We left Chengdu for Songpan on a much anticipated bus ride by me. The bus ride had been much fretted over by me as the guide books talk about narrow impassible roads, purchasing special insurance for the bus ride and buying tickets for back seats in case of a crash. So even though we had a speedy drive that was an excessive honker (even by Chinese standards), the ride still did not live up to the white knuckle gripping hair raising experience I had envisioned. Luckily I couldn't see most of the driving (the gal from England in who could told me it was bad) as I was in the back seat but we only had one close call by my tight standards. We arrived in Songpan which is set in the mountains around 2200 meters. It reminded me a little of gardiner but I suspect they get more rain. The hills were completely bare and overgrazed but we were told at one time they were completely forested. Our arrival in Songpan was the best yet. We were greeted by helpful people who did not push anything on us AND we ended up with the best hotel yet for only 15Y each. Our hotel had 4 blankets for each of us AND a heated blanket. Although there was no hot water, we were quite happy with the heated blanket and cheap rate. The BEST part of the hotel room is that for the first time we actually paid less than our friends who spoke Chinese! It was so nice not to get scammed.
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