well, i have been very busy recently, so i thought id tell you all about it. i flew back from lhasa to chengdu, leaving behind sunshine and warm weather for an overcast grey haze that seemed to permanently envelope the city. i ended up spending a night at the sichuan opera while there. actually, it was very good. the first few acts were screechy and i began to wonder what id let myself in for, but after that, it really improved. there were various different acts, each on stage for abour 15minutes. there were puppeteers who moved the puppets above their heads - they were really lifelike. then there was a guy who did - whats it called? shadow puppetry? you know the typical image of someone making a bird with their hands. well, he did that - and so much more. he made a tortoise, rabbits, dogs, galloping horses..all sorts - he must have had the bendiest fingers of anyone ive ever seen!! it was really good. my favourite act was i think the main showpiece of the company. it was called changing faces and involved blokes passing their cloak sleeve in front of their face, and reappearing with a different coloured mask on. dont think im explaining that very well - what was so amazing was that they literally had the sleeve in front of their face for about half a second. i still havent worked out how they did it - maybe they had a mask up the sleeve, but really it all happened so quickly, im not sure. some of them even did a fire breathing thing which was fun - lots of oohs and aahs from the audience at that!! the finale of that act saw them making about 8 changes in the space of about 10 seconds - very impressive. the puppeteers also did a similar act - with the puppets changing face. again, quite something to watch. the following day, i made the trip to nearby leshan, partly to get my chinese visa extended, but also to see the worlds largest buddha. hes a whopping 71m high!! apparently his ears are 7m long and his big toe 8.5m!! it was pretty cool to see, but actually, what sticks in my mind more about the experience was the hoardes of pushing and shoving chinese tourists. i have never seen so many in one place at one time - it was unbelievable, and they all went through a set routine of poses to perform in front of the big guy. most odd!! from there, i headed to chingqing, and joined a boat trip along the yangtze river. i actually think i was the only foreigner on the boat - i was part of a chinese tour - and i have the badge to prove it. 'unfortunately' at no point did i have to follow a tour guide waving a flag!! the cruise itself was fine - we had mainly ok weather. its weird, this trip comes in for a lot of bad press in backpacker circles, but i figured id rather do it now and not enjoy it than wonder what it would have been like - as over the next few years, the water level will rise another 40m!! and in fact, it was quite enjoyable. the boat i was on was pretty poor - but other than that, i had a good time. i spent a lot of it in my cabin, as there was nowhere to sit outside. so i had a few trips onto the small decks, to take photos, but the rest of the time, just looked out the cabin window. i was with 5 chinese who i think were quite amused to have a foreign roommate. they practised their token english while i used the extent of my chinese knowledge with them, which actually was quite useful, as they kept trying to offer my weird foodstuffs including pickled garlic and chicken heads - 'i dont want it thanks' and 'im full' are definitely phrases you should learn before you come here!!! the trip also included a sidetrip to the lesser three gorges, which was very enjoyable. we took a much smaller boat, and spent about 4hours on it, cruising around some really pretty scenery. there were several signs showing the water level currently and what it is expected to rise to once the damming is completed. so much will be wiped out. and later that day, we passed through the dam itself - my main recollection of it is the amount of concrete used - i have never seen so much in one place!!! actually, i think the itaipu dam i went to last year (am i something of a geek seeing these two huge dams?!) was bigger and generated more power. but i saw this one really close up. we passed through a series of locks. there were at least 6 quite big boats all packed together, moving in convoy through each lock. then the gates would shut, and the water level would fall. the first time it was about 15m. then next about 25m. the third time, again about 25m and finally about 15m. it was quite a weird feeling - almost claustrophobic, as the concrete walls of the lock got higher and higher. still, it was intersting to experience. i couldnt help but feel however that it really was some waste of resources - all the concrete, all the power needed to shift these vast quantities of water, the people - something like two MILLION - who were displaced as a result of the project.... anyway, after that, the boat travelled on to yichang, where we disembarked. it was absolutely bucketing, and by the time the bus arrived in wuhan, i almost felt like i was back on the boat - some of the streets had flooded and were covered in murky brown water, a minimum of 3inches deep. the bus took about 3hours to travel maybe 20km. the roads were absolutely gridlocked and the driver had to take several detours because of flooding. i left wuhan as soon as possible, and took the train to guilin, an area very popular with chinese tourists - enough reason for me not to stay. instead, i headed on to yangshuo, a really scenic, laidback place nearby. it is surrounded by limestone peaks, quite unlike anything ive seen before, just peak after peak after peak. it was really relaxing, the kind of place you cold easily spend several weeks, without even noticing it. and i really didnt do too much when i was there. just enjoyed the peace and quiet, and the great scenery. i took a trip out to near longsheng, to the dragons backbone rice terraces. and what fantastic scenery there was there. the terraces completely cover all the nearby peaks - some up to 800m. and of course, there are people working on them all the time, ploughing with cattle, or planting by hand. it was really great to see. one day i did a circuit round the main village, the next day i walked between two villages, hardly meeting a soul on my way. it was great, just what i needed. i think this was probably my favourite area of china. my last day there was great, as i bumped into a few people id met previously - a danish couple i knew from the train journey between russia and mongolia, and a dutch girl i met in beijing. so i just relaxed with them, all of us enjoying the atmosphere of the cafes. it was really weird, while there, we were constantly being photographed by chinese tourists. most of them would have a friend stand not very subtly in front of us, and then theyd snap away. it kind of made us feel like zoo exhibits. havent come across it anywhere else. so that was china....great place, had over 5 weeks there, but am ready to move on. ive had more than enough of the smoking and spitting there - and its not just the men - women are just as bad. its so gross - EVERYWHERE, museums, on public transport, in restaurants when you are about to take a mouthful of food. YUCK!!! im ready for the next part of this adventure!!!