We can’t believe that our wonderful time in China is now finally coming to an end. What’s harder to believe is that we’ve spent almost 50% of our entire trip so far in China. As you know we decided to prolong our stay here shortly after we arrived and we’ve not regretted it for one minute.

It’s been two-&-half months since we arrived on the Trans-Siberian train in Beijing on the 4th of June and we’ve had a journey that has far exceeded our wildest expectations. Out of the 15-odd provinces and municipalities we’ve visited it’s impossible to choose a favourite, there have been unforgettable experiences everywhere we’ve gone.

We’re still planning on getting to Australia some time in January, but we’ve recently added a new twist to our travel tail. We thought that, since we’re taking so much time off to travel, we should spend at least some of it at home with the folks. As such we decided to make a break from full-time travel and we’ll be flying to South Africa for a 6 week period when we get to Bangkok in about 1 month’s time. Yes, we kind-off break our no-flights trend here, but we’ll be returning to Bangkok to continue our trip when we’ve finished in SA.

We’ll be entering Vietnam tonight on an overnight bus to the border and we’re aiming to spend about two weeks there before moving on to Cambodia, Laos and eventually Thailand from where we’ll fly out.

We’re very sad to leave China, but we’ve probably given it a good go. This is an amazing country, with super friendly, humble and welcoming people. We hope to be able to come back one day to get to all the bits we weren’t able to fit in now.

Farewell China!

If you can’t see the slideshow above click here.

Saturday morning we got off to a very early start as we had to catch the 08:00 bus to the town of Qiaotao - the start of the Tiger Leaping Gorge walking trail.

About 60 kilometers northwest of Lijiang Old Town lying between Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and Haba Snow Mountain is the Tiger Leaping Gorge, which is believed to be the deepest gorge in the world and around 15 km in length. Legend says that in order to escape from a hunter, a tiger jumped across the river at the narrowest point (still 25 metres wide), hence the name.

After a few bus connections we started walking at about 10:45. It took about 1 hour to get from the drop-off point to the high path where we finally started the trek at the Tea Horse Guest House. The path goes through a fairly steep, rural mountainside area and there are only 3 or 4 guest houses along the way, most of which are locals offering modest accommodation. We were very glad that we took enough food and water, because it was only after about 3 hours walk that we found the first stall along the way.

Usually the trail is done over a 2 day period, which is what all the guest houses along the way are there for, but because we didn’t want to overnight we only did 3 quarters of the trail. We did the route in the opposite direction from the norm, which meant that for the first few hours we didn’t see any other hikers -we did pass many locals offering horse rides though.

With accurate weather information hard to come by, we had to guess which day would be best to go as the current season promises some rain at least once a day. In the end we were very lucky with no rain and even a bit of sunshine for an hour or two.

After some of the mountains we’ve climbed in China, the trail was relatively easy going with a few steep and very muddy sections and the views of the gorge were excellent. We finished the walk just before 17:00 and were glad to be able to get on a bus straight away back to Lijiang.

Back in the Old Town at 19:00 we had another lovely dinner at a Tibetan restaurant, one of many excellent restaurants around.

If you can’t see the slideshow above click here.

We left the beach and sand of Sanya at 23:55 on Saturday evening to board our first of two overnight hardsleepers. At 08:30 we arrived in Zhanjiang and had to take a local bus to the main train station - about a 30 minutes ride away. It started raining at that stage and we didn’t really have the energy to walk around town, so we just parked off inside the station and waited for our next train in the afternoon. Luckily they had tv screens in the station that showed the Olympics, so the 5 hour wait went by quiet quickly.

The train departed at 14:12 for Kunming and this time it was a much older train with no aircon. We had the upper hardsleepers again and only survived the heat due to the little fan above our heads. But for some unknown reason, they switched off all the fans and closed all the windows during the night. So, after a sweaty and stuffy night, we arrived in Kunming at 09:45 on Monday morning. We had a flyer of the Hump Hostel so we headed straight there from the train station. It is a very nice hostel with a huge lounge/patio area on the 3rd floor that overlooks the main square. We checked in for 1 night and left again the next morning on the 10:00 bus to Lijiang.

The journey to Lijiang was 9 hours on a a sleeper bus. After our previous sleeper bus experience, we were not too impressed but this bus turned out to be much more comfortable and the time actually went really quickly.

It was just before 19:00 Tuesday evening when we arrived in Lijiang and as we already booked Mama Naxi’s  Guesthouse in the Old Town, we just gave them a call from the  station and they arranged a pick-up. The hostel is run by a little lady and we arrived in the middle of dinner - which is a very busy, noisy affair (but a good bargain at only 10 Yuan per person) with all the staff running around, including Mama herself. Needless to say, there was complete chaos and confusion when we wanted to check in and after some shouting and arm waiving from Mama, we realised there was no double room left in the main guesthouse. One of the girls then took us to another one of the Mama houses and we got a big double room in a much quieter environment.

Lijiang is about 2000m above sea level and this cause for a very mild temperature - even at this time of the year. It is a pleasant, cool haven after our previous steamy destinations and it actually feels strange not having to apply sunblock all over before heading out!

Wednesday morning we started exploring the Old Town and soon realised that it is quiet a challenge without a map, but we found our way around just fine in the end. The Old Town is a maize of cobbled stone paths and canals with dozens of shops selling all kinds of colourful trinkets. It is a beautiful little town with loads of character and we’ve spent the last 2 days just wondering the streets, enjoying the local delights in cozy cafes and sipping ginger tea while watching life go by in Lijiang’s alleys.

We’re planning on spending another few nights here in Lijiang and if the weather permits we’ll be attempting a day-trek to the famed Tiger Leaping Gorge - about 2 hours further north. Either way, we’re but too happy to be spending some quality time in such a laid-back, wonderful little place.

If you can’t see the slideshow above click here.