Life is difficult... my wife keeps giggling like a little girl and keeps saying "I'm so happy, I'm so happy" all the time.

It's raining in Lijiang and my first bottle of Dali Beer is almost empty... I'll need to walk downstairs and get another one. And for some reason I can't type "lijinag" (see !?) - "Lijiang" correctly. Like I said - life is difficult.

Quick backtrack for those still with us:

We got the final visa (Schengen) after 7 working days (thank you Greek consulate in Hong Kong - "What do you mean you're South African? .... It's OK ... we make lamb!!!") and off we went back to Sai Kung to get the 43kg of boxes to send home and to pack up, put the stuff in our personal angel and saviour (thanks Margeaux and fidget!!!)'s car and off to Shatin where we put our packs on and walked with them for the first time...

In the end it's about 25kg for Germarie (the wife formerly known as Mary) and probably about 30kg for me - that's with daypacks and the extras - without my excess weight that will be coming off during the tour (please see the "fat cam" inserts in the video sections as we upload them - taken on the 13th of each month in my quest to lose at least 10kg, hopefully 13kg).

So... on the way to Huizhou in the bus, booked into the 5 star hotel in Huizhou - we're on a budget don't you know! - which my ex-Export team sponsored as a going away gift (THANK YOU TO: Lisa, Michelle, Lily, Stoven, Nicole, Echo, Olay, Kacy and Sunny!!!).

It was the best gift anyone could give us: On that point, Germarie would like to note that if anyone would like to make a similar donation for other 5 star hotels on our travels to please urgently contact us through this site!

So after an excellent breakfast and the car to drop us off in front of Guangzhou Railway station, we made our way to the waiting room and on to train K365 to Kunming (Charles, thank you for the tickets, but I will be repaying you somehow - most likely with a visit to Huizhou to see exactly how much beer you can drink).

Arrived in Kunming 25 hours later, booked into the hotel, in the van the next morning at 09h00 and onto the bus at 10h00 for a 8 hour hop to Lijiang.

Unfortunately there was a crash and some delays so the 8 hour hop turned into a 10 hour hop-hop so it was a 35 hour trip from Guangzhou with a quick overnight stay to de-stink and stretch.

Next entry is Lijinag (s-h-i-t!!!!!) ... Lijiang and it should be upcoming as soon as I return from getting that beer...