I'm sitting in Pokhara in the pissing rain supposedly 3 days after the official end of the rainy season here in Nepal wondering why I can't see the lake in front of us let alone the 8000m peaks surrounding the city. We arrived from Kathmandu by bus yesterday after enjoyiong a bevvie with Kirk and Ang deciding to do the 10 day Annapura Sauntuary trek to the base camp at 4500m. Hiring a Sherpa, and setting off are going to have to wait until the rain clears. In the mean time China was a blast1

 

From Beijing we over night trained to Xian the historical capital of China before the northern Beijing came to promenence. The train was cramped and had six bunk beds to a compartment. We had the two tops bunks with enough room to raise me knees let alone lift my bum. Xian despite all reports is a great place. Its a walled city with a 25m high 20m thick wall surrounding the center with the suburbs sprawling out around it. The main attraction here is the Terracotta Warriors. Buried for centuries this subterranean army guards the former emperor in his grave. It consists of soldiers, generals and cavalry in individual regiments, each member with unique clothes and face individually carved before they were put in pits measurubng more than 4 football fields.

 

From Xian we again took a 16 hour train oveniught to Chengdu. This train on a more local route was a lot dirtier and crowded with people. Sleeping in separate bunks we braved the locals and spent little time away from our books an ipods getting up only for the neccessary. Chendgu is more of a gateway to more interesting ports in China with most visitors here waiting for tickets through to Tibet or further south. We arrived and left for Songpan, a quiant little mountain village some 2500m up in the Himilayan foothills. Predominantly Tibetain these people live off the land and were amazing frienhdly and colorful. The main attraction here is the horse trekking. We took a four day trek up the base of Ice Mountain with only our two guides and horses fro company. After an 8 hour ride through small villages and along ridges bordered by ice peaks we arrived at our homestay. From here the next day was a 6 hour return trip to the house up the valley to Ice Mountain. We stopped at the head of a valley for a sublime view of the peak and area at 4400m above sea level. After another night eating vegetarian stews and watching Chinese period dramas we returned to Songpan for a bus to Chengdu. Our final day in Chengdu involved a visits to the Panda breeding Sanctuary. Unlike most crowded and horrific Asian Zoos I have seen this was refreshingly open, clean and green. This the the worlds premiere Panda base managing to be the only one to successfully breed Pandas in captivity. Currently holding more than 30 Giant Pandas they are all on display sitting bolt upright chewing on bamboo. You can walk up to the enclosure where 10ft away the Pandas are eating and playing with only a trench between you. Also in the nursery were three baby pandas less than 2 months old. Looking like hairless drowned rats they resembled more a Beijing sidestreet dish than a national icon.

 

From Chengdu after enough trains we wimped out and flew to Guilin. It's a poetic area with Karst scenery dotting the area. The limestone peaks give it a fairytake aura and its difficult to leave. My English doesnt do this place credit, you will have to wait for the photos. But after 5 days or bamboo rafting down river, mountain bike rides through the countryside, and days seeing how Tsingtao's one can drink we pulled ourselves away for the flight to Bangkok. A night of fine food and fancy hotel including rooftop pool and all later we flew Royal Nepal Arilines to Kathmandu. I'm not sure it's an experience I would repeat in a hurry, who would trust a national carrier who goes to 6 countries using only one plane in their entire fleet. I'd rather have the Beijing side street dish.

 

I'll try with some phots when the internet connection is quicker.