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After another shopping frenzy we again needed some time off. we took the ferry to Fui-Wo. a small town on the West of Lantau island (First Ferry Services for info). from he we hiked the afternoon to Pui O, which is a laid back beach town, adjacent to one of the nicest beaches I’ve ever [...]

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After three days of very intensive shopping (mostly of a new camera for me) we decided to take it outside. and go trekking in one of Hong-Kong’s great parks. trekking in Hong-Kong is very different than in other places in China, or any other country I have ever been to (other, maybe, than Israel). you [...]

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Or: Dali- Shuang-Lang  -  Sha-Ping  -  Shaxi  -  Er-Yuan  -  Dali
Getting utterly bored of Dali’s old city, after spending 6 nights there as Dor was sick, we decided to make a change. Dali itself, the old city that is, is a big, extremely touristic (though Chinese more than foreign tourists), walled shopping area. but, on [...]

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Yeah, I know this is December, and you’re not supposed to try crossing high mountain passes. but, it’s fun.
We took yet another bus to Deqin, arriving there for the 3rd time, and from there, the following morning a bus to Ce-Chong
(8:00AM, 28RMB, 3.5 hou rs). the bus

takes you along the Mekong river, which makes beautiful curves [...]

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Or: Deqin-Xidang-Yubeng-Xidang-Deqin
Hoping for better weather than in Zongdian (Shangri-La), although against most odds, we took a 9:20AM bus to Deqin (bus station, 46RMB, 6-8hours). the ride is long, but relatively not very bumpy, as it has an actuall road. the road climbs through a series of beautiful, and freezing, mountain passes.
Deqin itself is an ugly [...]

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 Sky Burial is maybe the most eccentric Tibetan ceremony you’ll have a good chance to witness when travelling in Tibetan areas. having very little firewood, and very hard, usually frozen ground, the Tibetans had to find a good way to dispose of dead bodies. believing that vultures are holy animals, because they do not kill [...]

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Or: The Way Down South
 Recieving an email from Tal and Einat (friends from Israel) that they were going to stay in Litang for a couple of days, and having planned to meet them, I got myself a bus ticket to Litang. 86RMB 8-10hours, 6:00AM. all in all, Kangding is a nice peacefull town, and it’s [...]

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Manigango is two streets, that’s all. spending the night we caught a morning minivan for Dege. generally the drivers ask 50RMB, we said the bus was 40, so we went for 40. regular leaving time is around 10:00AM. the ride to Dege is beautiful, and very different from other rides we had. previous rides had very beautiful [...]

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After a lot of work (getting the visa, getting info about transportation etc.) I finally got on the bus to Kashgar. it’s a Chinese sleeper bus, which means each passenger has a Chinese-seize bunk-bed (much too short). the ride is pretty nice, though not smooth and quite bumpy. the border crossing is a big waste of time. [...]

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 I arrived at Xinning by train at about 14:00 (after more than 24 hours coming from Urumqi, see post) and, being a cheap bastard as I am, started to walk my way to the cheapest accomodation in Lonely Planet, Lee Youth Hostel.
 That night, after being couped up in the train for too long, eating instant noodles [...]

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    “You play Yushu, I play Dawu” Bart said to me, in front of us the ticket saleswoman, behind us am angry queue of Tibetans.
 I won, we were going straight to Yushu, skipping a crazy de-tour through Dawu, which will cost us time and money and of which we know nothing about.
 ”Lets go through Dawu [...]

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Or: A gate to Tibet
Yushu feels strange. it’s a city but it feells like a big village. most restaurants are run by Han Chinese, most people on the streets are Tibetan. and, there is absolutely no way to get money here without a Chinese card (even exchanging Dollars is impossible). the monastery inside the city [...]

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Zhongdian (Shangri-La): we stayed at 3 different places: Youth Hostel, just outside the old city, 20RMB for dorm, extremely slow computers, extremely bad service, hot-showers only at particular hours.
Harmony Gusethouse, from the main square in the old city turn left and an immidiate right (coming from the new city), 20RMB per night, 1 slow computer, hot [...]

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