Blogger and Yahoo both are, so as to avoid any surprises, not working for crap. But here I go, wish me luck. In Lijiang, down south near the Tibetan border in the Yunan provence, um... did I say that already? I can't see any of my posts so I apolagize premptively for any omissions or redundancies. Anyways, north of Kunming, where I wrote from last. I think. Nobody is playing Counterstrike here. What people are doing is crowding in crowds through the narrow streets of this aged town, blabbing in loud voices on their cell phones and spitting a lot. Typical tourist destination, this, then.

I am officially sick. I blame the night bus from Kunming to Dali, which was the worst bus ever. We bought tickets... no, we gave money to a travel agency which instead of buying tickets with I think they perhaps bought lunch with. Therefore, when the time came to catch the night bus (the train was already booked), we were met with some surprised looks and frenzied activity. Result: three berths on an over-stuffed, drive-by-night bus. And we got that by being forcefull. They wanted to squeeze us into the wheelwells, I think. Anyway. Drafty. Bumpy (part of the road was washed out). Cold-inducing.

But all is well in other respects. The area is beautiful, with towering rugged mountains in every direction, their shoulders terraced and covered in sunflowers and corn. Tomorrow we may bike to a nearby village, where a famous Chinese doctor is reported to live, and then Tiger Leaping Gorge (unless the rains come), a beautiful three day hike through deep narrow canyons, some 10 meters wide and several thousand high (Could that be right|? Several thousand high? I think that's what the book says. Anyways, it sounds adequately extraordinary).

Soon our fellowship will part ways and I will be on my own. I'm a bit nervous, but equally determined. Wish me luck. Dang. Thunder. Gotta go.