Right now I’m laying on the bed listening to this gang of Chinese men outside my window playing cards. Chinese men are the loudest most annoying people ever. Our day was very full, Catherine Paul and I were walking around Lijiang old town and were accosted by a woman named Li who promised us a fantastic day of sightseeing. So after while we decided to go with her for about a four hour trip. So we did sightseeing stuff but then she dropped us off at the base of the hill and basically said climb up there and you won’t regret it. She said it would take one hour to get top. Well an hour and 45 minutes later we finally got the top. We were all absolutely exhausted going up this massive hill. She sent a guide on the horse with us, but he rode the horse up most of the way while we walked. After a while, Paul needed to ride the horse up, and Katherine did for little while too, but you know me I went up all the way hiking. Well we were rewarded at the top of course. We were able to see across to another valley and saw the Yangtze River from our vantage point about three thousand meters above where we started. It was one hell of a hike. And going down was no easy chore either. Then we met up with Lee again, and she had a nice lunch cooked for us.

After what turned out to be actually about a 6 1/2 hour trip, we finally got back to the hotel and the guy was looking for us. So we have almost immediately had to leave after taking a shower to get all this damn dust off of us going up the horse trail up this mountain.

We walked across ancient town to another restaurant with the guide and that the rest of the gang. Kathy from New Zealand, Andy who is a south African living in Thailand, Jimmy from Singapore, Andréa from Germany, and the three of us. It’s a nice small group so that should be good.

I am totally beat from today. Have to get up about 630 in morning for the first day of cycling. So even though these assholes are playing loud cards outside my window, I can barely keep my eyes open and need to sleep.

Ok, seriously sleepy! Keep falling asleep as I’m trying to write this.

Day 1 – Arrive Lijiang This tour will start in Lijiang where you’ll be met at the airport. Lijiang is an an-cient Naxi town in northwestern Yunnan, with a history dating back over 800 years. We stay at fine hotel with traditional Naxi Courtyards in the old city. Ex-plore the old town, which is a delightful maze of narrow cobbled stone path and old wooden houses. Walking through its lively market square, you will encounter women dressed in traditional Naxi costume, selling anything from traditional crafts to Chinese herbs. In the evening we have dinner to welcome you all. Hexi Hotel. D

Tom