Laos

And so we finally leave China and enter Laos. The border crassing is relatively simple, and immiediately upon entering Laos there is a dramatic change in culture. Everything seems much more relaxed and simple. Indeed, I had to hunt around for the customs office to get my Carnet stamped, and even when I found it they had no idea what I was showing them and just ripped it in half! How things change....

Chengdu to Lijiang

It took us 5 straight days of solid driving to get from Chengdu to Lijiang. Thats one of the major differences we found about driving in China; the distances between places is vast! It was a pretty tough five days as well, for starters the roads didn't get much better than pictured above. On top of this, we were bush camping all the way. Bush camps proved pretty tough to find, although we did manages some pretty good ones like the one pictured. Mostly though, it was a mixture of car parks and dissused petrol stations.....

From Xian to Chengdu.

The worst traffic jam in the world, and no, I'm not talking about the Matford Roundabout at 5.15 on a Thursday. This one was horrendous, we were pretty much stuck in a solid line of trucks for 36 hours, moving a few hundred meters every couple of hours or so. There was no way to pull off the road and we literally spent the night in the truck, which may have been tough for most people but for me it was hell. Every time I nodded off I was awoken by someone banging on the door telling me I could move another 50 feet. At least we didn't go hungry, enterprising locals were selling pot noodles and sausages of the back of bicycles. Why don't they do that at the M5/M6 junction?

Beijing

Yes, here we all are in Beijing. Beijing is as Beijing does; its a big city in China. There's not much really I can add having been there that I, and doubtless you the reader, didn't allready know. Although, you perhaps didn't know that there are some cracking nightclubs there? No, there's not a picture of the great wall of China, I didn't go. Instead we have Sam, Lucinda, John and myself wearing hilarious "I love BJ" t-shirts (although this is mostly out of respect for our favourite passenger Barbara Johns), me at the Olympic Stadium, and Tianamen Square. Great, can we go somewhere else now?

Train to Beijing

It was too much of a chore driving all the way to Beijing, particularly in all the snow, so instead we took the overnight train. That would have been fine, if I'd had sleeper accomodation. I didn't, and neither did a few of us. The most hellish train journey I've ever undertaken by a long way; and that's nothing to be smug about Mr Branson.

Kevin

Let me introduce you to Kevin, pictured here doing a much better monkey impression than me. Chinese law requires us to have an appointed guide travel with us at all times to make sure we don't do anything naughty like say something nasty about Mr Mao. He's also a bloody useful person to have around, as English isn't really spoken much in China and I can't even read the road signs without his help! Kevin is a top bloke, and he really was a great help. And he does and excellent monkey impression as well.

To Xian - mobile disco

And so we head east, in search of warmer weather - well, warmer in the sense that it might reach above freezing at some point. We were planning to camp en-route, but a mojor traffic jam which saw us stationary for 3 hours and crawling for a further 5, meant that this wasn't going to be easy. Instead, I decided just to get my foot down and cover some miles, whilst everyone on the back threw a party! I wasn't too sad to be in the cab missing out all the fun, I had my iPod after all.....

We arrived in Xian by 6.30 the following day. I had been at the wheel for around 20 hours and I had a very sore bum. Fortunately though, there was a McDonalds, and it was open!!!

Thanks for the photo Lu!