Another ten days or so have been wiped off and we're back in Kunming for a few days of rest and pampering! We've had a mad week of an 'outward bound' type of adventure so now we're indulging in the delights of a standard double room with a shower and our own toilette!! Thrilling!!!

The news had just broken in Dali about Princess Di when I last e-mailed. What a tragic end. We had a bedroom full of English backpackers last night all grabbing a bit of news from CNN. Naturally, we were all upset but had a good laugh on the american reporting/coverage. "Her sons both following the coffin, Harry looking straight ahead, William alternating between looking up and down". HELLO???

Back to Dali - Twelve hours north of Kunming, Dali has become a backpacker's haven. People come here to get away from the hassles of travelling China. It is home to the Bai minority group. There are roughly sixteen national minority groups in China and we encountered two groups in the northern part of Yunnan. We spent four days hanging out in the small foreigners area, buying locally made batik wall hangings and tablecloths. Everything was really cheap. 15 yuan per night for a bed in a four bed dorm - less than two dollars. A decent meal with one or two beers set us back around four dollars if that at all. We were wondering why the local bai women kept annoying us to buy bracelets until we were informed that they are the main drug suppliers!!!!! Along with all the jewellery, they are the main dope dealers. Can you imagine the women in Moore street!! "MARAWANA for sale, love!! five joints for fifty"!

Next stop, Lijiang. Home to the Naxi community. The Naxi minority group numbering 280,000 are distributed over Yunnan province, Sichuan and Tibet. Nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas, the scenery is spectacular with the snowcapped Jade dragon mountain taking centre stage. The old town of Lijiang is simply beautiful with its cobbled streets and traditional chinese houses. Over two thousand years old, an earthquake measuring 7 on the Richter scale rattled the town and the local villages early last year.Three hundred people were killed and thousands were injured. Things are slowly getting back to normal now.

The Naxi community have a strong sense of keeping their culture and identity alive. Older women still dress traditionally with the give away colours of navy and black. Every night, a group of musicians give a performance of Naxi traditional music. Founded only a few years ago, the Institute holds music classes for children and adults in the hope of creating a renewed interest in their heritage. We went along and it reminded me of Teach Cheol and An Seisiun during the summer with its own Michael O'Neill minus the messing and the laughter!!

This was a serious affair. No laughing allowed!! For the most part, the musicians were all hitting their 90s and in between spitting and picking their noses, they played. We were a tad concerned about the chap at the back who hadn't moved for half an hour. We thought he'd died of boredom. For the ethnomusicologists amongst you, I'd recommend a few days here checking out the music and the instruments. Some impressive looking stuf!! The music was sad and sounded all the same. People say that about Irish music as well so I suppose you need to spend time listening to it in order to appreciate it.

Wednesday, 3rd of September

We left for Qiou Tiou at 6.30am. Three hours north of Liajiang, it is the starting point of the hike through the Tiger leaping Gorge, a 16 km gorge with the young Yangtzi river flowing through the deepest chasm in the world. Once upon a time, there was only one path and after two days hiking through the gorge, you arrived at another town.Modernisation and tourism will change the gorge forever with the planned road along the river. The road is under construction and that inevitably means land slides and rock blasting. We had our fair share.

We did the cute hoor on it and hitched a lift. To the sounds of chanting Buddhist monks (a cassette) and burning incense, we followed the path of the river, roaring along thousands of feet below! We said goodbye to the cool chinese dude and started our hike. We hoped to walk for six hours on the bottom path, stay the night and then return on the upper path. We found ourselves cutting up to the upper path because of landslides.Two friends had just crawled through and knowing my luck I'd end up in the yangtzi river. We stayed the night with a lovely family and to the sound of cockadoodling, we began our trek back to Qiou Tiou the following morning. Then the rain started lashing it down!! Brilliant!! We ended up lost in a valley and our only option was to climb down hazardous looking cliffs and follow a stream in the vague hope that it might bring us back to the bottom path. Lorraine wondered about a mountain rescue service and that did it for me! There was no bloody way that we'd be the oul Irish eejits getting lost!! I could hear the jeering and laughing!! The English guys would ruin us!! We eventually got our asses back on track and returned to safety. We felt totally incompetent and foolish until we met with other hikers the following day who had also got lost. Falling rocks nearly sent a friend of ours into the gorge. She was crossing a landslide - (running for your life) and loose rocks came flying down on top of her. She was lucky enough. Her boyfriend grabbed her in time!!

The rain continued for the day and our bus journey back to Liajiang was memorable. Paul Simon's song "Slip sliding away" kept running through my mind. The road was one slippery red mess and we had great craic u-turning several times en route.

An Irish guy had written in one of the Cafe's journals - "Forget about the damn gorge! Stay drinking here instead" I don't know if I could agree with him. It was scary as hell but it was absolutely amazing. I don't know if I'll ever experience anything like it again. Words or photographs could never do it justice.

So!! we're off to Vietnam tomorrow evening. I'll be glad to wave goodbye to China. It has been a month of long bus journeys and tiring train treks. The sheer size of China makes it really difficult to enjoy the chinese experience unless you're loaded and can take to the skies with China Air!!

It will be interesting to see how China develops in the next century. I think predictions about it becoming the new superpower are premature.It has a long way to go. What did Napoleon say? 'China is a sleeping giant. When she awakes, she'll astonish the world'. We'll see!!

Until next time!!
Take care
Ita

"One week later and we're in Yunnan province, South Western China."
(31 Aug.)

"Beijing is huge with streets that go on forever..."
(22 Aug.)

"In Beijing three days and just about settling into the swing of things."
(15 Aug.)

"And so I leave Korea..."
(12 Aug.)

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