Action packed final few weeks in China ...

I've been away from my blog for a while - busy checking out Beijing (again and again) and in between Yunnan, a province in the south west of China that borders Tibet, and in many respects follows similar traditions as Tibetans.

It was then time to leave China, after a fabulous 2 months travelling all over the country, visiting the Olympics, meeting new friends, other tourists, foreign locals and local locals, seeing some of China's, and in some cases, some the world's most amazing sights, and trying some of the best, most diverse food I've ever had.

I am now in Bangkok. It is nice to receive good service in hotels again, be able to speak English and get what you want, watch Liverpool play in the Champions League with English commentary, know what medicines I'm buying, have access to foreign newspapers and TV, using a knife and fork for the first time in 2 months, and not see pollution floating in the skies above me. Although, I have to stop greeting people in Chinese; Thai people are looking at me funny.

The highlight of my short time in Bangkok must be listening to the Kop sing You'll Never Walk Alone before the Liverpool / PSV game, seeing Robbie Keane score his first goal for Liverpool and Steven Gerrard score his 100th for Liverpool.

Beijing - Round 3

I returned to Beijing for a third time, but to see for the first time China's greatest treasure - the Great Wall - stretching over approximately 6,400km, guarded by over a million men at its peak, and with an estimated 2-3 million people having died building the wall, its construction began around 220BC by China's first emperor, Emperor Qin, but most of the current wall was built under the Ming dynasty, between the 15th and 16th century.



Rather than the very touristy excursion to Badaling, the nearest point from Beijing to 'walk' the wall, we headed 3 hours outside Beijing to Jinshanling. We walked 10km from Jinshanling to Simatai, a stunning, largely original stretch of the Great Wall. Many steps, some very steep, up and down, the watchtowers, the stunning mountains in the background, all created an amazing scene and experience. So good that I did the exact same walk 3 weeks later.

After an inspired trip to the Great Wall the previous day, it was time for more Chinese history and a tour of the famous Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City. This was altogether less interesting and spectacular. While Tian'anmen Square is the largest public square in the world, it's still only a square. It holds great historical significance, however the Chinese seem to believe or at least try to portray that only great, wonderful (debateable) events occurred in the square, such as Chairman Mao's proclamation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, but ignore or claim not to be aware of the negative events associated with the square such as the massacre in 1989 of hundreds, maybe thousands of protesters. Mao's mausoleum, based on Lenin's in Moscow, sits in the square, and we went inside in orderly fashion (very unlike the rest of China) along with hundreds of Chinese tourists, kids, parents, grandparents, many carrying flowers. The Forbidden City, opposite the Square is where emperors resided, along with thousands of concubines to serve him/her. The "city" is massive and buildings stunning, although all very similar.

The rest of my four days in the capital were spent scampering around the City trying to retrieve my debit card, which got chewed up by an ATM (at the first time of use since I got new cards sent to me having lost my wallet last time I was in Beijing), or my BlackBerry, which I left in a cab and was very fortunate to get back (thanks to security cameras).



I also served as an unoffical night guide of Beijing to the rest of my group. Although I didn't get a tip (!), I believe my services were appreciated, with photo evidence. I took a few for a walk along Nanluoguxiang and around the hutongs, including my customary trip to Anna's bar and Ten Kwai Bar. On the group's final night together, we went to Club Kai. The girls were on fire, probably helped by the shots of jagermeister.

Lijiang

I then flew to the capital of Yunnan to join my new group - two couples and seven girls - Kiwis, Brits, Norwegians, Irish and an Aussie.



Then followed a long, uncomfortable (for most; I slept) 8 hour public bus ride to Lijiang. This 'historic' town is about 12 years old. It was rebuilt after an earthquake in 1996 destroyed large parts of the city, but it was rebuilt in a very traditional, old style, even though it didn't look this way before the earthquake. I wasn't a big fan of the town, although most are, maybe because I was trying to shake off a nasty cold. However, it was incredibly touristy, packed with street hawkers and noisy bars with bad live music. One highlight was the Black Dragon Pool, a lake set among wonderful gardens and buildings.

Tiger Leaping Gorge

Next was a short ride to Qiaotao for the start of the Tiger Leaping Gorge trek. The gorge is one of the deepest in the world and very narrow in parts, so narrow that legend states that a tiger leaped across it.



The walk was very relaxing, not too difficult, and passed through breathtaking scenery. My fear of heights were being tested, although I wasn't as worried as Marie, one of the Norwegian girls.



Our first night was at the Tea Horse Guesthouse, which had incredible views of the gorge. I had a mammoth meal and quickly got a rep as a big eater (along with Mian Xin, one of the Kiwis). The second day was even more chilled. I had a snooze at the Halfway Hut guesthouse before getting to Tina's Guesthouse for the night. I had a great chicken sandwich for lunch and spent the afternoon chatting to Charlie and Sheila, a couple from the UK (Liverpool and Ilford). Most of the group stayed at another guesthouse, so Mian Xin, Brooke, Marie and Hege had a quiet meal together before hitting the baizhou.

Zhongdian

Another short bus ride took us to Zhongdian, renamed Shangri-La to reignite interest from tourists to the town. It was very close to the border with Tibet, and the atmosphere around town gave us a taste of what Tibet might be like: fairly chilly, much colder than elsewhere, much quieter with few street hawkers shouting for a sale, and great yak hotpot. The town has a wonderful Buddhist temple overlooking the town and the Ganden Sumsanling monastery just outside time, although under renovation, is well worth a visit.



We had a very relaxing trip to some natural springs. Our drivers were very entertaining, but one of them kept on jumping on my back wanting me to carry him (even though he was three times my size). We also saw a truck turn over on the road.



Our first evening was spent at KTV (karaoke). Li, our local guide, Benny, Mian Xin, Brooke, Alice, Ali, Marie and Hege all showed up. We had a blast; great fun dancing and singing, returning to our guesthouse at 2am to find ourselves locked out. After a few spiderman-esque moves from Mian Xin failed to get us in, but a phone call worked.

The next night was spent watching local people perform daily traditional dancing in the main square. Ali, Hege and I joined in - it was similar to 'garba', a hindu dance performed at some festivals and weddings. Later, a few of us went to Karma Bar, a chilled late night coffee house where a local (famous) singer played Tibetan music. It was excellent and Aidan and I bought the dude's CD.

Dali

We next headed to Dali, 8 hours away. Some of our group were deeply distressed at the locals smoking on the non-smoking bus.

Dali was a very small, pleasant town, located by Lake Erhai. We had a great dinner on arrival - local freshwater fish followed by bumper dessert (cheesecake and brownie) at Sweet Tooth, a dessert shop run by deaf people.



The next day was spent on a tour of the surrounding region. We visited a few local markets, selling anything from fruits, veggies and meat, including live chickens in s bag, to clothes, and even calculators. We also tried the local delicacy, 'baba', which is a type of pastry, and you can choose sweet or savoury flavour. The savoury ones, lots of salt and bacon, were lush! This was followed by a walk along the lake, a visit to an island on the lake, a great lunch, a visit to a tie-dye workshop, and a quick detour to see the Three Pagodas. It was also the final day of the Ryder Cup, so I stayed up refreshing my blackberry all night to follow Europe relinquish their title!



Kunming

Our short tour of Yunnan's highlights was almost over and we returned to Kunming for our final night together. Maddie entertained the bus as she took a liking to my iPod and played random songs on my speakers.



We had food of the Dai minority people as our final group meal. it was one of my best meals in China, very different, lots of rice cooked in different ways (with spices, with banana leaves etc), very spicy, highly recommended! We then headed to Camel Bar for some drinks, incl baizhou, before a small group gathered in my hotel room for a bit longer.



Most of the group left the next morning. Other than a trip to the Stone Forest with Brooke and Mian Xin, which was great, although the weather was miserable, I spent most of 4 nights in Kunming chilling. I got my visas for Laos and Vietnam, I tried the local specialty' across the bridge noodles and bought some new clothes to replace some of my badly worn clothes.

Beijing - Round 4



Yes, I went back for more. I had a very relaxed time. I was a tour guide to my local tour guide from Mount Emei who had previously never been to Beijing. I was surprised how well I know some parts of the city. As well as revisiting some of the main sites, I also went to the Temple of Heaven. The place is awesome and the forest area is beautiful and very peaceful.



After some great duck, some time chilling by the pool, it was appropriate that my final few hours in China would be spent in the Olympic Village visiting the grounds and the Bird's Nest. The Olympics was the best of many highlights from my 2 months in China.