BEIJING - CHINA

DATONG - CHINA

PINGYAO - CHINA

JUZHAIGOU NATIONAL PARK - CHINA

Following our return to Songpan, Rich, Monika and myself enjoyed our first hot shower in a few days, grabbed a quick bite to eat and then jumped on the first available bus to the town of Juizhagou, only 2 or so hours further to the north. Still feeling pretty tired, we arrived and after sorting out bus tickets and some food, basically just crashed for the night. The following morning we made our way to Juizhagou National Park, China's leading tourist attraction and before even arriving there we began to wonder what we were getting ourselves in for. There were literally tens of thousands of tourists, all pushing and shoving their way into the park entrance and not only that, there was horrible music blaring from everywhere and people trying to sell all number of tacky tourist items.... in a nutshell, a typical Chinese tourist destination.

Despite the quite pricey entrance fee, we decided to continue and managed to shave off some costs by not paying for a bus pass (although we fully intended to make use of the buses once inside the park). After a longer than expected walk we reached the first bus stop where we attempted

CHENGDU - CHINA

SONGPAN - CHINA

After a rather sedate few days (compared with the previous week) spent in Chengdu, Rich and I continued to the north of Sichuan province, stopping firstly in the small town of Songpan. Having left Tina in Chengdu, we were joined by Monika (Germany) and on our first afternoon in town, we checked into our very basic acommodation and then booked ourselves onto a 3 day horse tour before embarking on a 'short' climb to the top of a nearby hill for views of the city. After only about 2 minutes we made a wrong turn into a local persons front yard where a rather angry dog halted our progress, causing Monika to backpeddle quickly and then to fall a few metres down the embankment we had been skirting. Thankfully she was unhurt by her fall (although at the time she was more concerned with the predicament of her camera than her personal safety) and so we continued upward and upward, quickly realising that this short walk was not really very short at all.

After about 1 hour, we arrived at the top and were greeted by some friendly local ladies and also some great views of the city and surrounding mountains, many of which were partially covered with snow. Thankfully our descent proved considerably easier although I was somewhat hindered by an upset stomach, a condition which worsened over the remainder of the day.

After a pretty uncomfortable nights sleep, it was another early start and after a quick breakfast we made tracks to our tour agency, where we were kitted up with our horses and then set off in the very, very cold conditions. Despite the almost sub-zero temperatures and very chilly wind, I was still kitted out in 'typical Australian attire', namely thongs and a few shirts. Unfortunately, this proved particularly innefective at keeping out the cold and after about 5 minutes I could no longer feel the majority of my feet. Somehow I managed to avoid losing my toes to frostbite by tucking them under the horse and after a few hours, one of the guides was kind enough to lend me his gumboots, which were somewhat of a godsend. Nonetheless, being cold and feeling absolutely terrible meant that I didn't particularly enjoy this first few hours of the ride. Thankfully Monika was very good at making sure I ate the right things (rice, bread and that's about it) and that I was taking in plenty of water.

After reaching the highest point of the mountain pass, we were required to walk down so as to avoid the horses slipping on the rather muddy trail. This break from riding certainly helped to ease the severity of my stomach pains and now, kitted out in my gumboots I was able to avoid having my shoes completely covered in dirt (the others were not so fortunate). After about another hour or so of riding, we stopped for the day (which I was very relieved about) and after setting up our tents, the guides cooked up a tasty lunch and we spent a few hours playing cards, listening to music on our IPOD and speaker sound system and getting to know the other members of our group.

Around 5pm the sun crept behind the mountains and things got very cold, quickly. We huddled around the fire for a few hours, ate some dinner and then were pretty much forced to go to bed around 8pm because of there being nothing better to do. Covered with quite literally 10 or so blankets and still wearing all of our clothes, we somehow shivered our way through the night and managed very little sleep. I didn't really sleep at all, mainly because the whole night my stomach was experiencing internal explosions about once every minute.

After another early start the next day we rode for around 4 hours over some steep terrain until we reached our destination, 'Ice mountain'. Although quite impressive, the mountain was really nothing special and we were given only about 20 minutes to take the views in before having to walk back down the steep pass we had just ascended. Still suffering, this took me quite a while and I certainly didn't appreciate the guides making us trot for more than half of the return journey as this really didn't help to settle my stomach. Feeling absolutely rubbish, dead tired and certainly not in the mood for talking or interacting with other people, I had a brief but worthwhile rest in the tent and then joined the other for some more cards and music before yet another early departure to bed.

Thankfully I awoke feeling much better on the last day of our tour although we were somewhat startled by one of the guides comming in to brush off the 20 or so centimetres of snow covering the outside of our tent !!! After grabbing some great photos and having a quick snowfight (fun but very cold) we made tracks back for Songpan, this time covering a different trail to that which we had covered on our first day. Still very cold, we ascended up into the clouds but after reaching the summit, the cloud and fog began to dissapear as the sun came out and only a short while later it was actually quite warm. The return journey was quite enjoyable and we passed through some more great scenery before finally making our return to the town where we road down the street in almost the same way as the Mongols must have after returning from a succesful battle.

This 3 day of horse riding adventures was probably the most enjoyable activity I undertook not only in China but over the entire course of my travels this year. I met some great people, saw some amazing scenery and had a fantastic time. Despite feeling pretty rough(thank goodness I had Monika to make sure I was looking after myself) for the majority of the trip and having to endure some absolutely freezing conditions, I enjoyed every minute of the tour and would definitely like to return to the area sometime in the near future.

Photos 1-4: Shots taken from the bus on the trip from Chengdu to Songpan.
Photos 5-7: Views of Songpan and the surrounding countryside.
Photos 8-20: Day 1 of the horse-trek.
Photos 21-33: Day 2 of the horse-trek (trip to Ice mountain).
Photos 34-43: Final day of the horse-trek (return to Songpan).

DALI - CHINA

LIJIANG - CHINA

TIGER LEAPING GORGE - CHINA

Geared up for some more strenuous physical activity after a fairly relaxed stay in Dali, I made my way with my Dutch companions, Arajen and Mariska to the town of Lijiang and then the following day to the well known, 'Tiger Leaping gorge' in the north of Yunnan province. After another eventful bus ride during which the female driver didn't shut her mouth for the entire journey, we arrived in the small town of Quiaotou and after purchasing a few supplies and eventually finding the beginning of the trail, we began our 3 days of adventure in the gorge. Unfortunately the weather on our first day wasn't particularly good but at least it wasn't bucketing down and we made quite rapid progress (despite the fact that I was walking part of the way barefoot and the remainder in my preferred form of footwear i.e. thongs).

After around 2 hours of walking we made a brief stop for lunch and then embarked on the most difficult part of the trail, a tough slog for 1.5 hours and 400 vertical metres to the summit of one of the smaller mountains on the edge of the gorge. As we ascended into the clouds, the weather seemed to become less and less enticing weather but thankfully I had my music with me and was able to keep myself moving all the way up. After reaching the summit we were greeted by a very thick layer of fog and were barely able to see 10 metres in front of us. However. despite such limited visibility the ensuing walk along the summit ridge was still quite enjoyable and after descending a little on the other side, the sun began to burn away some of the clouds and we were treated to some great views of the gorge and surrounding mountains.

The latter half of the afternoon was fairly easy going although there were a few slippery sections for which thongs were not exactly suitable attire, but I managed ok without eating dirt too many times. I particularly enjoyed passing through the small villages nestled amongst the mountains, all of which provided me with an idea of what China must have been like before becomming such a rapidly developing country. Progress in the afternoon was however a little slower given that Mariska was not feeling particularly well and after descending from the high trail down to the sealed road, just a few hundred metres above the gorge, we decided to call it a day. That night night we stayed at a modest guest house with good food and hot showers, both of which were very much welcomed, however after cleaning ourselves up and filling our stomachs were all asleep at the ungodly hour of 9pm !!!

The next day we set off early after a good breakfast and walked the 30 or so minutes down the sealed road to the popular 'Walnut garden' where we intended to spend a rather relaxed day exploring more of the gorge. Unfortuntately Mariska still wasn't feeling particularly well and was quite tired from the previous day of walking so after attempting to hike down to the gorge, she eventually returned to where we were staying, whilst Arajen and myself embarked on a guided tour of the middle gorge. Our guide, a farmer whom we had bumped into along the way was quite nimble despite both his age and small stature and whilst not really an authentic guide (no english to be heard whatsoever), he did prove quite useful, mostly because by being with him we weren't required to pay any of the 'tolls' at different points along the trail. As such, the cost of our 'guide' was only a few Yuan (i.e. cents) more than we would have paid anyway, which more than justified his presence in our expedition party.

The walk along the middle gorge certainly made worthwhile, sticking around for an extra day as we were treated to some great views of the surrounding mountains and from this position we were provided with a completely different perspective than from the high trail. I simply couldn't comprehend just how high the cliffs were on both sides of the gorge, in some cases extending upward for more than 3500m !!! Being so close to the river also meant we could appreciate its full power (there were some rapids which I think would have scared even the most experienced kayakers and rafters) although I wasn't a particularly big fan of clambering over the 'Tiger leaping rock', just a few inches away from being smashed into a thousand pieces...

The hike out of the gorge proved quite an effort and after scaling 25 vertical metres on possibly the most unsafe ladder in the world, we zig-zagged our way upwards until finally we were back on the sealed road. That afternoon proved to be quite a relaxed affair and basically encompassed drinking beers in the warm afternoon sun. These activities continued well into the night and the combination of beer and the hostel specialty, 'happy bread' certainly led to some interesting occurrences later on. That night, Arajen sustained a badly sprained ankle after tripping on the stairs en-route to the toilet, thereby ensuring that he would not be able to complete the remainder of the hike the following day.

Around 7am I awoke in a very messed up state and was barely able to walk myself given how rough I felt. However after a bowl of porridge I eventually managed to get going and walked along the sealed road towards the town of Daju for a few hours and with the help of some locals I found my way through fields and down the gorge to the ferry crossing. The ferry operators proved to be most disagreeable chaps and in the end I had to pay an exorbident amount (for China) just to cross only because I was a lone passenger. Taking this on the chin as another example of locals taking advantage of an innocent tourist, I endured another hot and tough hike to the top of the gorge where I arrived at the bus stop, just 20 minutes before the bus to Lijiang was meant to arrive.

Upon my arrival however I was informed by a group of Chinese tourists that the bus drivers in the region had gone on strike and it was unlikely that I could get to Lijiang by bus for at least a few days. With only 40 Yuan (4 Euros) to my name and not a credit card in sight (or a bank for that matter), I found this to be quite a problem because I certainly couldn't afford to stay in Daju for days and didn't particularly want to either. Eventually, through a combination of persistence and pleading, I managed to get this group to take me with them to Lijiang in their hire car in exchange for all my money. Although this involved me sitting in some of the most uncomfortable positions on the floor of the car, I figured it was a small price to pay considering what I was getting myself out of.

An added bonus of travelling with the group was however the fact that we visited a number of interesting places along the way, including an extremely beautiful glacial lake with an amazing blue colour as a result of minerals being present in the water. After getting some good photos and relishing the chance to stretch my legs, we continued our journey and eventually made it back to Lijiang, thankfull to have somehow gotten myself out of a pretty tight situation. Feeling tired, a little ill and quite hungry I managed to get myself into a hostel and enjoyed a few moments peace before hitting the sack early again.

The trek through Tiger Leaping Gorge was definitely one of the most enjoyable activities I have undertaken on the whole of my travels in 2006 and some of the scenery along the trail was just as incredible as that which I have taken in during my time in South America and Europe. Whilst all aspects of the trip certainly didn't go to plan, hiking the trail is an experience that I will look back on with very fond memories for a long time to come. Unfortunately my descriptions of the trail and surrounding scenery do not even come close to painting a picture of what it was like, so I hope that my photos do a better job at this...

Photos 1- 5: Arajen, Mariska and myself during different sections of the gorge.
Photos 6-36: The gorge in all its glory and grandeur.
Photos 37&38: Glacial lake which we visited on the way back to Lijiang.

BRUSSELS - BELGIUM

Dissapointed to some extent by my visit to Paris, I eventually made it to Brussles after a lengthy 3 hour wait on the motorway due to mechanical problems with the bus. This delay, whilst quite frustrating, also proved to be a blessing in disguise as our late arrival into Brussels meant that all available hostel accommodation had long since been snapped up. Thankfully, I was able to stay with a friend of a German guy (Alex) whom I had met on the bus and after a good fill of Turkish style beef and french fries (which are, believe it or not actually from Brussels !!!) I hit the sack, pretty exhausted from a rather long day.

YANGSHOU - CHINA

Braced for chaos and confusion, I finally left Hong Kong after a more than adequate stay and made the 3 hour journey through the 'New territories' to the transportation hub of Guangzhou in the far south of China. Unfortunately I quickly discovered that Guangzhou is really just another big city in China, a commercial and industrial hub with lots of buildings which had been fairly recently constructed but in total chaos. I even found it somewhat depressing as the whole place was just a construction site. Thankfully I managed to befriend some friendly people from Hong Kong, who helped me find out where I needed to go to get a bus and after changing some money and sorting out other stuff, they even took me with them to get some lunch (I was starving). It was great to meet such lovely people and they really were so kind to me, offering to pay for lunch and explaining what all the crazy foodstuffs were about.

After lunch I took a taxi to the train staion, leaving myself with what I thought was sufficient time to buy a ticket and get myself out of the city. The taxi ride there was quite an adventure and I found that the pedestrian is really the king of the road in china as there is no way to move thousands of people walking in the street. This did not however stop the taxi driver from beeping his horn incessantly for the entire journey. Despite numerous warnings to avoid travel during the week long holidays of National week, I found myself amidst a throng of travellers all vying for precious seats on train and busses bound for various destinations in China. Thankfully I somehow managed to extracate myself from this mess (although not without complication) and with the help of about 10 different people and after asking about 100 more, I managed to buy a bus ticket to my intended destination, Yangshou. Given that I had nothing to do in Guangzhou, I spent the 6 hours waiting for my bus, just playing Sudoku... fun times !!!

The journey to Yangshou was quite horrendous and I got little to no sleep, after a while just giving up and trying to take in some of the scenery. Following an early morning arrival to Yangshou, I checked into a hostel, grabbed some breakfast and then embarked on a day of biking with Omar (Ethiopia) and Luis (Mexico) whom I had met on the bus from Guangzhou. Our group also included 2 chinese girls who wanted to pracitce their english (although they seemed to spend alot of the day speaking with each other in Chinese... which none of us quite understood).

The scenery around Yangshou was quite amazing and very similar to that which I had observed around Vinales in Cuba. Thankfully the weather was great if a little warm and on our bikes we were able to take in some of the country side. Along the way I managed to sustain a number of injuries including cuts from generally being a maniac and also a massive bruise on my upper thigh as a result of me falling down a ditch whilst attempting to... take a photo of course ! (It didn't even turn out to be a good photo which was a little annoying). After an hour or so of riding, we were joined by Abrahm (Holland) who was taking a similar route to us and whom had unfortunately paid out for a rather useless tourguide who wanted to go home and sleep rather than show Abrahm around.

We made our way to Moon Hill and after a steep climb were treated to some great views of the surrounding landscape. Over the course of the day we also passed a number of rivers, all filled with bamboo rafts carrying mainly chinese tourists around the place.

Unfortunately however, this first day of activities was pretty much the extent to which I saw and experienced the region around Yangshou, which is a pity because I think there was certainly plenty more to see including a number of interesting villages along the Li River. Given that the town was bustling with tourists and foreigners living in different parts of china but on vacation for a few days in Yangshou, I spent the majority of my time in Yanghsou socialising and having a good time. I justified this by the fact that it was probably the first time since Sout America that I had really embarked on such a period of disorderly behaviour.

But bloody hell !!! It was absolute chaos. Following our day of biking, a group of us assembled outside one of the streetside bars/cafes and enjoyed a number of cheap, cold beers (just what the doctor ordered). Following this we frequented a number of bars and eventually made our way home (all except Luis, who had drunken so much, including some nasty chinese 'vodka' that he couldn't remember where his hotel was and was as such taken to spare bed in Abrahms room). However, this was probably the most tame night of our stay in the city.

The following night, after not having achieved a great deal during the day, we found ourselves back in the same place for more beers, after which I tried my hand at fortune telling. You see, one of the residents in Yangshou was an albino chinese man, whom made his living as a kind of oracle and given that his appearance and dress was so different to anyone else in the town, the chinese people seemed to just accept him as divine. Not to be outdone by my 'brother' as he was affectionately termed, I copied some chinese characters from his sign and also transcribed "I am the Oracle" in english and placed this sign on my forehead. Within a few minutes I was reading the palms of numerous passers by and getting a fair bit of attention, although the novelty soon wore off as I had to actually make up stories for my clients and received nothing in return !!!

Following these shennanigans, a group of us made our way to an underwear party at one of the bars down the road. Had I not consumed more than my fair share of beer, I would definitely not have been seen within 100 metres of such a party, but at the time it seemed like a good idea. Having walked in the door, I was attacked by a number of the club patrons and within a few seconds all of my clothes had dissapeared. I set about continuing my state of intoxication and then enjoyed meeting a tonne of cool people, dancing around and generally making a fool of myself. Meanwhile, outside the chinese passers by thought this idea of people getting around in their underwear was hilarious and were taking heaps of photos of us competely smashed off our heads. As such, I may or may not have organised a group of us to go outside and moon them... which was bloody hillarious.

Over the course of the night I posed for numerous photos with my 'samurai sword' (which turned out just to be a green stick!!!) so there must be a few hundred photos of me (and my butt) on cameras all around china. Later on, whilst performing a quick dash up the street I was also got spoken to by the police for public nudity (after mooning the dude in the street selling hot dogs) but didn't believe the policeman was for real (he only had a small red card saying police and wasn't even wearing a uniform !) and later on managed to lose one of my shoes which I was actually pretty annoyed about the next day. Enough said about this party and my time in Yangshou, I will let the photos do the talking.

Photos 1-4: Views of Yangshou across one of the lakes in the city centre.
Photos 5-11: Shots of the countryside surrounding the city.
Photo 12: Members of the biking expedition.
Photo 13: Comorant fisherman posing for photos (their more prominent source of income).
Photos 14&15: More views of the river and bamboo rafts.
Photos 16-31: Nightlife festivities over the course of my stay (no explanations required).

HONG KONG - CHINA

As my first destination in Asia, Hong Kong certainly provided me with an opportunity to accustom myself to 'Asian culture' and I found the city gave off a mixture of European and Asian vibes. Over the course of my stay I managed to see a fair bit of the city and nearby island of Lantau although the large jump in temperature from Switzerland to Hong Kong meant that I was very often found resting during the middle of the day.

Despite being a historically important and quite interesting city, I was dissapointed that Hong Kong provided almost no examples of its colonial past (there were only 2 'colonial buildings' still standing) and apart from a few art galleries, museums and a few other sites of interest, there was very little to keep me entertained in the city itself. What I was amazed to find however was an absolute plethora of shopping complexes and pretty much anything that I could think of buying was readily available. On my first night in the city, I just wandered around the streets close to my hostel, checking out new golf clubs, cheap clothing and a tonne of electronic equipment. Thankfully I was able to resist the temptation to spend the remainder of my savings in just a few hours !!! I was however, quit frustrated and surprised to find an army of sub-continental hagglers on the street, attempting to sell the tourist 'real copy watches', tailored suits and 'massage sessions'.... all of which I declined using only my most polite english !!!

Probably the most spectacular aspect of Hong Kong is the view of the city skyline as viewed from Victoria Peak on Hong Kong island. I visited the viewpoint twice, once at night and once during the day and was treated both times to fantastic views of the hundreds of skyskrapers, all crammed onto a tiny strip of space. From this position I was surprised to find that in fact there lay vast regions of 'wilderness' around the city and whilst walking down from the peak through something of a forest reserve it was difficult to contemplate that I was amidst a massive city, such was the tranquility and lack of noise.

Another highlight from my time in the city was Lantau island, to which I travelled with Lauren who was also staying at my hostel. After a cable-car ride accross some impressive mountain scenery, we arrived at a small 'tourist' village, adjacent to which was a giant Budah. Given that this was my first Budah, I was quite taken by the statue, however Lauren, whom had been travelling for some time in Thailand, was considerably less impressed by the hulking piece of bronze. Nonetheless the adventure was enjoyable all the same.

Between my few activities during the day, I also managed to get out during the nights and check out the Hong Kong nightlife. I quickly found that the city was far more interesting during the night than during the day, a point that was emphasised by my outing on Wednesday ('ladies') night. After paying a considerable amount for entry (including an open bar) to an establishment in the suburb of Wan Chai, I set about obtaining value for money and got myself well and trully bashed, in the process causing a fair bit of ruckass and meeting many people along the way. Following the closure of the club, I somehow made my way to another place (with the help of various people along the way), met some very 'friendly' local girls whom thankfully from which I was able to remove myself and then set about chatting with some Colombian girls (of a similar profession) in my best intoxicated spanish. A few hours (and bars) later I found myself in broad daylight outside my hostel at 8am. To recount all of what happened that night would require not only a great deal of space but also some help from those who were with me at the time (my memories are not so vivid), plus I do not wish to incriminate myself any further. Needless to say however, I had a great time although subsequent adventures to various spots around the city certainly did not prove quite so exciting.

My stay in Hong Kong was in hindsight too long as there really wasn't alot to keep me in the city. However, this was necessitated by my desire to watch the NRL grand final, which thankfully my team the Brisbane Broncos won, thereby making the wait more than worth it.

Photos 1-5: Buddah statue and the nearby village on Lantau island.
Photos 6-12: Sections of Hong Kong skyline by day and night.
Photo 13: Early on Wednesday night, before the fun really began.

PARIS - FRANCE

The city of love, the city of light or whatever you want to call it, Paris was my next destination after a most enjoyable month spent in different parts of Germany. Having already experienced a taste of France during a quick visit to the border city of Strasbourg, I was extremely looking forward to sampling more of the french culture, language and food and to exploring one of the worlds most famous cities.

After a 2 hour delay, my flight eventually made it from Stuttgart to Paris and with only a few difficulties (language related of course !) I made it to my hostel. The following day I set about exploring different parts of the city on foot and despite not really knowing exactly where I was going, I managed to make my way along the river Seine, passing a number of important sites along the way (Eifel Tower, Egyptian Obelisk and of course the Lourve). Thankfully the weather was good and it was nice walking around without any real plan.

One of the things that surprised me the most about the city was just how many people of African ancestry were there and it really gave the city a lively and exciting feel. Of course I was aware of the French presence in Africa but was certainly not prepared for the African presence in Paris. In the region around my hostel (11th arrondisment) I was treated to somewhat of an African market whilst walking around each morning as there were women clothed in traditional dress, selling hot corn and various fabrics which really gave the place a much different feel to what I had imagined Paris would be like.

Over the course of my 4 day stay in Paris, I took in as many of the 'sites' as possible, without actually making it inside any of the literally millions of art galleries such as the Musee d' Orsay and Lourve. Whilst not anti-art, the thought of walking for hours, looking at painting after painting did not exactly enthuse me (call me uncultured but I prefer to be amongst the people in a city) and as such, I probably didn't come away from Paris feeling like the city had really impressed me. Whilst there were a number of other sites of interest such as the Notre Dame Cathedral, Latin Quarter, Arc d' Triomphe and so on I wasn't overly impressed by Paris and the exorbident prices on everything from food to public transport, certainly didn't help.

It was however not a completely wasted visit as I did enjoy spending time with Claudia, a friend of mine from Chile, whom I hadn't seen for a number of months. We also met a really nice couple from Austria whom we hung out with a little.

As far as cities go, I didn't find Paris particularly interesting but it certainly wasn't the dullest place I have frequented during my travels. I guess for an art lover it would be one of the most exciting places in the world, but an art lover I am not. As for the Parisians, despite not being as friendly as the Brazillians, I found most were quite pleasant and generally willing to help if required. Whilst not a surprise, this certainly blew away some of the stereotypes surrounding the people from Paris.

Photos 1&2: Eva, Josef, Claudia and myself enjoying a drink at the end of a days sightseeing.
Photo 3: Claudia on one of the bridges crossing the river Seine.
Photos 4-20: Various sites around the city (Eifel Tower, Arc d' Triomphe, Notre Dame Cathedral, Lourve, Egyptian Obelisk...)