I have started this post sitting on the side of the road with 100 ks left to go which is at least 3 hours drive in this traffic on these roads. We have been in the traffic jam for 2 hours so far due to a traffic accident somewhere ahead of us. Parked here is  is still better then the people with the problems of the motor accident. The people around us have been very interesting as we have been talking to a young girl and another man who both spoke very good English.  The traffic gets very clogged around blockages as the Chinese are very impatient when it comes to traffic and you end up with both lanes full of traffic and no one can move.
We have just moved along the road 17 ks to be at another jam. we can at least see the problem about a k ahead of us at a hair pin. So we’re close.
This morning we started the day with a visit to a Panda Sanctuary which was quite interesting. The best part was the visit to the Kindergarten where the babies are raised including one about 8 inch long living in a humidicrib.

I’m continuing this in the hotel at KangDing at 7.00pm were only 2 cars have arrived so far. When we got past the crash site we thought is was open for good, but the road was re closed just after Reg and I got through. On our arrival at the hotel we found out from Alim who travels with Reg that the other car are still stopped the other side of the accident at 7.00pm with at least 2.5 hours drive too get to the hotel with us. 
The drive today has been nothing short of spectacular again and probably more so then previous days in China as the valleys have got deeper and steeper with today’s drive all through forested mountains. I’m glad we are here at the end of the wet season as all the rivers are raging down the gorges with waterfalls coming off and out of the mountains. Not a lot of photos as it’s been a busy day driving.
It’s now 8.00pm and have just received word that the other 3 cars are travelling again and will arrive at about 10.30pm.  
Today also saw our arrival in what is known as the Tibetan region with tomorrow nights accommodation at 3600 metres.  

Todays drive started out looking placid and mundane as it was to be 500 kilometres on the Jingkun Expressway.  What a surprise it turned out to be.

Most times when we enter an expressway the toll lady can’t make the decision whether Penny should be allowed on the expressway, so there is a phone call to the office and after some delay we are given the ticket. Today’s delay was a little longer as the console operator asked the police to come and check all our paperwork.  After about ten minutes of paper checking, we were thankfully on our merry way north.

On crossing the Yangtze for the last time this trip we headed up the valley of one of the rivers feeding it. This valley was narrow and the freeway seemed to be just all bridges and tunnels. Although the drive was freeway, the scenery was spectacular with all the farming coming right up to the edge of the road in places and mountains lining the valleys.

After the lunch stop for road side food we entered a part of the drive everyone was amazed at. For 45 kilometres of the drive was just bridges and tunnels.  The valley was so narrow in places that the freeway was elevated over the stream below. The most interesting part was that twice we did almost complete circles actually inside the mountain!!! – to emerge from the tunnel to be under the bridge that we entered the tunnel on but 100 meters lower down the mountain!! That piece of road was the greatest piece of design and engineering a lot of us have ever seen. For the day we most likely drove about 70km in tunnels; with the longest being 10km and many in the 2 – 3 km length.

As the day progressed and we approached Yaan for the night which is the area were Pandas were first discovered in the wild. We drove through mountain sides of their favourite bamboo..and hope to see some Pandas in the next couple of days.

Tomorrow is Panda day and the start of the climb to the high country.

I’ll get to the havoc later; so let’s start with the hills and valleys.

We departed Lijiang in the rain to climb out of the town to the east towards our overnight stop in Panzhihua. We came over the top of the first range for the day to almost clear skies and looking down into the Yangtze valley again as it made it way to the ocean. The Yangtze was raging along 1200 metres below as we made our way down the provincial road to the river crossing below, with the drive interrupted buy a couple of stops for photo shoots. The town at the river crossing was almost a ghost town, most likely due to the mine on the hill above the town having not worked in a long while. I guess it lead to the death of the town – as mine closures do the world over.

The hill climbing and valley views were the norm for the rest of the day with amazing changes in agriculture from valley to valley. The road-side stalls in one valley would all be selling grape and stone fruit the next something completely different. We crossed one range to find the stalls all selling mangos, then all of a sudden we were in Mango Valley so to speak. Every farm in the valley was growing mangos unless it was flat enough for rice, with all the mangos on the trees each in a paper bag for protection as they ripened.

In this valley as Maurie and I pulled up for a lunch-break a young man came out of the house across the road and started talking to us in English. During our chat he was also telling us that he worked in Lijiang which is a five hour bus ride away every second week.

About 45 kilometres from town is were the havoc started.  The road turned to a broken concrete track with road works in progress. As I was going down a hill meeting a bus the woman that had changed her mind from passing the bus, was in the process of pulling back in for me to get through; when for some reason only known to her, she stopped as I was about to squeeze through. Her stopping lead to me just touching her back corner, but the wheel nut on the front left wheel grabbed  her rear guard and gently removed it from the back of her car.  I didn’t know quite what to do and with no way of communicating, I continued on out of the place.

This was the start of the slight havoc.

About five kms further through the road works Garry was pulled up with some upset locals waving a shovel and a crowbar at him. As we drove past and continued on our merry way it suddenly occurred to me what it was most likely about what I had accidentally done – so I radioed Garry and let him know. Alim our guide turned up with Reg at about the same time, so I phoned him and let him know what had happened. In the process the police turned up as well. While all this was happening behind me, I was pulled up by a policeman as I entered Panzhihua. I quickly phone Alim to see what was happening and found that it had all been sorted; so after the police with me had confirmation of the resolution; I was free to go. I was told later in town the resolution was that I was to go back tomorrow to sort it out, or pay the woman 1000 yuan. To save the trouble and delays Ross paid the woman the money on the spot.  All sorted. Needless to say when everyone arrived at the hotel a bit later in the day, it was my shout for the cold drinks.

All in all it was a eventful day in many ways.  Hindsight tells me I did it all wrong; but what is done is done. Tomorrow is another day and with new adventures with different excitement!!!!

Today we departed Lijiang for a day trip to Tiger Leaping Gorge in light drizzle and a forecast of showers all day. We drove over the mountain range to put us in the valley of the Yangtze River with the clouds lifting. As we followed it downstream toward the gorge, the clouds lifted to almost the top of the huge mountain ranges either side. While following the river I realised that the river was almost at the highest flow for the wet season which should make the rapids spectacular.  We paid our entry fee at the gate and all set of to the car park for the first Rapids which has Tiger Leaping Rock in the centre of the river.

On the way to the first car park the Peugeot and the older Landcruiser got caught up in a rock fall dislodged by all the rain from last night higher up the mountain side. Everyone was very very lucky with the Landcruiser receiving a broken windscreen and the Peugeot coming off the worst with the front left guard torn off and the wheel damaged.(see attached photos). Garry and others set about removing the guard before attacking it with hammers and blocks of wood to beat it back into some resemblance of shape before reattaching it to the car with teck screws and tape. It was a most impressive repair!  On return to Lijiang,  Peter was able to purchase another spare tyre for the rest of the trip.

After the car was fixed we proceeded to continue the Gorge tour with a walk down to beside the river on a long stair case. When we got down to river level the the noise and the power in the Rapids was breathtaking. A couple of us tried to count the stairs on the way up but soon lost count due to puffing. It was at least 400 or  500, and a real struggle due to 2000 metres elevation. We all got back to the top in various states of exhaustion!!!

The blogs may thin out over the next couple of week as we have 15 days on the road to the north and then west to Kashgar. The Internet may also get more troublesome.