Kyoto has been a really enjoyable few days, wandering around several temples, gardens and shrines, as well as watching the Geisha dances (by far my favorite part). The most impressive temple in Kyoto has to be the Golden Temple - a largeish temple covered in gold leaf, standing in the middle of a lake. It was gleaming in the sun, and walking around the park which surrounded it you could see it popping up over the tree tops every now and then.
Despite not having seen any Geisha during any of my forays into Gion and Pontocho (I did get overly excited by a couple of women in kimono before realising they were just walking around in kimono) I really enjoyed these areas. They were in places really cute, espeically some of the smaller alleyways which were also ridiculously picturesque. I did finally see some Geisha though as I went to watch the Geisha dances at the Pontocho theatre - they were incredible! the costumes were gorgeous and colourful, the dancing graceful, and whilst the music was not exactly what I would normally listen to, it was amazing to see people playing the shamisen and the flute in accompaniment to the dancing.
Nara seems to be a smaller and more peaceful version of Kyoto in many ways; it was an ancient capital of Japan and is full of temples, important not only for their beauty but also their historical contexts, although having seen so many temples they all seemeda bit familiar to me. The most impressive one was the Todaiji temple though - a huge wooden structure which is actually the biggest wooden structure in the world. It was definitely quite imposing. The wild deer in the park reminded me of those in Miyajima, peacefully milling about except when food is in the offing and often in those cases descening en masse on a small child holding biscuits who would inevitable throw the at the deer before running and screaming to hide behind their mother.
There have also been some really lovely walks that I have been on; in Kyoto I wandered through the bamboo forest in Arahiyama, a beautiful and quiet walk through the trees then the backstreets of the town, then in Nara I went on a hike throgh the hills behind the temples. It was really beatiful and the scenery was gorgeous, though it was slightly longer than I expected.
I will be moving to Osaka, but it seems strange that all the travelling is nearly at an end now.
Monday, 10 May 2010
Monday, 3 May 2010
Busy times
Ok, so I admit that it has been a surprisingly long time since I have updated (oops!) but I have been really quite busy.
I have travelled across the Japanese Alpes now, stopping at Matsumoto and Kanazawa on the way where I visited a couple of gorgeous gardens as well as some castles. The castles were really quite impressive; although the one in Matsumoto only had one tower which remained standing as the others had fallen to old age and scavengers it was still an imposing building. The castle was built, for the most part, really well with special windows for shooting arrows and different ones for shppting muskets. Luckily though, the castle never saw any action, which was quite good as I ond't think it could have been easy for samurais in full armour to rush up and down the stairs as these were ridiculously steep. I have also visited Himeji castle, which looked very imposing, but which we were unfortunately not allowed to enter.
I have spent the past couple of days in Hiroshima, which is a really fascinating place. The tpwn looks just like any other, and walking along the banks of the river there is a stunning amount of trees and grass and flowers. They also have amazing food - the local speciality, okonomiyaki (sort of a pancake with cabbage, noodles, and a couple of other btis and pieces) was particularly good. I also had a number of daytrips, during one of which I learnt a great deal about Sake having visited a Sake brewing area. Miyajima was particularly fun though, mostly because of the wild deer that roam the place, seeming not to notice the humans walking amongst them except to occasionally steal food - I saw one man having a tug of war with a deer over a lollipop! There was also some amazing scenery there, and I spent the afternoon hiking through the hills on a little used track before making my way down to the beach where I scrambled over the rocks to find myself a quiet cove to sit in.
My visit to the Peace Museum was incredibly moving and emotional, even more so than I had been anticipating. It is quite a difficult experience to put into words.
I am now in Kyoto, where the weather is absolutely gorgeous. This afternoon I walked around the area near where we are staying, and visited a couple of temples as well as a park which was full of locals taking in the sun and playing games (It is Golden Week right now so it is a week of holiday here), as well as, strangely, playing disney music. hopefully the rest of my few days here will be as enjoyable.
I have travelled across the Japanese Alpes now, stopping at Matsumoto and Kanazawa on the way where I visited a couple of gorgeous gardens as well as some castles. The castles were really quite impressive; although the one in Matsumoto only had one tower which remained standing as the others had fallen to old age and scavengers it was still an imposing building. The castle was built, for the most part, really well with special windows for shooting arrows and different ones for shppting muskets. Luckily though, the castle never saw any action, which was quite good as I ond't think it could have been easy for samurais in full armour to rush up and down the stairs as these were ridiculously steep. I have also visited Himeji castle, which looked very imposing, but which we were unfortunately not allowed to enter.
I have spent the past couple of days in Hiroshima, which is a really fascinating place. The tpwn looks just like any other, and walking along the banks of the river there is a stunning amount of trees and grass and flowers. They also have amazing food - the local speciality, okonomiyaki (sort of a pancake with cabbage, noodles, and a couple of other btis and pieces) was particularly good. I also had a number of daytrips, during one of which I learnt a great deal about Sake having visited a Sake brewing area. Miyajima was particularly fun though, mostly because of the wild deer that roam the place, seeming not to notice the humans walking amongst them except to occasionally steal food - I saw one man having a tug of war with a deer over a lollipop! There was also some amazing scenery there, and I spent the afternoon hiking through the hills on a little used track before making my way down to the beach where I scrambled over the rocks to find myself a quiet cove to sit in.
My visit to the Peace Museum was incredibly moving and emotional, even more so than I had been anticipating. It is quite a difficult experience to put into words.
I am now in Kyoto, where the weather is absolutely gorgeous. This afternoon I walked around the area near where we are staying, and visited a couple of temples as well as a park which was full of locals taking in the sun and playing games (It is Golden Week right now so it is a week of holiday here), as well as, strangely, playing disney music. hopefully the rest of my few days here will be as enjoyable.
Sunday, 2 May 2010
Furukawa Matsuri
I think that one of the best experiences I will have had in Japan will be seeing the Matsuri festival at Furukawa, which ushers in the Spring amidst much noise and celebration over the course of two days.
The centrepiece of the festival is the Okoshi Daiko, happening late in the evening of the 19th to early in the morning on the 20th April, involving a large drum parading through town waking up the residents to inform them that spring has arrived. At the start of this procession, everybody congregated in the main square of the town, under flickering firelight to watch the young men of the village (who had previously been running around with small drums attached to the middle of large poles) set off. Before the procession started, these groups of young men were chanting, drumming, and jumping onto the tops of the poles to the encouragment of the crowds. There was a lot of comptetion going on as each group tried to outdo the others in the number of people they could get on the pole, the quickness they could jump up, and the cheers they could get from the crowd. It was really quite amazing to watch, and I know that there is no way I could have done what quite a few of them made look effortless. (It was clear that it wasn't totally effortless though as quite a few were unable to jump on the pole and had to be helped up - quite often ending in with everyone on the floor)
The procession of Yatai floats, gorgeously decorated in red with intricate carvings and pictures lit up by lanters, was also a highlight - they were accompanied by the sound of flutes from the children of the village as they went along. The next day there were also performances carried out on the second floor f three of the floats - two puppet shows and a kabuki performance, which were really interesting to watch.
All in all it was a fantastic two days, and something I am really happy to have seen. It also made me see through the stereotype of the reserved Japanese, as they were anything but!
The centrepiece of the festival is the Okoshi Daiko, happening late in the evening of the 19th to early in the morning on the 20th April, involving a large drum parading through town waking up the residents to inform them that spring has arrived. At the start of this procession, everybody congregated in the main square of the town, under flickering firelight to watch the young men of the village (who had previously been running around with small drums attached to the middle of large poles) set off. Before the procession started, these groups of young men were chanting, drumming, and jumping onto the tops of the poles to the encouragment of the crowds. There was a lot of comptetion going on as each group tried to outdo the others in the number of people they could get on the pole, the quickness they could jump up, and the cheers they could get from the crowd. It was really quite amazing to watch, and I know that there is no way I could have done what quite a few of them made look effortless. (It was clear that it wasn't totally effortless though as quite a few were unable to jump on the pole and had to be helped up - quite often ending in with everyone on the floor)
The procession of Yatai floats, gorgeously decorated in red with intricate carvings and pictures lit up by lanters, was also a highlight - they were accompanied by the sound of flutes from the children of the village as they went along. The next day there were also performances carried out on the second floor f three of the floats - two puppet shows and a kabuki performance, which were really interesting to watch.
All in all it was a fantastic two days, and something I am really happy to have seen. It also made me see through the stereotype of the reserved Japanese, as they were anything but!
Saturday, 17 April 2010
Tokyo!!
Tokyo has been really interesting, and has been a thoroughly enjoyable experience. I have visited a Buddhist Temple, a Shinto shrine, a couple of parks as well as the Tokyo National Museum. Less exciting has been the weather, mostly rainy and overcast, which has unfortunately prevented me from really seeing Mt Fuji which is quite sad.
The Shinto shrine was really amazing though, and despite being fairly busy seemed to be quite quiet and serene. I think that the fact it is set within an amazing forest with over 170,000 trees helped promote that feeling, and it was hard to believe standing there that the forest had not existed before 1920 when the shrine was built. THe shrine itself is a reconstruction of the one built in 1920 as the original burnt down during WWII - it is quite simple, far less ornate and loud than the Daoist shrines of Taiwan, but I really enjoyed visiting it.
The Tokyo National Museum was really good too; it shows the evolution of Japanese culture and art across a number of different years, and shows the influence that other countries have had on its own development too. There were some really interesting exhibits, including a separate building with an archaeology of Japan exhibit, which I particularly enjoyed.
The next few days are now all planned as we set off on a tour of Japan using the JR Pass before ending up in Kyoto and Osaka - it seems as though the end is both really soon and really far away.
The Shinto shrine was really amazing though, and despite being fairly busy seemed to be quite quiet and serene. I think that the fact it is set within an amazing forest with over 170,000 trees helped promote that feeling, and it was hard to believe standing there that the forest had not existed before 1920 when the shrine was built. THe shrine itself is a reconstruction of the one built in 1920 as the original burnt down during WWII - it is quite simple, far less ornate and loud than the Daoist shrines of Taiwan, but I really enjoyed visiting it.
The Tokyo National Museum was really good too; it shows the evolution of Japanese culture and art across a number of different years, and shows the influence that other countries have had on its own development too. There were some really interesting exhibits, including a separate building with an archaeology of Japan exhibit, which I particularly enjoyed.
The next few days are now all planned as we set off on a tour of Japan using the JR Pass before ending up in Kyoto and Osaka - it seems as though the end is both really soon and really far away.
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Taiwan
It seems quite surprising to me that I have already finished my 10 days here as it seems to have gone by so fast and been filled with many different things - a day at the seaside, a day in the countryside, and many many temples.
The temples here are quite spectacular; they are incredidibly ornately decorated with bright colours, intricate stone carvings covering every wall as well as the columns and gorgeous tiled statues on the rooves. They also seem to fill most spaces in the cities, squeezing in between tall skyscrapers or down side alleys, I have even walked past a couple of them that are just in tiny spaces between two shop fronts - they really are everywhere.
I also came across a festical of some sort that was happening outside one of the Temples in Taichung. I'm not sure exactly what it was that was being celebrated, but there was quite a lot going on, with people wearing giant costumes or facepaint, dancing to drums. They also seemed to be taking some of the statues out of the temples and carryong them around the streets before bringing them back in a hail of dancing, swordplay and earsplitting firecrackers. All very exciting!
It has been really interesting to get to know Taiwan beyond it being a place where a lot of cheap goods are manufactured. It is also quite distinct to China, as they do seem to have a distinct identity and culture, despite a number of similarities, and I have enjoyed both tremendously.
The temples here are quite spectacular; they are incredidibly ornately decorated with bright colours, intricate stone carvings covering every wall as well as the columns and gorgeous tiled statues on the rooves. They also seem to fill most spaces in the cities, squeezing in between tall skyscrapers or down side alleys, I have even walked past a couple of them that are just in tiny spaces between two shop fronts - they really are everywhere.
I also came across a festical of some sort that was happening outside one of the Temples in Taichung. I'm not sure exactly what it was that was being celebrated, but there was quite a lot going on, with people wearing giant costumes or facepaint, dancing to drums. They also seemed to be taking some of the statues out of the temples and carryong them around the streets before bringing them back in a hail of dancing, swordplay and earsplitting firecrackers. All very exciting!
It has been really interesting to get to know Taiwan beyond it being a place where a lot of cheap goods are manufactured. It is also quite distinct to China, as they do seem to have a distinct identity and culture, despite a number of similarities, and I have enjoyed both tremendously.
Sunday, 4 April 2010
Last few weeks in China
The last few days in China seemed to be filled with not too much, except for the major task of extending the visas, we didn't manage to get too much done except visiting Jiuzhaigou and spending what seems t have been quite a bit of time in Chengdu doing not too much. Though this was quite nice as after 3 months of hectic busy-ness it was nice to have a couple of days rest.
Jiuzhaigou was fairly fantastic though. It was a 9 hour bus journey, which was less than good, especially as the bus was literally falling to pieces (I may not know a lot about busses, but I'm fairly certain that having to stop and pick up a part of the bus that fell on the road is not a good sign), and the hostel was once again lacking in heating while it was freezing (there was actual snow!) but despite this it was definitely worth it. The park is full of some of the most amazingly blue lakes I have ever seen, with a few of them interconnected by various waterfalls. A number of them were still surrounded by snow, and the largest lake was still frozen over!! The park also claimed that there were pandas there, but I can't say that I believe that (being an expert on pandas now) - for one thing there was no bamboo there.
I have now arrived in Taiwan, after a slight disaster catching the plane - namely our train was 6 hours late meaning we missed the flight! Luckily we managed to get on the next flight, and got here without too much trouble.
The first couple of days have been amazing, I have already seen a couple of temples and museums (the National Palace Museum and the Museum of World Religions). People here are, if possible, even more firendly and helpful than in China and Thailand. This afternoon when I was trying to find the Museum of World Religions I got a little lost and was befriended by a group of school kids who then took me all the way there on the metro.
It seems quite a bit different in Taiwan to China, but it is not something that I could really describe. I am enjoying being here though which is the most important part.
Jiuzhaigou was fairly fantastic though. It was a 9 hour bus journey, which was less than good, especially as the bus was literally falling to pieces (I may not know a lot about busses, but I'm fairly certain that having to stop and pick up a part of the bus that fell on the road is not a good sign), and the hostel was once again lacking in heating while it was freezing (there was actual snow!) but despite this it was definitely worth it. The park is full of some of the most amazingly blue lakes I have ever seen, with a few of them interconnected by various waterfalls. A number of them were still surrounded by snow, and the largest lake was still frozen over!! The park also claimed that there were pandas there, but I can't say that I believe that (being an expert on pandas now) - for one thing there was no bamboo there.
I have now arrived in Taiwan, after a slight disaster catching the plane - namely our train was 6 hours late meaning we missed the flight! Luckily we managed to get on the next flight, and got here without too much trouble.
The first couple of days have been amazing, I have already seen a couple of temples and museums (the National Palace Museum and the Museum of World Religions). People here are, if possible, even more firendly and helpful than in China and Thailand. This afternoon when I was trying to find the Museum of World Religions I got a little lost and was befriended by a group of school kids who then took me all the way there on the metro.
It seems quite a bit different in Taiwan to China, but it is not something that I could really describe. I am enjoying being here though which is the most important part.
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
Why you should avoid getting a Visa extension in Chengdu
I think I can safely say that getting my Visa extended in Chengdu was one of the most convoluted and stressfull things I have gone through whilst in China.
The first step, finding the PSB (the office where you need to go to get the extension) was fairly easy as it is only 5 minutes walk from the hostel. However, things started to go badly once we got there. At first we didn't know what was going on till we were told off for approaching the wrong desks, which was not too bad, so we found the desk were we needed to get the forms from. Unfortunately, the lady who was in charge of that desk was less than friendly - she told us off for filling out the forms in our own pens (apparently you ened to use their pen), then demanded proof of where we were staying and that we had enough money. At one point there I was convinced she was going to kick us out of China as I only had one copy of the reciept from the hostel and she really wanted one each, even though she only needed to photocopy it!
Luckily, the lady at the second desk we went to (once you fill out forms you need to go somewhere else to get them approved) was far more helpful, so I left the PSB office far more hopeful.
Returning to pick them up though seemed to be fairly tricky too - I was expecting to turn up, show my reciept, give them some money and walk away with my passport. But no - I was sent 5 minutes down the road to pay my money to a bank before I cou;d even see my passport! Luckily, getting back it was returned to me, so I am now the owner of a shiny new visa and can stay in the country until my flight out on Friday - quite relieving after all the effort I went to to get it.
The first step, finding the PSB (the office where you need to go to get the extension) was fairly easy as it is only 5 minutes walk from the hostel. However, things started to go badly once we got there. At first we didn't know what was going on till we were told off for approaching the wrong desks, which was not too bad, so we found the desk were we needed to get the forms from. Unfortunately, the lady who was in charge of that desk was less than friendly - she told us off for filling out the forms in our own pens (apparently you ened to use their pen), then demanded proof of where we were staying and that we had enough money. At one point there I was convinced she was going to kick us out of China as I only had one copy of the reciept from the hostel and she really wanted one each, even though she only needed to photocopy it!
Luckily, the lady at the second desk we went to (once you fill out forms you need to go somewhere else to get them approved) was far more helpful, so I left the PSB office far more hopeful.
Returning to pick them up though seemed to be fairly tricky too - I was expecting to turn up, show my reciept, give them some money and walk away with my passport. But no - I was sent 5 minutes down the road to pay my money to a bank before I cou;d even see my passport! Luckily, getting back it was returned to me, so I am now the owner of a shiny new visa and can stay in the country until my flight out on Friday - quite relieving after all the effort I went to to get it.
Friday, 26 March 2010
Working With the Pandas
It seems that I have been rather lax at keeping my blog updates up to date - this of course means that I have been incredibly busy and have a lot to tell you all! Well, that is only partly true. I have been quite busy the past couple of weeks, but mostly that is because I have been at the panda reserve in Bifengxia volunteering with the pandas.
Day to day my job is fairly similar:
7:30 breakfast
8:00 start work and clear out panda enclosures
10:00 feed the pandas (repeat at 11:30)
12:00 lunch
2:00 feed pandas (and again at 3:30)
As you can see, the pandas tend to eat a lot and occasionally have extra activities in the afternoon like panda training - this teaches them certain poses so that they can be easily examined by a vet. We also weigh them every now and again, though this mostly means tempting them onto the scales with panda cake, which is made of bamboo, corn, eggs, rics and a couple of other things.
I have five pandas to look after, Yuan Yuan who is the only boy and who is underweight, Xi Xi who is fairly lazy but really cute too, Zi Xia who was rescued from the wild after being injured in a fight and now can't go back and Tian Tian who is incredibly sweet and likes to spend most of the time outside. My fifth panda arrived on the first afternoon I was there, replacing Yin Pin who had gone into oestrus that morning and was taken to the breeding centre. She's called Na Na and is possibly one of my favorites.
I have also met some amazing people while working at the base, which is just as well as the work with the pandas tends not to take too long so we are left with an awful lot of free time on our hands which we have managed to fill with walks and visits to other towns nearby. The weather has been a bit strange though, as it has gone from snowing to so warm you can sit outside in shorts and tshirts!! I'm hoping that the good weather will last.
It has been an amazing two weeks and I have really enjoyed it. I feel that even though I may not have actually helped saved any pandas I am a lot more informed about them which is quite a nice feeling.
Day to day my job is fairly similar:
7:30 breakfast
8:00 start work and clear out panda enclosures
10:00 feed the pandas (repeat at 11:30)
12:00 lunch
2:00 feed pandas (and again at 3:30)
As you can see, the pandas tend to eat a lot and occasionally have extra activities in the afternoon like panda training - this teaches them certain poses so that they can be easily examined by a vet. We also weigh them every now and again, though this mostly means tempting them onto the scales with panda cake, which is made of bamboo, corn, eggs, rics and a couple of other things.
I have five pandas to look after, Yuan Yuan who is the only boy and who is underweight, Xi Xi who is fairly lazy but really cute too, Zi Xia who was rescued from the wild after being injured in a fight and now can't go back and Tian Tian who is incredibly sweet and likes to spend most of the time outside. My fifth panda arrived on the first afternoon I was there, replacing Yin Pin who had gone into oestrus that morning and was taken to the breeding centre. She's called Na Na and is possibly one of my favorites.
I have also met some amazing people while working at the base, which is just as well as the work with the pandas tends not to take too long so we are left with an awful lot of free time on our hands which we have managed to fill with walks and visits to other towns nearby. The weather has been a bit strange though, as it has gone from snowing to so warm you can sit outside in shorts and tshirts!! I'm hoping that the good weather will last.
It has been an amazing two weeks and I have really enjoyed it. I feel that even though I may not have actually helped saved any pandas I am a lot more informed about them which is quite a nice feeling.
Friday, 19 March 2010
Hiking the Tiger Leaping Gorge
Hiking the Tiger Leaping Gorge took a couple of days to complete. We headed out on the first day in a minibus from the hostel to Qiaotou, a small village near the begiining of the hiking trail. We had a bit of trouble finding the beginning of the trail as, un like England, there are no such things as ordinance survey maps which you can consult to find your way around - in the end we were pointed in the right direction by someone building the road. The trek itself was quite enjoyable, we walked for the first hour or so then headed up the steepest part, the 28 bends, on horseback (I felt a bit ridiculous going up on horseback but seeing the path we would have had to climb didn't feel quite so bad by the end). From the top we walked for a about 4 hours to the hostel.
It was so quiet at the top, we were the only people for miles around seemingly, and we didn't see anyone else walking along the same path as us. Luckily there was only the one path so the lack of map didn't prove to be too problematic. Well, actually that's untrue, we did have a map, but the maps that were available of the area ranged between fairly useless as they only gave you the vaguest idea of what to expect to downright dangerous as they were just inaccuarte enough to confuse you when you were up there. Luckily ours was the former. The scenery was pretty fantastic, ranging from forests to sheer rocks from where we could look down into the gorge and see the rushing river. We stopped for the evening at a lovely hostel with an amazing view over the gorge. We could see the mountains on the other side of the gorge from our bedroom window and also from the toilets!
We started early the next day with a hike down to the bottom of the gorge, fairly hard going compared to the nice gentle walk along the top we had the previous day. For a start the path seemed to be interspersed with numerous waterfalls. Incredibly beautiful, yes. But also, when they actually bisect the path they do make walking rather more difficult when you're trying to negotiate a pool of water, water falling from the cliff face as well as trying not to fall down the rest of the cliff as there was a distinct lack of any safety measures. After negotiating these, a herd of goats, and what felt like a path down the side of a sheer cliff we found ourselves at the bottom of the gorge. It was pretty impressive and definitely worth the trek down.
Getting back out of the gorge though seemed to prove more difficult than the trek itself. Having finally managed to get on a minibus (which we shared with 3 Chinese and an American who we had seen at the hostel overnight and at the bottom of the gorge) we realised just how tricky this journey was going to be. The road that we were taking is in the process of having serious work done on it, but contrary to what I think of as a logical approach, there seems to be a number of different patches being rebuilt along the road. This meant that we needed to change bus a number of times, climbing over roadworks and making our past huge mechanical diggers with dust and small stones flying into our faces. As if this was not difficult enough, there was also the problem of the landslide to contend with - a problem we overcame by running really fast between the stonefalls, one arm across my head to protect myself in case we timed it wrong, while the driver was shouting encouragement in Chinese. Altogether a very different experience, though definitely one I did enjoy.
It was so quiet at the top, we were the only people for miles around seemingly, and we didn't see anyone else walking along the same path as us. Luckily there was only the one path so the lack of map didn't prove to be too problematic. Well, actually that's untrue, we did have a map, but the maps that were available of the area ranged between fairly useless as they only gave you the vaguest idea of what to expect to downright dangerous as they were just inaccuarte enough to confuse you when you were up there. Luckily ours was the former. The scenery was pretty fantastic, ranging from forests to sheer rocks from where we could look down into the gorge and see the rushing river. We stopped for the evening at a lovely hostel with an amazing view over the gorge. We could see the mountains on the other side of the gorge from our bedroom window and also from the toilets!
We started early the next day with a hike down to the bottom of the gorge, fairly hard going compared to the nice gentle walk along the top we had the previous day. For a start the path seemed to be interspersed with numerous waterfalls. Incredibly beautiful, yes. But also, when they actually bisect the path they do make walking rather more difficult when you're trying to negotiate a pool of water, water falling from the cliff face as well as trying not to fall down the rest of the cliff as there was a distinct lack of any safety measures. After negotiating these, a herd of goats, and what felt like a path down the side of a sheer cliff we found ourselves at the bottom of the gorge. It was pretty impressive and definitely worth the trek down.
Getting back out of the gorge though seemed to prove more difficult than the trek itself. Having finally managed to get on a minibus (which we shared with 3 Chinese and an American who we had seen at the hostel overnight and at the bottom of the gorge) we realised just how tricky this journey was going to be. The road that we were taking is in the process of having serious work done on it, but contrary to what I think of as a logical approach, there seems to be a number of different patches being rebuilt along the road. This meant that we needed to change bus a number of times, climbing over roadworks and making our past huge mechanical diggers with dust and small stones flying into our faces. As if this was not difficult enough, there was also the problem of the landslide to contend with - a problem we overcame by running really fast between the stonefalls, one arm across my head to protect myself in case we timed it wrong, while the driver was shouting encouragement in Chinese. Altogether a very different experience, though definitely one I did enjoy.
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