China. So far so fun.

Places are never what we expect, and China is fast living up to that maxim. We did expect great food, and we've found it, from wonderful dumplings in Dali where we ate our way down one street of dumpling vendors:






More dumplings please.




To amazing Naxi food in Lijiang.




All the ingredients are so fresh.



And of course nothing is made until you order it, but then the food arrives so quickly. Such a relief after Australia where we sometimes waited 45 minutes for our food.



And now for the cute critters. An integral part of any post.

We called him Nano pup. This was in Baisha, a village outside Lijiang. We ordered our lunch and he showed up to mooch some food. We fed him bits of tofu and the Naxi woman tending the restaurant smiled.


This guy would be right at home with my nieces in Colorado. They would have him hitched up to a pony cart in no time flat.



In Lijiang the restaurants line up along the canals, and over the rooftops well above the crowds cats have their own secret freeway to travel from window to window.



Lijiang is a very popular tourist spot with Chinese tourists, it's a cross between Disneyland and Venice. No cars in the central old town, everything is delivered by bike or on foot. I love a city center with no cars.





The night scene is amazing.





And as usual we got out and about on some rental bikes.



It's our favorite way to see the countryside. You see things and vistas that most tourists will never find.


It helps if your travel companion is Rich, or I like to call him, the tour guide for Ricky's no frills seldom supported adventure tours.



You never know where you'll end up.



Or who you'll have lunch with.



See Rich's blog for the full story on this lunch:
http://blogs.bootsnall.com/TravelRich/

Birds of a feather

Some times it really pays to use your feet. Muscles over motors. I may be one of the laziest humans known to man kind - why do you think I ride my bike? So I don't have to walk to transit! But I do know that when you want to see amazing stuff you have to leave the engines and the motors behind.

So, up in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney we walked. First a note on how fabulous it is to be able to get somewhere like the Blue Mountains by train from Sydney. Big City, two hours on a train that runs every few hours, and ah wilderness. Yeah for trains! And seeing the ten k of traffic jam caused by a sunday afternoon car crash just made us feel even more grateful that we hadn't rented a car and driven. Why drive when you can take the train?




And why take the cable car or "worlds steepest train" down into the canyon when you can walk down the incredibly steeps stairs....and wait a minute...back up again?



Up how many steps?



700 steps! Up? However, with the effort comes the reward. In this case in the form of a flock of sulpher crested cockatoos about 50 strong. We first saw them bathing in the falls and I was twitching with frustration at not being closer, or not having dragged a pair of binoculars around the world with me.



The noise they make. Like teenagers on cell phones they cannot move without communicating with one another. We wtched them play in the waterfall for a while and then something startled them and they took off in a loud cloud of white.



And landed right near us! The trail was very steep and the trees tops on which they landed were just about eye level with our sweaty selves.





Motto of the story? Muscles not motors. Take the stairs.

And then at the top of the stairs, bonus echidnea!