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 heavy rucksacks and headed off with our driver with teeny day packs containing the bare essentials.
The 75km journey, through rice terraces and rural villages, was fairly uneventful, although the driver's constant yabbering on his mobile as he tackled the mountain bends was a little disconcerting, to be fair.
We arrived in one piece in Qiaotou and were enticed into a little restaurant off the main tourist drag, where they cooked us a feast of fresh dishes for only 41 yuan (£4!)
This served as fuel to propel us on the first stage of Tiger Leaping Gorge, 7km up winding paths along the edge of the gorge. As we climbed, the views became more and more spectacular, the Yangtze river behind us and the snow capped peaks of the Himalayas in front of us. We wound along a narrow mountain path, slowing at the steep scrambly sections and trotting along the flatter parts. Amazing moments along the way... pausing to take photos of stunning views on all sides... smiling Naxi women tending their chickens and piglets on the mountain face with Celine Dion blaring out the stereo... silence all around except the distant tinkling of goat bells...
Sam and Ange are both having a kip and I am sitting on the terrace in front of the Naxi Family Guest House watching the last rays of the dying sun, listening to firecrackers and awaiting our New Year Banquet of ten traditional dishes, the same as our hosts have been eating. Just hoping that the monkey in the cage that we spotted earlier is not on the menu.

9pm - the banquet was amazing, eaten with a multi-national group around shared plates of scrumptious goodies. Halfway through the meal our lovely hosts invited us to see the sunset, I stood up to run to the site and turned to a crash and laughing.... Angie was lying on the floor having fallen off the bench that we were sharing when I stood up! Woops!
Now chatting around a 'fire pot', sipping beers, also been to look at the bright, bright stars - easy to forget there are so many when you usually only see them in the glow of city lights!
Beds are all prepared and the electric blankets are on, more beers please!! Amusing moment of the evening: Sam turning to a fellow traveller and saying 'What time is your horse in the morning?!'. No, not a bizarrely anachronistic reference to the times gone by, rather about the donkeys we have all hired tomorrow to carry our bags up the steepest section of the walk - the dreaded '28 bends'...