unattended

I'm winning!

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 09:45:00 -0700

Per won! Jenny lost!

Edit (Jenny): It didn't happen that often. Per winning that is. Raining in the afternoon on the other hand, yes that happened more than once.

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Raindrops keep falling on my head

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 06:38:00 -0700

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In the North of Laos it was humid. Very humid. We were travelling on the edge of the rainy season. This meant fewer tourists but heavy rainfalls in the afternoon. They lasted for an hour or so, and then the sun came back.

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Say hi to the Mekong

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 06:35:00 -0700

In Luang Prabang we got our first glimse of the Mekong river.

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Entering the backpacker trail

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 06:25:00 -0700

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First stop in Laos; Luang Prabang. This place was nothing like we had been to before. In the city centre it was crowded with westerners. This wasn't really a bad thing; it was actually quite nice to meet people that spoke English. We spent a couple of days relaxing in the city, getting massages (almost for free; seriously 4 bucks), strolling around... and eating some hamburgers and that sort of stuff.

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30 dollars and counting

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 06:18:00 -0700

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Border crossing China-Laos. It was a good thing we ended up quite in the beginning of the queue, to the officer booth to get visas and entry permits. The stamps in the passports got more and more expensive further down the line. Other than that our first impression of Laos, was that it's a beautiful country and the food a bit more spicy.

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Safety first

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 06:07:00 -0700

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Travelling by sleeping bus is cozy, for real. We managed to get a good spot, that meant there was enough space for Per's legs.

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Thank you China

Sat, 21 Aug 2010 17:44:00 -0700

Time to leave. We had a fabulous time in China and met a whole lot of beautiful kind people. We knew on before hand that we would have too little time to explore the country, but we made the best of the time we had. We will certainly be back in the nearby future.

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Chill out outside

Sat, 21 Aug 2010 08:56:00 -0700

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In Jinchuan. After having lunch we sat down and played a game we brought along. Something we love about China, is that people seem to spend hours and hours out in the streets playing different kinds of games, while drinking a whole lot of tea. It didn't take more than minutes before we suddenly had a huge teapot at our table ourselves. And company.

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Detour

Sat, 21 Aug 2010 05:04:00 -0700

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When we were about to leave for Jinchuan, Mr Wu asked if we would prefer to go with a friend of his, rather than the local bus. We didn't hesitate, as it would be nice to skip the crowded bus. We decided that since we got the time, to take a detour and visit some local temples on our way back. And so we were off towards the Shibao Mountain temples.

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The man, the myth, the legend

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 19:19:00 -0700

If you ever get the chance to visit the Yunnan province, Shaxi is totally worth the detour. We will never forget the fabulous time we spent with Mr Wu and his family at their place in Duan and all the lovely people we met.

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There you are

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 19:15:00 -0700

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Who did we met on our way back down to Sindeng if not "the lost brother" from yesterday.

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Relaxation

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 19:08:00 -0700

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Our stay in the village was so tranquil. We walked around for a bit, but mostly drank tea and hanged out with the family.

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The mushroom village

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 18:52:00 -0700

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Since we couldn't remember the actual name of the village, we decided to name it ourselves. There were about 40 families or so living there and all of them made a living out of gathering mushroom in the forrest. That meant we had between seven and ten different sorts of mushrooms for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

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There and back again

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 18:32:00 -0700

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Finally we arrived to the lovely village. By the time we had started to settle in at our guide's and his familys home, he all of a sudden waved goodbye. He had some errends to do back down in Sindeng and began his multi hour journey back, whooah that's impressive.

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Up, up and up

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 12:40:00 -0700

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After having some breakfast it was time to set off for a two day hike up in the mountains together with a local guide. The goal was to reach the tiny village where he lived and spend the night. It was a true challenge to follow the pace of our guide hour after hour on higher and higher altitude, but the views were amazing and totally worth the effort.

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Not the Lonely Planet

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 04:35:00 -0700

At the temple there was one other English speaking guest; Alex. He asked us one day how on earth we had found this place, we replied that we had read about it in the Lonely Planet. Alex is a travel guide writer, who has been working for the Rough Guide, Frommer's and so on. Shaxi is one of his sanctuaries and he had decided years ago not to write about this place to avoid it been exploited. Needless to say, he didn't look all too happy when we ended our discussion.

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The local yokel

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 04:17:00 -0700

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The rumor about visitors spread quickly. More and more people were joining us, Including the hat stealing joker of town...

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Chapter IV: Romance and relationships

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 04:05:00 -0700

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As we were enjoying our meal we tried to communicate with the family. Once again the dictionary came to the rescue. We looked things up, pointed at the Chinese characters and they answered by doing the same, but of course the other way around. We mainly asked about their family, the village and so on. They focused on one chapter. There we alot of questions about whether we were married, in love and stuff like that...

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Soup for you

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 03:51:00 -0700

On our way back to Duan we stopped in a small village to get something to eat. Since there weren'tany cooked meals to buy, we stopped by a kiosk. The only thing they had was ready-made noodle soup. As all other people in Shaxi the family who ran the kiosk was so kind (are you starting to see a pattern), they invited us inside. The lady started to prepare the soup and added stuff into it, and it turned out to be a proper meal.

unattended

I'm winning!

Raindrops keep falling on my head

Say hi to the Mekong

Entering the backpacker trail

30 dollars and counting

Safety first

Thank you China

Chill out outside

Detour

The man, the myth, the legend

There you are

Relaxation

The mushroom village

There and back again

Up, up and up

Not the Lonely Planet

The local yokel

Chapter IV: Romance and relationships

Soup for you

Wiiaaooh