Ni hao!

Still in fascinating China. Back in Kunming on the way to the beaches in Vietnam and staying a few more days in China than anticipated as we finally bothered to check the validity of our Vietnam visas and, surprise surprise, they aren't valid from the 24th but the 26th, oops:) Anyhow, we thoroughly enjoy it here so no problem, some rice fields to check out further south apparently.

Since the last update we've spent some time in Da Li, Lijiang, Tiger Leaping Gorge and Shangri-La.

Dali was lovely, surrounded by mountains and next to a lake was this pretty, walled, cobbled old town with little rivers and an abundance of cafees, bars and restaurants. The best food however, was found just outside the old town where little restaurants served up delicious bbqs on the streets. Just get your silver tray and pick your skewers, then sit down on the small, chinese sized, chairs on the pavement, drink your beer and wait for the skewers to be served! One day we thought we could do with some exercise and rented bikes, rode to the lake and brought the bikes to the other side to cycle to a market, approximately 1.5h along the lake. It was all very nice until we got to the road on the other side and realised that the road was under construction and we had the bumpiest (and grumpiest) ride ever! On the way back (with very sore behinds) we luckily managed to flag down a minibus that gladly squeezed us and the bikes on, bless them:) The Chinese are very friendly and helpful indeed and always try their best to interpret our charades! We also trekked up one of the hills and stayed in a guest house at the top. On the way up, under a chair lift, were many many shrines and lots of families visiting them. The families come to put offerings on the graves; fake money, paper clothes, incense sticks, food etc. They believe that by treating their dead relatives well the dead will make them rich. But unfortunately the only people getting rich are the ones selling the fake goods! It was a pleasant trek though and in the evening we shared a delicious family dinner with the owners.

Lijiang was another lovely, pretty old town (didn't bother with the new town) with rivers full of goldfish between the cobbled streets and under the many bridges. There was also the Black Dragon Pool just 10 mins walk north of the town. Basically a pretty lake with a bridge, some pagodas and the snow capped mountains in the background. We mostly ate and drank and played dize games, which we have taken up since we entered China to fit in the with locals. (Unfortunately we are now one dize short due to bars next to the rivers, beer etc.).

A few hours north of Lijiang is "Tiger Leaping Gorge"; a 16km long gorge where once a tiger was seen leaping across, according to history and hence the name. After a night in Jane's guest house, a funny lady with moustache who took a shine to Chris's hairy arms, we set off on a 7 hours trek uphill through beautiful landscape. We saw a very long snake slither across the path just behind us, which didn't freak us out at all, and butterflies, goats and lizzards. In the afternoon we reached Halfway guesthouse with a terrace literally in the gorge and an amazing view! The next day we had the choice to go back the same way we came or go down to the bottom of the gorge and hopefully be able to flag a lift back to Jane's guest house. We went for the latter option although this was risky as we'd heard that the road was being dynamited for reasons we assumed to be improving the road. It was worth the climb down to the river in the gorge although the ladders on the way up was a bit too hairy for our liking, one was called "courage ladder"...

Shangri-La means "heaven on earth" and was called zongdion until 2001 when the government decided they needed more tourists and hence it was claimed that the book "Lost Horizon" by James Hilton was indeed based on this very town. True or not, it worked and later on in the year many people will visit this Tibetan town and surroundings. Now though it was very cold in heaven and so on the first morning, while cycling to Napa Lake, we stopped at the bus station to book a ticket back to the warmth of Kunming. Napa Lake was pretty, we cycled through Tibetan villages and played with the yaks by the lake. Shangri-La is not officially Tibet anymore but most of the people are still Tibetan and so it the food (momo!) and their ways of living.

Back in Kunming we're once again lured into the very tempting shopping possibilities and yesterday we went to the "digital centre" to buy a bargain laptop. But it turned out to be not so much of a bargain and the cute, yellow samsung notepad we had our eyes on didn't have a dvd player so we just bought a pair of jeans and a pair of denim shorts instead and went for dinner.

xx Emma & Chris