. The bus was certainly the worst I've experienced so far as we hoped for a little comfort given the 8 hour trip but what we got was a bone rattling heap of junk. A leaking roof saw me hopping between seats trying to avoid the water spilling in but having to choose between getting smoked out at the back or sitting next to a guy who had a severe affliction against swallowing or a women who spent 7.5 hours of the journey with her head in a plastic bag puking her guts up. To top it off, around half way we stopped for a toilet break at what must have been the most gut wrenching, eye watering, nose burning, foul smelling excuse for a toilet known to mankind. When even some of the Chinese joined us at just going at the side of the road you know it had to be bad. Despite the crap bus the views along the way, once the rain eased off, were pretty amazing as we drove up, over and down into quite a few valleys before finally reaching Lijiang.

Waterwheel

After the less than fun bus journey the warm welcome we got at Mama Naxi's guesthouse made it all worthwhile as we each got some bananas and some hot tea which was most welcoming given the cold of the place.

Mama Naxi's may well be the best value place I've stayed in with a dorm room for 15 CNY and a dinner with so much food you wouldn't believe for a mere 8 CNY with the ever helpful Mama constantly refilling your bowl with rice when you weren't looking despite already refusing anymore due to reaching bursting point.

In an attempt to walk off some of dinner the three of us went for a wander into town keeping an eye out for some warmer clothes as everyone huddled round the small hot plates back at the hostel.

Lijiang as expected is very touristy but we all immediately took a liking to the place as everyone appeared so much more friendly and less pushy allowing you to actually browse around the shops without having everything you merely glanced at shoved under your nose or followed around the store like some suspect shop lifter.