temple atop the hill in shangri-la...and one big prayer wheel...
...that kids enjoy sitting on for a ride.
construction of a traditional tibetan house.
great food, great company. THE BEST restaurant, arra khampa with new friends ananth and sam, who are working for the shanghai daily.
colourful entrance to the ganden sumtseling gompa...a 600 year old tibetan monastery just north of shangri-la.
traditional dressed kids outside the monastery.
huge crop drying racks outside shangri-la.
a short bike ride out of shangri-la and you're at the wetlands of napa hai.
shangri-la.
again, clouds cover our view. this time of the sacred meili xueshan range.
the long and windy mountain road to deqin.
back to arra khampa for yak steak...so SO good.
best food, best staff. sonny and the gang.
the lovely girls at arra khampa.
lugu hu.
not a bad place to have breakfast is it?
peaceful and beautiful lige.
going for a little paddle in a dugout canoe.
overlooking lugu hu and the village of lige.
thou shall not pass. because of this broken down truck...we got held up for hours.
we got lots of attention while waiting for our train in xicheng. she insisted on cleaning our boots.
friendly friendly mother and son in xicheng.
steady diet of bamboo at the giant panda breeding research base - chengdu.
the south gate of old town dali.
sun setting behind the cang shan mountains - dali.
chillin' out with a film in a lovely chinese cafe - dali.
farmers working in their rice fields near dali.
we cycled under thousands of interconnecting webs in small villages outside dali...and of course, thousands of spiders.
7am photoshoot in lijiang. the old town gets packed with tour groups quickly...and you can see why, its real nice.
chinese lions guard their red door.
water wheels and goldfish - lijiang.
narrow street in old town - lijiang.
watching china's first spacewalk with many proud chinese - lijiang.
stone bridge - lijiang.
trekking the tiger leaping gorge. one of the deepest in the world, but could look quite different if proposed dams are built. dam dam.
nimble goat.
only sometimes visible, haba shan peak.
filthy but cute.
hmmmm....
the view from our room...and the squat toilets. 
birthday accommodation at the halfway guesthouse in bendiwan village.
one of the many waterfalls we crossed on the path.
hitchin' a ride.
you have to pay money to cross this bridge.
we've arrived in the tourist mecca of yangshuo.
bamboo rafts on the yulong river - outside of yangshuo.
banarama split.
limestone peaks...cool.
hazy sunrise - yangshuo.
how can you resist a fresh flower wreath from a cute old chinese lady selling them for only 20p?
in translation lost! 
atop moon hill (yueliang shan). a bit too hot out to go hiking, but the view was reward enough.
the amazing show 'impressions liu sanjie on the li river, by chinese director zhang yimou, who also did the opening & closing ceremonies in beijing.
yet again the surreal scenery as seen from our bamboo raft along the li river - from yangdi to xingping.
