Early morning drive to Huanglong to see another scenic park there. The trip involved a long drive and half way there we were warned of altitude sickness as the drive would include a mountain road as high as 4000 metres! As I write this we are sat at the side of the road after turning back due to the back of our van sliding out while driving along and hitting some ice. We all (including Gerry) made the decision that it was too dangerous as we would have to take this road again to get to the airport later today. A lot of the cars ahead of us were sliding and I think we made the right decision.
So now we are on our way to a local town to do some sightseeing and some shopping Tibetan style.

As it turns out, it was great. There were lots of small shops selling little bits, plenty of photos to take. It felt very untouristy, which was nice and we were the only westerners in town. We wandered up to the temple and took some pictures over the town and listerned to the singing/chanting.

Afterwards we made our way to another small town for our Tibetan lunch, which involved yet more Yak meat and this time some Pork. Pretty nice. Once we’d wandered around a place which sells Jade and other stones beautifully carved to kill an hour we were off to the airport. The flight was delayed for an hour, which made the day drag on, but eventually we boarded the plane set for Chengdu.

On arrival in Chengdu, once we found our guide (Robert), we made our way to a resturant for something to eat before heading off to the hotel. Our room is huge; it has two toilets and two TVs (the TVs are in the bedroom and lounge, not the toilets). Tomorrow is another big day with the Pandas and the Giant Buddha.