Litang

31st August

Our arrival in Litang the previous evening had been a little overwhelming. As you know, the bus journey was epic and when we got off the bus we were greeted by a gang of Tibetan guys on their motorcycles all competing for business. Not unlike the rest of China, but the Tibetans are cool!! They have a far gruffer appearnace and weathered faces that give the impression of a modern cowboy. Plus I knew that it was tradition for them to strap a knife to their thighs and that coupled with our extreme tiredness made the whole experience a hassle we would rather have avoided.

On top of this was my next little problem. Now a handful of people at home probably know kmore about my toilet habitrs than they really need to, and common decency prevents me from discussing it with anyone else, so I apologise in advance (particularly to any Perins students reading this!) After two weekd of being here and not a lot happening, the first place we check in to where we are sharing a fairly squalid squat toilet with about 10 other people is where I get ill. To make matters worse, squatting for that long with my knees made me scared I would never stand up again!

So when I awoke in Litang the following morning after a terrible nights sleep full of dogs barking, car horns, motorbike engines and trying to make a large dip in a lumpy matress comfortable I was not pleased to find that I was suffering from altitude sickness. It was like waking up in a stranger's house after an almighty drinking session, my head was pounding and every movement made me feel ready to vomit. All I wanted to do was climb into the passenger seat of a car and make a 15 minute journey back to Horder Close where I could crawl up the stairs to my lovely Tempur matress and sleep it off, maybe with the promise of a cup of PG Tips and a bowl of cereal with nice cold milk when I was feeling better. But we were an 8 hour bus ride from anywhere and I was starting to panic that we had made the wrong decision in coming here.

In an unusual turn of events Blakey got to experience me in a hungover state whilst he felt fine, and set to taking fantastic care of me. After another couple of hours sleep (he also had the noise rpoblem the night before) and a long shower which I also slept through, he chivalrously gave me his bed and headed out to find himself some breakfast. Not long aftre he had left I could hear him speaking English outside. He later told me that he had been invited to a sky burial.

We had read about sky burials before coming to Litang and knew that if we were to go trekking in the area we were to make sure we didn't stumble across one. It is a traditional Tibetan funeral in which the body is cut up by a religious figure, the brains smashed and mixed with barley flour and then the vultures are encouraged to eat. It is seen as an act of generosity by the devout Buddhists, offering a body they no longer need to the birds, who represent deitieson Earth, as well as offering a practical solution in an area where the ground is frozen solid for the majority of the year. The guy that Blaket\y had been talking to said many Westerner tourists have started attending, and although honoured that we had been extended an invitation both decided that we would not like a bunch of Tibetan tourists turning a funeral of one of our relatives into a cultural experince and decided not to go.

When Blakey returned an hour later, a huge bowl of egg fried rice in his belly, a new pen in hand that he had acquired with his new found Chinese linguistic skills (so good that people keep replying in Chinese, which obviously makes no sense!) and a carton of milk for me I was starting to feel better. It was mid afternoon by now, and very slowly I began to move from my bed and venture outside to experience the town we had come so far to see.

Town really is the wrong word for Litang. The only reason it shows on the map is because the small cluster of dusty streets and buildings here contrast so greatly to the vast sense of space all around it. Looking at it now in the bright golden sunshine of late afternoon it was like being in a completely different country. Being so remote the Tibetans have held on to their traditions, and all around were women in long, wrap over dresses with striped, multi-coloured aprins and often a baby bundled in blankets strapped to their backs. And, as I mentioned before, the men have a real sense of 'coolnes'- they all have a swagger in their step which is enhanced by the cloaks that hang off their right shoulders, cowboy hats and occassional gold teeth.

We took a slow walk through town and no longer looking like weary travellers were greeted once again with 'Ne Haos' and large smiles, as opposed to people pushing their businesses upon us. We walked passed rows of low, flat stone buildings with beautifully ornate window frames and roof terraces decorated with prayer lags, flower pots and what looked like minature Christmas trees. Following the road to the end of town we reached a monastery, perched just up a hill that gave beautiful views of the buildings and dramatic mountains inthe distance.

Hesistantly stepping up to the monastery, as the doors were not fully open, we found it a hive of activity. It is being refurbished- massive, impressive statues covered in polythene or supported by scaffolding were surrounded by a team of workers painting colourful, ornate pictures of gods on the walls with incredible detail. A number of monks were moving huge bags of rice from the reception area to a room at the back, ad so Blakey and I offered our services.

Blakey galliantly haved a huge sack over his shoulder and stroud off, whilst I struggled to lift a bag. A returning monk hoisted one on to my shoulder and I stumbled around the corner. Just walking up the hill I had been feeling fragile, so my determination to do something positive was not enough. Thankfully my knight in shining armour came around the corner, took the load from me and deposited it accordingly then held me up and took me to a seat before I fainted. Very dramatic!!

We stayed there for a little while longer, Blakey carrying loads and I tried to communicate with the workers who were saying things that I am sure were friendly and welcoming from the huge grins on their faces, but unfortunately this didn't make it any easier for me to understand!

After leaving the monastery we headed for the other end of town, walking slowly in the beautiful sunlight and stopping to take pictures all the way. This still only took about 10 minutes! (To give an idea of how remote it is here, the guy Blakey was chatting to was a student. When he goes to college he takes the bus. To India. It takes 3 days!!)

We eventually came to a Stupa- a Tibetan prayer monument. This is covered in brass cylinders which the people spin as they pass ina clockwise direction, muttering their prayers in a singsong voice. We walked around once then took a seat on one of the benches in the square whilst those praying continues to retrace their footsteps. Soon after a women with a baby and an elderly lady joined us. The baby was extremely cute, all wrapped up in layers of knitted clothing and just starting to toddle. We sat and watched him stumble around and then trying to push the cylinders himself whilst his proud granny looked on and his mother finished her prayers.

We strolled home as the sun started to creep away and night started to fall surprisingly quickly. Stopping at a supermarket (corner shop) we stocked up on supplies for our hopeful bus journey the following day. Having tried to buy tickets Blakey discovered that we can only turn up with our things and hope a) that we are not too late to have lost a seat and b) that there are enough other passengers for the bus to run. Fingers crossed we get to Xiangcheng! Although, after a morning of altitude sickness/ home sickness the afternoon was so magical that it would really not be a bad thing to get stuck in Litang at all. It's a truly incredible place, as is the journey here.

Numb Bums

(29th) The day before had been filled, and more than we expected, so we were still a little bleary eyed when we had to get across town to the bus station for the one and only bus each day that runs to Kangding. We had asked our receptionist to write down which bus station we needed to get to the night before, and as our guide book said the bus leaves at 9.30, and the Spaniard's 9am we decded to leave at 8am just to be sure. I scoffed down my worst breakfast yet, some kind of Chinese porrige alongside nuts ad really sour noodles, Laura couldn't stomach any of it and the other people were eating their food literally like pigs, it was a bit too much for her.

Anyway, we got a taxi right to the bus stop on schedule to find we were at the wrong one- totally infuriating as we had checked with our numbnuts hotel woman! This meant getting another taxi to a different station, and after finally getting there (wondering whether the taxi driver had taken us on a larger loop of the city than necessary?) we were to find the bus left at 8.30am. It was now 8.45am. HOW ANNOYING WAS THAT????!!!!

We sat outside in disbelief- would we take another taxi back to town to book another night in the hotel and waste money? It seemed so but after reading our damn helpful Planet guide we found we could travel back to Chengdu and catch a bus from there. Either that or take a flight straight to Kunming but we would miss the stagerring beauty of Kanding, Litang and Xiengcheng in the high mountains. We chose the first idea and took a two hour journey back on ourselves and as soon as we arrived in Chengdu and asked about a bus we were jetted straight to the ticket office, past baggage checks and on to a bus which had waited just for us, now that was nice!

It was now a seven hour bus trip on the Sichuan -Tibet Highway, one of the world's highest, hardcore and insanely dangerous routes between 4000m and 5000m in the sky! This was one hell of a rollercoaster ride gone horribly wrong and we really were holding on to our seats for our lives! Laura actually managed to sleep quite well while I watched upon us dodging rocks and boulders that had spilt and flung on to the road. They were the easy part- The hardest was the drivers who constantly overtook on every blind corner past heavy long trucks and China post lorries, we must have passed hundreds of them.

What made things easier were the unbelievable views of jagged rocks, deep green hills and snow-capped mountains. Our small bus full of people seemed lovely too and we began to see how faces were starting to change from Chinese to Tibetan.

Six hours later we finally arrived with super numb bums to Kangding 2616m high. We were pointed towards a hotel right next to the station which was great news for our 6.30am start the next day. After checking in to an even more grand pad than the night before, we booked tickets for the next day to Litang- this would be an eight hour journey!

We took a look around and yet again were greeted by tons of kids who were playing in the square. They came running and peddling up on their bicycles to say hello. Soon after that we came across quite a fancy looking Tibetan restaurant. We hadn'tsplashed out on food yet or gone anywhere a bit more up market so we went in for our first taste of Tibetan food. We first ordered a cup of warm milk which turned out to be a huge kettle full giving us about eight top-ups yum yum. Laura ordered rice with yak butter and wild root vegetables and I had a massive order of racked lamb with salad and peppers. It was easily the tastiest meal since leaving England and we were fit to burst after just half the meal had gone. It was a real high light and whilst we ate a Tibetan boy danced around the entrance to the restaurant to suitable music and it was a small feeling of what was to come over our next few stops.

Slowly creeping back we got to the hotel and hit out the lights out in preparation for our 5.30am get up.

(30th)- Amazingly enough we sprang to life pretty well and were on the bus in no time and headed towards the even highly elevation of Litang's 4014m. Yesterday's bus journey was hair raising enough but todays was quite simply the most white knuckled ride of my entire life! The roads had become more like cracked rocky pathes designed for monster trucks certainly not buses and even the biggest trucks out there were steaming at the wheels and engine. An hour into the ride things became easier and beyond beautiful as we headed through deep valleys, past stoney buildings and colourfully dressed Tibetans. We relaxed and took it all in for the next few hours until it was back high on the steep mountain edges. Our bus was stopped on numerous occasions either from snow or rocks covering the road to the Chinese military taking up space with terrifying amounts of vehicles and soldiers. We've not heard of any trouble here so it was a little alarming to see so many of them.

It was the final two hours of our now up to 10 hour journey which were to be the most trecherous. Every five minutes or so we would be slammed out of our seats towards the ever so low bus roof and hurled back down into a different seat than the one we had been sat on. In one instance I flew up and landed on my hard-as-nails metal water bottle putting a rather impressive dent in it with my coccyx bone! Another hairy moment was when the driver coasted the bus at an even higher speed down the edges of a fast descending mountain. An eerie silence came over as we hurled around the corners and even the locals had a worried look to themselves. We made it to the bottom and the engine was put back on but then we or should I say Laura had to deal with something just as bad... A man close to her started to eat a chickens foot and proceeded to spit out the bones on the floor- NICE! We did have the pleasure of a few people on the trip, one of which was a monk who kept checking if we were alright and the other was a family with two cute daughters. One around five years old and the other not even one perhaps. Once the younger one had spotted us she seemed fascinated and watched us pull silly faces which took the edge of the journey off for ten minutes.

So after the most gruelling road trip ever we arrived in Litang! Our place to stay named the Peace and Happy Hotel was once again right opposite the station. We checked into a seriously grotty looking place with tiny dirty rooms and the worst fly infested toilet yet but heeey we were only to pay 4 pounds for both of us per night! It soon became apparent that the family running it were wonderful though and we were happy to give them our money. Within an hour we were fast asleep for our earliest bedtime yet around 7pm!

Big Buddha

Well, we're four days behind on writing- we filled the previous diary in no time at all and have only just bought a new one, so lots to catch up on! Going back to the 27th, we were having a mighty good rest after our huge mountain trek and a half and lazing around is sure what we did. After sleeping tons and then getting breakfast we thought we'd check out Baguo village, where we'd been staying in but not had a chance to look around yet. It wasn't that special, every shop is just the exact duplicate of another, so nothing really draws you in, and when you do venture into one you'll often get followed around the shop by an over enthusiastic sales person. You dare not point at anything because they dive right in and try to make you spend, it really is very off-putting.

We took a walk through a park that looked half finished and just walked where the paths and roads took us, which ended up being the Emei university grounds. After that we headed to the most interesting thing worth seeing today- the Emei museum. It was free to walk around and half of it was dedicated to Mount Emei and its World Heriatge Status (there are over 800 of them, and Laura and I want to see them all before we pass it!) and the other half was more to do with the history of martial arts which is prevelant in the area. It made a pleasan days worth of things to do and not too strenuous on the legs.

We had another night's great sleep and woke for yet another big breakfast, so big that I had to eat Laura's too! She had scrambled eggs on toast, but it was more like huge scrambled sandwiches, so that with my eggs and bacon I was well back in the land of the living.

The 28th was all about getting to Leshan to see 'Dafo' who is the tallest Buddha in the entire world. First we had to to get there... After aking a one hour bus ride from Emei we got dropped off at a station a little way off the centre of town and were approached by people telling us to get on to another bus that would take us into town. Everyone else got on it, including a group of Spanish people from our hostel so we got on. It was only 1 Yuan (10p) and indeed took us through town, but then drove right through and out the otherside to the Buddha we wanted to see later. Everyone on the bus looked confused and asked to be taken back to town- we had all our luggage and had to check in to our hotel. The four people that had come from our previous hotel then became quite useful as one of them spoke Chinese quite well (with his phrase book still in hand mind). The Spaniards, two guys and two girls, had pretended not to know how to speak English when a bunch of Irish travellers had tried to chat to them at the rpevious hostel, and we weren't too sure how they would be with us, but they were damned helpful. After a mindnumbing conversation with a Chinese taxi driver who refused to take u to our hotel and wanted to take us to another (he must have been getting damned good commission!) we all got into a squished 6 seater taxi back into town.

The taxi pulled up at the hotel we asked for but things didn't look right- there was nothing saying hotel and everything was written in Chinese characters- all the places we had stayed in before had the Pinyin version for European guests displayed. We thought he had ignored us and taken us to his hotel anyway, but when I jumped out to check it was all good- I guess we are just starting to get a bit deeper into China now! It was called the Post and Telecommunication Hotel and was our swankiest home yet with it's white furniture and pink upholstery.

It wasn't long here until we shot back outside- the day was flying by after the bus chaos. We walked down to town and tried to find a local ferry that we had read about that would take us right passed the Great Buddha carved into the cliffside of the Dadu river. From the water we were told we would really understand the scale of it- 71m high with ears 7m long and toes 8.5m long (an unfortunate chap, having toes larger than his ears!) It seemed the ferry did not run anymore, and not wanting to take a tourist boat we took a bus to the spot we were dropped off earlier that day.

We entered a giant park to get there first and were greated by another giant Buddha carved into the mountain side lying down. Following that there were tons more, slightly smaller, but still mighty impressive ones as we passed through caves and up ridiculous steps that were steep, slippery, and very high. We prayed we didn't have to come back down them for Laura's vertigo issues! The top led us around for ages and ages, up and down more step in the blazing heat to an area where it seemed even the Chinese couldn't take the heat anymore and were hiding in the shade drinking. We joined them and within about a minute were joined by kids who where on a school outing asking all the usual questions. This led to curious Chinese men who had been slyly looking on to come over. All the attention was really on Laura and she was being told how beautiful she is. I got a bit of attention and one kid's father who was interested in me said I looked like a famous actor.

After pumping up Laura's ego for 20 minutes we finally made it to what we had come for, and boy was he big! The Grand Buddha had been built over 90 years, started by a monk named Haitong in 713 AD and it was hoped the Buddha would calm the fast moving currents of the Dadu River for the boatmen there. Amazingly it actually worked- all the slit that was produced was distrubuted in the river and the currents remain calmer to this day! After taking tons of pictures we realised we weren't going to capture its full scale on camera, so you'll have to come and see it for yourselves!

We had sweated bucket loads again but carried on to the Mahoya Tombs Museum, a small but quite atmospheric place where you enter tiny caves lit up with tombs at the end, covered in interesting carvings of black dragins and white tigers who are meant to protect the dead from evil ghosts, but unfortunately not tomb raiders it seems!

Our last stop of the day was another giant walk to the Wuyou Temple which was just closing, but we had enough time to enjoy it's amazing views over the river as the sun was starting to come down. We left and headed towards the river, hoping we might be able to get the local ferry back now the touts were out of the way, but were greated with blank faces and ointed back up the mountain. We were knackered so this wasn't the best result, though as we pushed back up we were stopped by a lady who pointed us back down the mountain- ohohoohoh! After going all the way back down again and turning in the opposite direction at the bottom we found a pretty run down but very friendly area and eventually a bus stop that took us back for another well earned sleep!

Intrepid Mountain Explorers

I am so tired I can barely sit up to write this now!! For the first time in 3 nights I am in a lovely dry bed in a clean room and we have earned ourselves a jolly good sleep!! On the morning on the 24th we set out to Emei Shan, a sacred Buddhist mountain which as well as boasting a range of historical monastries and temples was reported to hold beautiful scenery and a gang of confident wild monkeys- it sounded good from the start!

We started later than usual- I was still feeling queasy and Blakey was looking after me well. We bought a ticket to Wuxiangang to start the trek from one of the more scenic monastries and although we checked and double checked got dropped off slightly higher up the mountain at the Wannian Monastry.

We decided to enjoy the scenery and took a cable car up the first steep section. From here we could really appreciate what the next few days would have in store. We saw deep, craggy granite cliffs covered in lush tropical plant life. When we reached the Wannian Monastery we were not disappointed. We walked around the peaceful pavillion and both stroked Puxian's elephant's hind legs which should make us fabulously lucky- hurrah!

From here we started the ascent. As the mountain has been visited by pilgrams since the advent of Buddhism in China there is a paved path with slate steps leading from each spot to the Golden Summit. With the number of children, women in heels and people looking as ancient as the mountain itself we knew the stairs would not be too challenging. Or so we thought!!

In the 36 'C heat and with a fair amount of bugs around each step caused us to lose our breath. Blakey was sweating profusely; I was also but try to imagine in a more ladylike manner!

We stopped to regain our breath and drain the liquid from our water bottles rather often but kept going at a slow and steady pace until dusk. At this point, 2070m high and a supposed 20 km on (though I swear that's as the crow flies and not taking the ups and downs into account- as do many other travellers!!) we stopped at the Elephant Bathing pool.

This monastry was sat right in the middle of some of the most beautiful scenery we had passed so far. On either side we could see the sheer drop, though our views of the ground below were obscured by the misty clouds settled amongst the gnarled and twisted trees. We approached the monks and asked for accommodation for the night. At this point a small Chinese lady with a large flask of boiling water led us through the corridors to a very modest room with two hard beds, a desk and, surprisingly, a TV. She left us with the water and went on her way.

It is at times like these that I realise how lucky Blakey and I were to have found each other. For many people the dirty room, slightly damp blankets and definate mouldy smell could be something of a turn off, but for us this was one of the most atmospheric and romantic settings we had ever been. After settling in I took what was simultaneously the grottiest and yet most satisifying shower of my life (in which I found, tucked into the corner and at eye level, a hair clip- granny really is looking after me!) Refreshed we took a stroll around the monastery.

As dusk began to turn to night the peacefulness of the mountain was stunning. The moon shone brilliantly through the silhouettes of branches and the world seemed a great place to be!! We went to find some food and the monks opened up the kitchen for just us, cooking up some amazingly tasty noodles- though 8 hours of trekking with no lunch could make most things taste incredible!

After a good night's sleep we were up early to continue our journey to the summit. Walking sticks in hand we set off, this time less overpowered by the heat which was not nearly as intense up here.

One of the most rewarding things about the trek was the sense of commrardarie with others making the same journey. Each person we passed greated us with a cheery 'Ne Hao' or more often 'Hello! How are you?' in an attempt to practise their basic English skills. The best bit was when a lady pointed at my bulbous nose and gave me a thumbs up- apparently it is quite attractive in China! Then she pointed at Blakey's and mimed how pointy it is, giving him a thumbs down- oh dear!

Near the top I was enjoying my people watching and was fascinated by three Tibetan women in traditionl dress. I could feel myself staring as their culture intrigues me and so tried not to look too much. At that moment one of them grabbed me and asked (through mime and facial expression of course) if she could have her picture taken with me! All of the women lined up to have one taken, and out of their traditional bags pulled modern looking camera phones to record the moment. It is so strange to think that we are as intersting to them as they are to us. Both Blakey and I were asked to pose for a number of pictures with our arms around strangers.

After what felt like an eternity of climbing steep and perpetual cases of little rickety stairs we found ourselves nearing the 'Golden Summit'. We turned a corner and over a row of trees could see a collosal golden statue. We turned up onto the Pavillion and were absolutely awestruck by the magnificence of the figure.

As we spent the next 15 minutes with our fingers on the triggers of our cameras we had our own little taste of sunrise. For a brief 15 minutes the sun burst through the clouds and Jing Din temple and the statue both lit up brightly in the reflected rays. This was what most pilgrams get up at dawn or stay overnight for, and we were treated to this spectacle at the very reasonable time of 4pm!

Feeling thoroughly satisfied we decided to start our descent a little earlier than anticipated. Again, to get an alternative view, we took a cable car from the top to Leipongdin, a 3.5km distance that took us almost 2 hours to climb. Rather than the little cabin we were expecting this was a huge glass cabinet that went down an almost vertical drop- so intense it was almost like being at the top of a rollercoaster before it started. Once it did however, although it moved fast and was very high up, it was not quite the white knuckle ride it looked like it might have been.

From here we started our descent on foot. We were to go back an alternative route which we were told was more beautiful, but would first have to retrace our footsteps as far as the monastery where we had slept the previous night. Going down the mountain we suddenly gathered considerably more speed and wished smug and self-satisfied 'good-lucks' to the puffed-out, weary looking pedestrians going the other direction.

After passing through the monastery our path was suddenly stopped by a gang of monkeys. Blakey was excited in that special way that only Blakey can be and whipped out his camcorder. Just at that moment the monkeys must have sensed his sense of humour and turned the movie into some monkey porn. I bet you can't wait to see that bt of video!

The other path down really was beautiful. As the afternoon got later the clouds started to clear and we were walking along the edge of a huge valley, The mist kept rising atmospherically between us and the other side of the canyon and we continued at our new, rigourous pace. Eventually, as night began to fall, we found the Yuxian monastry.

This again was nestled into a stunning location. It was much smaller than the previous and was run by one very friendly monk who looked a lot like Buddha himself. Whilst taking pictures of the amazing view he showed us pictures he had taken on his phone and took us through his modest private living quarters to his personal terrace to show the view from that side. It was absolutley magical.

We settled down in our small, damp room for an early night's sleep, stinky but satisfied and I was soon drifting off. Blakey was less successful as a young girl in the room opposite us did nothing to lower her voice and her parents did nothing to encourage her. Yuk.

Though soon even she was drowned out and we were both wide awake listening to the most terrific storm I have ever heard. Rain was lashing down on the corrugated iron roof above us with an almighty roar, lightening flashing 3 or 4 times a minute whilst simultaneously the thunder cracked directly above us and echoed around the cliffs of the valley. It was quite terrifying!

By the morning the rain had blown itself out- or so we thought. After 30 minutes of careful trekking on the near-trecherous sodden slate steps th ethunder and rain started again. We continued to walk, aware there was nothing to do but get wet and focus on the warm shower and dry bed that was waiting at the hostel on sea level below. We stopped briefly for a coffee in a stall that smelt deliciously of wood smoke and watched a waterfall next to us quadruple in size before we had finished the cup. We continued our descent throught the forests of azaleas and into the subtropical plants as the heat began to pick up again. Thankfully this time the bugs were replaced with frogs and the occasional mammoth worm.

Nearing the end of our journey we had to pass through a corridor full of monkeys. Blakey received a hug from one on the look out for food before we reached a very beautiful though more touristed section of the mountain. A comparitively short walk around a crystal clear lake bought us back to a bus stop and a short journey filled with painfully loud kung fu and gambling movie soundtrack saw us back to our hotel. This was quickly followed by an extremely long, hot shower and a very large meal, plus an entire load of washing which is currently drying on the roof of the hotel.

Tomorrow is a day of rest- we have booked an extra night for a well deserved lie in and some internet action. Now I really must pay that Blake some attention!!

Chunks of sick anyone?

23/08/09 - Chengdu To Emei

We woke up at 7.30am and after atleast seven presses of the snooze button on our alarm clock we got out of bed around 9. Needless to say we were shattered but Laura in particular was feeling extra rough and the thought of having to pack up the entire room, squeeze things back into our bags and then catch buses for the next few hours didn't help either. What did help was our usual breakfast that always did the trick but for one of us things weren't going to get much better later in the day...

We checked out of our best hostel yet (only the second but hey!) and caught the bus to the bus station to get another bus for Emei. Well that was the plan anyway as we ended up on the wrong side of town. This was more annoying as halfway through the journey there must have been an accident because we came to a stand still on the bus for what seemed like half an hour in the blazing muggy heat. Luckily we had ended up right by the train station which would be much quicker, safer and comfortable, again or so we thought. More of that later.

Before jumping straight on the train we had to get a ticket which took quite a long time to find and once we'd found it there were tons of different queues. After looking lost and confused for five minutes a nice young Chinese man came to the rescue and made sure we were ok and stayed with us in the queue and ordered the tickets too. Thank you that man! However, the minute we got to almost paying Laura's roughness took a turn for the worst. Politely excussing herself from our helpful friend she dashed across the station outside to the nearest place to vomit. Thsi happened to be the worst place imaginable for Laura...KFC! Not only did she have to hold her sick but she had to do it whilst smelling dead greasy chicken. Things then got even worse when there was a que even bigger than the one at the train station. After holding on damn welll she couldn't stop the inevitable and ran out of the queue to the nearest sink and spewed chunks infront of around 15 Chinese ladies. This wasn't shaping up to be her day really!

After a good clean up she returned to the station and I popped off to get her some ice cold water to cool her down and wash a certain smell in the air from her mouth. If being sick wasn't enough, when I returned with fluids a few minutes later the second I had left a tramp had sat down right infront of her while she had her head buried in her hands and begged for money. Security had come over and asked him to move in which he didn't and they just left her and rolled their eyes. Laura gave the man a bottle of water and he threw it to the ground in disgust and raged something in Chinese. When I arrived back to her a second begger came along and wouldn't leave. We gave her 10p and she looked rather pleased and moved on so we got ourselves into the station finally. After about an hour we got onto the train, all seats had been booked so we had to take standing for two hours. This would be bearable but the second the train was about to leave, Laura took another turn for the worse and shuffled herself towards the door in order to puke on the tracks if necessary. The train security were right by the door and seeing a British person sweating and being sick isn't the best situation to be in with how serious the Chinese are dealing with Swine Flu. Luckily after being bent over resting on her rucksack for a few minutes nothing came of it. The next two hours were going to be rather interesting and incredibly uncomfortable.

We'd booked standing tickets and were cram-packed into the section of the carriage in between the seating areas right infront of the train doors with our massive homes on our backs and also stood in the only part of the train where you can smoke! Eventually the space widened by a few people and we managed to put our bags down and sit on them which was quite a balancing task in itself.

We thought we would be in Emei for around 2.30pm and it was looking like mor on 6pm. This was a pretty tough day but whilst sat squeezed in it actually became quite a thrill to be apart of. Staff attempted to push trolleys of food and water through to the different carriages and people were trampling on everyone elses feet and trying to dodge it. We made a few journey friends even if we hardly spoke to them. One man who had been huddled in a ball next to Laura offered me one of his cigarettes on three different occassions, I know I was sat in the smoking area but he didn't seem to get the message until he asked Laura if she wanted one and she had just learnt how to say no in Chinese ("Bu") which is to actually say "not". Another friend was a little boy who was obsessed at looking at me and looked even more in detail when I got out my not so swanky orange coloured mobile phone out. I'm not sure if he thought it was really cool because he's never seen that make before or amused it was so crap. Probably the latter as even the poor looking people on the tarin had the latest touch screen phones!

After a long journey we finally arrived at Emei. The hostel we'd booked (The Teddy Bear Hostel- yes there really is teddy bears everywhere!) had warned us that we'd prbably be aproached by toats insisting they have come to pick us up. Sure enough we were met by a woman spoating out different hostel names hoping she'd get the right one. When she saw we had the Teddy Bear leaflet in our hands she produced a fake card and told ud to get in her taxi. After alot of no, no, no thanks, no, we got ourselves a taxi. Who knows where we would have been taken or what we would have to had bought but we'll never know!

So here we are now, with a rather expensive looking room (although it has tacky orange bear faces on the bedsheets and pillow!) and I've just devoured some beef and potato and Laura had a big bowl of egg fried rice. We're so ready for bed and we need it for tomorrow we spend the day climbing Mount Emei and will do it over the next two days sleeping in two different monastrys. Once we've climbed back down again we'll come back to this hostel for another night.

Pandas and the Chinese Opera

22/08/09 - Chengdu

Well bloody hell, we are having a smashing time! This morning was another challenge- when Blakey came back up last night we discussed the diary entry he had just written- I got so excited I couldn't switch off and sleep when I needed too, so getting up at 6.30 this morning was a little challenging! Washed and dressed we went down for a pre-ordered breakfast, bacon and egg sandwich for Blakey and yogurt and muesli for me alongside two cups of lush coffee. We were feeling better in no time.

So we hopped on a mini bus with a load of others from the hostel and headed for the Panda Research Centre in time for their morning feed.

Now Chengdu is a two and a half hour flight south of Beijing and the heat in summer here is outrageous usually. We seem to have brought the pathetic English summer with us, but at present that is no bad thing. We took a pleasant stroll through the park in the refreshing morning air and eventually came to a group of four pandas munching on bamboo shoots. They were really fascinating to watch- there was something quite human about the way they held their food and surveyed their environment. After hundreds of photos we were the ones to shoot and leave. We moved round the park to find an extremely active red panda enclosive. The little pokemon type creatures were really playful and mischievious and took even more of our sd card space. After a long time stood here our tour leader encouraged us all to start following again and though reluctant at first we were very glad we did. The final enclosure (although that makes it sound like a zoo- they semmed to have tons of room) was full of about seven panda cubs eating, wrestling one another and playing on a bamboo swing. We stood here for a long time utterly entertained by the cute, playful behaviour of the cubs and the twee "oohhs" and "aaahhs" of the crowd. When we came to move away we walked into a display room and realised that this contained the final enclosure. Behind the glass was a panda nursery and a couple of month old twins. The strange creatures were still like hairless rats- like in 'The Witches'- only very, very cute. After watching a scientist clean up one that was pooing (yum) we watched the cub jostle back towards the warmth of its sibling, so unusual it seemed like animatronics froma low budget film.

After feeding time we understand pandas dont do alot else with their day so we headed back to the mini buses. Here we encountered what could be our least favourite thing about travelling...other travellers! We sat in front of a pair discussing what countries they had already seen in an oh-so-knowledgeable and I'm-better-than-a-common tourist manner. This was made more excrutiating by the very loud, very nasal, very American accent fromone member of the party and the insistant confirmation from the other that he is not nor has he ever been considered by anyone ever, a geek, despite the fact he is a computer programmer when not travelling. We both made promises to ourselves that we will not become bored and boring know it alls and thanked the fact we'd forked out an extra 4 quid for a double room. We headed upsairs for a little lay down!

We spent a very lazy afternoon eating comfort food in the bar (toast for me and burger for Blakey- though I swear a gut with a bandana and no shoes tutted whilst he munched through a local speciality!) and read through all the info we had for the upcoming days.

After a wonderfully indulgent few hours we were due to head out again- this time to the Jinjiang Sichuan Opera. It was a brilliant show- lots of small sketches held together by a presenter. It included Chinese Acrobatics, an amazing Erhu musician, some dodgy shadow puppetry (which wouold have definately got buzzed three times on Britains Got Talent!) and the most brilliant section- fire breathing and face changing. The actors came out in traditional costumes all wearing masks, though one was operating a puppet wearing a mask. The first blew fire over the audience- impressive but I have seen it before. Then extremely quickly, the actors masks all changed even the puppets mask became a different one. This continued in more impressive and interesting ways for the following ten minutes. The actors were dancing, drawing attention to their faces, and sometimes without even masking themselves the would change right infront of us. Most impressive was when one actor's intire costume chaneged 3 times whilst on the stage!

We are now back on our bed for the last time in Chengdu. Tomorrow we move on to Emei Shan.

Sharks Fins and Monkey Brains

20/08/09

Today was all about leaving Beijing and taking a flight over to Chengdu. Our taxi was booked for 2.30pm so we had plenty of time to kil once we had crammed up our intensely full bags- I swear they're getting bigger each by the day! We headed into Beijing city centre for one last wlk around and began to realise how well we had already got to know the streets now. Not only that but how to say no to people, in particular the very friendly but total scammers that are the so-called art students who walk up and down the street looking for tourist suckers but we know their game now!

We spent most of the time in a maaassive shopping complex which each floor dedicate to either just toys or jewelery or clothes in which they looked like they were all designed just for Laura and boy could she have spent every lasy penny in her account if it wasn't for the lack of room in our bags!

We headed back to the hostel 20 minutes early and our taxi man was ready and waiting so we speeded it off in typical Chinese style driving to the airport. We haven't mentioned the traffic out here yet...It's frankly insane! We've never seen anything like it. For example- if a pedestrian crossing goes green then everyone obviously walks across but the traffic doesn't stop ohh no no, you have to dodge buses, bikes and the raving mad taxi drivers. No one living here seems to mind and walk without a care in the world. No-one wears seat belts, infact belts are provided but in most cars there's no buckle to put them into! No-one wears helmets when on their bike or bicycle and carry their entire family on the back seat along with the pet dog sat in between their feet. The biggest thing though is the constant hooting of horns - you cannot go 10 seconds without someone playing rythmic patterns on their horn. They do it not because someone's done wrong but more to say "I'm coming, ready or not!". Going back to little country lanes in West Meon will be a joy to behold.

Anyway back to where I was - We're leaving Beijing! We get to the airport in plenty of time and decide to eat pretty much the entire contents of food we'd bought over the last few days. So we were early but the flight was delayed. Not that it said that anywhere in Englise, we got told but a Russian woman opposite us who not only spoke fluant English but Chinese too as her boyfriend was Chinese and it looked like she had brought her family over to meet his parents for the first time, that must have been an interesting time.

Anyway the flight eventually came and off we went an hour later than planned which wasn't too bad although we'd booked a taxi to pick us up when we land and the chances of them being there now were slim to none but behold a rather, if I can say, very attractive Chinese lady was stood waiting tot take us to our new home for the next three days - Sim's Cozy Guesthouse.

We arrived to a very warm welcome, The Lonely Planey seriously big up'd this place and we instantly saw why. From the beautiful garden complete with pond, rabbits running amongst plants and people playing acoustic guitars to our private room with an amaazing bed that we'd love to take home and tv/dvd player along with a movie library down stairs (not that we'd have time for that) and a bang on top shower. All simple things but when you're traveling you really start to appreciate the smallest things! It's run by a backpacker couple and their son and daughter and they've seen their fare share of hostels whilst around the world traveling too so they have put everything they'd always wanted under one roof.

While we were admiring our new pad the first disaster struck. I go to pay for the room and...my bank card...where is my frigging mother trucking card? The one we're using to pay for everything out here (until Laura's pins through for her new one). It didn't take long to realise I'd left it in a cashpoint back in Beijing. What a complete twit. When you finish getting money out your card doesn't pop out like it does over here, you have to press a few more buttons. ooohhhh dear. After quite a bit of sweating and shakes I'd sorted cancelling the card and nothing has been taken from my account since I lost it and a new one is on it's way. Phhhewww, we're safe and have money so don't worry okay! We slept well that night!

21/08/09

A new day and we woke up later than usual and without a single bug bite for the first time! The night before it was decided to put up the mssey net and it did a grand job. Then off we trotted for some great breakfast in the hostel. Laura had a banana pancake and I an egg and bacon sandwich alongside chunks of melon and salad. Not very in the spirit of things but we planned to visit a Chinese vegetarian restaurant later in the day.

One we'd munched we headed to buy some special discount cards to get us into various sites across the city for much cheaper. After eventually finding the shop that sold them we had to go all the way back to the hostel to activate them over the phone which took blooming ages and before we knew it lunchtime was soon approaching so we bombed it down to our first main site of the day - The Wenshu Temple, Chengdu's largest and best-preserved Buddist temple. It was probably our favourite so far, muchsmaller than the Forbidden City and reminded us of the ones we fell in love with in Japan.

There was a teahouse there in which we stopped in a good while. You collect your tea cups and sit on tiny chairs and table. The cups have lids on and what it took us a while to work out was that if you left your lid off then a man comes along and pours it back to the top again. This kept happening. More and more free tea. Then Laura twigged on. Next to the teachouse was the vege restaurant I mentioned earlier. We were a little peckish so we went for what we thought would be just a quick bite. More on that in a mintute. The menu was strictly vege but when we flicked through we read things like monkey brains, shark's fin, chicken paws and hot ear slices?! Very appealing to the everyday vegetarian. It turned out everything was fake but just made to taste like that. Very, very strange. I ordered beef but is was tofu and obviously nothing like it. Although saying that, it tasted enough like meat that Laura soon stopped eating it. We'd also ordered to share together dumblings and aubergines and when it all came out the portions were gigantic! A light bite? No chance this was going to take hours! No we didn't finish it but I currently have a doggy bag in my rucksack in which now we really don't want to see or smell for the next month thanks.

One temple down we grabbed a taxi (in which our bellies were thankful for) to the next one. We entered the Green Ram Taoist Temple where there is a bronze goat you should touch to heal your life's troubles and pains. I don't think all my troubles vanished but my stomach was certainly a bit more pain free now. One thing that does keep popping up while looking around the temples is that many people that come here do so to pray infront of the many statues and perform ceremonies and we really don't know what to do ourselves in these situations. Should we pray to the giant buddha? We don't think so but we would hate to offed anyone. At one point we heard a Taoist man shouting at a couple at the top of his voice and proceeded to do so for the next few minutes. We don't know what they did but we don't want to ever be in their shoes. Slightly on edge we left shortly after that and headed to our last stop The Thatched Cottage Of Du Fu (a famous poet that lived in here) which is meant to be the most beautiful green space in Chengdu. This park was made up of bamboo paths through to brideges over streams with the peotry written on stones throughout. To be honest it wasn't as good as it sounds as it was very westernised and somewhat fake. A lovely walk nevertheless!

Capital

18/08/09- 1.20am Beijing

We're here! After nearly two years of planning, saving and organising we have actually started our adventures!!

The last few weeks have been an adventure in themselves, moving out of our beloved Horder Close and becoming teenagers again back with our parents! We have had meals cooked and washing cleaned for us, so now we have to learn to fend for ourselevs again!

We spent 10 hours on a plane from London that chased the sun, leaving us with little darkness and a pretty terrible night's sleep trying to make a right angled piece of metal a comfortable bed (Tara and Gary seemed to manage that, but we had no Sabuca to hand so found it impossible).

When we got off the plane at 9.30am in an overcast Beijing it was 2.30am back home. This is where the adventure began! Having cleared customs uneventfully we made our way to the shuttle bus service detailed on the hotel voucher. Unfortunately the infpo on the boards did not make a lot of sense to us so we mustured our best Mandarin (pointing at the guide book and looking confused) and got help. We understood to take the bus 3 stops along. We boarded with the most ridiculously oversized bags and I hurt a small child by setting mine down on his foot. he git his own back by eating cackers with his mouth open for most of the journey.

We counted he stops meticulously, and having qualifications in mathematics I like to think successfully, but when we goy off there was no information or assistance to confirm this fact.

At this point our sense of adventure kicked in and so we decided to walk around and ask for directions from security guards (Beijing has a plethora of them!) We felt we were getting closer, everyone kept giving us similar advice, when we found ourselves at a tourist information desk. We assume they were all trying to send us here rather than the "Yes, you are close, you clever English people" that we had hoped for. The tourist office looked at us shocked and confuse: "It's a long way, would you like to take a taxi?" A little disheartened that we were not so good at finding our way with impressive independence we said yes and waited for her to call one for us. She stared at us blankly then told us that taxis drive on the roads in Beijing, and maybe if we went outside we would hae more success in finding one.

As we walked around the humid streets with a small flat packed into the bags on each of our backs and our shoes rubbing quite painfully now, we really started to appreciate what the next ten months have in store for us. So, between some grumpiness and a few snaps, mostly from the (ashamed to say) more anally retentive of the two ("why do you keep brething like that!?!") we casped hands and had wide grins start to spread cross our faces as we saw interesting buildings, tried desperately hard to get that Katie Melua song out of our heads (there are nine million bicycles in Beijing...) and smelt all those strange and alien smells that seem so powerful when you first arrive in a foreign country. All the while we were trying to track down taxi drivers, but by this point must have looked so horrendous, as even those waiting for passengers felt it more prudent to encourage us we were close by ponting down the road further.

By the time we took our bags off our backs at the Beijing International Saga Youth Hostel we had nothing to do but strip our sodden clothes, cover in some decent way and try to find a gallon of liquid, if not a drip, to rehydrate us. Bumper sized bottles of Sprite guzzled we fell asleep on our separate beds with the ambition of a power nap and an afternoon exploring.

4 hours later we woke and I panicked that we would not sleep tonight. Nother two hours of involuntary sleep followed before I insisted that it was time to leave the room or we'd be up at 4.30pm. As it was gone 9pm we took a stroll to find some food, and after being given a map headed out for a night market and Tiannemen Square. With the bags off our backs and neon lights illuminating the way the city seemed very beautiful, and although we never found the night market we were hown an exhibition for a student who was excited about his coming trip to Paris. He discussed in great detail the traditional style of Art and calligraphy an showed us his modern take on things. After writing our names for us as a gift and telling us stories about each piece we felt we would like a piece to take home. He was a very clever sales man!!

Finally we made our way back to our beds. We will be up earky in the morning to see Tiannamen Sqaure and the Forbidden City in the daylight after a beautiful midnight stroll around the closed grounds. We are so lucky to have 10 months of this ahead of us!!

19/08/09

Well we certainly managed to catch up on our sleep finally. we set our alarms for 7am and actually moved out of bed at 9am but we were still looking pretty rough with our bloodshot eyes and foggy brains. What was needed was a good coffee so we set off not sure what we might find. Then after quite a walk we spotted a Starbucks, not exactly what we had in mind but we really needed it! Just before we went in a lady outside the shop nextdoor invited us to try her free tea which was rather damn good so we checked out the her shop. Before we knew it she was preparing a full Chinese tea ceremony for us! We said we had no money which was an obvious lie but after seeing the last few people that had come up to us in the street we knew how good people are at selling things to you out here. yet again though we were met with such goodness and generousity we felt so welcome. After several free teas, sweets and chocolates later we bought a small box full.

Next up was our main objective of the day - The Forbidden City! This certainly didn't disapoint, it was huuuuge and took us hours upon hours to walk around. It had been used in many of the Zing Dynasty action films we'd watched back home and being stood right in the middle courtyard surrounded by massive temples it was something quite special. We can't wait to watch the films back now!

Next up was the beautiful Beihai Park with it's wide river full of Water Lillies and amazing bridges. We bought some lollies and sat down for a good rest and to enjoy the surroundings. We set off to head to the top of the park and Laura got praised by a Chinese boy who wanted his picture taken with her. This was the first of many to come later in the day when we got more taken with a mother and her daughter. We've been mistaken for famous celebritys but I can't imagine who apart from Boris Becker and Britney Spears maybe? I don't think they've ever dated though!

The day was moving quick so we squeezed in one last thing and headed to Tiannemen Square. Nothing much to see really apart from some very impressive stone carvings. Many people were killed in in a protest but I don't know much more than that. We headed back to the hostel, obviously getting lost again and taking twice as much time as we needed to but that's all the fun really. Now we're sat eating potato wedges and getting tingles about seeing The Great Wall tomorrow waaahooo!

Welcome to Blake and Laura's blogspot!

We have less than 5 days to go now until we leave for the rest of the world and our pants are wet with anticipation and excitement. This is the first blog of many and we're just testing out how everything works on this site. So far so good! Cannot wait to read this all back in a year's time!