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 …

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 …