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Exploring the old town

After a leisurely breakfast fruit, yoghurt and muesli in my room, I went out for a 2h+ exploration of the old town. It was more of the same as what I had seen yesterday. I think I’m feeling a bit jaded as I didn’t feel like paying money for the entrances. There was the Zhangfei […]

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An ancient city

What bliss it is to wake naturally without an alarm. Even better that I had a good night sleep without altitude complications. After a very leisurely breakfast and prep, I checked out around 1000 and taxied to Beimen bus station (which was new to me). I managed to get myself on the 1100 bus to […]

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Back to the big city again

I had a perfect night sleep last night. Kangding at 2600m / 8530ft is a breeze after Tagong which was higher than Lhasa. I made some muesli and yoghurt for breakfast before heading downstairs to meet the Swiss. We shared a taxi from a nearby bakery (where they bought breakfast) to the bus station. We […]

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A step down

Yep, another bad night sleep due to altitude. But it will soon be a distant memory as we descend down to Kangding today which is “only” 2600m / 8530ft. Together with the 3 Swiss, we shared a minivan to Kangding.  Pulling into the town of Kangding, we saw a very large church.  Mathias noted that […]

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Big day on my feet

I had a bad night sleep due to altitude last night; the half sleeping pill I took didn’t help much. Max recommended that I wake around 0800 because they start breakfast around 0830. It’s too cold to get going before that. I set off around 0930 up to the viewpoint, then headed to the big […]

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Higher than Lhasa

Getting to Tagong I had trouble getting to sleep last night; it must have been the altitude at around 2600m / 8530 ft. I took half a sleeping pill and had a good night sleep, waking up well before 0600. I got ready and taxied to the station for the 0700 bus to Tagong. Actually […]

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All by myself

Above:  Locals, young and old come out to dance to Tibetan music in Kangding’s square at night. Young ones in hip gear and oldies in the everyday traditional garb. Kim had to wake about 0515 for his 0815 standby flight to Hong Kong. I had my bus for Kangding at 0900 so I didn’t have […]

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Travel blues

Above: Kim skates well after not having done it for about thirty years. We had another lazy day. It was Kim’s last full day in China whereas I had another seven to go. We spent part of the day in the room, this time making hotel bookings for August next year. More importantly, I tried […]

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Long ride back to the big city

We had a lazy day yesterday after the walk in the park the day before. We spent the day largely in bed and in the room, but I did put my time to good use booking some more air tickets for August 2016. Our only foray out into the sunshine was for food at the […]

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A walk in the park (along with a zillion others)

Today is the big day, both in terms of being a possible highlight for the trip and also in terms duration. We had a Chinese breakfast at the hotel before being run to the park entrance at 0800, arriving there some 20 minutes later. The guidebooks recommend being there for 0700 to avoid the crowds […]

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