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!