Dial 8888 for a bumbershoot

"Dear guest: In the leaflet, you will kiredod, the chief dquioment department receiver center in kunming. Natuarlly, we remain at your service day and night to provide any other information. Dial 8888 for a bumbershoot"

We are in Kunming. What a journey!! Vikram and I headed off before dawn down the alleys of Lijiang (pulling our bags and carrying my poster tube). We found a taxi and headed off to the train station. We arrived rather too early and therefore split up to find some breakfast. I was in charge of drinks and found a suitable coconut/banana coffee. Vikram was in charge of the food and obtained some ridiculously spicy "edible mushrooms" and a biscuit.

Finally we got into the massive scrum to be the first onto the train. The train was a double decker and had rows of beds. Sitting for 8 hours on a bed is uncomfortable, but we were were entertained by our companions. We travelled with three young girls (ages 11, 9 and 7) and their parents (all squashed onto two small beds). They were from Sichuan. We played cards with the girls, they taught us Chinese, sang us a welcome song and looked at all the photos on my laptop. They liked the koalas. I proudly read them a story in Chinese and they found my name extremely funny.

The scenery was also impressive. The train went through a million tunnels as it went through the mountains of Yunnan. We have no idea where we went, but think that we may have passed Dali.

We then arrived in Kunming to find that nobody speaks English here. We didn't have a hotel room, but ambled up to the first hotel (without knowing how to ask for a room), but discovered that no room was available. We then tried the next one and a friendly chap from Hong Kong helped us get a room!

It's hot! We've just been walking around (stopping for some beers and an icecream) and then ended up with a meal suitable for about 10 people!

Off to Beijing tomorrow!

Chongqing a muggle copy to hand to most

We've just eaten a spicy soup in "Chongqing a muggle copy to hand to most" which was next to the "Adult Thing". I had an entire conversation in Chinese today. Vikram and I ended up in a Chinese tea house where we enjoyed Pu'Er tea being poured over the frogs.

We then went to the market. I bought a lotus bud to chew on. Vikram bought some peaches. Sandor got something that looked like a doughnut. Actually, we were not very adventurous. We could have had a dog. Vikram was particularly taken with the manner in which they gutted the fish whilst they were still alive. He also liked the bucket of bull frogs.

We had frog for breakfast a few days ago. It was very bony.

The conference is over now. Vikram and I are taking the train to Kunming tomorrow.

Last night our Chinese failed us. We asked for beer and got porridge.

My beautiful yak in Shangri-la

Yunnan is wonderful!!! I'm in love with a yak in Shangri-la. It was white and very fluffy. I sat on it and had my photograph taken!

We had a dramatic bus ride through the mountains (the road went up to 3.5km high but I didn't get altitude sickness!). We only saw a few crashes. One truck went off the side of the road. We saw the first bend in the Yangtze river. Then I sat on my yak. What a yak!

Then we ate a yak kebab and then headed on towards Tiger Leaping Gorge on the Shangri-la side. This was incredible. The whole of the Yangtze river gets squeezed in a narrow gorge. The power was incredible. The waves were massive.

Then we continued the drive higher into the mountains (there were lots of goats, buffalo, yaks and donkeys all over the road + a few chickens and a sad looking monkey in a tiny cage). We went to the Yunnan observatory which is situated in spectacular scenery. Vikram and I bought a potato from a lady on the street.

We finally got back to LiJiang and had the conference dinner. I was allowed to eat the Chicken's head.