"You were right about one thing, Master - the negotiations were short" -- Phantom MenaceWe finished our lovely two day trek through Tiger Leaping Gorge, one of the most beautiful places on earth.I won't harp on about it, as the pictures speak for themselves but this was definitely one of the highlights of China.We had left our big bags in the last guesthouse at the start of the trek so each had a smaller bag with a change of clothes and a toothbrush. Some peo...

"As you will be my dog, your new name will be... Spot. Welcome to slavery""No thanks - I already had a wife"-- From Dusk Till Dawn"Do you love me, Fry?""Well, I love you as much as a man CAN love a woman"-- FuturamaWe've just spent a nice two days in Zhongdian, writing e-mails and reading books and pretty much doing nothing of interest whatsoever. It's been a nice change from the near constant death defying bus rides and small villages we've been in r...

"Nobody makes me bleed my own blood.... nobody" - DodgeballAh.... life at high altitude. From one 4500m village to the other, we're finally experiencing rural China and some fine, fine living. And some awful food, obviously.Litang is, to all extents and purposes, a Tibetan town. That is to say that it is full of Tibetan people speaking Tibetan and doing Tibetan things. It isn't actually in Tibet, but rather just over the border. A great alternative if you...

"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." -- Friedrich NietzscheThis entry was going to be all about the bus journey from Litang to Xiancheng. I had it all worked out. As we had driven our rickety bus along tiny mountain roads in the late afternoon, sheer drop to one side and landslide prone mountain to the other, I was thinking about mortality, the surviv...

"That's more food than they eat in a month. You're insulting them, and you're embarrassing me... eat it" - Indiana Jones and the Temple of DoomHere's a funny thing.The bus from Chengdu to Kangding, which we got promptly despite hangovers and silent protestations, ran out of petrol after an hour and a half.We had said our tearful goodbyes to Stephanie the Australian (who, true to form, stayed in bed for our actual departure) and Scott and Iti the b...