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Waking at 4am we say good bye to Laos... 4AM!!! Anyway we fly into China, Yunnan Provance and the little town of Kunming. Population 4 million... Chinese classification = large town. Saw a chinese temple, had dinner then fell asleep. Up again the next day at 5.30am, wow what a sleep in! 9.5 hour bus ride to Lijiang... now this is old school china. Arriving in our hotel in the old town, you see little old ladies selling rice as they walk down the narrow cobbled steets that are lined with red paper lanterns. The only thing missing are the black clad ninjas jumping from roof to roof!
Skipping the morning's group activities, AJ and I opt for a sleep in - our first in weeks! We are the youngest of the group yet are the ones that need the most sleep. I just cant operate on 8 hours a night! Getting ourselves some bikes we ride around the city. Stopping at Black Dragon Pools we decided that if we climb Elephant Hill it would give us a spectacular view of the city. When you are already at nearly 3000m above sea level, a hill is not a hill, its a mountain. Every step upward is an achievement in itself. Once our vision cleared and our breathing returned to normal, the views were amazing.
Spurred on by our earlier success, and with our new found wisdom of climbing hills at altitude, we decided to climb the much smaller lion hill. This one also had the added bonus of bars and shops along the way to help ease the pain. The old town of Lijiang looks just like the old towns in the Chinese films... well worth a visit. Just watch were you step as the Chinese like to spit on the ground and the infants wear crotchless pants so when they need to go they just go!
Another early rise as we take the bus ride to Shangri-La. This city has the worlds tallest prayer wheel, an anciant Buddist Monestary and another old town section that looks just like the movies. We had dinner at a restraunt run by orphans and tried some Yak burgers...mmm... Yak!!! Yak meat is really nice, try it if you have the chance. Saw two monks listening to their ipods while another was going through his phone to find a suitable ring tone, I should have gotten a picture.
We then say goodbye to Yunnan Provance and take a flight into Tibet...
We have just arrived in Tibet. We are in the capital, Lasha, which is about 3700m above sea level. A walk up a fight of stairs here results in a 5 min sit down at the top to catch your breath. It not all fun and games here. We have had to throw away the front covers of our guide books as they are pictures of a sensitive nature. The Tibet Lonley Planet Guide is band here. Secret police follow you around the town listening to what you say, making sure you dont talk about any sensitive people or topics. There are snipers on every roof, armymen on every corner, watching you constantly. You can not take photos of police, army and government personel, veichles or buildings (if so, they confiscate your memory stick). There is a 10pm curfu in place and you are not allowed to be anywhere without your guide and everyone in your group. If you are caught breaking any of these rules expect to be punished. So we are in an internet cafe while the rest of the group are off walking around seeing the sights...
We have also been informed that at least one of the group will be throughly searched when leaving Tibet. This will involve all of our luggage being searched, cameras, camcorders, laptops and memory sticks checked to ensure there are no sensitive imagery, documents or recordings.
The plane ride into Tibet this morning was amazing. We were able to see Everest, easily recognisable as the tall white mountain that towered above the clouds. The landscape we flew over was worldly. Jagged snow topped peaks and barren brown valleys lined the way. Very few trees here as Tibet is a desert. The air is so dry here, it sucks the moisture out of your skin, your lips crack and you need to drink 3 litres of water a day, which means you constantly need to pee... not nice when you need to squat and hold your nose at the same time!
Once you have taken in the incredible landsacape the next thing to strike you is the high military presence here. On our trip from the airport we passed a military convoy that stretched as far as we could see in both directions. There were at least 100 trucks in the convoy. Every street corner and roof top has soldiers watching, while even more patrol the streets. You will never be out of sight of the military in this town. We would take a picture but I dont want to risk being thrown in jail, so you will just have to take my word for it.
The afternoon took us to the 1300 year old Buddist Temple which is the spiritual heart of the Tibetan world, The Jokhang. It is the most geomantic power place in Tibet and houses some of its most valuable art treasures. The smell of Yak butter candles and juniper incence over-power the sences as Tibetans bow down to pray.
As we get closer to Mount Everest our accomodation has been slowly getting worse. The toilets also are slowly changing from the nice porcelin bowls we are used to, to porcelin squat blowls, to tiled squat troughs with no doors, to just a smelly hole in the ground! We have been told that for at least 2 nights, maybe more, we will be without without electricity and water. Going to need to buy more deoderant...
The altitude and long days are starting to wear me down now so I'm going to say goodbye and take the rest of the evening easy.
Bye for now.
Lee-Ann and AJ
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