Hello!

We're back in Kunming after an excellent few days away. Went to Lijiang to stay at the charming Mama Naxi's Guesthouse, met an excellent gang of people and spent 2 days with them walking the Tiger Leaping Gorge, one of our most impressive experiences yet. I could get poetic and do a whole blog about this walk but to be brief the sights were of the Yangtze River, the 18,000 foot Jade Dragon Snow Mountain right next to us, dusty trails, cooling shade under pine trees, black and orange rock faces, waterfalls, river rapids, terraced crop fields and charismatic guesthouses. We walked high up in the mountains and because some of it was hard work, particularly the infamous '28 bends' of uphill struggle, the sense of achievement was immense. Never seen anything like it and know loads of you who would love it. The photo is of the Gorge but right on the riverbank. The gang of people really made it a great trip too - lots of new friends! Lijiang itself was one of the best towns so far as well, with flagstone streets and sweet coloured lanterns up all over the place. Had a great meal by a canal amidst all of that and ended up buying the chopsticks we used from the bemused waitress!

After another night with Mama Naxi we took a 10-hour bus ride to Dali, another backpacker town. The bus smelled of everything awful in a toilet but we got to watch a dubbed Pirates of the Caribbean 3 so were subdued and managed it OK. Dali is a lot like Yanghuo so is haunted by westerners and bars, and here we spent Chinese New Year, between the lovely Jade Emu Hostel and renowned backpacker bar, the Bad Monkey. Absolutely everyone sets off firecrackers and fireworks and it's a bit scary at times but was good fun to watch from a distance, because of the deafening noise more than anything! Met some really nice Americans - Jordan and his girlfriend Robin - and we had a great evening talking with them and another guy, and hung around with them a good deal over the next couple of days; some of the nicest people we've met so far.

Sightseeing in Dali is limited but we walked to the massive lake, Er Hai, wandered along the traditional-style main pedestrian streets, visited San Ta, a collection of three beautiful pagodas and up one of the gate towers to get a view of all the above. Also managed to see a traditional Chinese dragon performance in the gardens and likewise for a musical performance of 25 musicians, so that was really special. Dali on the whole is a bit too westerny for us, although it does manage to be restricted to certain areas. The Bad Monkey is famous for what it does, but hardcore loud music, drugs and serious binge drinking aren't really what China is to us. The streets have only ground floor level buildings with traditional roofs and little streams running down the sides so they were really nice when they were less busy. The firecrackers continue throughout the day and night along these streets and were like bombs being set off amidst the crowds at regular intervals. It was actually pretty scary at the time as it nearly bursts eardrums but it was an experience to see it anyway.

Got a bus back to Kunming today and have chilled out, treating ourselves to a 'Dico's' (KFC-like fast food chain in China) before we depart mainland China tomorrow with a tear in our eye...well, our eyes I guess. Well, perhaps one tear per eye then. Anyway, things we will miss about China (as Hong Kong is not really like China proper) are: pagodas and temples, ALL of the funny three-wheeled vehicles, speaking Mandarin (we've learnt quite a bit now!), sights of crop terraces and green/yellow fields, USING CHOPSTICKS, dumplings (particularly baozi, the steamed buns), the awesome vastness of the landscape, flops (our name for savoury morning street pancakes), wrinkly old people, marshmallow-like babies and being able to get breakfast for 20p each.

Just a few days in Hong Kong till we go our separate ways now so will enjoy it to the full. We've been having a great time, really hitting our stride with meeting brilliant people and finding interesting things to do. Hope everything's going well at home and abroad, wherever you are; do keep the messages coming as it's great to know you're all still there!

Lots of love and zai jian for now,

Dave and Isey
xxx