Leaving Shangri La with our legs refreshed, BBQ tofu stores replenished and with our new Chinese Visa's in toe, we leave via the 7 hour bus journey back to Deqin. The road journey was slow and bumpy but unlike last time the clouds had cleared and the views of the spectacular snow-capped mountains were ever present throughout the entire trip. Having been at altitude for over a week and a half the three 5000m passes you cross to get to Deqin were less of a headache (literally!!).

NW: In the few days we were in Shangri-la this time we witnessed a Pilgrimage of USA and Canadian practicing Buddhists. The place was swarming with westerners. As Becks and I sat quietly at a BBQ street stall we were approached by a few of these pilgrims keen for chat. It was from these guys we found out there were over 100 of them here in search of wisdom, faith and spirituality. All I got from these two was a description of some snowy mountains where they went on a pilgrimage excursion (although they cannot for the life of them remember the names) and that they were desperate to escape the city of Shangri La.

Upon arrival in Deqin we (Guy, Ben, Becks and myself) scored a cheap van heading to Feilai and within 1 minute of stepping off the bus we had escaped the hole that is Deqin. No more than ½ an hour later and 7.5yuan each we arrived in a Feilai; a mythical, Tibetan village set up high amongst the clouds. Wow. First impressions were beyond any expectations I had for this small dot on the map. One small road runs through the 100m long town. On one side is a row of small home style restaurants and basic hotels and on the other side is a Feilai Temple. Feilai Temple is set on a dramatic cliff face overlooking the sheer glory of white peaked Mount Kawa Karpo; the highest mountain in Yunnan which reaches an astonishing 6740m. The town itselfis on the road to Lhasa, Tibet and is nestled high above the Mekong valley, secluded at an altitude of 3300 metres. After finding a quaint hostel with views of the glorious mountain range (twin private, shared bathroom for 40yuan between us) we layered up with coats and beanies to explore the bitter sunset on the cliffs edge. The railings around the Feilai Temple are teaming with prayer flags flapping in the cool breeze, white Stupas lined the center of the platform and some sort of Tibetan fire cauldronscornering the temple. The clouds lie low, desperately clinging to the mountains, shielding the grandeur of Kawa Karpo's peak yet remaining suspended like a halo above its smaller sisters. Standing there a while in awe, you could see the clouds shift, releasing glimpses of new mountain ranges further in the distance, the infinite edge of the world seems to be unfolding in front of your eyes. Casting my eyes away from the mesmerising view, I looked just beyond the prayer flags to see.. UHUH!.. donkeys grazing on the edge of the cliff. Have I mentioned today that I love my life??? J

Meeting up with the boys for dinner, stories and a few beers we plan the following day. Unbeknownst to them the best piece of travel advice they shared on a whim struck a chord; A rather large, deep chord. HITCH HIKING.

Waking up and discovering a new favourite breakfast combo: local bread (similar to naan) and egg and tomato. We sit overlooking the views drinking our own coffee sashay from our newly bought retro plastic cups, quietly psyching each other up for our big day hitch hiking to Mingyong Glacier.

Out on the road we go. Within minutes we meet a Chinese dude who is trying to hitch the 2000km to Lhasa, Tibet. He wisely teams up with and befriends the red head and the tall girl and together the three of us walk the road out of town. Maybe ½ an hour later (and a few missed opportunities due to confusions of where we are going) we meet a couple in a van willing to take us the 20km to the entrance to Minyong and Yubeng. Our first Hitching SUCCESS!

NW: Bring a map in Chinese!

Arriving at the ticket booth we feel China's thieving wrath as they sting us for 85yuan to gain entrance to the 6km road which leads to the Glacier. If you decide to do Yubeng it is an extra 85yuan each just to head in the opposite direction past the ticket booth - TYPICAL! With thumbs out we complete maybe 3km of road before being picked up by a group of Chinese lads heading up to the glacier also. From the ticket checkpoint to the top it's around a two hour walk up a steady incline. The walk itself is beautiful. Strolling under a canopy of thick green foliage, passing pilgrimage rock piles, prayer flags and glimpses of waterfalls across the valley you are constantly amused. Chinese upon horseback pass you regularly and the more adventurous ones on foot take advantage of the breaks to catch their breath to take photos of the red faced lao wei (white person). Near the top, the canopy opens and glorious view of the glacier engulfs the area.

Minyong glacier is an enormous vertical waterfall that has been frozen solid situated at 2700m making it the lowest glacier in China. Pretty amazing sight!

A basic café draped in prayer flags, a lush green valley and a bright blue sky borders the glacier. The spectacles astonishing array of colours and natural wonder is a picture perfect moment. We had a coffee here on the way back and it was just the two of us, enjoying the view and watching a lazy cat try and catch a wise fat chicken… It's one of those moments that suspend in time. The path leads up further from here, however the boardwalk has been damaged which therefore prevents you from advancing to the ultimate lookout. Not to worry… Views are still pretty awesome.

Saying no to the passing minivans asking 150yuan for a ride back to Feilai, we stick with our guns and walk patiently along the 6km road back to the ticket entrance, quietly hoping a car will stop and give us a lift. 6km soon passed underfoot and the rain never put us off. We were determined to complete our day of hitching. The 6km walk was well worth it. Meandering the dirt roads past farms, vineyards, alongside rivers, between valleys and against cliff edges I probably put this as the highlight of my day!!!

Walking from the main ticket booth back up the main road the daylight hours dwindled to 45minutes only and the prospect of not getting a lift was eminent. Our tired legs which had already walked over 5hours were hesitant to walk up the prominent hills before us. So Laying down our backpack and sitting on the edge of the road we wait jumping up whenever we hear the low rumble of a car in the distance. With 30mins of daylight hours left a van slows down and the Korean man we briefly met on the glacier walk invited us into to his chartered van to take us back to Feilai. It was on this 20km journey that the clouds lifted and the peak of mount Kawa Karpo emerged. WOW.

It was today that we became addicted hitch hiking and set ourselves the ultimate challenge to hitch into Sichuan (our next province) and pay as little for transport as possible.

Dear Guy and Ben,

You have absolutely no idea the headache, adrenalin, fear and challenge you have put in front of us. We have grabbed this hitching idea of yours and have run a marathon. I hope to see you guys again and share more of our wild stories.

Yours gratefully and braver by the day

Prue and Becks.

The last morning in Feilai was spent rushing around trying to find a place who will serve us tomato and egg (You know it IS Monday… who wants breakfast… sheeesh!!). We eventually find a cute dude who was willing to make us breakfast and vege fried rice to go and then it was time to hit the road to begin the ULTIMATE HITCHING CHALLENGE. First leg: Feilai to Deqin. Walking out of town a few meters is was just minutes before a 4WD picked us up and delivered us safely to Deqin a mere ½ an hour drive. THANKS BOYS!

Once we were in Deqin it was time to step it up (the hitching of course)… a 7 hour journey to Shangri La. A kilometre out of town in the direction of Shangri-la, we set our bags down and stick out our thumbs to any cars passing by. Maybe ½ an hour later we were picked up by 3 lads in a pimped out JEEP bound for the same destination… WE couldn't believe it. Not only had we saved ourselves $15 each, but we had a comfortable ride, cheerful company, unlimited photo shoot stops and a FREE lunch.

These boys were wealthy! The owner of the JEEP was a lawyer, the other a friend and the young lad was his nephew. They had decided to take a road trip from Lijang (their hometown) to Feilai for PLAY. Play is a word Chinese have grasped and love to use it to describe drinking, sightseeing, photo shoots, karaoke, or maybe less unsubtle verbs! In this case it was sightseeing J . Lunch was a delicious mass of different Chinese dishes eaten at an absurd hast to be left in an unrecognisable mess of chicken bones, pork fat, watermelon seeds, cigarette buds and oozing oily liquids.

Back in the car we are constantly engaged by the lads offering their cigarettes, snacks or new words their English teacher had passed on by phone. The journey was fantastic. The lads were brilliant. As we entered Shangri La the boys insisted we take a short detour around Namphi Lake to PLAY one last time. Avoiding the steep entrance fee we cruised by the ticket office in our super smooth ride and circumnavigated the gorgeous monsoon lake stopping for numerous photo opportunities to capture the pastel colours of the purple rock in the mountains and blue flowers in the still reflection of the water.

Insisting the boys join us for one last meal with their friends, we leave our backpacks in their car and mosey on into the most impressive place in town; Potala Restaurant. Feeling awkward in our muddy jeans, and bright puffy coats we enter a plush VIP room, seated at one of the two round tables and are then offered an array of beverages and a packet of cigarettes (we later found out were worth 200yuan!!). The rooms' décor exuded wealth with dark oak furnishings embellished with gold. The thick curtains draped the original Tibetan windows frames and the numerous doting waitresses were dressed in immaculate Tibetan couture. Feeling perplexed and a little hesitant to be seen in such arrogant establishment, we sat patiently, giggling nervously between ourselves watching more and more affluent guests arrive. Before us sits 3 drinks; a tall glass of coke, a wine glass of beer and a cup of green tea. In front of these is the usual set of crockery (trimmed with gold of course!) and your own gas cooker in which we later discover is the focal point of the Tibetan Banquette. Once all the guests are seated and have had their fair chance to ogle at their foreign guests, the plates of food start to arrive. Plate after plate are brought out and placed on the rotating table before us. The table now ladened with an assortment of raw greens, lotus roots, mushrooms, tomato, potato, carrot, tofu, broccoli, and other delicious vegetable options. Next came the never ending plates of meats. I have no idea what meat but there were at least 7 trays at one time of different animals all thinly sliced. Your own personal pot arrives filled with a neutral broth which is places on the gas cooker in which the waitresses proceeded to light. The condiments section on the rotating table are put to good use as we were taught by our kind neighbours to scoop the garlic, ginger, chilli, pickled tofu and more weird and wonderful goodies into a small dish and mix together with a scoop of neutral broth to form a sauce for your chosen delicacy to dip into once cooked. The food was gluttonous but delicious. When one tray empties it is soon replaced by something new. Throughout the night trays of dumplings arrived, varieties of noodles were bought out and more and more meat circled before us. What a spectacular feast. Never in my wildest food dreams would I have imagined a feast so fresh, so indulgent, yet so exquisite!!

Moments after all the guests had been seated and the extortionate amounts of food been brought out we are subjected to a toast amongst the table. A potent clear spirit, or in our case beer served in a sherry glass we clink our class together with both hands upon the glass and proceed to down the small glass in one. This brought back vivid memories of my time living in Lok Kawi Wildlife Park in Sabah, Malaysia. The glasses were diligently refilled by the doting waitresses, the clinks grew more regular and the men among us grew more and more tipsy and on and on it went. The room soon filled with merry songs, all our faces grew redder with each glass and the boisterous men became illiterate. The "number one" guy there we think were the project developer of Shangri la and was in charge of keeping everyone happy and entertained and he would eventually foot the entire bill. WOW. Our tummies soon grew full and bloated from the never ending booze and eventually the men around us needed to escape the room into the busy street in search of Karaoke. Oddly we were separated from the other guests and only realised this once the 4 of us (2 guys from the JEEP) were inside the a small dingy nightclub in the center of Old Town. Agreeing to only stay an hour (we still hadn't checked in to any accommodation yet!) we were delivered 10 Budweisers to the table and forced to partake in a childish drinking game between the 4 of us. To avoid any more drinking I headed to the dance floor for a bit…. But the time came when it was blatantly apparent that these guys were looking for more from us then laughs and good banter. As Becks said its sad when booze ruins the good guys.. No matter the outcome of the evening, I will never forget this day; Truly unreal...

Checking back into Drangoncloud guesthouse we fell hastily to sleep and hoped to awake without too much of a hangover J

CHINA.. You never cease to amaze me.