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.