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So nice to feel normal again...after a hangover! The next few days were long long truck days as we made our way towards Chinsa proper, one high mountain pass after another. I never got bored losing myselfin the scenery...just how I imagined! However it's nice to be down low again.....those passes are a little hairy at times....especially when you encounter a truck the same size on a road wide enough for one! We were delayed numerous times due to landslides and large rocks which took us as a group approx 4 hours to smash so we could get by!!! We all deserved our tea that night and found a lovely camp by the river...I had my head in there in record time! Dave celebrated his birthday in style with some yummy yak flavoured sweets, a catapult and a slap-up chinese meal! Canny beat that eh!
Margo the mad aussie women's reputation preceded her. We arrived at her little cafe smelly and dirty and she made us all coffee, beans on toats with cheese(never thought I'd appreciate them quite so much) and gave us a snickers to finish off! Yummy!
The topic of the day was Tiger Leaping Gorge! It was peeing with rain outside...but there were a few of us who didn't care! I was walking....i've been siting on my bum for the last few weeks!!! So we geared up and off the 13 of us toddled on the 16km walk into halfway house and back again...climbing 1200m in height....very quickly....thought I was going to combust! Apparently there is a possibilty that the chinese are going to dam TGL....it's a must do while you can. It was lovely to escape the mania thatis truck life and stroll along in the rain taking it all in. After a huge meal, a shower and the best sleep I'd had in ages, the sun shone....I think a few folk would be regretting their decision to spend 3 days in the pub! The scenery changes completley when the sun shines! Had stroll from our GH to halfway GH for brekkie and then back to Teahorse for lunch and a bit of a nap before the trek back down to Naxi GHand our last night in the gorge. We encountered very few folk on the walk...bliss....other than a wee man charging folk to a view point....Will tried to dispute this and nearly had a rock thrust at him! Had a 2 hour walk back to town the next morning and than onto Lijiang...and a hot shower!
Lijiang is one of the oldest towns in China and a huge tourist spot for the chinese themselves. The old town is very quaint and out of place as like all chinese towns it's surrounded by neaon lights and plastic! However....I loved it...Hired bikes with Rach, Danny and Will and saw the sights...visited a nearby lake and the Will and I went to Mu's residence and chille for a while. The Mu's were the first governing folk in Lijiang. Got back to our hostel just in time to swap fancydress outfits! Joy! It was such a laugh....I came off quite well...but there is already talk of a revenge fancy dress. We all left the safety of the hostel and made our way to the pub. Bear in mind we are normally a bit of a novelty...we got a few sidesteppers and strange looks....funny enough!
Had to get up at 7.30am to head to Dali....ouch!
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