Three weeks ago I arrived in London weary and excited, and that’s where I pick up this blog from.
I envy travel writers that must make such perfect diary entries be it scrawled on a blank piece of newspaper, on a napkin at a restaurant, or neatly in their little laptop sitting on the cafe table. I just can’t keep up to be honest, between photographing, exploring, eating and just taking it in the blog has been left to sit idle. Which as it turns out is a bit slack as …

London; so far so good…

Air Asia flight D72008 to Stansted was early, and I’d slept like a baby with valium dabbed on the dummy. Though I initially found it all a bit chaotic to get a train to the terminal and then queue for about 20 minutes to get to Mr Immigration I was told by fellow travellers that it was a god-send compared to Heathrow, so I’ll take it as a positive.

D5675, Shanghai South Railway Station to Hangzhou, 17.58 scheduled arrival time. This wasn’t a train that I was anticipating sitting on. A couple of weeks ago I booked a flight from Shanghai to Kuala Lumpur on Air Asia X. I never took too much notice of the airport as I figured I’d sort it out when I arrived in Shanghai.

Taklamakan Desert, Xinjiang, China – Images by Jamie McDonald
When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Well, we were on the road to Rome, in Kashgar, a crucial silk road stop after and before the Taklamakan Desert.
The name of the desert in local folklore means Go in and you won’t come out, and the fierce heat and sandstorms could easily allow one to dissapear very quickly. We wanted to go for a ride into the desert by camel, so we contacted Ali at Uighur Tour and Travel Centre (mailto: silkroadguide@hotmail.com) …

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 …