HeyHeyanda Big G'Day Toya

We rose, ate a beautiful breakfast and said our sad good byes to the staff. It was such a warm and friendly place and Haba was such a beautiful little town. But it was cold and time to move on as we had to collect our bags from Sean in Zhongdian or better known as Shangrila. We caught the 8:30am bus and sat in silence most of the way and just stared out the window at the beautiful scenery.

We all waved a big good bye to Flip as he sat with his new found girlfriend.

When we arrived in Zhongdian (or Jongdien) we cabbed it to the Tibet Hotel. Hey they have electric blankets. Here we checked in and sat for lunch before heading out to see what the fuss was about when it came to this town. I was actually beginning to feel rather cold so I thought it was time to purchase a new pair of cargos as I had no long pants with me or shoes, just my trusty sandals.

I found a great pair of Levi Cargos (yes, I'm sure they were real Levi's NOT!) and after dropping our washing off we walked around town.

The 'old town' which I believe to be nearly brand spanking new had the same feel about it as Lijiang. Give it a few more years to be completed and wallah, Zhongdian will be huge with the Chinese Tourists and their yellow peeked-caps. I'm unsure why but one of the girls was upset this evening so I left them alone and headed across the road for a beer and a chat.


Saturday, 20th August 2005

Not much of a day really. After breakfast we collected our clothes and then headed up to the Ganden Sumtseling Gompa. It took us about forty minutes to walk there. It's a 300 year old Tibetan monastery with around 600 monks. We paid our 10 Yuan and began our 20 minute visit. I couldn't stand the place. My experience was that of visiting a huge You Buy You Buy market place. Every single monk that neared you wanted you to buy something. The funniest part was when we entered a huge room, to one side was a Monk on his mobile phone and as soon as he saw us he quickly shoved his mobile beneath his robes and began to chant.

I gave him a clap for trying and we left the Monastery very disappointed.

By this time the girls were fresh out of money and we searched and searched for a bank that accepted their VISA or Master Card without luck. We wanted to head to Deqin (Detchin) the following day but the girls couldn't afford the bus tickets. During the afternoon Melanie became very sick. It ended up being something to do with the height as which Zhongdian was situated. I headed out for a few hours walk and spent the evening with a heap of Chinese Police Students and a Spanish guy I'd met the previous evening.


Sunday, 21st August 2005

Over the past couple of days our room had become rather damp. The heater had stopped working and this morning the toilet also gave in. After changing rooms we moved upstairs to the dormitory. We had found an awesome little café just down from where we had our clothes washed and hid from the rain in here for part of the day. I read whilst the girls threw questions to the travel guide regarding a car to Chengdu where they were heading after the Mingyong Glacier. The girls had found a bank and were cashed up again so we headed to the bus station to purchase our tickets to Deqin. I spent the evening with the Spaniard playing cards and chatting about life over beer.

Beers N Noodles Toya...shane