Tiger Leaping Gorge, Yunnan, China – Images by Jamie McDonald
Chengdu Airport, Sichuan Province. Departing rather than arriving, which means I’ve had about a week off from the blog, which in turn means I’ve got rather a bit to catch up on!
We left Shangri-La under the guidance of one of Daisy’s (from Sean’s Cafe) friends who had a hostel in Haba village, under the snow capped Haba Snow Mountain. Our journey was quoted to be three hours, but after stopping for every person with a thumb out on the way (and …

Shangri-La, Yunnan, China – Images by Jamie McDonald
I write this on the eve of our departure from Shangri-La. I’ve more or less recovered from the cold that had me holed up between Sean’s Cafe and my room. Today was spent at Ganden Sumtseling Gompa, a 300 year old Tibetan Monastery on the outskirts of Shangri-La.
Walking around the monastery is a great way to spend a few hours, and though I loved it I couldn’t help but be slightly cynical at the government’s ‘improvements.’ The old LP is printed in 2007 …

To arrive in Shangri-La we very willingly left Lijiang at 1pm on a bus from the central bus station in the city. Despite the cost being 37 Yuan our smiling western faces could do nothing to obtain the 3 Yuan change from the 40 that we handed over. Alas, 4.5 hours in a bus for AUD$7.30 was nothing to complain about considering the 20 minute tram from Glenelg to Adelaide is $4.50.
Nervously handing our packs to the driver to strap them onto the roof I then quickly rushed  (Chinese Style) …

 
Dali was a great town. Given that the author of the old Lonely Planet that we refer to suggests that Lijiang is the must see tourist mecca, and is a better experience than Dali we were obviously keen to make it up to the road to see our new home for the next few days.
 
Lijiang isn’t much chop.

The beauty of this old town with its canals, stone bridges and cobble stones is apparent immediately, and the small shops selling ponchos, scarves, stone combs, and bars on the river give …

Dali, Yunnan – Images by Jamie McDonald
There are always the tourists who insist that they’re travellers because they go harder, go further, and poo-poo anyone who has a day off the trails. Then there will be the armchair-traveller who cannot fathom not checking out sites or new food stalls etc on a day because each hour away is precious.
I’m letting both down today. Into my third week away and I awoke to a pretty drizzly dark old morning in Dali, Yunnan, so the decision to walk to our favourite cafe …

Five days without an update, and that must surely have more to do with the dreadful internet speed over here in China than it does to do with my work ethic!
I’m sitting in a bar in Dali, Yunnan. A peek over my right shoulder and I can see that for the first time in the two days that we’ve been here the rain has stopped. At approximately 3000m above sea level it should have come as no shock that it is wet and cold, but in a country known for …