2 Full drive days before we reached Lijiang late afternoon on the 24th. The Bush Camp on the 22nd was at 4600m, but most of us were now used to the altitude so it did not affect us too much (Peggy & Lyn were still being affected over about 3500m). The problem with the bush camps on both the 22nd and 23rd was actually finding a suitable spot. On the 22nd we climbed to a pass for miles and could not find anywhere where we could pull off the road safely until just after we reached the top. On 23rd we were descending from a pass and there was no suitable spot when we were delayed by a landslide at about 19:30. By the time it had been cleared it was properly dark and the only place we could find was a new section of the road being built (to the side of the existing road)!
The roads again were slow and difficult to negotiate at times as they were rebuilding them at the same time as allowing traffic to pass. In addition they were constantly going up and down mountain passes with numerous switchbacks. At times we were only averaging 17k per hour. However the scenery was again spectacular – the whole journey from Lhasa to Lijiang (approx 600 k) has been full of wonderful scenic views.
On the 23rd we passed out of Tibet and back into China (through 2 barriers in a small town), before that we had to register our presence with the local police. We stopped for a lunch stop on both days although the stop on the 24th was unexpected as we did not anticipate being somewhere to be able to buy lunch and so had bought provisions the day before.
After refuelling a couple of times we arrived in Lijiang at about 17:00 and checked into the MCA hotel which is situated in the Beiminpo district just above the Old Town.
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