Bam, Bam... back in Lijiang

We managed to get this lovely Naxi woman to drive us back to Lijiang... all of us were pretty tired and had hangovers after one to many drinks at Seans.

Tonight was the last night with Dick, Mike and Rich about so we thought we'd better go out. Both Kate and I fancied some Western food and were told about the Frosty Morning... funnily enough its run by a English and Chinese couple and the English guy is from Castleford (not far from where I live!).

After eating my steak in about 2 mins flat we had a few drinks and started chatting to a couple behind us.

Fully recommend the bar, its a bit expensive but the food is great and has everything you need for a good night out. A few others who were staying at Mamas joined us, including the lads and we all proceeded to get a bit tipsy.

After our previous defeat in the singing contest and with new found friends we decided to take on the chinese again. With high spirits and a case of beer we wandered to the river...

The singing may not have been brillant but we sang classics (well I mumbled a lot of them - no idea on the lyrics!) such as beatles - hey jude, yellow submarine ... yankey doodle and the others which we had done before. Anyway after we got some backup from the 3 girls from the bar behind us (who covered us whilst we were thinking up the next random song) we realised victory and sprayed beer at our competitors!

.. Great night.

The next day we decided to hire some bikes and make our way to Baishu. Kate cleverly got the bus and I got bikes with the boys. After about 20mins we got lost and went down the wrong road. Realising our mistake we went back on ourselves and then Mike and Rich (who thought it would be fun to get a tandem - and it was for about 20mins!) had a puncture...

We proceeded to ride with the back tire getting flatter and flatter... after some failed attempts to get a pump this chinese local women, let us borrow her pump. Its at times like this that you realise how generous people are... the tire was pumped and away we went .. unfortunately the tire was flat 10mins later and so we walked to the next village.

We didnt really know where we were but walked north and Rich managed to score a ride for the bikes on one of these vehicles with an engine on the front and trailer on the back. Getting all of the bikes (apart from mine as I wanted the exercise) we made our way to Baishu. Not realising we went through Baishu and to a house where everyone was playing Mai Jong. Its a pretty nice life in the Chinese countryside, no one seems to work and everyone seems to play Mai Jong or Chinese Chess...

Rich and I left the boys back for Baishu to go and meet the infamous Doctor Ho (I didnt know who he was until I met him). We arrived and were met by the Doc, a really friendly chap who makes a Cure-All tea. He is amazing at marketing himself and proceeded to handover reams of letters and articles about him and his tea. Michael Palin met him whilst doing his Himalayas trek along with John Cleese... the tea wasnt bad.. though John Cleese didnt seem to think so and had written "Nice Bloke, Crap Tea"... a bit harsh!

At the time my girlfriend, Lauren wasnt too well so I bought some of the tea and bid farewell.

Lijiang has some amazing shopping with lots of bargains to be had. Kate and I spent the next day wandering round the shops... I bought a few bits and pieces and the area is renowed for its jewellery.. unfortunately I didnt think any of it was that great. (Sorry babes!)

We were meeting Joe in 2 days in Chengdu .. and it was time to organise travelling. Kate was going to get the bus down to Kumming and then fly up. Me being on a budget went for a bus which went east to Jinjiang so that I could catch the train to Chengdu...

Anyway I shall leave you with some pictures and also there is some video footage from the singing competition...