OnTheRoad

Still further massive distances have been covered; check the travel section. The last few days have almost been Pakistani in style; short distances in long times! We've been cruising along the western border of Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, near where they meet Tibet, and the Tibetan style culture is strong here. We're told that the Chinese repression isn't so strong here, although apparently they've loosened up in Tibet proper as well.

Both the culture and the scenery are drawcards here; Litang sits over 4000m and you can feel it as you walk around, both in the temperature and in the breathlessness from the least amount of exertion. The style of buildings, as you can see in the photos, is unique. Massive square buildings, armoured against the outside cold (it's icy at night, even now in the late summer), beautifully decorated at night (see the photos from Xiangcheng to see some of the decoration from our guesthouse).

Our visit to Xi'an was great fun, with plenty to see. The famed Army of Terracotta Warriors was one of the most impressive sights we've seen yet, well worth the huge fees to see them. The city itself was remarkably pleasant for somewhere with a population of over six million people (I really don't like big cities as a rule), light on pollution and easy to get around. The Shanxi history museum, and the Temple of the Eight Immortals also feature what are quite possibly the best toilets in all of China. This may not sound like much, but most of you reading this have never experienced a Chinese toilet. Your imagination is not up to the task. Don't even try.

We were also lucky in our transport from Chengdu; this time we got sleepers. Of course, the dictatorial style of Chinese Rail is both amusing and annoying. At 9:30pm the lights are all off, all curtains must be closed and YOU WILL SLEEP. Of course, the time of awakening is also planned; the curtains are all opened and loud, loud, LOUD music is played. At 7am. Because we all want to get up then. Of course. And when I say loud, if you didn't notice before, I mean really goddamn loud. Bastards.

In Chengdu, those of you with serious concerns about my health will be pleased to know, our first destination was the hospital. A few blood and stool tests later, we emerged laden down with medicine. Still no knowledge of what we have (some english was spoken, but it was limited), but hey, 15 pills per day must do something good for me, right? I've finished them off now and am feeling good, so hopefully my strength will start to return and I'll be coming home tanned and healthy from the Thai beaches in a few months. No plans to abort the trip, and thanks for your concern folks ;)

Seeing as this guesthouse has free wireless, I've got myself together and put up a pile more photos for you all. I've also gone and added comments to the ones without them, so if you had a browse before and wondered what the hell something was; well, now you can go back and find out!

Hmmm... I seem to have adopted something of a Pulp Fiction style approach to this post, everything is jumbled and out of order. To recap... Ah, heck, just look at the travel section if you're wondering what came before and after what. The list of photos by location also has something vaguely resembling the right order.

Onward journeys involve less impressive scenery, but some impressive towns; we'll pass through Lijiang, Dali and Kunming before dropping down into Laos in a week or so. Updates in Laos may be infrequent (but that's how they've been in China anyway I guess) - don't be disturbed, it's very, very likely that I'm still alive!

Looking forward to Thai beaches and food; hoping that you out there are enjoying things as well.