Terracotta Warriors, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China – Images by Jamie McDonald
Well, one thing I have learnt in the past week since leaving Xi’an and arriving in Beijing. Don’t ever, ever catch the bus from Xi’an to Pingyao – it is bus number AF432 and it leaves from the bus station next to the train station in Xi’an.
It is a sleeper bus that costs 144 Yuan, and whilst in the first instance that is steep, when they leave over 2 hours late, and then fill the corridors with twenty to thirty people …

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 …

 
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 …