China Lijiang, Dali, kunming(From Amber’s Southeast Asia travels )
Hi so im now in my retreat back in Yangshuo its the 11th may and thought i better let you know where i have been for last few weeks. I did a trip with intrepid tours….i dont recomend them but the trek i did was amazing. We were first in Kunming a very big city not good to look at just a functional, finanical city….. what i did notice here was how very up they are in china on recycling and aware of doing all they can to cause the least affect possible on the ozone layer alot more so than we are in england. They have bins everywhere just the small kind where we throw everything in however here one side is for recycling and the other non.
Anyhow i like china and im enjoying the food on my trek we ate banquet style all the time with share plates and we used our chopsticks all the time…which is good but im so slow at eating that i would be on my first bowl while others finishing their 10th bowl!!! also not too hygienic when some of the group were ill and we were still eating of the share plates ummmmm 
but wherever i settle i want one of the tables as they put food on the middle part and then the table swings around (it was very good to wind people up…just as they get some food move the table around a good way to get rid of a bad mood!) S the trek was good it was about 2000metres high so half as high as the inca trail i did in peru but it seemed much harder, there are 24 or 28 bends on it that are like switch back bends and are so steep so much steeper than any of the inca trail i think there were no flat bits apart from walking round the cliff edge where as the inca trail had steep bits like steps up but then flat parts. It was also alot scarier height wise and at times we were right on the cliff edge…. for a bit of it i took a horse ride and that was really scary it felt tlike the horse was gonnas go over the edge…hope you enjoy the pics. Rest of the tour not much to write about just tourist towns really but Lijiang was beautiful very old cobble streets and we went to vist a few minority villagges and a few of the local peoples home up in the mountains that was good and the kids were so sweet. They were so dirty they look like they could have been sweeping chimneys but they have such limited water and just grow food such as rice, wheat to survive….they were so friendly and happy and content with their lives and they wore traditional old clothing …well thats how i saw it but to them its just their way of dress.
The group werent great…. a girl from L.A really didnt take to each other and another girl from london who was a laugh but i spent the time i could on free days just chilling, exploring as i like to just relax and observe at times i dont feel the need to run everywhere… i like to eat chat good conversation and this wasnt the group for that. It was my birthday while on the trek and to my surprise the tour leader took us for group dinner and then got me a massive cake with heaps of candles on 21???? dunno why but this amused him!? so that was really nice as i was soooo missing friends and family back home the day before and had been bit grumpy and telling them this, i enjoyed my birthday i got myself some CDs 
indian music and eat lovely food with a knife and folk…treat! One of the guys in group from Australia had got some flowers for me and a gift from the group …the flowers here in china are beuatiful the colours so vivid and the range of roses and other flowers im not familiar with are so WOW.
Ok today im on a free day as its sunday and as i say im back in Yangshuo and at my tai chi retreat….im enjoying it the teacher is good the food is good and the weather is lovely sunny but not too hot. The retreat is pretty dirty but its ok and the rooms are great they are massive and would be so cool to live in…have slanted ceilings, massive windows a kind of barron look, so difficult to describe things sometimes. Anyhow we do tai chi on the roof top or in the courtyard or in a room if its very hot. We are all at different stages and some students have lived here for months!! the yoga teacher is off his head and no surprise has taken a liking to me…..well if your reading this and you know me well that wont be a shock i always attract the wrong type, but its fun here at the retreat, relaxed and im very happy. Few problems with food allergies so went to Dr Lilly who is highly recommended from the chinese all over china it seems and she gave me some tea which worked straight away so im v happy with that…. she was good and picked up on my symptoms that i didnt tell her ie yellow skin lol
kunming
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Have just turned back from a exceptional vacation to Bangkok, stayed at West of Eden in the north part which is less hetic than southward areas, superior hotel and awesome beaches near Bangkok like at Koh Larn. We hired a big motorbike for only 300 baht per day and would drive around the whole region. So many marvelous sites to eat, our preferred spot was Thai Food Heaven which had the most marvelous view over the beach, the faculty was quite nice and the food so delicious, we went for sunset cocktails. My husband and I had a supreme time in Bangkok and will be back for New Year.