On Holiday

Christmas and New Year came and went, then Sophia arrived in Wanzhou, she helped me teach a bit, and now we are on holiday for Spring Festival break! We started the trip in Chengdu, West of Wanzhou, in Sichuan Province, where we randomly met up with a friend from Reading (Soony). Our first adventrue was at Mount Emei, a couple hours away from the city. We arrived there quite late and slept in the attic of a monastery, with no heating! Woke up at 5 in the morning to start a treck up the mountain in the cold and dark. It took about two hours to reach the summit, where there is a huge temple. We watched the sun rise over a sea of clouds untile the temple and statue of the Buddha were golden, it was amazing, and really really cold. The next day we went to the Giant Panda Breeding Center and saw a bunch of pandas just slobbing around (they are lazy as hell, just chill all day).
Next stop on the trip was Lijiang, in Yunnan. The town has been fully renovated and is full of traditional-looking chinese buildings and pagodas, and at night lights up with lanterns and candles, its really nice but also feels quite fake. We decided to leave for a couple days to treck through Tiger Leaping Gorge, which was incredible. The weather in Yunnan is perfect (its amazing to see blue skies again) and the mountains are so impressive. We ended up meeting a few other foreigners and eating pizza (it had been a while) in a little guesthouse near the top.
We're now in Dali, a little hippy town about 4 hours South of Lijiang. Everything here is catered to backpackers, loads of chill little bars and cafes, with amazing mountain scenery behind (we went for a horse ride with a cowboy) and a massive lake in front (also lots of little old wowen offering you "ganja, ganjaaa"). Its always sunny and so relaxed, and a little bit too perfect, I really don't feel like I am in China.
So many things have happened but I havn't got too much time to write, off to xishuanbanna tonight on a 17hr bus ride South, apparently its very hot and tropical there.
Next hopefully we will head to the Rice Terraces, Kunming, and then Guilin, Yanshuo. We still need to decide where to spend the New Year (13 February).

Apres Noel et le Nouvel An, Sophia est arrivee a Wanzhou, elle m'a aide un peu avec les cours, et maintenant nous sommes en vacances! On a commence a Chengdu avec une excursion au Mont Emei, qui est a environ deux heures de la ville. On est arrive assez tard et on a dormi dans le grenier d'un monastere, pour se lever a 5 heures du mat et commencer la montee jusqu'au sommet, dans le noir et le froid, et voir le lever du soleil, au dessus d'une couche de nuages. C'etait trop beau, et aussi tres tres froid. Le jour d'apres on est alle voir les pandas qui sont mignongs mais qui font rien en fait (la vie tranquille).
Apres Chengdu, on a pris un train puis un bus pour Lijiang, au Yunnan. C'etait sympa car la ville est tres belle et a recemment ete refaite, donc il y a plein d'immeubles a l'allure traditionelle. Mais bon, c'est aussi tres touristique. On est alle au Tiger Leaping Gorge (La Gorge du Tigre qui Saute?) pour une randonnee assez ouf, avec des paysages incroyables. On a rencontre des etrangers et on a mange de la pizza pas loin du sommet dans un petit hotel sympa.
En ce moment on est a Dali, une ptite ville hippy au Sud de Lijiang. C'est assez parfait ici, la montagne derriere (on s'est fait une balade en cheval) un lac immense devant, et le ciel bleu au dessus (ca fait du bien a voir). La ville est vraiment faite pour les voyageurs, avec pleins de bars et cafes trop relax (on entend partout Bob Marley), et pleins de petites vielles dames qui essaye de nous vendre de la "ganja, ganjaaa". C'est tout un peu trop parfait et ca ressemble vraiment pas a la Chine.
Ce soir, on prend un bus de 17hrs pour le Xishuanbanna, au Sud, qui apparament est beaucoup plus chaud et a un climat tropical. Ensuite, on espere aller aux champs de riz au Sud du Yunnan, puis Kunming la Capitale, pour passer le Nouvel An (13 Fevrier) vers Guilin ou Yanshuo, au Ganxi.