Last 'Old Burma Road' post

I arrived safely home last Monday week, October 20th . I was not well and struggled to do the necessaties before going to Perth last Thursday. I had a lovely relaxing time there and enjoyed John's elder brother's wedding. I have recently been reminded by several people that I have made no comments on the last days of my trip - so here goes.

From Dali we drove north to Lijiang through more mountains and river valleys, always with something new to see. Lijiang is another city built around an ancient old town with winding narrow cobbled streets, wooden buildings with interconnecting roofs and people living their lives being gawked at by tourists - at least there were far fewer tourists in the mornings. We visited the Mu Chieftain's house - lots of interconnected buildings, courtyards, gardens etc - quiet and peaceful. The highlight of Lijiang was the outdoor show we went to which I have written about previously.

We drove north from Lijiang, going higher and higher. The road was quite spectacular. We stopped on the side of the Yangtze and walked 2 1/2 km into Tiger Leaping gorge along man-made paths with other tourists, but not too many. After walking back to the bus we had lunch at a nearby cafe on the edge of the river with spectacular views. ( I had hoped to have some photos organised - maybe in a week or so)We drove on , higher and higher, to Zhong Xiang ( or Shangri La) in Tibet . As soon as we got onto the plateau the farmhouses changed - the Tibetan style is quite different. There were yaks and more pigs.

Our hotel at Zhong Xiang was quite atmospheric. There were 2 storeys of rooms and corridors around a central enclosed area with tables and a fireplace. Lots of wall hangings and old furniture and colourfully dressed staff. The heating was 'off' - so we wore all our clothes but the rooms had very cosy doonas. There was a party of Chinese tourists who were very noisy in waking each other up at 5.30 one morning. They were none too carefeful in which door they knocked on! Once again, there is an old town which is being extended to form a new 'old town'. It was in this extension of the old town that we found the cafe that I posted from before. While we were in Zhong Xiang we visited the Songstam Monastery - one of the largest Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in the area. Currently 800 monks live there. We had to climb quite a few steps. Half way up I was puffing, but that was the only indication I had that I was at about 3500m. Some others on our trip felt a bit off, so I was lucky. We visited a local Tibetan house and tried some cheese made from yak milk (quite nice) , some roasted barley seeds ( quite nice) and yak milk tea (not a taste I have any intention of acquiring) .

The flight from Zhong Xiang to Kunming over the mountains was quite spectacular. ( I think I have used that word before!) We had 1 1/2 days in Kunming, the capital on Yunnan, to do what we wanted. Apparently the museum that some of our group went to was excellent. I was not well so only ventured from the hotel to buy a book to read and spent the rest of the time watching TV and sleeping. Our flights home - Kunming to Singapore, Singapore to Sydney, Sydney to Canberra were ok.

I will try and post some photos in a week or so.