Well at least an update on my visits to Chengdu (in Xichuan province) and Kunming (in Yunnan).
I would have stayed much longer in China if the authorities hadn't seriously reduced my entitlement to stay in the country. I had a visa issued in Edinburgh for 2 x 60 day visits - based on my openly declared plan to enter from Nepal and travel through Tibet to other provinces. In Nepal I had no choice, though, but to relinquish this visa (and the ukp45 cost) in exchange for a travel permit to Tibet and then just a few days to exit the country. There are apparently ways to get this extended once in the country, but these are quite prohibitive (involving opening a Chinese bank account and depositing quite a lot of cash).
All this seems nuts at a time when the Chinese are apparently aiming to grow tourism dramatically and to help Xichuan in particular recover from the effects of last year's earthquake.
I know that this blog site is banned in China - which means that some officials will probably read it. My message to them is that they should lighten up and work on encouraging their visitors to stay a lot longer.
Undoubtedly China is a fantastic country in many ways, and I would have loved to be able to stay longer and explore the place properly.
But I was happy with what I was able to see and do. Chengdu and Kunming are bustling modern cities (huge by Western standards), each with their own interesting histories and places of serious interest (e.g. the Jiuzhaigou, Dali, "stone forests", as well as the pandas of course!).
I like the way the cities are laid out, with nice wide roads, plenty room for pedestrians and bikes of various sorts. There is a surprising number of electric bikes and scooters as well as push-bikes, which result in pollution being much lower than I had expected (certainly a whole lot better than Kathmandu).
Finally for now, I'm adding a link to Sam's Guesthouse in Chengdu - a really excellent place run by 5 lovely and very helpful ladies. Sam himself seems to have retired but obviously has some good common sense in letting these ladies run the place for him!
I would have stayed much longer in China if the authorities hadn't seriously reduced my entitlement to stay in the country. I had a visa issued in Edinburgh for 2 x 60 day visits - based on my openly declared plan to enter from Nepal and travel through Tibet to other provinces. In Nepal I had no choice, though, but to relinquish this visa (and the ukp45 cost) in exchange for a travel permit to Tibet and then just a few days to exit the country. There are apparently ways to get this extended once in the country, but these are quite prohibitive (involving opening a Chinese bank account and depositing quite a lot of cash).
All this seems nuts at a time when the Chinese are apparently aiming to grow tourism dramatically and to help Xichuan in particular recover from the effects of last year's earthquake.
I know that this blog site is banned in China - which means that some officials will probably read it. My message to them is that they should lighten up and work on encouraging their visitors to stay a lot longer.
Undoubtedly China is a fantastic country in many ways, and I would have loved to be able to stay longer and explore the place properly.
But I was happy with what I was able to see and do. Chengdu and Kunming are bustling modern cities (huge by Western standards), each with their own interesting histories and places of serious interest (e.g. the Jiuzhaigou, Dali, "stone forests", as well as the pandas of course!).
I like the way the cities are laid out, with nice wide roads, plenty room for pedestrians and bikes of various sorts. There is a surprising number of electric bikes and scooters as well as push-bikes, which result in pollution being much lower than I had expected (certainly a whole lot better than Kathmandu).
Finally for now, I'm adding a link to Sam's Guesthouse in Chengdu - a really excellent place run by 5 lovely and very helpful ladies. Sam himself seems to have retired but obviously has some good common sense in letting these ladies run the place for him!
My pictures are of myself with the 5 star ladies at Sam's - and with a random (friendly) Chinese girl in front of the Mao statue in Chengdu's central square, the entrance to a Zen monastery there and part of teh interior, and of course some young giant pandas after a night on 
the bamboo - and a bonus red panda.
Oh, and an "opera" extract.
the bamboo - and a bonus red panda.Oh, and an "opera" extract.
Sounds such an interesting trip with lots of adventures. Shame no yetis, but love those laid back pandas!
ReplyDeleteYou'd have laughed if you saw the word verification code I had to enter for that last comment - chanties!
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