28th Oct - 飞来诗 --> 雨崩

Woke up early today to catch the sunrise!
We will really lucky to be able to catch the sight of it ! Because, there are people who stayed at 飞来诗 for many days just to catch the magnificent view of sunrise shinning on Kawagebo Peak
The Sun is finally out !

We changed our initial plan of just going 明永冰川. We decide to travel as a gang of 7 to 雨崩 first, stay 1 night there, next day will proceed to 明永冰川. Since, we have some flexibility, we decide to extend 1 more day at this beautiful place.

We found a 面包车 to fetch us to 西当热永唐. We started our trek, it is UP HILL ALL THE WAY! OMG! But somehow, this wasnt as bad as TLG first day. I dint felt so drained, tired & giddy. Maybe, its because 导游 was carrying our day pack. This time round, we decide to share a day pack, will take turn to carry it.

This time round, the negative thoughts of "why torture myself with all these trekkings?" was absence. Really felt more energised this time!

After 3.5 hrs of trekking, we break for lunch. They say we have covered 10km! The noodle for lunch was really HORRIBLE! Its bland, no taste at all! They just use water, put the noodle it, boil till the noodle cook. Pass the bowl to us, ask us to add our own soya sauce n chilli powder to make it tasty. And it cost us RMB8?! We should have opt for instant noodles instead.

Another 8 km more, will reach 雨崩! The 2nd half of the trip was really much easier! Yeah! We did it! We reached around 4 plus, earlier than we expected. We trekked for a total of 5.5 hrs. Totally exhausted!

Wonder is running a marathon as bad as this ? Or this should be worse? Since it is at a higher altitude and uphill most of the trek.

So glad that they have hot showers! Although it is super basic here, but at least we can keep ourselves clean by showering! This place reminds me alot like nepal.

This place is really beautiful ... with a snow-capped mountain just in front of us. This is the reward for all the panting, uphill that we endured.

We assigned A Hui to help us order dishes for dinner. We are famished. We just clean out all the 7 dishes and soup that we ordered! Food taste so good when you are hungry.

We also ordered 一斤 locally brewed red wine - done by the guesthouse. Its not too bad .. quite smooth, mixed with tinge of sweet and sourness. I just had a small cup.

Went back to our room to rest by 9 plus. But I just cant get to sleep! The whole night I was just tossing and turning. Haiz ... not sure why. As the floors were made of wooden plank, I could hear when anyone walked to & fro upstairs. This is my 1st night during the whole trip I cant sleep!

Next morning when I wake up, they were telling me that there were at least 3 rats (big & small) running around upstairs. One of them even encountered one in his room on him! He has to flung it out of his bed! YUCKS !

梅里雪山

梅里雪山位于德钦县东北部10公里处，处于香格里拉深处，世界闻名的金沙江、澜沧江、怒江“三江并流” 核心区。

梅里雪山属横断山脉，北连西藏阿冬格尼山，南与碧罗雪山相接，是滇藏界山。雪峰连绵，平均海拔在6000米以上的便有13座，称“太子十三峰”。座座晶莹，峰峰壮丽，各显其姿。

主峰“卡瓦格博”，海拔高度为6740米，位于东经98.6°,北纬28.4°，藏语为“雪山之神”之意，是传说中宁玛派分支伽居巴的保护神，是藏传佛教的朝觐圣地，位居藏区的八大神山之首,为云南省第一高峰。卡瓦格博峰早在30年代就被美国学者称赞为“世界最美之山”，中日登山队连续三次攀登，均未能登顶，目前仍是无人能够攀登的“处女峰”。卡瓦格博雪峰下，冰斗、冰川连绵，犹如玉龙伸延，冰雪耀眼夺目，是世界稀有的海洋性现代冰川。

在藏民的心中，卡瓦格博峰是他们保护神的居住地。当地人认为：人类一旦登上峰顶，神便会离开他们而去。缺少了神的佑护，灾难将会降临。近一个世纪以来，所有企图征服卡瓦格博的登山活动都以失败而告终。

梅里雪山共有明永，斯农，纽巴和浓松四条大冰川，其中明永冰川从海拔6740米的梅里雪山往下呈弧形一直铺展到2600米的原始森林地带，绵延11．7公里，平均宽度500米，面积为13平方公里，年融水量2．32亿立方米，每当骄阳当空雪山温度上升，冰川受热融化，成百上千巨大的冰体轰然崩塌下移，响声如雷，地震山摇，令人心惊魄动。

那清远澄净的蓝天，映衬着高洁雄奇的雪峰，卡瓦格博峰白色的锋芒直指苍宫，左右排列的各个雪峰都仿佛受其制约着，又仿佛是其麾下不可分离的一个整体。　

梅里转山分内转、外转.

内转的路线总的说不是非常辛苦，适合一般的驴友,但遇到下雨或下雪，路上很是泥泞曲折。
外转山的线路相对较长而艰苦,要绕整个梅里雪山一周，进入西藏，再回到云南，对体力有较高要求。 外转山通常需要13天，期间需要住在无人区，适合有长期户外徒步经验的资深老驴.

27th Oct - 飞来诗

Work up @ 7am !
Need to check out of the YHA, deposit our bag with them, meeting Will n Hazel at 8 am.

Bought our bus tickets at the station at RMB41. Bump into some drivers who are looking for tourists who are intending to 梅里雪. They gave us some good tips and advice.

The bus was really good, not packed with people! We can have 2 seats to ourselves. It was really a comfortable ride, just some bumpy road along the way. The scenary was great too!

Reached 飞来诗 at around 4 plus.
Our gang of 4 people, transform to 7 of us in the mere 8 hrs bus ride. We are now like a small united nation.

• Qingmei Bohemenian looking girl from Zhejiang, she is the kai xin guo of the gang !
• A Hui Serious looking guy from HK, who speak Chinese with no Cantonese accent
• "Big Moustache" the "Father" of the group
• Will n Hazel Young british couple who have travelled for 18 mths together. Amazing!
• Me n 导游 Aytpical Sporeans

L to R: Will n Hazel, Qingmei, 导游, me, 大胡子, A Hui

Our 1st mission together was to hunt for a cheap accomodation. After some tussling with a few owners, we settled with one that is RMB27 per person (with shower). The accomodations at 飞来诗 is charged in such a way; they quote you a price on the room, if you want shower, you need to pay an additional RMB10. Interesting eh? So to save money, you can always choose not to bath!

Will n Hazel shared a double room. While the rest of us shared a dorm. Although, we know each other for barely 24 hrs, we had alot of fun chit-chatting the whole night.
Qingmei and "大胡子" are just like a pair of daughter and father. The father is contstantly nagging at the daughter on what to do and not to do. The daughter will be rebuking back at the advices. Just hearing their conversations is enough to make our day!

Things like, "大胡子" will be asking Qingmei to put on sunscreen, but she will refused as it was not easy for her to get the tan she has now. He will also constantly nag at her to put on more thick clothings.

Qingmei is really a hilarious character. She told us that her dream last time was to be beggar, standing by the street begging together with her husband - she thinks that is very romantic.

The whole night was just filled with laughter.

Nights out at 10pm, so that we can all wake up in time to view the magnificent view of sunrise shinning on the Kawagebo Peak (卡瓦格博) - 6740m, which is the highest point of Meili snow mountains.

26th Oct - ZhongDian

Nothing plan for today.

Decide to sleep late. Woke up at around 9 am (ya .. thats the best I can go!), 还是把导游给吵醒!
Have decide to change our accomodation, RMB120 per night is too expensive for budget travellers like us !

They need us to return the key by 11am. Short of time, we decide to go to this 四川小吃官 which is just across the road to have breakfast. I have a 粑粑 and 导游 have noodle soup. The noodle soup was pretty good! All this for RMB4 !

Decide to check into the neat YHA we saw yesterday at the old town. Its only RMB80 for a 标间。

Took bus # 3 to 松赞林. The bus ride was pretty interesting, till the last part, it was really bumpy! We are basically jumping up and down on the bus. Even the locals looked pretty shocked to experience such bumpy rides.

The monastry is pretty grand. Was quite surprised that we didnt see many tourists around. Thought this is a tourists spot? We saved RMB15 by using our student pass ! Was pretty irritated by one of the monks in the monastry ! Once we step in to do our prayers, he pushed us some stuff to eat and drink. Thereafter, he insist that we light the oil lamp and INSIST, PERSIST that we must give RMB10 each ?! Isnt this kind of donation voluntary ? And why is a monk forcing people ! I hate it when Im forced to do things ! Ugh ! Had lunch @ 东北 饺子馆. The 饺子 is really pale in comparsion with the ones at 山东饺子馆.

Went to to read up more on 梅里雪山, since Lonely planet provided such bad information on the place.

After our discussion with Hazel and Will, we decided that we will stay 1st night @ 飞来诗 , 2nd day we will make a day trip to 明永冰川 , stay another night @ 飞来诗, before making our way back to 中甸 on the 3rd day.

Went into this big internet cafe along the busy street of It is a big cafe with many people playing LAN games, watching movies, drama serials. Shortly after we step out of the cafe, 2 guys suddenly broke out fighting just behind the place where we were sitting! They were really fierce! If we were to leave 1 min later, we will be injured too!

Went back to the same 山东饺子馆 for dinner since we have told Hazel, Will and the spanish guy that we will be there for dinner (they wanted to try out 饺子too).
Out of the blue, a gang of 4 guys and a lady came into the shop. The moment they came in, one of the guy in the group just lift up the knife that was left on the table and bang it on the table, start to yak loudly for the boss.

The other 2 patrons in the shop look kind of worried, whispering among themselves, exchanging knowingly looks. Even the boss displayed a worried look ! Luckily, we are sitting very near to the door, can just (hopefully) dash for our lives anytime!

The guy went into the kitchen 2 times. On the 2nd time, he came out looking happy, and shortly after, the gang just left the place. Phew!
This confirmed our suspicison that they came here to collect 保护费。

The boss cooked us a HUGE bowl of noodle with lots of vege! Think I have enough of noodle and
饺子 already! Super over-dosed ah !

Went back early as we need to pack our stuff for our trip to 飞来诗, hopefully this time we will be able to pack smarter eh! Have already decided that we will leave all the other items at the YHA.

25th Oct - Tiger Leaping Gorge --> Zhongdian

Arrange a transport to pick us up from Sean's place to Qiaotou. Will cost us RMB10 each, 8 of us squeezing inside a small van (面包车). Like this. Its so nice to let the "wheels do the walking"!

Reach Qiaotou @ around 10 plus. Went back to Gorge Cafe to pick up our stuff.
Cross the bridge, saw a 面包车 which state "中甸" , quickly flag it down. *we never consider whether is the bus is from some dodgy pte company - might have flag a 贼车 ! *

Reach 中甸 at around 2 plus. Took a cab to the tibetian cafe, looking for 独客中客栈. Lonely planet have recommended this place, however, the rooms are so expensive - RMB120 for a 标间. Attempt to negotiate down to RMB100, but she just refused ! Bo bian lor .... just have to settle for this one.

Walk to the old town of 中甸, very similar to 丽江, except that it is less busier. More constructions around, think the govt is trying to refurbish it to be like 丽江古城. Chanced upon this YHA, its really nice! I like this kind of accomodation - woody feeling. And the hostel is really new, finishing building in Mar'06, they are still renovating some parts of the hostel. RMB80 for a 标间! Why Lonely Planet never mentioned this lovely place ? And there are actually plenty of accomodations inside the 古城 itself! All were not mentioned in Lonely Planet !
Time for feedback ! And that will be 导游 job ! :P

While I was @ the tibetian cafe, 导游 spotted the british couple who were at Sean's place. 导游 managed to use her charm to persuade them to head towards 德庆 too ! :)

Spotted this 山东较子馆, decide to give it a try in spite of it being dirty and messy. I wont bat an eyelid if I were to spot any rats running around in their kitchen ......

Think if my mum were here, she will freak out eating at places like this ...

The 较子 was really good ! The 刀削面 was so so only, still the ones at 丽江 were better.
We shared 15 较子 and a bowl of 刀削面, all this for RMB10 !

Desperation drives creativity ?

Our 1st night @ Tiger Leaping Gorge, was desperate to find a place to hang our dirty clothes so that at least we get to wear "dry" dirty clothes instead of wet ones ?

So this is what happen .......

Trekking pole to the rescue! Balance between 2 tables

And between the bed frame
Who say Sporeans arent creative ? :P

Tiger Leaping Gorge - Photos

It is scenary like this which kept me going.

I love the mountains and clear blue skies More Photos Sporean friends we bump during our trekking - dint expect to meet Sporeans thou

Kodak moments .. *Smile*

View of nice mountains from Halfway Guesthouse, even from the common toilets! (which stink?)

1st night at Tiger Leaping Gorge

We opt for a double room with no attached bathroom (RMB60) at halfway guesthouse. The 标间 would have cost us RMB160, my tired brain upon hearing RMB100 more, decide to opt for the cheaper option. But after converting, i realise its SGD20 more which is ok actually considering the situation Im in.

We are so hungry, decide to have dinner before anything else. We had stir-fried brinjai, stir-fried chicken, tomato & egg soup. And not forgetting beer ! So nice to have fantastic food when you are tired and hungry.

Knowing that our new Sporean best friend has a 标间, we decide to be thick-skinned and ask if we could use their bathroom for bathing instead of the common bathroom. :P
I left <<导游>> to use her charm to make this request.

Mission succeeded !

They are really gentleman. They left us alone in their room while we are bathing, sayinjg that they will go take a walk ? But there is actually no place to take a walk ! It is just the guesthouse .. and the compound is not huge at all ? Very gentleman indeed !

*Hear from others next morning that the hot water wasnt hot at all at the common bathroom!Luckily we have them, if not, we would have freeze our butt off!*

Went out for star grazing, not too bad, saw quite a no. of stars. But it was just too freaking cold to stand long to admire and enjoy !

Nitez and sweet dreams ! :)

2nd Day @ Tiger Leaping Gorge

Woke up @ 830am. Had a good night sleep. Think Im just too tired.
Decide to finish the <<八宝粥>> that we have brought along to lighten the weight of my bag.
It taste just like our dessert - 黑糯米. Not too bad la.



<<导游>> was only gamed enough to try a spoon of it.
I also ordered their apple pie (lonely planet has recommended it). Dont like it .. so oily !
Only appreciate the apples inside, been long time since I ate apples!

Set off @ 1015am. The route today is much easier as compared to yesterday.
Today, we will stay a night at Sean's place @ Walnut Garden. By 115 pm, we reached Sean's place.

Decide to pamper myself today - stayed in 标间 (RMB140). Love the room, hot shower and TV.. :) We had fried noodle, tomato & egg soup, Dali Beer. The noodle was dry and starchy, not nice! But the soup was good. On the whole, the dinner @ Halfway Guesthouse was better.

Not long after, was surprised to see our Sporean best friend, thought they would have left TLG to catch a bus to go Zhongdian.
Apparently, they have taken the 天梯 from Tina's Guesthouse to go all the way down to the Gorge. They keep on encouraging us to try the route too. But, we are happy to just sit there and chill-out with the beautiful scenary in front.

Finally, decide to move our butt and take a short walk.
Came back, chit-chat with the Dutch couple. Learnt that they have things like:-
- 30 days of annual leave!
- If they work on weekends, they will be paid 2x & on top of that, they will get a day off!

Maybe, I should go Holland to work instead!

Tonight's stars are really much more and bright than yesterday. Been a long long time since Im able to see so many, can only remember seeing so many was in Nepal (2002) and Perth (1997).

23rd - 24th - Tiger Leaping Gorge

Taking an early morning bus from Lijiang to Qiaotou.
From there, we will doing trekking at Tiger Leaping Gorge, taking the higher trail.

We will be bringing a day bag for this trek instead of carrying our entire bagpack (obviously I have no energy to carry a 11kg bag and do a trek?)

Start to list down the things that we would need and what we can share so as to keep our bag as light as possible. Can’t believe that we have so much things to bring for just a 2 days trek! Had a tough time trying to stuff them into my day bag! So many things that we are bringing are for “in case”!
Hopefully I can tell myself to be stopped being a "Ni ni" and travel light n in style! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The alarm went off @ 6 am. Have decide to reach the bus station by 7 am so that we can get the tickets (the tickets are only for sale 10 mins b4 departure) for 730 am bus to Qiaotou. Early morning, I discover that I have strike lottery ! or I should say 中马票也没有这么准! Why am i a girl ?!

Dint managed to find the bus station after walking for 15 mins in the direction as advised by the locals. Bo bian! Have to catch a cab now ! Should have taken right from the beginning since it would cost the same - RMB7 ?!
We then realise that the station is actualy pretty far and according to the locals, it is very near - walk to the first traffic junction then turn right. The first traffic junction actually needs a good half an hr walk ??! Maybe thats only 1 traffic junction at this town !

Reach the station @ 7 am. Guess what ?! The tickets are sold out for 730 am ?! How can that be when the tickets sales ARE SUPPOSE to start only at 720 am ?! 导游 was fumming mad. I was pretty cool about it, in China, you just have to be prepared to accept all this kind of crap. They dont fazed me anymore, maybe because I have lived with them for a yr .

We just have to settle for 830 am one instead.

Met a dutch couple, helped them to get their tickets. A french couple approached us after knowing that we can speak English and Chinese. Apparently, they have been ripped off ! The train station actually sold them the tickets (RMB70) to Zhongdian and asking them to just alight at Qiaotou. Whereas, our tickets to Qiaotou is only RMB15. 导游 tried to help them to change their tickets. In situations like this, Im very grateful that Im effectively bilingual.

70% of the passengers were ang mohs. However, there was this local lady who is from other province. She is just like a LOUD HAILER ! She talk so loud and non-stop ! Kept yakking away ! Maybe, its because she is travelling alone ? So have to talk at every opportunity ? DUHZ !

She actually say this :-
“韩国只要待一天就够了！去这个地方转一转，拍拍照就行了."
My eyes just rolled hearing comments like this ! She might as well stay at home to look at otos of different country !

Finally we alight at Qiaotou. The entrance fee is RMB50. However, with our "student pass", we only had to pay RMB25!

--insert photos---

Will be leaving our main bagpack at "Tiger Gorge Cafe"- a very popular place for among trekkers to leave their bags here at at cost of RMB5 regardless of duration. Bump into this "Sporean couple" at the cafe - George and Alvis. We decide to do the trek together.

Me and 导游 suddenly have this telepathy between both of us, gave each other a knowing look.
Well ... not long after we started walking, George declared "Alvis and I are in a relationship." Ha ! Our "Gaydar" function perfectly well even thou we are in China!

Just half an hr into our trek, I start to feel giddy! Oh man .. what is wrong with me? Decide to sound the alarm to the rest, sat down on the rocks and took a break. Not going to act strong, then later fell off the cliff and burden 导游. Start to have doubts at my fitness level ... all these running have no use at all ? :o(
Begining to feel better after the break ... continue with our trek! Reached our Naxi Family Guesthouse @ 1pm, after 1.5 hrs of walking. Had lunch there.

After our much needed break, we have to continue our trek. The much known 28 bends is waiting for us - uphill all the way till the top of the 28th bend. According to the map we had, it will take us 1.5hrs (3km) to reach the top of the bend.

Barely 15 mins of walking uphill, tiredness set in again ! Doubtful thoughts start seeping into my brain.

- Can I finish the 28 bends and reach the guesthouse before it is dark?
- Here I am, just panting away, not even enjoying the scenary, just thinking of whether I can complete it . Why did i put myself into all this 自我虐待 activities ?
- Am i really so weak, considering I have been running so much? Im just like all the other typical weak girls !
- Maybe I should had just take the lower trails, sit in the comfort of the bus. Stop at touristy n scenic spot to pose and take photos. Telling people I have been to Tiger Leaping Gorge.

Was also thinking if running a marathon is tougher or this trek ?!

Wah .. was even more demotivated when I realise the earlier slopes werent the start of the 28 bends! Fwah ... die lor.

Maybe my mind was just not willing to be defeated, somehow or other, I make it to the top of the 28 bend ! Yippee ! The tough part is over !

Reach 茶马客栈 at 5 pm. The earlier advise that we got was that we can continue to walk to Halfway Guesthouse if we reached here before 5pm. We decide that we will be able to reach Halfway Guesthouse before dark.

The route from 茶马 to Halfway was just a flat route. Very easy to walk as compared to the rest. By 615pm, we reached Halfway.

22nd Oct - 拉市海

Woke up @ 7 am today !
Had arranged for a transport to bring us from 古城 to 拉市海. A short 45 mins ride, we reached.

拉市海- 位于丽江县成西面8公里，是个观看日出日落的好地方。拉市海是一个湿地自然保护区，高原湖泊水平如镜，玉龙雪山的倒影清晰可见。
Quite a nice place with a lake (Yes .. Its a lake, not 海) & a vast piece of grassland with horses. Apparently, the place is not accessible on foot, we need to be horse-riding. They have a few horse-riding package and they are not cheap ! (ok .. the price is ok for horse-riding, but not cheap for China std!) We chose the package which will cost us RMB380, after some bargaining, the boss agreed to be @ RMB300 (Yes .. everything can be bargain in China!)

Got ourselves up the horse. Start to feel abit scare ! Paranoid thoughts start coming to my mind. Things like - what if I fall off the horse-back, break my head n bleed profusely! Seriously, you wont want to get injured in China and visit their hospital ! This is the last thing i wan to do ! The 师夫 asked me to hold the reins myself, I started to protest! Hearing me scream, he took back the reins.
<<导游>> have to DIY then, since we only have one 马夫.

We started the journey on the grassland. I can see some fears from 导游's eyes. At that point, I was glad that I dont need to maneuver the horse ! :P

We pass by many farms, with the mountains, blue skies and white clouds as backdrop ! The air is so fresh ! Funnily, the song <<康定情歌>>, came to my head. Maybe, been drinking too much China water! haha

Dint manage to go 七彩湖 as they are maintaining the roads leading there.

Went to 原头，it is like a mini waterfall. Actually the scenary reminds me very much of the kind of "waterfall photo" you find many yrs back then come with a clock face ?

Since we cant go to 七彩湖, we told the 师夫 to let us ride around the grassland longer. After > 1 hr on the horse, was feeling quite comfortable and gamed for the idea of "riding the horse" myself. Requested to hold the rein myself, but was turned down flatly ....... because the young horse Im on will go wild on the grass ! So basically, I dint have a chance to really RIDE A HORSE ?

The 师夫 also offered to give us a free boat ride ! :) Was really nice and relaxing ! During our horse-ride around the village, we saw alot of Propaganda like these below.

They will have things like :-

1) Having 1 child will means more wealth to the family;

Looking more relaxed and at ease

I really admired 导游for being so brave to maneuver the horse all by herself throughout the whole journey !

Lijiang - Clean Toilets !

Have already noticed that in the 古城, public toilets are easily spotted. They look really nice and new outside, but we dont have much faith in the interior (for obvious reasons) Never considered visiting them unless it is very very necessary!

And the time came when it was very very necessary for me to use the public toilet !

It will cost RM0.50 to use these toilets, more expensive than the ones at bus station - RMB0.30.

WAH ! Oh man ! I WAS REALLY IMPRESSED !
I enjoyed the toilet experience !

I just have to visit it again to take photos and blog about it !

Nice wooden doors with craving to greet you

Its well worth every single cents !

Oh .. did i forget to mention there was a small screen showing MTV in each cubicle ?!