The Yunnan Conclusion (live from Canada)

After the harrowing adventure, it was off in the vans to the mythical (though slightly misleading) place of Shangrila, close to the Tibetan border... the home of yaks and goats and some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world. The towering mountain passes and rainbow-filled valleys on the drive were worth the price of admission alone. The next few days were spent eating all the Lhasa food I could fit in my guts while drinking coffee and cycling through the nearby mountain meadows. Shangrila is split between the new and old towns, and although we spent most of our time in the old town, it was an undeniably beautiful area.

After Shangrila, I had to start moving south again. By this point, our numbers dwindled to about 8. However, a couple people headed back south after a day so they could catch connecting flights to other places. The adventurous Luc, along with Denis and Joyce (an awesome girl from Boston who joined in Tiger Leaping) headed to the side of the highway to attempt to hitchhike their way to DeQin, up on the Tibetan border, while Meghan and Chris and Henri headed out of town. Alyssa and I hopped on a bus back to Lijiang (she was catching a flight to Chengdu and I was heading back down to Kunming) so we spent one more night in Lijiang just hanging out, shopping and eating before I caught the miserable night bus to Kunming before flying back to Dalian. The trains are SOOO much better than the buses. People... if you ever come to Asia, avoid the overnight buses. Take trains. Trust me.

I returned to Dalian with heavy bags in my hands and under my eyes. I'm pretty much all unpacked at my new apartment, though, so I'll be uber-comfortable when I return to Dalian. I felt like I was getting a bit of a cold from being overtired and travellign so much, but ignored it in all my Canada-return excitement.

And now I'm here. I'm jetlagged and have been awake before 5am the last two mornings. And I'm sans-voice. The bug turned into a cough while zapped my larynx completely yesterday. So I'm going to be anti-social today in hopes of being able to recover. You all know me... I like to talk. A LOT. So this whole no-voice thing is awful. But maybe it's a sign from above... we all need to learn to do without the things we rely on the most from time to time. I'm just hoping this "time to time" lesson is gone by tomorrow.

Most of you won't read all about this, but that's okay. I posted pictures on FB already and I'll add a couple here in coming days. For now, though, some more coffee and maybe a bit more exercise are calling my name. It's so good to be home. Until next time...

T