Travelling North

After leaving the backpacker haven of Yangshuo, I travelled north using any mode of transportation I could find and using any method of communicating I could think of. The language barrier is massive here! Mostly I end up pointing wildly at the phrasebook and nodding blindly. The village areas were amazing however. I reached the Yangzi river at Yichang and took a 36 hour passenger boat up the river to Chongquing.

Dragonback Rice terraces. Really nice area in the Hunnan province but it almost felt built for Chinese tourists. These "Traditional girls" were not even part of the entrance fee!

Fantastic sunset up on the terraces.

Great advice.

Chengyang, another touristy "Minority Village". Beautiful place though.

The Wind and Rain bridge.

A real village person. Hurrah!

People doing Tai Chi underneath an enormous bridge.

The Three Gorges dam. Shame about the heavy pollution in air.

Heading up the Yangzi river

I had great company in my cabin. A dinosaur archaeologist and an English language student. I could blabber English to them the whole time. Great!

Hiking in Emei Shan - a Holy Buddist mountain 3100 m high. I met some German guys in the hostel and headed up with them for some hiking. We stayed in a monastery at 2000m and froze our butts off! Great views and funny monkeys everywhere.

Marcus with his share of the fourteen blankets we divided between the three of us!