One Step Closer...

... To the Roof of the World!  We'll be in Lhasa tomorrow!!!! I am Jack's Uncontrollable State of Bliss... Let me recap a bit though: Jess and I left Kunming to go to Lijiang (Northern Yunnan). After the "hard seat" train, we decided to kick it up a notch with the "sleeper bus..." Picture a regular coach with bunk beds instead of seats; it's jam-packed, there's even less space to walk in the aisles, no room to put your bags, and you can imagine the sweet odor of male feet in the air... Add the ubiquitous second-hand smoking and the de rigueur clearing-the-throat-spitting-on-the-floor pattern for a complete local touch. To top it all off, an intoxicated gentleman regurgitated his whole dinner on the floor, left it there, proceeded to fall asleep and snored like there was no tomorrow. OK, that was the ultimate Chinese travel experience (the "hard seat" train is a joke...) Anyhoo, Lijiang was a blast: it is a cute little town nestled in the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain area. It's all tiny streets with cobblestones, traditional old buildings, and little rivers running through it. The town got destroyed by an earthquake in 1996 but the Chinese Government poured so much money in its reconstruction that the UNESCO gave it the World Heritage Label. Very picturesque place even though a little too touristy... We climbed the Jade Dragon Snow Moutain in fact. We got to its highest point: something like 4680 meters... The lack of oxygen is such already that you walk in a slow motion and you have to take a break every 5 minutes to catch your breath. A good preparation for Tibet. It was snowing at some point so you can imagine how cold it was in comparison to the Kunming's 30 degrees Celsius. We didn't miss the opportunity to slide in the snow though... All right Folks, I'm off to Heaven. Peace out.