See Hong Kong entry for Lijiang and beyond.

 China. Beautiful. Crazy. Its hard to sum up travelling in China this past month or so but these two words seem to have passed our lips most often. Nothing you read, see or imagine before coming here quite prepares you for this extraordinary country and yet in many ways the people and life here are not so different. It seems, the more you see of this country the less you can comprehend and the more complex the picture ...

We arrived in China in the middle of the night. The border station was lit up like a Christmas tree and the train rolled in to the Top Gun theme tune 'Take my breath away' blaring from the speakers - I kid you not. This was somewhat at odds with the the very serious looking chinese police manning the station! Totally surreal but what a way to arrive! You then have an hour or so on the train where they literally lift the carriages up in the air to change t...