I had a perfect night sleep last night. Kangding at 2600m / 8530ft is a breeze after Tagong which was higher than Lhasa. I made some muesli and yoghurt for breakfast before heading downstairs to meet the Swiss. We shared a taxi from a nearby bakery (where they bought breakfast) to the bus station.
We had four seats in the bus in one row. It was funny watching the two civil engineers pointing to each other as we passed various bridges, dams or civil construction in progress.
Benedicta had an interest in Vanuatu so I showed her some pictures. Then I subjected Mathias to some travel photos to curb the boredom of the long journey. I showed him pictures of Yemen and Pakistan. He said that he wasn’t as intrepid as Jeremy and Benedicta and needed a certain level of comfort.
That was a surprise for me since they go camping, sleep in the outdoors and pooh in the outdoors. He said that was different because with camping, one is in one’s own sleeping bag. Whereas in a cheap hotel, one could be in someone else’s grime. Funny way of looking at it as whenever I’m in the most basic of places, I tell myself “This is better than camping!”.
I then asked Mathias why they bother hiking in China when they had the same in Switzerland. He explained that the scale was different here. We had been driving for hours and we’re still in the mountains whereas in Switzerland we’d be in Italy! I guess this is the roof of the world. I told him it was the same feeling when I was in Pakistan’s Karakoram Highway and making the comparison to New Zealand’s Southern Alps.Lunch break was at the same warehouse place on the way up. I chose the same tomato and egg dish while Mathias opted for the Mapo Tofu. We shared our choices a little. I had saved him from the congealed pig’s blood sitting next to the tofu; he thought it was a different variety of tofu.
Arriving in Chengdu, no taxi would take me to the hotel as it wasn’t far enough. I grabbed a motorcycle taxi to the Ibis. What luxury it is to have a nice warm big room, sitting toilet and be able to put toilet paper into the bowl.
I had a simple dinner of noodles (slightly translucent and springy, made from banana flour) in hot red oily soup. I dared not drink the soup as it was far to oily but when I did try, I couldn’t resist having a few more gulps. Fortunately, my system didn’t react to the oil detrimentally next morning!