On Monday we caught a 10.30am bus from Shangri-La to Lijiang and we were lucky enough to be on a double decker bus which had luggage stored on the bottom and passengers up top and it was certainly a faster and more comfortable trip than the one we had going up to Shangri-La and once again had lovely views of the Yangzi river and some of its tributaries. Arrived in Lijiang mid afternoon and used the same accommodation as the previous time - a bit of a dive, but cheap and right in the middle of the square. Once in our accommodation Joy and I went to try and sort out train tickets from Panzhihua to Chengdu (with no success) and bus tickets from Lijiang to Panzhihua (with success).
Tuesday morning we caught an 8.30am bus from Lijiang to Panzhihua. We were hoping we were going to get a nice coach like the previous day but no such luck. However we had a great trip and the scenery was wonderful until about the last 50km when the landscape was marred by predominantly coal mining which is absolutely huge in the Panzhihua area. I don't think I have ever seen so many trucks on the road, mostly loaded with coal, consequently they had really damaged the concrete road so the last 30km especially was pretty rough. Cars and buses never stick to the right side of the road so had some pretty close shaves - they move over to the right side when they see a vehicle coming - no wonder we find the Asian drivers shocking when they come to NZ. Finally arrived in Panzhihua just before 2pm and then caught a bus to the railway station which was 28km away so took an hour. Got to the train station and as we are now in peak holidays for 2 weeks - China Day today, 1st October - the only tickets we could get were stand up ones and with a 14 ½ hr trip ahead of us there was no way we were going to do that so booked for the next day but could only get a hard seat so we had to be satisfied with that, which was not something to look forward to. We then went and found a hotel for the night. Had a bit of a look around the area the next day before catching the train at 3.15pm. Was a terrible trip and we virtually got no sleep and the train was absolutely packed. We have no desire to take a hard seat for a journey like that again! Arrived here in Chengdu at 5.45am yesterday morning and got a taxi to the hostel we are presently staying at. As they serve meals here we had breakfast and I then had a shower and had plans to go and have a sleep. However that was not to be as our Chinese Visa has to be renewed for another 30 days as it expires on 8th October so we headed off down to the PSB (Public Service Bureau) to get our Visas done. The computers were all down and we could not hand them in and they are going to be closed until next Friday and it takes five working days so are not sure what we are going to do but went back to the hostel and had a sleep for a couple of hours after lunch. We can visit the Big Buddha which is 160km from here and one staff member told us that we can get it done in that town in a day, but then today we heard from a different person that it takes two days so we do not know what to believe. With the holiday season being so long no matter where we are we are going to have a problem so we are in a bit of a dilemma.
This morning we did a trip out to the Panda Research station and saw the pandas which are lovely. Saw some baby ones in a protected environment inside but could only look through a window at them and were not allowed to take photos. They are doing a great job there as out in the wild they are just about becoming extinct as the baby pandas chance of survival in the wild is minimal as they only weigh 100grams at birth and are usually born prematurely. If a mother has twins one of them usually dies as she can only take care of one at a time. This afternoon has spent relaxing as it is a wet day here and not very inviting to go exploring.