Lijiang

After we'd regrouped in Chengdu's wonderful Mix Hostel (smell was Mix of sewer and old eggs), we confidently headed out to catch a taxi to the airport for our 8pm flight to Lijiang. Unfortuantely we didn't factor in the rush hour and forty minutes later we were still there after being skipped in the taxi "queue" by lots of chinese..kate was our knight in shining armour and stopped a dodgy looking mini-van (it had engine and wheels which was enough for us), haggled the driver down to a bargain 100yuan and off we set....
The turbulence started 20 mins into the flight (chinese thought it was great fun..ruth didn't) my valium were safely stashed below deck so i had nothing but armrest to grip. In tears by landing I swore never to fly airchina again.

Lijiang was worth it though. Beautiful old town, cobbled streets, mini bridges, water wheels, streams flowing down each side of the path and lovely boutique shops (where aoife and Kate got the coolest dresses ever...me and anna have dress envy). We rented fantastic....ally crap.. bikes (mine had punctured back wheel) and set off to Baisha, 10km outside town. Met Dr. Ho (though he wasn't in the mood to treat any of us..maybe he thought we were beyond help), discovered yummy yak yogurt (seriously delicious) and haggled street sellers for their silver (copper) wares..anna got earrings from 60 down to 20!bargain..

Next Morning we set off to Tiger Leaping Gorge, 2 hr bus ride away. We started at mad Margo's place (peanut butter all over her face and her bum exposed thru huge hole in her trousers), had lunch 2 hours in where we met Max and Gerard, 2 Dutch boys who we stayed with for the dayu. At 2pm in hot hot sun we hit the 24 bends (about 50 steep, dusty, uphill bends...) and at the top met barbara and spencer. We all went to TeaHorse guest house for hot showers, beer and lovely clean bed...up at 9 the next morning and we all set off together. Lovely walk, thru waterfalls, forest and across dodgy bridges til we hit Tinas at lunch. The others stayed drinking beer and wine while we pushed on down to the bottom of the gorge..an hour walk down a really steep path that we had to pay 10y! Met some chinese tourists in silly shoes and shiny trousers. At the bottom there were 3 options for getting back up.
1) Back up way we came (free)
2) the ladders...up cliff face...(15y)
3) the safe path (cut into cliff face and increibly sturdy railing built of matchsticks preventing u falling 100m into gorge)
As path 3 led to Walnut Hostel where we were spending the night we took it...met path guardian who demanded 15y for the upkeep of it. Kate tried to pass but got attacked by a knitting needle!! I'm not sure about the maintainance laws in China but they must be pretty lax....

Signs on the path pointed to Woody's and Sean's but the elusive Walnut Garden was nowhere to be found. After much head scratching we chose to wander up to Seans....where we discovered the area was called Walnut Garden..hmm...10 mins after arriving the rest of the gang came strolling down the road. What had taken us 3 hours was a 15 min road walk!!! We all settled in (the smellier of us, aka the ones who's actually done something) showered and we settled into a game of Taboo!! With Barbara on the team we couldn't lose and came out 15-9 victores.
To get back to our bus home we had to get a mini-van thru the gorge; our hostel wasn't helpful and tried to charge too much so we took it upon ourselves to hitch...so we stopped a family in a minivan filled with boxes, tanks and a barrel and persuaded him we'd fit too. Barrels got tied to the roof and in we squeezed. 1/2 way we parted company with one of the barrels. Then we hit a recent (still rolling) landslide....but we're still alive (so any parents reading..it was perfectly safe..)

Back in Lijiang and it was the 26th, Anna's birthday!!! So we went out for a slap up meal with 2 bottles of wine. We then met our dutch friends again in a pub and had one with them before turning in. The next day we had a hellish trip the entire way from West China to the East Coast...