Another day and another move to a new destination, this time Golden on the Kicking Horse River. Along the way we stopped to have a look at the the spiral tunnels which take the Canadian Pacific Railway trains on a spiral journey through the mountains. It was pretty cool to see the train making its way through, I’m sure a train spotters dream!

Another stop to break up the journey was at a waterfall and then further along at Lake Yoho where we embarked on a 5k walk around the lakes edge. It was nice to stretch the legs and the sun was warm so very pleasant. A few brave souls even took a dip in the icy waters!

We arrived in Golden, picked up some provisions and set up camp at the edge on the river as well as the main Pacific Railway route, good job we packed some ear plugs, those trains are over 100 carriages long! The group of lads decided to cook an Asian inspired dinner which was pretty awesome and we had an early night, white water rafting is why you come to Golden and that’s tomorrows plan.

Through Wet ‘n’ Wild and with safety instructions observed and standard issue wet suits adorned we boarded an old school bus and headed to the start of the rapids. For 75 CAD we were to be flung down a level 3 section of the river with an option to take on the level 4 if we desired. Both of us found the level 3 pretty straight forward and wanted more so we stayed on, moved further down stream to miss a level 5 and started again minus three of our comprades. This was more adrenaline fuelled, but again we wanted more, maybe we should try it again in the rainy season. David even piloted / steered us through a level 3 which was good fun. Upon paying for the extra session it was 25 CAD each so a total of 100 CAD each, which we felt was a little expensive, but not as much as we were expecting.

After three hours of rafting we were all pretty tired so it was great news to hear that the tour guides, Eric and Zak, had decided to cook us up an all American BBQ! A real feast… stuffed. A quick lesson and after no time about eight of us were all playing some poker, matchsticks as coinage, which was good fun, especially when some people thought they had a great hand, when in fact they had nothing! Hehe sorry Wym!

Up very early again the next day for our long journey to Vancouver at 7.45am. We stopped at a Redwood Forest as well as an area called Skunk Cabbage, but this was closed as a family of Bears had moved in. Another stop in Hope, famed for the filming of Rambo, was a surreal experience. A 7.5hr van journey saw us arrive in the Vancouver area and set up camp for the very last time (on our intrepid tour!), followed by a visit to a pizza restaurant.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM & Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX5 processed in Lightroom 3)

Our journey from Jasper to Banff was pretty spectacular to say the least. We took the Icefields Parkway which has been voted time and time again by the National Geographic as one of the world’s best drives! Eric stopped a good few times along the route, our first stop being the Maligne Canyon, a unique river system which provided us with good light spectrums across the water. Moving on from there we continued along the Parkway and stopped for a few photos at Mushroom Peak and surrounding mountains swell as a pretty cool 2 van group shot!

Our next stop was the Athabasca Glacier where most of the group had been booked onto a glacier hike. We decided to save our pennies and took a walk to the base of the glacier noticing that most people were walking to a certain point so we walked up the glacier a good few hundred meters and took in the breathtaking views.

When we were back in the van we thought we’d made the right decision in not taking the tour as most people were annoyed with the tour guide as well as just wanting to get on the glacier and see it! When we left the area we spotted a few more bears and got a little aggrieved with stupid tourists getting out of their cars and getting as close as possible to them in order to get a snapshot. THIS IS NOT GOOD!!!

The journey overall was pretty long and we arrived in Banff just in time to grab some pizza from Ardvarks downtown before getting to the campsite to set up the tents. The evening ended in the Rose & Crown in Banff centre with beers, live music in the form of a hillbilly/folk and reggae act (we think they were called Drunk ‘n’ Dissorderly!). With a little influence from Shaggy we were all bopping on the dance floor, something much needed for us both!

On the 4th we had a day to ourselves, this started with a visit to the Visitor’s Information in town followed by a trip to another laundrette. We took it pretty easy and after some food, a walk around a very busy labour weekend fuelled town we went for a walk unto the Sally Borden Centre and had a refreshing swim. No tourists in sight (other than us) it was bliss! And they have some great photography exhibits there too. Helen ended the day with some yoga at the Rocky Mountain Yoga centre whilst the rest of the group shopped for more food.

The next morning we were up early ready for a drive over to Lake Louise via a coffee house in town. Along with Marian the 3 of us decided on a big hike for the day which accumulated in around 17km taking in tea houses, mountains, glaciers, woodland and meadows. This was a brilliant walk mixing in steep ascents with excellent views across the valley. Lake Louise is best viewed from above at one of the many vantage points, you’ll really see the true colour of the lake from above, most people tend to linger around the bottom and sit outside the not so French Chateaux. We really enjoyed the loop and got back to the van after a good 6 hours of hiking.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)

On the 31st were up early once again with a longish drive to Jasper on the itinerary. We stopped off along the way at various sites such as Mount Robson, the tallest peak in the Rockies, and walked a 2 hour hike to the glacier lake which provided us with stunning views and reflections. When we arrived in Jasper our first stop was Robsons supermarket where we stocked up once again on a few goods from our group kitty. The kitty per week cost 70 CAD each and Helen paid 50 for a vegetarian inclusion.

Our campsite ‘Whistlers’ is located around 4km from Jasper town and we were welcomed with a good size campsite next to the shower block! Our first night in Jasper was spent around the campfire and our cooks were Leigh, Marie and Rhainnon who cooked up a fab bolognaise with cookies for pud!

The following day was a “free day” so Eric drove us into town to the visitors centre and where he would be pick up later at 5.30pm if a bus ride to the camp site was required. Most people, including us, headed straight for the laundrette. After much spinning and a little time on the internet we collected our items, deposited them in the van and hired some great mountain bikes. 24 CAD from Freewheel Cycle for three hours was a worthy investment as the two of us and Marian headed into the woods. There are lots of bike trails in this area that stretch for many miles, easy, moderate and difficult. We accidentally took a difficult trail up hill which was a killer, but we all loved all 25k of it. No Bears were spotted but we did see Elk on the trail and in the river.

It was our turn to cook dinner, so we headed back to camp early and cooked up a Vegi Thai curry, marinated chicken thighs and legs with rice. What better way to end a strenuous day than with a soak in a natural hot spring. 6.50 CAD is a bargain price and with two hot pools and two cold, it was a soothing end to a great day in Jasper.

Early starts are never pleasant after a nights sleep in a tent and at 6.30am quite difficult for some! The early start was needed to get us to the Edith Cavell Glacier before the hordes of fellow tourists arrive. First to arrive we headed on the short walk to the glacier and lake which we spectacular in the morning sun. Hiking onwards we walked through alpine forests, lush meadows, sleet, snow and strong winds to a high point where we could look over the valley. This was a great 12k hike; a real highlight so far on our Canada tour!

Lunch back at the campsite consisted of left overs from the night before and then a trip out to Lake Maligne where along the way we spotted our first Black Bears on the road side, a mother a two cubs. Other people did not seem to appreciate the dangers or the risks to the welfare of these animals and got far too close. We photographed from the van! After a walk around the lake and a hot chocolate to finish we headed back to camp for a BBQ. An early night after our long day. Tomorrow Banff.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)

We had an early start with showers, packing and breakfast at the hostel before meeting the rest of the group and our tour leader at 8am. In total there were 10 of us in our group with 6 lads and 4 lasses plus Eric who was to be our tour leader for the next 2 weeks, we knew from the start we would be in line for a few good laughs along the way. After introductions and a little bit of where we’re from and why we booked the trip, we collected our things and found the van, our solid companion for the next fortnight outside in the car-park. Another group led by Zak were also doing the same route as us for the first 2 weeks so we would be bumping into them along the way.

Our first day in the van was very long, we were in it for around 9 hours and with no head rests there was a lot of head bobbing going on. We took a few stops along the way including a grocery shop when we were an hour or so away from Wells Gray. The cooking teams were put together and along with both of us Marian joined us and we were cooking for the first night. Or rather it was grab some wraps, a roast chicken, bits of salad and so on.

For the first night in Wells Gray we stayed at a cowboy ranch with log cabins, not luxury one’s but basic wooden shack’s with benches and mats, we had access to showers and both groups were staying there. We cooked up our snacky dinner, and chatted before an early night. We had all arranged to go on an overnight canoe trip the next day.

The following morning we went on a hike to a nearby waterfall, it was a pretty dull day – our dullest yet having been spoilt with the fine weather! Following on from this we set off with an over night bag and met Fred who would be taking us on our canoe trip across Lake Clearwater . Both groups went out for the trip and when we arrived at the lake we found ourselves each a canoe, and packed in our gear, of which we had so much! But if you’ve got some big bits of tarp these canoe’s can really take some weight!

The journey over to the Island took around 2 hours and it was a little chilly. When we arrived we set up camp and began the fire and BBQ. This consisted of lots of sausages, some salad and veggies along with quite a few beers going around and finally marsh mellows and s’mores. Some of us ended the night light painting on the beach and others took a guided midnight canoe with Fred. This was our first night in bear territory so we packed our snacks and toiletries in the bear bins provided around camp.

Up fairly early the next day and after packing down our tents and eating breakfast most of the group went on a 2 hour steep hike up to the peak above where we spent the night. The views at the top were very rewarding and we could view all the way down the lake and across to the surrounding mountains. We chatted to Fred a fair bit along the trek and the night before learning about the park and the wildlife that inhabits the area. The canoe back to mainland was beautiful, and far warmer and sunnier than the previous day. We canoed back at a record pace which we think must have been wind assisted. When we got back to the dock we packed up, but the boats away and went back to the cowboy ranch. As we were back in record time we had an extra hour or so to explore some nearby crashing rivers and waterfalls in the area, the waterfall being the 4th largest drop in Canada!

For our last night at the ranch and after some well-earned showers we all ate to the restaurant at the ranch which was fairly over-priced and not very satisfying. Dave and I felt we didn’t have much choice on the food option as ‘everyone’ was eating there and there are no other places to eat in the area, we could have set up the stoves but this would have been food from the kitty, so we decided to share one vegetarian meal for the same price as the meat option which was $20! The service was pretty poor so with a 10% service fee plus 12% tax we felt ripped off even though we only had one meal between us! The lads were even more unimpressed with the portion sizes. Most people felt this place was a bit of a tourist trap and perhaps unnecessary for Intrepid to use.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)

After Zoe (good friend and yoga teacher from the UK) mentioned Erich Schiffmann’s name to me when we were originally organising the USA part of our trip, it always stuck with me…’Make sure if we go to LA to do a yoga session with Erich Schiffmann‘. And so I looked into Erich and his goings on in the world and became very impressed. Upon the second time round for us to leave again on our travels I noticed that Erich had a 10 day yoga teacher training course starting on the 12 August and it was very convenient for us that flight prices from the UK drop on the 11th. So I checked to see if Dave would be up for coming out with me and staying in Venice whilst I would do the course and as soon as he said yes I paid my deposit.

In all honesty it was the best decision I have ever made. The group were just lovely and very welcoming and Erich Schiffmann is a truely captivating Yogi with SOOOO much love to give it is unreal. (I think I may have picked up a few Americanisms here!!) I have learned so much from Erich and others taking the course, it’s not only given me further motivation to one day teach Yoga but also to be creative in my approach and personal practice. Erich’s wife Leslie also took us for a few afternoons bringing in her experience in Vini-yoga and how to approach level one classes.

We covered so much in a short space of time my mind is still taking it all in, but I do feel very thankful to the whole experience and to have made such good friends along the way. Erich gives the best hugs going and I will definiltey be returning to this side of the Ocean again and again to work with him and join in with his Freedom Style Yoga.

Below are a few images taken while completing the course at Exhale in Venice, Los Angeles as well as a lovely social gathering towards the end of the course.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM & Olympus PEN EP-1, 17mm f/2.8 & 100mm f/2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

We booked to do a 1 day course at the Chang Siam Elephant Training Mahout School based on a recommendation from one of our friends so we didn’t have too many hang ups about which one we were going to pick. You’ll soon find that in Chiang Mai there is a lot of choice for this type of excursion. We booked through Panda Tours based at 179 Thapae Rd but the school do have an office in Chiang Mai where  you can also book this trip. There were 6 of us on the trip with one tour leader and the elephant trainers who live at the farm who are either part of the family who own the elephants or hired to train them. This isn’t a case of training an elephant to perform tricks, it’s about communicating with them for the purpose of elephant and human being to be able to live and work alongside each other. There are no wild elephants left in the north of Thailand as they were all captured many years ago by native Thai’s who used the elephants for log moving and transportation. We have found out that one elephant costs 1,000,000 Thai Baht which is around £200,000 so they are worth a hell of a lot of money to their owners.

The elephants at this farm range in age between 1-40 years old with a mixture of 9 male and female elephants. We had heard some horror stories about the way elephants are treated in Thailand by their owners and many of these camps offer elephant riding, shows, performances and the like. What we wanted to do was to spend the day with the elephants, learning how to communicate with them through traditional Thai Mahout training, feed them, learn about the way they live in the north and then go on a bare back ride to the water hole where we could wash and bathe them. So this is what we did, whilst we were there we did see fellow tourists riding the elephants on wooden seats, which we’ve heard isn’t very good for the long term quality of life for the elephant, so we were a little disspointed to see this. However everything else lived up to our expectations and from the start we had a really good laugh too.

We learned about the history of these elephants, where they had come from and why the owners had come to have them in their family. We also learned that in order for the elephants and the locals to live peacefully the elephants needed to be kept in farms and in contained areas as otherwise they eat everything they come across which over the years has led to crops being destroyed and elephant poachers getting what they want.

We learned the commands of going forwards, backwards, left, right and the all important stop which in western voice is completely different from the way the Thai’s pronounce it so we think the elephants went along with their trainers commands over ours! We fed them a good amount of bananas as they need to eat around 300 or so pounds of food per day. We went on an hour walk with the elephants and Dave and I shared ours swapping part way through to direct the elephant through the forest. We had some encounters with bushes, dung and steep inclines but it was really good fun along the way. We finished the trek at the water pool where the elephants got straight in and we washed and bathed them aswell as carrying on with a water fight that the trainers started. This was probably the most rewarding part of the day and we got to try out our new underwater Sony DSC-TX5 camera which we hope is going to provide us with another creative element to our blogs in the future.

We paid 1800 Baht each for the day and this included lunch and transport which took about an hour from Chiang Mai heading north. This was the price for sharing an elephant and it cost 2500 Baht to have one to yourself for the day. We were happy to share though. It was a pretty satisfying day, and if you do have any hang ups about going to one of the elephant camps from Chiang Mai it’s worth looking into what they do on their one day itinerary. There are some companies who only have elephants that have been rescued from poachers or farms where they have been mistreated and The Elephant Nature Park is one of these with good reviews.

(Sony DSC-TX5 waterproof camera, processed in Lightroom 3)

We woke up early to the sound of eager cockerels the first going off at around 4.30am. It wasn’t the best night’s sleep with a very hard mattress indeed and snoring echoing throughout our eco-shack. We had a cooked Laos style breakfast in the form of noodle soup, eggs and fruit, Helen was getting her appetite back and starting to feel a little more like herself again. We left the village at 8.30am and began to trek once more through forest land, past more karst peaks and made our way up and down a hilly terrain which required a little more effort than the flatness of the day before. We had a few descriptions of plant-life and the area and we walked for a good 4 hours before arriving at the second village for a home cooked lunch. We sat inside someone’s home at the back of a shop and chilled out awaiting more food, it was really kitsch inside with old wardrobes, bright wall colours, retro tiles and clothes everywhere. It was a good little stop for photographing! More rice, more soup and stir-fried egg and we were all ready for a nap. No time for this though as we were waiting for a pick up to take us to the Blue Lagoon.

On the usual itinerary there is a tractor ride involved whereby you get pulled along on a cart by one of their home-made style tractors; not like ours at home. This didn’t happen for us because there were 8 in our group and the tractor wouldn’t cope with all of the western weight. So we had a mini-van take us to the lagoon instead with music blasting out of the over-hyped stereo. It took around 15 minutes to drive to the lagoon, packed in on a bumpy ride. The lagoon lives up to its name and is a very intense copper sulfate looking colour, it’s hard to believe that the lagoon is natural as it seems more like a chemical phenomenon. There were no scientific descriptions available from the tour guides only spiritual ones. It’s quite deep and plays host to shoals of large fish. Most of the group plunged in for a cooling swim after we walked around the edge of the lagoon, we both decided to photograph and observed from the sidelines. We hope the photographs show the intensity of the colours and the subtle reflections that glowed.

After a group photo we continued in the minivan to a point from where we walked a further 2 km to meet our pick up trip. At around 3pm we met our pick up back to Tha Khaek and we were back in the town at just before 5pm with an en-route detour to the bus station so that we could book bus tickets for the next day of travel. Back in Tha Khaek we checked into the Travel Lodge along with the rest of the group and settled in for a relaxing evening of food, chat and planning. It’s a really good spot for meeting other backpackers and they have a good outdoor seated area. We would recommend staying there and the dorms are good value for money if you’re on a budget, we paid 50,000 kip for a double with shared bathroom.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

On the morning of the 8th we enjoyed a good breakfast from the Hotel including a choice of eggs, bread, fruit and juice. Afterwards we set off to research a few options for tours in the area. We had planned to do a tour to Ninh Binh and Tam Coc with Maayke and Paul so were shopping around the various fake Sinh Cafe‘s across the city to find out the best deals. They’d already sourced somewhere that would do the trip for $16 with bikes included for one part of the trip. After a while and battling through the many scooters we ended up back at the same place and booked the trip for the price they’d agreed. We’d arranged a part-payment trip in case there was anything we weren’t happy with; often you’ll find there are many cheap tours and you’ll never know which one is better than the other. We thought it would be a good day out of the city anyway so went along with this.

Afterwards we went off to do some more research into the other part of our trip interest: the Halong Bay tour. Helen had read up on a few more reputable companies offering slightly better value tours so we started with Ethnic travel who didn’t really have a very welcoming atmosphere and soon decided we wouldn’t be booking with them. We found Ocean tours around the corner who’s 3 day 2 night tour with one night on the Island in a bungalow to be the best on offer but still had a look around. In doing so we met Justin and Jules who were doing the same research as us, Dave stopped them as soon as they walked out of one of the other tour agencies and we started chatting about what information that have and so on. Before long we were enjoying lunch with them and went back to Ocean Tours to get a better feel for what they were offering.

After a few more drinks, a walk around the city into the French Quarter and then back to Ocean Tours we’d decided this was THE tour for us and we all booked it together! We knew that at $175 we were paying a lot more than many other tours on offer but decided that it sounded far better than some of the other less tailored trips and we liked the sound of staying in a bungalow for the night!!

So with that sorted we went back to our now hostel Gecko (we’d moved out that morning as we wanted to save some money by staying in a dorm and rendezvous had no more availability) met up with the others and went out for food to Koto, a restaurant in the south-west of the city which trains up street-kids and the homeless to be chefs and working in the kitchens. The food was very good indeed and it was packed so it was good to see the restaurant supported in this way.

On the 9th we were picked up at 8am for our day trip to Ninh Binh and Tam Coc. The weather had been pretty chilly since we’d arrived in Hanoi although we were acclimatised to this and to us it felt okay, but there was some rain forecast for the day so we took extra layers with us. Leaving Hanoi the bus stopped several times to pick up other people and groups on the tour and before long there were around 20 on the bus. It took around 2.5 hours to get to Ninh Binh with one stop and we spent a lot of this time chatting to Bekka and her husband from America who are now living in Beijing, we exchanged stories of China and it passed the time nicely.

Our first stop was at 2 temples, which held the first and second Emperors of Vietnam. A few people on the bus were a little annoyed as they’d been sold the bus ticket as bus fare to Ninh Binh and not a tour, they had to go to the temples first before being dropped off in Ninh Binh…be warned this happens quite a lot over here!

The temples were okay but we have seen many amazing shrines and temples over our time traveling, so it takes an amazing day with the weather and a spectacular site to impress us! Have we become Temple snobs…?

We were supposed to be cycling from the temple site to Tam Coc where the rest of the tour bus was traveling to for lunch. As it was raining and very windy we decided against this and joined the bus to go straight to the restaurant. It was a good job we did as it would have taken us much longer to reach the port than the tour allowed for and would probably have missed our lunch…to be fair though that wouldn’t have been such a bad thing. The vegetarian option for Helen and a few others was quite poor with the best thing on offer being a plate of chips for 7 to share. We mentioned this to the tour guide and he was very apologetic but it’s more down to the restaurant than him.

Following lunch we went over the road to the rowing boat tour and met the lady driver who took us out on her boat. She was quite agile often using her feet to row and we had a paddle each so we could both add some gusto to the pace. We passed under caves and one by one the boats traveled along the river. It’s supposed to be the land version of Halong Bay with many karst peaks engulfing the landscape. It was quite similar to what had surrounded us in Yangshou and we both felt Yangshou is a more impressive place.

The boat tour was good fun, and we even bought our guide a drink and snack which she shared with us, we had to bargain for this and the woman selling the goods on her own boat wouldn’t leave us alone until we did! We didn’t mind too much though as we felt our guide was doing a very good job indeed.

At the end of the tour we were pressured into giving a tip to our guide but we felt we’d already tipped her in buying her drinks and snacks along the way so made for a sharp exit to the bus. There were people selling souvenirs and market items along the pier front and some were selling dog meat. By now we have become used to seeing this sort of thing on sale, funny how you get used to customs so quickly but its always the topic of conversation when you first see it.

We had a small confrontation with our tour guide on the bus back to Hanoi. As we had monies outstanding to pay he was asking for us to complete the payment. We mentioned that we’d agreed a price including bike hire but as we didn’t use the bikes then we wanted to pay the price quoted to us excluding bike rental. He got quite angry about this and said we have to pay for the bikes as the restaurant paid for fuel to get them to the site for us to cycle, but we saw many bikes there so we felt this was not the case. We were happy to pay but just not for the whole fee and he didn’t say when we said we weren’t taking the bikes that we would still have to pay for their rental. He rang our tour company and Helen agreed a price over the phone which mean’t we paid some of the cost towards the bike but not all. Our chirpy tour guide was no longer quite so happy and he settled into a grump until the bus stopped to pick up his girlfriend.

Another lesson learned! Still we had managed to get back some of the money so it was good to know there are some principles in place. When we got back we ate at a great local restaurant and for a good price. We went back and packed ready for our Halong Bay trip leaving at 8am the next day.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

When we arrived in Yangshou we’d heard that the main cooking school ‘Yangshou Cooking School‘ offered some great half day classes so we booked this for the first part of the day. We had a pick up from our cookery master from Bamboo after checking out and we were taken to the local market, en route we picked up a few others who were also booked onto the cooking class and we arrived at the market ready for our first part of the class. It was really good to see the market in full swing, we’ve obviously seen many markets since traveling but each one always has something different. This one for example sold freshly cooked Dog meat, rabbit and a few sad cats were kept in baskets ready to await their doom. Both of us are cat lovers so seeing them there was pretty distressing, the dogs were already cooked and ready to eat. It’s a veer strange thing for westerners to witness but we don’t have them same approach to food as the east and especially in China food is food and you eat what you can, when you can. This mind set is still very much in place in the south. We were told not to photograph the dogs, and to be fair it wasn’t a pleasant experience, but it’s all part of the process of finding out about different cultures. The rest of the market place was bustling with energy and it was great to see all of the fresh produce and also have an explanation into the different food types.

Following the market tour we were piled into a van and taken to the cooking school. They are situated very close to the harbour where we got the boat to and they’re location is perfect for the environment. They have an open kitchen where everyone has their own cooking place, wok and sauces, the head chef stays at the front of the class for demonstration purposes and then we cooked what she did straight after, as she came around the make sure everything was going to plan. This is the best cooking class we’ve done so far as we did most of the preparation and all of the cooking for each dish. In total we had 4-5 dishes varying from stuffed vegetable/canopy style appetisers to the local delicacy beer soaked fish. The latter really was a delight. After each course we sat outside and ate as a group, except for the last two courses which we ate as 2 dishes togethers.

All in all the cooking class was excellent, the teacher was really coherent and patient and we enjoyed good food and company in a wonderful setting. We would recommend the school to anyone visiting Yangshou for sure.

After the class we went back to Bamboo to collect our bags and walked to the next village along from the pier Shi Ban Qiao the hostel we were moving to ‘Trippers Carp Diem‘ had been recommended to us by fellow travellers and we’d already scouted out the area on our bikes a few days ago so we knew it was in a good location. We sacrificed comfort for location on this one and saved our pennies in booking a dorm room. There is always plenty of space in the dorms in China but the beds are often a little hard. This was the case, but considering the quality of the service, food and location we couldn’t complain too much.

We had some food at the hostel and then set off for our New Years Eve bash at Monkey Jane’s. When we arrived it was pretty quiet, but before long the card playing crew came along and Helen succumbed to wearing the official Monkey Jane t-shirt. We enjoyed some more card games and the beer flowed freely. More and more people arrived and before long the rooftop bar was rammed. The cards stopped and we enjoyed a funny game of beer pong against a couple of the lads, much to our despair we lost!! And we watched them win time and time again afterwards, we think this was something to do with their distracting crazy dancing each time the opposition took a turn!

We met some fun people and a other travellers making the same trip as us – over many drinks, dances and ole langs sine we agreed to meet Emma and Doug the following night for food. The party was a good laugh, it was just great to go out, have a few drinkies and lot’s of fun too!! We enjoyed a good little boogy when the music hit it right and there were even a few fireworks to keep us entertained!

We left at around 2am and walked home along the dark paths to the village. What a fab end to 2010!! Happy New Year!!

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

The bus met us outside the hostel in Tunxi at 7am and we found a couple of seats at the back of the smallish bus. Sitting at the back on these things is never a good idea when you’re in the more rural areas; not a lot of space and its a bumpy ride! It was a local bus with most people making their way to work. It took us about an hour to reach Tangkou which is the closest village with transport links directly to the start of the paths of Huangshan Mountains. You will always find your way around by pointing to a map or just looking for where most people are heading! Here there is a bus station with coaches upon coaches lined up ready to take you to either the west or the eastern paths to the summit. It’s a little like a theme park, it doesn’t really seem reflect any other mountaineering experience we’ve had before, except for the alpine ski resort feel. Anyway you choose which way you want to go and then get the bus to that entrance point.

The bus costs around 15 yuan per person and most people tend to head to the eastern steps or they get the cable car! We had read in the Lonely Planet and on some other travel blogs about the best routes and views etc also so we had an idea of what to expect. Once you arrive at the entrance point to the mountain there are of course more entrance fees to get in. With it being off season we paid around about 100yuan to access the routes which start with steps, leading to more steps and so on. We started pretty early at 8.30am and passed the local marathon club who seem to team up together for big adventures, yodelling into the cliff tops…we sped past them early on so as not to get too caught up in their crazy ways. It is perhaps the one mountain that everyone in China wants to climb. The scenery is beautiful there is no doubt about it, but it’s annoying for us that they have built a path all the way from start to finish. Why can’t there be any nice trails to hike up, something like Snowdon or Mt Blanc would offer way better options for hiking without trying to make it all into one bit tourist trap. We’re just glad we went off season as witnessing the video footage on our way up showed thousands of people in the summer season making their way up and down the mountain. Some of the paths are also pretty narrow and close to the edge so it wouldn’t be pleasant at all to be there amongst the masses.

It took us around 3 hours to reach the first station which is where the cable car goes to, from here there are many paths that lead towards other higher points on the mountain, one place that had outstanding views but with a ridiculous name was Beginning to Believe Peak, on the sign on the way up was something like ‘seeing is believing, you’ll only believe it when you reach the heaven peak’…or something just as cheesy! Other peaks were climbed and at times we were the only ones there, very refreshing in the circumstances. We found our way to Bright Summit Peak where everyone crowds to when the sunsets and rises, there were already lots of people there waiting in anticipation. From here we walked to find our accommodation for the night. This was situated behind one of the hotels past the Bright Summit Peak.

We went for the cheap option on accommodation front, but it really was pretty poor and perhaps paying the extra 20 yuan for the night in one of the better budget hotels would have been a more pleasant experience (we paid 100yuan for a dorm). Dave and I were split up into single sex dorms and they were in a cold, damp basement. Further down the hallway were old, mouldy looking mattresses that didn’t fill us with any confidence! The good thing was we got there before anyone else so we managed to enjoy clean, hot showers before setting out to enjoy the sunset.

We found a spot away from the busy areas for the sunset along with a few others and took in the views. Putting all of the steps behind us and hotels on the top of the peaks, we managed to find a peaceful spot with a stunning landscape and sunset to fit. It was really peaceful.

The food isn’t good on the mountain too so be prepared to take snacks and fruit with you. We did have some vegetarian food which just about did the job and then we went back to our room to play cards. Later on we were both bombarded by the other guests staying in the rooms. We then had to separate for our first night in two months!! Lost we were!! ha ha!

It didn’t matter too much having damp rooms as we didn’t stay in them for very long as we were up at 5.30am the next morning for the sunrise. This doesn’t occur until around 6.30-7am but we got a good spot and again it was nice and quiet. The photos speak for themselves. Straight after we made our way down on the western steps. This route is tough and a lot steeper than the eastern steps, less people choose this route and as we left so early it was a long time before we passed anyone. This was great as the views once again across the mountains were breathtaking. One problem with all the steps is that it’s not very good for your knees and calves, too much concrete! We were passed on walking sticks from some kind walkers the previous day so we said we would find some people to pass ours onto too on our way down.

It took longer than we anticipated to reach the bottom, we both found people to pass our walking sticks onto and we had a little cheer at the bottom before waiting for the bus to take us back to the bus station.

Two buses later and we were back in Tunxi ready for some good food and rest before our hardsleepers booked for that evening.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)