From Yuanyang to Tengchong we took a posh, spotless, double-bed overnight sleeper to Kunming which took maybe 9 hours... Not too bad as the driver less us sleep in the bus until 7am so we didn't need to wander the streets at a ridiculous hour.. Now Kunming is a massively big city with no appeal to visit so once arriving there we caught a mini van (20yuan for 2 people!! - super sweet bargaining) to another bus station. We bought tickets, grabbed the awesome yogurt drink we like, baby wiped our bits and pits, brushed our teeth in a bin and got on the 9am bus to Tengchong (another 12hrs!)...

(for all those bus lovers out there... This was a pretty nice drive... Rice terraces, mountains, mushroom house plantations.... )

Tengchong is a large town (by western means) not far from the western Myanmar/Chinese border. It's known for it's abundance of volcanoes, sea of heat and Hershun (the nearby cute village!)...

Arriving mega tired, we used our LP guide to get us ASAP to the international youth hostel. Edgy from
being ripped off from the taxi we were relieved when we saw the hostel. It's so damn cute. Completely wooden in a cozy log cabbin-ish way, with nik-nacs cluttering the place creating a warm homely/hunters retreat feel we eventually check in. The dorm room was Awesome: kingsingles, spacious and warm... Oh and 30 yuan ; $5aud a night.

Once we had taken a few breaths to get over the enormous journey in was time to hunt for food! With jeans and long sleeves on, we brave the cool wind and light icy rain to find just outside our hostel room the cutest little area ever. Hmmm words to describe. Well its all cobbled stone path, with oldschool wooden Chinese buildings with loads of character randomly positioned around little ponds. Gorgeous stone or wooden bridges aged with moss cross them leading you to another corner with something new to find. The ponds also housed water wheels draped in red neon lights which constantly spin giving a colloquial/ funfair type vibe. Huge red Lanterns hung all over the wooden buildings exuding a warm orange glow. No one else.. Just us two. Very surreal. Absolutely stunning! China likes showing off to us. It keeps bringing us new sighs and delights! Keep em' coming!

No dinner there so we hit the street in a ravenous search. Along the way we stumbled upon a community fair filled with games, animals, painters, trinkets and fairy floss. Bewildered by the loud noise and feeling quite alien from our tiredness we exit and find a 'pointer place' for dinner. Eggplant and corn - just what the doctor ordered!

The next day it was purely for rest and recovery. We did some washing, wrote some blogs and curled up in our warm beds for the day listening to the constant rain outside!

Second day was a little more adventurous but not before pushing snooze on the alarm several times :) our plan for the day was sea of heat and find big warm waterproof coats.. Tick and TICK! On the way to the sea of heat we found big coats perfect for where we are going and what we are doing with a good price tag and an even better one once they gave us 60% off... The sea of heat is pretty touristy. Its 60 yuan ; $10aud each to get in and sight see.. Your talking 250 yuan for swimming! Confusion from the girls selling the tickets we hitch a ride on a cart the 2km up the hill and find we need to pay 15yuan each.. Failing to argue with the chinese about money (AGAIN!) we fork over the cash and begin stolling around the theme park-esque attaction. Although the place is heavily pathed, well signed and dotted with tourists, it IS nicely designed in a way only to be described as an eco resort!.
Without canning the whole place you do Walk away in awe of the power of volcanoes and intensities of nature. A few highlights were the huge gushing waterfall (lions head) and the frogs mouth rock in which water is scaling from under the ground finding an escape from these rocks..The water has so much pressure behind it trying to escape that it is forced 3m into the air with enough heat that as it reaches the exit whole paries turn to steam!! Pretty cool actually!

After eating a weatern bindge of sweet cheese pizza and Frenchfries we find our beds and curl up for a good night sleep.

Weather has been pretty dismal here in Tengchong.. Contant Dribbling rain, cloudy and cold! Our plan was to head north up to shaxi but once we saw ONE picture from our loner Chinese room mate, we changed our route entirely to head directly north along the western border of Yunnan provence to Bingzhongluo via the Nu jiang valley!!

NW- if you are an international youth hostel please speak a little English. Do not assume that lonely planet reviews on amazing staff are accurate... And my no means think that just because there are 3 coffee machines that they make or know how to make coffee :)