Hitching out of Litang was a little harder than previous times. Walking up the hill to the exit archway we stood with our backpacks, watching cars exiting with pace as they purposely avoid us. Rain started softly falling and the grey sky overhead brought back the morbid tones from this morning's sky burial. As we are busy wrapping pac-a-macs around our backpacks, a posy of cheeky young kids bravely approach us and start poking our pocket and correctly guessing what's inside. They see an outline of cigarettes and use their hands to sign "give us one" coinciding with a big cheeky grin. Their dirty fingers get more determined and daring as they poke and prod our small backpacks, followed by our large backpacks. I call them "cheeky s***s" out loud which they take as a positive form of communication and repeat it over again, waiting for what we might do or give them. It becomes a game to us which I have to admit has become a guilty pleasure when communicating with rude Chinese or when I don't get my own way with them :/ Shooing the kids away with an empty plastic bottle we wait in the rain watching many bike riders arriving in Litang covered in mud, stopping to take picture under the sign. We find out from them they are on an adventure to cycle from Chengdu, 2000km to Lhasa along the unfathomable highway 318. The road is infamously bad and many repairs and re-repairs occur each year to the road, failing to improve it. A white van pulls over and offers us 100yuan to get to Xinlong. After 3 hours standing there without luck and with the mid-afternoon dawning ,we gratefully accept and jump in.

The road slithers along beneath us, the sludge is deep and fresh from rain so the car is forced to slide along with it. The cliffs edge is close and our eyes connect showing the simultaneous fear we share. He gives us biscuits to nibble as he gulps redbull. The entire drive lasts 3.5 hours and we spend a majority of the drive meandering along a river between a gorge.

The drive through the Garze Autonomous Prefecture was splendidly memorable as we encountered many hillside villages nestled in the luscious valley. The towns themselves are guarded by ancient watch towers crumbling upon the hillsides and protected by colossal Chortens draped with exorbitant amounts of prayer flags. The Garze Autonomous Prefecture (GAP) was originally part of the Kham region of Tibet until the Chinese recaptured the area. Thankfully the Chinese have left the region alone and the traditional Kham architecture still remains with unique buildings constructed with brick and clay to create spectacular fortress-like houses. The culture and blood of the district also remains relatively uninfluenced by the Chinese with 80% of its people still Tibetan.

Coming to an abrupt halt we are confronted with a road block. A landslide has blocked the road. After a quick assessment our driver asked us to get back in the car, as he begins to transverse the crumbling edge of the cliff. "No way!" Becks and I exchange glances… As we are yelling at the guy to stop we are grasping for the door handle. We managed to get out just before the car approaches the crumbled section and we watch in horror the car desperately cling to the edge of the cliff and make it to the safety of the other side.

We finish the journey 1 hour early when the driver kicks us out and points us down the main road. "Xinlong" "Xinlong he tells us as he points down the main road to nowhere. He seems to be making a detour off the main road. Angered by his change of plans leaving us roadside with our luggage and close to dark, we refuse to pay him his 100 yuan. His filthy look was icy, however we were no better. He drives off, as we continue walking down the road. Within five minutes we arrive at a town we find out IS Xinlong and the guilt crept in. We refused to pay our driver 100 yuan because he hadn't dropped us off in the town when he actually has… Whoops. Our China scepticism is wrong… this time……. J

Once Becks got over the guilt of ripping the driver off, we spent our time walking the friendly modern streets looking for accommodation for the night. Things are never easy, being pointed again and again to the biggest hotel in the city which was FULL, we eventually find a suave looking place to sleep. The entrance was grand, with a huge formal staircase rising before us. After paying a mere 60 yuan between us for a night we ascend the staircase to find it stripping away before us. The colours fade, the carpet fades and the white walls transform to a dirty off white, dripping in mould. It was like seeing the titanic in all its glory, then suddenly seeing the remains of a ship that's been sitting on the bottom of the ocean for 100's of years! Haha. Not bad for 60 yuan though!

Leaving the hostel for a quick walk and photo mission, we are whisked into the police station to have our passports recorded. With no one speaking or reading English we patiently wait over 20 minutes for the 10 policemen to scratch their heads at least a dozen times and flick through every page in our passport another dozen times until a lady rescues the poor lads from embarrassment. She tells us in English we cannot stay in our hotel because it is not good for foreigner and recommends a foreigner hotel which she insists has Wifi (wooooooow!) yet is over double the price… Trying to maintain or maybe regain composure (I lost it there for a while!) she insists to escort us back to the hostel to check it out only to be greeted with a hostile young monk asking "why" (can't we stay here). Rapidly retreating, the police women exits and leaves us in our cheap and adequate hostel reminding us to stay in a 'foreigner hotel' next time we visit! A quick walk around to check out the town and take a few photos turns into a 40minute fiascos. Sichuan is boding to be tougher travelling than Yunnan province and I feel we are just starting to scratch the surface of what is to come…

Xinlong itself is a pretty normal looking Sichuan Kham town. Quite clean and modern with a glossy bright center square where people mull over the absurd gold statues. The hillside villages on the outer edge of town are the prettiest part as well as the bridge that links the two halves. Other than that, nothing to write home about!