*****NO PHOTOS WILL BE ADDED to this entry*****

*Entry written on the 4th October*

Hey Hey & a Big G'Day to ya,

Strangely after I had had several dreams of packing throughout the night, when Judy woke she said, 'Hey, why don't we go to Leshan today'. My dreams were of packing but each time I turned around my pack was unpacked and spread out on the bed so I would have to pack again.

After I really packed my pack stayed packed and we head to the bus station to purchase tickets to Leshan. We were told there were no buses to Leshan BUT we had finally figured out the trick to the 'no bus' answer. What is usually means is there are no buses in the next twenty minutes to an hour. What it meant this time is that there was a bus in three hours. Cool mate! We grabbed our tickets and headed for Brunch.

OVER SEAS PHONE CALLS: I had been trying to find an IP Phone for days and finally found one in the China Mobile shop at the cross roads. If your at the Net Bar it is on the other side of the road but on the other cross in the cross roads. You'll figure it out!
When we go to the bus station the info girl took us to the waiting area and told us we had to wait. So wait we did. We were given hot tea and many smiles.

The Ya'an bus station really is a warm and friendly place!

After about an hour we were told we had to take a cab to the other bus station as the bus was not working. Cool Mate! The info girl actually came with us in the cab and exchanged our tickets for us.

Oh, Ya'an bus stations really are a warm and fuzzy place!

I kept looking at the English Dept/Arrival board and thought, Ya'an bus stations really are a place to go if you need comfort and help. Tee Hee, bloody idiot! Out bus finally departed at 3:30pm and we arrived in Leshan around 7pm. The bus trip was...well, bloody bumpy mate. Some of the roads were really bad but the scenery was mainly lush rice or corn fields so I was happy.

After arriving we found out where we were on the map and found we were at the other bus station that was way down here and not up there where we needed to be. We were going to take a cab but a lady Peddle Tuk Tuk really wanted to take us. Man she was fit and strong. It really was a long ride especially with two foreigners with full packs. She made it and we tried several hotels that were either full of offered us a tiny room with no window or fan etc. Most of the Good Books suggestions were also full.

Hunger led us to KFC for dinner and our Peddle Tuk Tuk Rider happily waited outside. We had told her she was free to go but I doubt she was going anywhere until she found us a bed for the night. That's what it's like here in China, well most of the time anyhow. They will help no matter what and they will continue to help until their help is no longer needed. Sometimes it can be so frustrating. I

n the end, the fact is THEY WILL HELP NO MATTER WHAT!

ACCOMMODATION: After dinner we climbed on board and she peddled us a little further up the main road. Here we found a beautiful hotel for one hundred Yuan for a double. More than normal but man it was clean and sparkly! It's on the main road and it's called the Xing Fa Hotel. One of the girls there is an English Student and is very helpful.

We offered our friend more money but she wouldn't accept it. After dropping our packs off we headed out for a walk. We made our way back to the river side and walked around for awhile. We then tried to find the Newcastle Arms Hotel. We walked and walked and found that the New Castle Hotel either doesn't exist or that the sign must be in Chinese!

Beers N Noodles to ya...shane