Yesterday I got to see the Terracotta Warriors at the British Museum! I flew to London on Monday to meet up with Melanie, my travelling companion on my China adventure 2 years ago. Yesterday morning we managed to get tickets for the exhibition (I think they’re all sold out until January/February, but they release 500 tickets everyday at 9.15am) and I have to say it was excellent. The story behind these life-size clay figures is really extraordinary. Basically the First Emperor (born 259 BC) was a bit paranoid about dying and wanted to rule forever, so he got his minions to build him an underground palace complex and fill it with clay solders, animals, musicians etc to keep him company in the afterlife. A clay head was discovered by a farmer in 1974 and since then they’ve uncovered 7,000 warriors. They haven’t however excavated the emperor’s tomb itself as they’re afraid of causing damage to whatever is there. The area of this underground ‘city’ covers 35 square miles! Each terracotta warrior has unique facial features and the level of detail is amazing, apparently it took 36 years to complete the project. Truly amazing stuff. Obviously it would be really nice to see the site in situ in X’ian but somehow I don’t think I’ll be getting back to China in the near future, so this will do for now. Having said that the British Museum exhibition of approximately 25 warriors allows you to get pretty close which owing to my previous experiences of Chinese tourism I’m not totally sure you would get in China. If you’re in London anytime between now and April, it’s definitely worth your while checking out this exhibition!



(Photos come courtesy of British Museum website)

Life after China
I have to say it’s been a bit weird coming back home after 4½ weeks spent in China. I managed to pack a fair bit in with the help of 10 flights, 15 bus rides, 20 taxis, 2 tuk tuks, 1 ricksaw, Skytrain (Bangkok), 1 bike, and 1 horse. China is worlds apart from the reality we know in Northern Ireland and initially everything was looking rather plain and ordinary here on my return, plus it’s flippin’ freezin’ here! My horizons were broadened on my trip and my universe got bigger. China is a place I didn’t necessarily always like or understand, but it’s utterly fascinating, I would go back to explore more, and we had few dull moments. In fact I think we felt at times that nothing would surprise us in China ever again! One particularly surreal moment was when we were walking along the bank of the main river through the city-centre of Chengdu – quite a picturesque spot – when suddenly I spotted what appeared to be a dead pig floating in the water – how bizarre is that?!

Here’s a little collection of my favourite observations of China’s Cultural Oddities:

• Umbrellas – the Chinese are obsessed with getting enough protection from the sun as well as the rain. You can even get a nifty contraption to fix to the handlebar of your bicycle so that your umbrella can be attached and put up whilst you cycle. Ingenious eh?
• Male ventilation system – if a guy is feeling the heat a little too much, he’ll simply walk around with his T-shirt pulled halfway up his torso to cool off. Some of the taxi drivers we had also seemed to like driving with their trouser legs pulled up to their knees.
• The Chinese have a fascination with small pocket-sized pug dogs. Cute yes, but I’d be scared of accidentally tramping on them!
• Spitting – it’s perfectly normal in China to clear out your phlegm (ie. have a good ‘hoik’) whilst walking down the street, in fact wherever you are and with whomever. Better out than in I guess! This can also mean that you don’t need to carry tissues to blow your nose with. Environmentally friendly maybe but definitely not hygienic. It’s quite bizarre that the Chinese are so open about spitting (although in bigger cities they’ve started introducing fines to try to stamp out the practice), but yet they are careful to cover their mouths with their hand whilst picking their teeth!
• Chinese bin-lorries drive along the street playing loud music, namely the tune of "Happy Birthday".
• Young people seem to enjoy drinking their beer in shot glasses.
• Men seem to like having long fingernails. Definitely not a turn-on.
• Women like wearing ankle-length popsocks and will think nothing of wearing them with a short skirt.
• Children, instead of wearing nappies, wear trousers with a slit so they can go anytime anywhere. And their mothers toilet train them by whistling.
• It seems to take 3 people to do the job in China that 1 person would do here. One of the banks I went to a had 3 cashiers on duty, some other office staff, 2 security guards and a guy who told you which window to go to. Guess it keeps unemployment figures down.
• Menus – what you think you’re ordering may not necessarily be what you’re getting. We spotted some particularly choice items on various menus during our trip: cow spine, fryer, twice fried chicken fat, ants on the hill…funny enough we decided to leave those delights for the discovery of others.
• Meals are made fresh to order so you need to be prepared to wait a while, and you won’t necessarily get your meal at the same time as those at your table. Hey I guess fresh is the way it should be.
• On the streets of Chengdu we noticed fixed exercise equipment for the use of Joe Public and you see people, especially first thing in the morning, doing their exercises – sit-ups, pull-ups, in the stepper/walker etc. Brilliant! Mind you I don’t know if it would take off here!
• I guess the big cities are so cramped that any open space is there to be used by everyone, and they certainly use it well. We really enjoyed watching people do Tai Chi or dancing in the park or in a courtyard or square.
• Traffic lights come with countdown timers so you know in how many seconds it’s going to turn green. Now I like that!
• Beeping - when on the road in China you constantly hear car horns – every time drivers overtake another vehicle, they sound the horn, apparently they’re taught to do that in their driving lessons. No such thing as a quiet drive!

Chinese toilets deserve a chapter all of their own, I wonder if there were any Chinese representatives at the World Toilet Convention in Belfast this week? Somehow I doubt it! Well in case there weren’t I have decided to establish my very own Debs Erwin Chinese Toilet Awards 2005:

• Best Squat Toilet – Highfly restaurant, Chengdu – toilet roll provided (a rarity in China) clean, tasteful, everything you needed including soap and paper towels and it didn’t cost a single mao.
• Worst Squat Toilet – the public toilets on the way to Haba, complete with maggots, needless to say, we held on and found a bush further up the road! Close second is the one in a shop beside Lamu’s where there was a sign which stated: "No S****ing in Toilet" – Kind of reduces your options somewhat, especially if you’ve got a case of Delhi Belly.

Melanie felt that I deserved a Special Merit Award for having Most Original Dreams on pretty much a nightly basis – one night I dreamt that Anthony Worrall Thompson (English TV Chef) was giving me a massage, hmm, maybe that was a nightmare! And on another night I dreamt that Bruce Forsythe (English TV entertainer) was helping me to fill out job application forms…?????

Hmm I don't think life will ever be quite the same!

(And as you might have noticed on the Burnout Blog, that's a good thing!)

This was the lama (the guy in red & yellow) we had tea with! No idea who the other bloke is.


Some of the local ladies in Lijiang, Yunnan, catching up on the latest local happenings.


This is the Teahorse Guesthouse where we stayed on the first night of our walk through Tiger Leaping Gorge. It was owned by a local Naxi family and our hostess spoke excellent English. A night's accommodation set us back ?1 and we got some of the best food of the trip here. The solar powered shower was very welcome, and the outdoor toilet certainly rated highly for its views if nothing else! It was fantastic waking up to those views of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. Quite a few other trekkers stayed here so we were quite an international bunch and the craic was good.


More of the glories of Tiger Leaping Gorge with the Yangtze flowing down below.


We bid farewell to TLG...definitely one of the highlights of the trip, I would so love to do that trek again!


This was in Zhongdian where we visited a big monastery, which seemed like more of a tourist hub rather than a 'holy' place. And here where a few monks...


This was taken in the People's Park in Chengdu where we came across a local choir group singing their hearts out. IN the centre is Yoda himself, the only indication that he was alive was the music coming from his keyboard (but we're not quite sure if the batteries were powering him or the keyboard!)


We went to an opera in Chengdu and it was an excellent evening's entertainment - like nothing you'd see in the West. These guys above were doing an impressive acrobatic routine where they'd pour water from kettles with extra-long spouts from all sorts of weird and wonderful poses!


A wee bunch of kids we came across in Songpan, Sichuan, on their way home from school.


We went to a teahouse in Songpan and it had fantastic people-watching opportunities. We were fascinated by this group of elderly gentlemen playing cards and in particular the guy in the hat and humungous glasses. Seems like retirement is something to look forward to in China - head to the local teahouse for constant refills of green tea, fresh sunflower seeds, catch up on the local gossip and gamble some spare yuan on your cards!


This is a bus-jam - on our 8 hour trip from Chengdu to Songpan, there seemed to be a diversion which turned our bus-ride into an 11-hour trip! I'd say the queue of coaches and lorries was near enough a mile-long in total. The local people were having a field day selling snacks such as apples, pot noodles and boiled eggs.


This is me with Shane, our Aussie travelling companion for a week from Lijiang through Tiger Leaping Gorge to Zhongdian. This photo was taken in Baisha, a wee village outside of Lijiang where the infamous Dr Ho lives. Shane was sampling a hot ginger coke (not bad actually) whilst I was enjoying a banana youghurt milkshake - they make them so good! By the way Shane has set up an excellent travel log detailing many of his adventures since he started teaching in a primary school in China in February of this year.


On our last day of the trip, when we were in Bangkok, we came across an art project designed to get young people involved in art. They were making cards, doing oil paintings and watercolours, making jewellery, designing T-shirts, doing pottery - it was fantastic and re-inspired our faith in young people and youthwork!


On my birthday we went to the Panda Research and Breeding Centre in Chengdu. It was brilliant!


A red panda! Kind of a cross between a racoon and a panda. But still kind of cute!


Our horse-trek! I'm the rider way up at the front in the blue jacket.


The kettle was always on the boil!


Our campsite looked up to Ice Mountain, the destination of the trek on the second day. But it's over 5500m high, not good for Melanie's altitude sickness!


We took a wander through the Tibetan village near our basecamp, ably assisted by Melanie's wee guide. It was a Monday, and of course, Mondays are washing days the world over!


Our guide pointed us the direction of a hidden waterfall whilst he went off to finish preparing lunch, and lo and behold, there it was! A beauty of a find! The clear blue of the water was stunning.


One of the Tibetan villages we passed on the trek.

This was taken on the 3rd and last day of our horse-trek, on the way down one of the mountains. Words don't do it justice!


And on it goes...awesome!

My guide with his and my horse. My horse is the one on the right, a worthy steed!


Melanie with her wee guide, he was a brilliant wee man and looked after us well!


On our day 'off' from horse-riding, we stopped for a coke and a sprite at the local Snack Bar.


Avishag and Yulan with myself and Melanie. They were a lovely Israeli couple we met on the bus from Chengdu to Songpan and it worked out that we booked the horsetrek together. They just got married in June and are spending 6 months travelling through China, India, Thailand etc. There were 3 Israeli lads on the trek too and we had fun teaching them all "It's a long way to Tipperary" round the campfire - sounds quite good in an Israeli accent! And they taught me a card game called 'Yaniv' (or maybe it's 'Yanneev', who knows?!). Two minutes before this photo was taken I was about to faint because of dehydration and being too hot, but I managed a smile for the camera!


Our campsite for the 2 nights of the trek!

In the news…
Spotted this in the Chinese English-language newspaper China Daily on August 26th:

Beijing’s own flies terminator discovered

A man in Beijing has killed 549,424 flies in the past 10 years. He can distinguish between male and female flies when he kills them.
Huang Baolin says killing flies is an excellent form of exercise, He spends eight hours a day killing flies in the summer.
Last year, Hu Xilin, a famous fly killer in South China came to visit him. The two exchanged views on how to kill more flies. Hu gave Huang a small fly killing machine as a gift, which Huang donated to a nearby food store.
“I will spend the rest of my life killing flies!” Huang proclaimed.

Home at last!
I finally got home last night (Sunday) - a full 24hours after I was supposed to arrive! When we got on the plane in Bangkok at 3am on Saturday the cabin crew seemed somewhat flustered and disorganised, 20 minutes later we get an announcement from the Captain that the First Officer has taken appendicitus and was getting medical treatment so they were trying to get a replacement...another 20 minutes pass and we get a similar message from the Captain but this time stating that they have to get a co-pilot flown in from Dubai (a 6-7hr flight)...another 20 minutes and we're told to get off the plane and they stick us in a hotel for the night. They duly fly in another co-pilot who doesn't arrive till lunchtime and by law he has to have 12 hours rest before flying again so our flight is scheduled for 1am on the Sunday morning. Man we were so bushed! We killed a bit of time on the Saturday by going for a foot massage and we were given meal vouchers, but I really don't want to see another airport for a while. We arrived in Birmingham about 12.30pm yesterday, Melanie headed back to her home there and then I had to wait until 7pm for my flight to Belfast - it was great to hear Northern Irish accents again!

I had an amazing time away and I've definitely not lost my appetite for travel, but boy is it good to be home!

5-Star Living
Gee it's a hard life! We've now made it to the Shangri-La hotel and it is flippin' amazing! Unfortunately internet access costs a bomb so this is a short one to end my trip. However after I get home on Saturday I've lots more stories to post along with some deep and meaningful bits and of course the photos! Thanks for all your comments, now that I've got away from China's firewall which prevents anything 'dodgy' (like blogspot blogs and the BBC news website!!!) I've been able to read them, and spot my typos!

...Gosh will I be able to come down after this?!!!

Last full day in China!
Man, time has flown! We reached Chengdu last night after another mammoth bus journey (11 hours) which was thankfully quite uneventful. We're liking Chengdu a lt more the second time around - we've got checked into a really nice budget hotel - the cleanest I've seen in China! Plus the sun is shining and we seem to be in a more 'happening' area of the city.

So...Juizhagou...well we entered the park on Sunday and started walking (kind of a sly mve on our part - the bus is 90Y but you can end up getting on for free if you walk the first bit, but anyway we came here for the trekking, didn't lug my hiking boots halfway round the world for nothing!). Unfortunately it was bucketing out of the heavens so after an hour we hadn't seen much and we were soaked...time for plan B. So walked to the next bus-stop point, hopped on and it took us past all the sights. The scenery there is definitely rather unique - amazing waterfalls, beautiful lakes with amazingly blue water - and all set against the backdrop of stunning mountains. But basically Jiuzhaigou is Chinese tourism at its very worst - the park has been designed with the tourist in mind, not the trekker. It's not the kind of place where you can commune with nature because you're sharing it with millions of Chinese tourists and their umbrellas. I spent most of my time concentrating on ensuring that I would come home with 2 eyeballs! We were supposed to go into the park again on Monday but just couldn't face it so got the first bus out of town instead! We'll rely on our postcards to show the beauties of the place. Ah well, you live and learn - all part of the amazing experience called travel.

Practising the luxurious life
Well hello there! We've now made it to Juizhaigou National Park after a few days relaxing in Songpan. Have to say that I really liked Songpan - somethig very relaxed about it, people there were very friendly and it was fascinating to watch the world go by (along with a few yaks, horses ad goats!). Our journey to Juizhagou was somewhat adventurous - partly because I had a major attack of the scoots on Friday and was fearing an eruption whilst on the bus, and partly because we didn't get off at the right stop so ended up having to backtrack our way by taxi. Jiuzhagou is a bizarre place - basically it was pinpointed for tourism in the '70s (& aimed at Chinese tourists), local people within the park were moved out so as to protect the area (?!?!) and zillions of hotels have been built (and continue to be - our hotel last night was right beside a building site and they hammer/drill away from 7am till midnight). Apparently the hotels here can accommodate 20,000 people. The result is that it somewhat resembles a Chinese Las Vegas or Disneyland - rather disturbing.

When we arrived yesterday afternoon I was feeling rather rough and desperate for some plain food but of course our hotel's restaurant didn't have an English menu asWestern tourists can be counted in single figures it seems, so we eventually trotted (that's a bit of a generous term, but no matter) down to the local 5-star Sheraton - bring it on! - and had some good nosh in one of its restaurants, though my stomach couldn't take much. This morning we checked out of our hotel and tried to find another one listed in Lonely Planet. According to its map it was just 15 minutes walk away... Half an hour later we're still walking, we've run out of water, I've had very little to eat in the past 24hours and the sun is blazing - not good! So we flagged down a taxi and showed the guy our Lonely Planet and where we want to go in the hope that he can understand it...he then says it's in the opposite direction! Man I could have swiped somebody! It turns out the LP map is totally inaccurate. So we got checked into another budget hotel beside the bus station and headed for breakfast at the Sheraton but then I was still feeling rather rough with no energy for tramping round the park, so we decided what the heck and checked in. I think this weekend we've spent more than we have in the past 3 weeks! Having said that our room with breakfast is still only costing us about 35 quid each. After a long afternoon nap on a very comfy bed with lovely pillows and sheets I was feeling a lot better so I've been able to eat a bit more. And I even summoned up enough energy for a wee dip in the swimming pool - bliss! (We figure this is all just good practice for the 5-star luxury we're going to experience in Bangkok - wouldn't want to look like novices you know!) We had a great meal in the buffet tonight despite Genghis Khan's cousin wandering around all the time trying to impress us with his mandolin playing. Tomorrow & Monday we plan to actually get into the park (trying to avoid all the tour buses) and take in the scenery. The adventures will continue!

The cowgirls ride on!
Well we're now in Songpan and have completed a 3 day horsetrek which was FANTASTIC! Definitely on a par with the glories of Tiger Leaping Gorge. We set off first thing on Sunday morning up into the hills overlooking Songpan. I named my worthy steed, Becks, because of his Mohican-style mane. There were 14 of us - 7 guides, an Israeli couple we met on the bus from Chengdu, 3 Israeli lads, then Melanie and myself. I've now learned a few words of Hebrew! The first day's trek was pretty constant - the guides just kept going and going with only a couple of short breaks. So unfortunately I didn't get to my suncream in time - Melanie is overjoyed that she won't have to pay money to be photographed with a panda when we go to the panda reserve next week as I do the job pretty well. But I'm now somewhat concerned that they won't actually let me leave the panda reserve!

Anyway we reached our basecamp around 3 in the afternoon and the setting was so beautiful. In no time the guides had set up camp beside a gorgeous river and plenty of bushes around which provided ample cover for relieving oneself as long as you avoid the horse manure! (At 4.30am I needed a pee and stumbled out of the tent with torch in hand, I had just finished when one of the horses neighed and scared the living daylights out of me ... I didn't exactly hang about then!) The guides turned out to be very good cooks and it was fascinating to watch them concoct some great grub over the campfire. Before bed I played cards by torchlight with the Israelis which was good crack and then admired the stars - awesome!

The next day we arranged with the guides to stay at the basecamp whilst the Israelis trekked up to Ice Mountain because Melanie's altitude sickness was playing up again. Our basecamp was 3300m and Ice Mountain is 5588m so I think that would have killed her! We saw the Israelis' photos when they got back and the mountain really looked stunning, lakes and all. However we actually had a really lovely day - I think God had it all planned out for us! Melanie's guide was a lovely wee man and he took us for a dander down the valley to the Tibetan village. We got a look round a temple, stopped for a coke at the local 'snack bar' where the owner was getting on with some sewing. Then the guide showed us where to find a waterfall and left us to it whilst he went pack to camp to prepare lunch. The waterfall was a hidden gem - so beautiful. The landscape up there has an alpine feel to it, and reminds me of the Rockies too, but at the same time there is something different about it - something wilder, and something very Tibetan. Their villages are beautfiul, they seem to take real pride in their homes. We saw yaks being used to plough fields and harvested crops being hung out to dry. There are prayer flags dotted all over the place and it challenged us to think of our own faith - it's so much a part of our identity for both Melanie & myself, yet how visible is it?

Yesterday by 8.15am we were packed up and on horseback again on the homeward bound trek, on a different route back to Songpan. We were quite sad to leave our little idyllic campsite! Again the scenery was glorious and the weather too though it was cool to start with. Unfortunately I lost my sunglasses when I nearly fell of the horse as it was going down a steep dyke. Later on the paths got really dusty and the glare from the sun was really strong so my eyes were killing me. But hey it was a fantastic experience and I would definitely do it all again! It was wonderful to get showered and put on clean clothes yesterday evening! And to top if all off we had a full body Chinese massage (2 quid for an hour!) - wonderful in a perverse kind of way - my body has never been yanked about like that before!

Well there's a pizza with my name on it, so I'm heading! Until the next time...

Well all I can say is that China can be full of surprises, you think you've seen everything, then you walk round another corner...!

Yesterday was a fascinating day. After breakfast we headed to the People's Park with the intention of discussing our plans to travel north over a quiet cup of tea. But as soon as we walked into the teahouse we were accosted by these guys wanting to massage us...and they didn't take no for an answer! It really was quite hysterical, I'm so glad I wasn't sitting in Bewley's or somewhere in NI. But there we were getting our necks, shoulders, arms and backs pummelled. They even offered to do our legs and clean our ears out...funny enough we refused point blank!

Once the masseurs left us in search of more victims, we got back down to the business of tea...but then lo and behold, Mr Lee came along - a local cultural guide and interpreter who proudly told us that he's mentioned in the Lonely Planet guide. He was extremely excited to hear that we were from Ireland but disappointed that we didn't know any Irish Gaelic. Anyway we had a fairly random conversation with him, turning down his offers to take us to see some Sichuan opera and finally he left having spotted another couple of Westerners to converse with.

So at that stage we thought we'd take a wander through more of the park and try to collect our thoughts when we came across a local choir group practising with Yoda himself on the keyboard! It was sooo fascinating! They were mostly retired folk and seemed to be having a ball to themselves. The conductor (although several seemed to vie for this position) reminded me of Edith from the 'Allo 'Allo TV series. Flip me, it would almost make you excited about retirement if you could head to the local park every day for a wee sing-song.

We walked on further only to come across more musical performances. One seemed to be Chinese opera and it was a case of whoever wanted to come to the microphone could give it a go. It was most entertaining when one lady started singing (some might term it as squawking) and to add extra effect an old man dressed in a soldier's uniform pranced about in the background with a set of red ribbons. For the next song there was a change in tempo and the tone became somewhat dramatic, so this time the old soldier bloke picked up his toy rifle, marched back and forth and saluted every now and again. Oh...my...word...I wish I'd had a video camera to capture these precious moments!

After all that we were desperately in need of some food intake so we wandered downtown and ended up in KFC yet again! Had an interesting wander in a department store and managed to buy a pair of knickers with the lyrics of Richard Marx's '80s song, 'Right here waiting' printed on them for 6Yuan (less than 50p).

Today has been a bit of a washout thus far - literally as it's absolutely chucking it down outside. We needed to change travellers' cheques and it took about 3 hours to complete that one task as it's only the Bank of China that changes travellers' cheques and then it's only certain branches which change sterling travellers' cheques and finding that one particular branch was quite a feat, plus we had to wait 40 minutes to be attended to - when you're kind of wet and have a cold all this does not equate to fun, grrr! To make up for it we decided to be brave and get a rickshaw back to the hostel - quite the experience, the poor wee man biking us was I'm sure rather glad to get us to our destination, it took a fair bit of pedal power! There were only a few hairy moments when other rickshaws or what I call 'silent killers' i.e. electric mopeds threatened to collide with us, but our driver was adept in avoidance techniques.

So the plan is to head for Songpan about 8 hours north of Chengdu tomorrow, chill out away from the big city and its smog and then in a few days start some horse trekking - yee-hah cowboy! Not sure what internet access will be like up there, so we'll see how it goes and keep taking it all as it comes!

And now for the spiritual bit... I've just finished 'The Heavenly Man' - the story of Chinese Christian Brother Yun and it is sooo good but very challenging. It was kind of ironic when in the midst of my tears over my lost wallet on Wednesday I recalled what I'd written in my journal the night before:
'Father, reading Brother Yun's book is very challenging, I'm not where I should be with you. I don't have the courage like the Chinese Christians, I don't have the fire - the desire to witness with everyone I meet. What should my respnse be to this book? Where do I go from here? How do I change? I don't deserve it in the slightest, but I'd love it if you'd work in my heart and life and make me one of your faitfhul servants. I'm sorry sorry for my pride and materialism, my desire for things all the time, my desire for fame and glory and acceptance from others. When all I need is in you! Please come and do powerful things in my heart and life. When I burnt out you stripped me down to nothing, I don't want to fill my life with guff again. Refine me Lord. I'll go through the Refiner's Fire...'

God has a sense of humour eh?!

Chengdu
Well we've made it to Chengdu but not without 'adventures' along the way! I managed to lose my purse (or maybe it was stolen) at the airport or on the flight today - it had my credit & bank cards, currency and travellers' cheques in it. Major bummer! Thankfully I had some other cash and travellers' cheques in another pocket in my bag, but I've had to cancel all my cards and the phonecalls to do that cost a flippin bomb. So for a while today I'd lost my sense of humour, plus I came down with a bit of a cold yesterday so I've been feeling a bit rough. Thankfully Melanie is doing loads better after her altitude sickness. Our taxi ride today from the airport to our hostel was rather eventful too, because people drive like absolute maniacs in this city. Melanie compared it to white-water rafting in grade 5 rapids, & I lost count of how many times my life flashed before my eyes! There were numerous "Holy Henry"s to say the least! Tonight we hadn't a clue where to start looking for a bite to eat so ended up going against our principles and having a KFC! We also had a wee wander in a local park - the 'People's Park' - where we watched loads of people out doing their tai-chi - fascinating!

Well we're back in the mood for more adventures, but send up a wee prayer for us - cheers!
Over & out...

Back in Lijiang!
Well we've had a slight change of plan! In the early hours of Monday morning Melanie was getting really sick and we realised it was altitude sickness (anyone with brains might have picked it up sooner, but then hindsight is a wonderful thing!). It had been coming on since we started the trek in Tiger Leaping Gorge as she hadn't been sleeping at all well and basically on Sunday night she couldn't lie down without fighting to breathe and feeling nauseous. She's anaemic and it turns out that people with anaemia shouldn't go to high alititudes! So yesterday we cancelled our plans to go to Deqin with Shane, he went on ahead whilst we got a bus back to Lijiang ( a 4 hour journey for all of 2 quid!). We got an email from Shane and apparently his 7 hour bus journey to Deqin was worth the trip alone,because of stunning scenery so I guess by now he'll have been on the glacier. Anyway our bus journey was good to Lijiang - some wonderful scenery through the mountains which made up for all the smokers on the bus! Plus we got to drive through Qiatou where we started the Tiger Leaping Gorge trek and see Jade Dragon Mountain again - stunning views, oh I'd love to do it again! Thankfully Melanie is feeling loads better and got a really good night's sleep last night for the first time in about a week. Quite a relief! Things were getting pretty scary at 3am on Mondy morning!

It's kind of funny to be back in Lijiang as we didn't think we'd be back. Melanie had been shocked with the changes in the place since she was here 11 years ago and the tourists just did our heads in when we were first here, but now it feels like coming home. (And believe me anywhere is better than Shangri-La!) It's a bit quieter this week, I guess now that the road through Tiger Leaping Gorge is opened up more of the tourists are there plus we've been able to go back to Lamu's which serves the most wonderful momos - Tibetan dumplings and chou chou noodles - tasty noodles with tomato and onion. The staff have got to konw us quite well! Today we even did some souvenir shopping - shock horror! We found a CD shop and I was able to buy 5 CD's for 70 Yuan (less than a fiver!) including the recent Coldplay and Athlete albums! (And no they're not pirates!) Prices are just nuts here, you can get an evening meal for less than a pound!

So tomorrow we're flying up to Chengdu and hoping to go to the panda breeding and research centre (to see my cousins the red pandas, as last week I caught some sunburn on my face and my nose is STILL red, though I look a lot better than last week - you would've thought I'd been skiing or something!).

Well that's all for now, onto more adventures!

Shangri-La ain't so Shangri-La!
Well this weekend we've been stuck in Zhongdian which is being marketed as the Shangri-la of James Hilton's "Lost Horizon" but it doesn't really float our boats to be honest. It's a bit of a one-horse town, well there's plenty of people, but not an awful lot to do and we couldn't get our traveller's cheques changed. Maybe in a few year's time it'll be a different place, Westerners are definitely in the minority at the moment and travel information can be hard to pull together, but we're getting there! We've put off going to Deqin until tomorrow, which is probably a good thing anyway - gives us a chance to chill out. We're actually at an altitude of 3300m so we're back into long trousers and wearing our fleeces in the evenings and yesterday we were a bit headachey and walking up steps was killing us!Today's excitement was going in a tuk-tuk! It's a brilliant wee thing. It can fit 5 people, has a radio and even a sun-roof. We're tempted to go cruising round the town tonight!!!!

Yesterday we went to a big monastery on the edge of the town, apparently there are 600 monks there. It was extremely unimpressive! It was really funny, at one point we were walking into some kind of shrine where we could see a wee monk whom we thought at first was praying or chanting away to himself, but then as soon as he saw us he put his mobile phone away in his cloak and then lifted up some wee drum and started chanting. Now that really takes the biscuit! A lot of the shrines etc seemed to be asking for offerings of money and then promising the giver good fortune and happiness in the future. Hmm I don't think so! Outside the monastery there were loads of touristy shops so it just seems to be a marketing exercise - I think we've had quite enough of monasterys.

I forgot to tell you about Flip the dog the other day! On Thursday when we left Tiger Leaping Gorge, along the road we walked past a guesthouse when a dog started to follow us. We didn't really think much about it until we realised that the dog kept following us... I'm serious but this dog followed us the 40km to Haba! Shane kept calling the dog Flip and Melanie and I were wondering if this was some traditional Aussie name for dogs, when it turned out that he called it that because at one point Melanie said, "Flip, the dog is still following us!" We got quite attached to Flip that day, it was hilarious, he just followed us the whole way, stopped with us when we took a break, and kept waiting for us to catch up with him when we lagged behind. Sadly we had to leave him behind in Haba as we got onto a bus for Zhongdian so we're hoping that the inn we stayed at adopts him - he'd already made friends with their dog whom we called Jester because of the bells round his collar. Ahh wee Flip, you were a true companion!

Well it's over and out for now, not sure when I'll next get to update, so in the meantime take care peeps!

PS. Unfortunately I can never actually view my own blog-site nor other's people's blogs, chinese internet doesn't seem to like it. So I haven't been able to hear other people's news nor read any comments you're leaving - sorry! But please feel free to say hello anyway, will love hearing from you whenever I get to read the messages!

Adventures galore!
Well I've been out of internet access over the last week but we've been packing a lot in, it's been amazing!

On Sunday we decided to get away from the madness of Lijiang with all its umbrella-toting tourists (to protect them from the sun, the Chinese don't like to go brown it seems, even their toiletries often having whitening properties!) and hired bikes to go to a village, Baisha, outside of the city. At the bike hire place we met an Australian guy, Shane, headed for the same place so we all went together. The village didn't have much to it, just showed local Chinese life complete with various animals and locals walking up and down the street going about their business (and often doing their business too!). It's where Dr Ho lives - made famous by travel writer Bruce Chatwin and who featured in Michael Palin's show last year. Outside his house there are loads of posters and newspaper articles about him, and as we walked past he called out, "I'm Dr Ho, look!" pointing at the posters, so we just passed him by - I think he's a bit too dependent on his fame! Although he gets fanmail from everywhere including Iceland. We read in our guidebook about a monastery just outside the village so decided to go exploring. Along the path a Chinese family seemed to adopt us and showed us the way. The monastery turned out to be at the top of the mountain, so we were puffing and panting plenty but the views were outstanding. Then when we got to the monastery, which resembled something more of a cowshed than anything else, we had a cup of tea with the local lama - as you do!

Oh, the night before that was sooo hilarious. Melanie and I decided to try some local Naxi cuisine for our evening meal and decided to go for Chicken hotpot which is kind of like soup in a big urn set on top of candles lit by parafin to keep it all warm. We didn't really know how to proceed and the restaurant staff were getting a bit of entertainment out of us, but anyway we dove in with our chopsticks for the tomatoes and mushrooms floating on top, then I stirred through the soup only to find rising out of the depths a chicken foot! Holy Henry! We thought we'd discovered the Lough Ness monster! Oh man, then we started giggling and the tears were running down our faces! Once we calmed down a bit we discovered that the soup was actually quite tasty especially without the bits of claw and carcass etc!

On Monday the 3 of us travelled to Qiatou to get ready for the start of the Tiger Leaping Gorge trek. We stayed with Margo, an Aussie who runs a hostel for backpackers and she served up the most amazing steak - a rare thing in China, apparently the Chinese seem to prefer the bones! On Tuesday we started the trek, my oh my! Words can barely describe the beauty of the scenery, it's truly spectacular. The highest point we reached was about 2670m - impressive eh! For the first hour or so we had this wee man following after us deperately trying to persuade us to hire his horse - eventually he got the message and gave up. At about the halfway point we reached the Tea Horse Guesthouse owned by a Naxi family who were lovely. We met loads of other backpackers, rested our legs and feasted on some amazing food. Ginger tea is sooo good here - basically they put honey, slices of lime and bits of fresh ginger in the mug then add hot water - mmm mmm mmm! Anyway we got to the end of the gorge on Wednesday night so yesterday trekked on to a village called Haba. Unfortunately what with landslides blocking paths etc we missed the path and had to take the main road most of the way which is a bit longer so we ended up walking 40km, mostly up the blinkin mountains!!!! When we arrived at the Haba Snow Mountain inn last night we were shattered but elated and our hostess was truly wonderful and had a feast cooked up for us within 10 minutes! Oh and I had yakmeat for the first time - bit tough and a very strong flavour, not sure if I'd go for it again! This morning we got a bus to Zhongdian which took just under 4 hours. So tonight and tomorrow we're going to chill out, then Sunday we hope to visit a glacier in Dequin. We're very close to Tibet here and can already sense the change in landscape and culture.

Right gotta go, wish I had time to relate all the adventures, but will maybe fill in the gaps when I get home. And I'll definitely put up some pictures then!

In China!
Well we have safely arrived in China and are staying in the old part of the city of Lijiang in Yunnan province - it is beautfiul, full of narrow old, cobbled streets. There are what feels like millions of tourists (Westerners are by far the minority, Japanese and CHinese inthe majority - they have interesting dress-sense!) but that makes for interesting people-watching! Just had a plateful of Tibetan veg dumplings - v tasty and we've just been wandering around getting oursevles acclimatised and getting info on what to do next.

Yesterday was a day of firsts:
FOr the first time I flew first-class (the last seats we could get on an internal flight and only 10 quid dearer than economy) - great to have the leg-rom and the first class lounge was quite a surreal experience!
I also managed to successfully consume a meal using chopsticks - felt rather proud of that one!
And I experienced my first Chinese toilet...a squat toilet, mmm lovely - NOT! I think I'll have good strong quadriceps by the end of the month!

Alrightie, I think it's time to find a wee cup of jasmine tea and soak up some more atmosphere...until the next time!

We've arrived!!!!!!!!!!
Yee-hah we're on our adventure! Flippin' lethal boy (as they say in Dungannon!). Anyway currently we are in hot & humid Bangkok where we crashed out after our long flights at our guesthouse. We've had a lovely meal (loads of garlic and Melanie is giving off about my breath already!) and then...da da daaa we had the most wonderful Thai foot massage which lasted over an hour - tremendous stuff! We almost thought of kidnapping the masseurs and taking them with us round China! Tomorrow we will actually get to fly into China but I think we're suffering from withdrawal symptoms from our Birmingham-Dubai flight with Emirates - the service was fab and the entertainment choices kept us busy (the only let-down was the pain-in-the-butt who sat across from us, was ignorant to the stewardesses and drank about 10 cans of Fosters). Incidentally stewardess of the month award goes to Belinda.
Alrightie that's all for now!

China here I come!
On Tuesday I head off on my month-long trip to China – woo-hoo! I cannot wait! I still can’t quite believe that it’s happening. My travelling companion Melanie has set up a travel blog here and I’m also hoping to keep my blog updated with our travels so keep dropping by to get the latest. We’re flying to Bangkok first then flying into China on Friday and making our way northwards through Yunnan and Sichuan before finishing up in Bangkok for some 5-star luxury to celebrate my 30th birthday! Actually I would appreciate it if you’d send up a prayer for us whilst we’re away –for safety and protection. A friend was telling me about a programme on TV that said 40 million Chinese men can’t get wives so kidnap foreign woman – agh! I now have visions of me ending up living out the rest of my days slaving away in some paddy field somewhere! Anyway if you could pray as well that it would be a time for Melanie & I to meet with God and hear from Him that would be cool. Melanie is on a 2-month sabbatical from her youthwork job and her dad died earlier this year from cancer. So I guess we’ve both got stuff to process and the trip will be a valuable time for us both to be in totally new surroundings, take stock of our lives and where we’re going. Cheers folks!

Oh also there’s a mission team heading out from Dungannon Vineyard to Thailand this week. They’re going to be doing some work in orphanages out there and they’ve set up a blog here.