How do we put into words the experiences of today...? We awoke to the sound of firecrackers being let off in the yard outside our room, a New Years Day treat that was to follow us for the rest of the day. A special Naxi alarm clock. Breakfast was taken on the raised part of the courtyard where we had eaten our feast the previous evening. I had a ham pancake, a wonderfully fresh piece of Naxi bread, called Baba, with beautiful slices of fried bacon on top. Susie...

New Year's Eve here in the Middle Kingdom. Or very much to the west of this Kingdom! I have just watched the sun set behind the mountain in front of me, casting a beautiful clear, bright light on the Himalayan peak behind me. Firecrackers are going off all around in this tiny mountain village. So how did we get here? We woke up in Lijiang and stuffed ourselves with dumplings and steamed buns, ready for the walk ahead. Then back to our Inn, where we stored our hea...

We started the day with a table full of breakfast offerings!! A bowl of congee; rice, cabbage and chicken soup, very tasty and almost calorie free. A chipped bowl of porridge - which turned out to be watery rice - that we left. A plate of dumplings, a folded pancake with syrup and Sam had a fried egg! Susie and I had coffee, it is so expensive here!!! I guess we are in the land of tea. We then wondered around old Lijiang, nestling below the foothills of the Hima...

I had developed a strange yearning to get out of bed at an unearthly hour to go to watch the sunrise flag-raising ceremony on Tiananman square. We got up at 6.20 and hurried through the dark streets, comforted by the presence of blue-suited guards at regular intervals along our route. As we neared the square, there were clearly hundreds of others - all Chinese - heading in the same direction. We joined the heavily-policed throng awaiting the dawn parade. At pre...

As has become our custom, the day started in Starbucks.... Sam had had a particularly refreshing shower today, having discovered, thanks to us, the bath towels in the cupboard, so she no longer had to dry herself on the bath mat.... After our very Chinese breakfast, we awaited the driver sorted out for us by the eternally lovely Cun for our long-awaited trip to the Great Wall of China!!! Much to our delight, he drove us 90km to Mutianyu and not to the more touri...