David Foranand Fintan Gillespie
WEEK THREE: After the Australian and Southeast Asian legs of our charity drive from Sydney to Dublin, we arrived at the Chinese border.
Foreign vehicles are allowed to enter the country only with a pre-arranged route approved by the government - and with a guide from a registered agency. Chinese license plates were also required - in our case for our Hummer - and Dave was issued with a Chinese driving licence. We were told by our guide that we were only the fifth foreign vehicle to enter China this year.
After a stop in Kunming, the capital of China's Yunnan province, we headed towards the ancient city of Dali, where we visited the magnificent Three Pagodas, a spectacular collection of Buddhist temples and monuments constructed by the Tang dynasty in 618.
From Dali we endured a treacherous mountain drive towards Tiger Leaping Gorge through snow and dense fog. This enormous 25km gorge, carved by the Yangtze River, is one of the world's deepest.
Eventually we arrived at the snow-covered town of Zhongdian. The following morning we had bad news: no more vehicle permits were being issued to Tibet. Instead of going through it on our way to Nepal, our only option was to turn back and ship the car from Bangkok to Calcutta.
We began our slog back to the Laotian border. When we eventually reached it we were delayed another few days, as we needed a litany of stamps and approvals. Next week we return to Bangkok. In the meantime, we find ourselves in Japan.
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