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Day 2 was just another visit to town to eat and explore more temples, walk around town and snack on local food. While in town we booked a tour for the following day to the nearby Kuang Si waterfalls and managed to find the train ticket office to book our return trip to Kunming. Favourite ice...

Breakfast was provided at the hotel each morning and then the rest of our meals were usually eaten in town at small local markets or riverside eateries. Noodle dishes like this were less than $5. We had a few of the local durian. Great crispy pork.

Our 4 days in Luang Prabang were spent in the city and local area. Our resort was about 10 minutes drive or 30 minutes walk for the city centre with a free drop off by arrangement. We usually took the drop off and then walked back. Many interesting temples. Inexpensive places to eat and a sort...

Our hotel accommodation in Luang Prabang. On the Mekong Resort. The resort is constructed from original dwellings recycled from a Thai village. We had originally booked two regular apartments for 5 nights to accommodate the three of us but we had a nice surprise and were very happy to...

Photos of the Laos side of the border Luang Prabang station. About a 20-30 minute drive into town. Only farms around the station area. Immigration waiting area on the Laos side.

We had purchased our tickets on Trip from Kunming to Luang Prabang but for some reason you can't purchase the return tickets from any of the regular on line sites. Return tickets must be purchased from Laos agents and the commissions were quite high. From research I had found out that there was...

From Kunming main station we the new metro line that linked the main station to Kunming South station which is the terminal station for the newly opened Kunming to Vientiane railway. Our hotel was situated on the metro one stop before the main station to allow easy access the following...

With the tour over we were back on our own planned itinerary. We were heading for Laos and so the next day required a 7 hour high speed rail journey from Chengdu to Kunming and an overnight stay in Kunming. Chinese trains are easily booked on line (we used Trip) and require your passport...

After this last stop we were on the bus back to Chengdu to our hotel. The tour guide who had been very upbeat and friendly was dropped off at nearby Emeishan where he apparently resided. On this last short trip he seemed to be somewhat unhappy and the general feeling was that the group as a...

Our last stop on the tour. Leshan Giant Buddha. Overall the tour was great value as we were able to see some wonderful places in a relatively short time for a bargain price. Despite the language barrier our tour companions were mostly very friendly and a fun bunch.

Overnight at our hotel in Emeishan. Dinner at another industrial tourist place and a short walk around the local area. The next morning we headed to Leshan to see the Giant Buddha. Our last stop but on the way we had to visit a local cultural village (shopping).

The summit area of Emeishan. One of China's four sacred mountains. While there have been various Buddhist statues and temples constructed all over the area for many centuries the Golden statue is a very recent addition.

From the bus drop off point there was a climb and quite a walk to the base of the cable car. Mrs Woodyren's knees were giving her some discomfort and after her experience with altitude in Huanglong she decided against heading to the summit. Huge lines at the base of the cable car...

Overnight in our Chengdu hotel and then another very early start as we travelled to Mt Emei. Arrived at Mt Emei late morning and then lunch within the park area. Mt Emei entrance. Then you are transported by park buses for the approx 1 hour trip to the area of the cable car...

We had time to walk around the local area in Chengdu that night. We went in search of some local food and were not disappointed. We found a night market and sampled a lot of the fare. I really enjoy the vibrancy, smells and tastes of an Asian street food market. Oyster and egg...

A few more photos of the bus ride back to Chengdu. Many of the towns along the way were devastated by the Sichuan earthquake in 2008. The road passed through many cherry and other fruit growing areas. Our Chengdu hotel for the night. Many of these local hotels are very...

Day three and we were heading back to Chengdu albeit with a few obligatory shopping stops. The local tour guides earn most of their salary through commission from these places. Locals seem to spend up big and fall for the fake (IMO) sales pitches and valuations. The markup from manufacture to...

Overnight in a local hotel. A few photos to show the standard of accommodation which was realy good considering the price of the tour was so inexpensive. Typical Chinese breakfast. I usually just ate boiled eggs and some bread or cake. At this stage I still hadn't seen a...

Dinner tonight was in a local town that was obviously set up for the tourist trade. Multiple buses arriving and funneled into the various eateries. Nonetheless it was decent food and entertainment. Spicy hotpot.

A few bus hops and more walking took us back to the park entrance. All in all we spent about 8-9 hours walking through the park. Another memorable day. Just outside the park entrance.