You have to remember that nothing lasts forever when you're travelling, that places you see probably won't be the same if you go back, or may have transformed completely.
But our latest adventure took us to a place which might not even be there in the future, even as close as two years away.
Tiger Leaping Gorge, a deep ravine between two 6km-high mountains with the Yangtze River at the bottom, has become a must-see attraction for many travellers coming to China, as it offers a 40km trek with some of the most incredible scenery imaginable. It is around 4km between the river below and the snow-capped peaks above, so it is almost impossible to capture the scale of the place without going there yourself.
Sadly, this is something not many more people will get to see as the g'ment here is in the process of building a hydro-electric dam which will flood the gorge, displacing around 100,000 people and destroying countless rare species of plant and animal.
This is one reason why we decided we had to make time to walk the rough path across the mountainside, going up about 1km and 26 miles (ish) through waterfalls, forest and rocks.
We started out on Tuesday and walked for about 5hours, including a nasty climb called the 28 bends which takes you up hairpin bends (with a sheer drop at the sides). Found a guesthouse called the Tea Horse GH which was among the mountains only reachable up the small path. Had a big meal, stayed for a night and ate breakfast for about GBP3.75 each before setting out on another six-hour walk on Wednesday, through Bamboo Forest and down to a newly-constructed road where cars whizz lazy tourists through to viewing points.
The walk the next day was a long way along the road, then down a rough path to the river, a short ferry ride across and up to a tiny village which offers a bus back to Lijiang, the nearest town.
We did the walk with a Swiss couple and had a great time, albeit very tiring. It was only on the way back that we saw the beginnings of the dam being built- a sad sight indeed.
But China's ever-growing need for energy seems to be driving the whole process, rather than the usual business of tourism which is also ruining some other places nearby.
Among other attractions created, we went past the world's highest golf course at about 3km above sea level (didn't get to play though).
Lijiang's old town is itself a world heritage site, and we have stayed there among traditional architecture which survived a recent (well, 1997) earthquake which razed the new town's ugly concrete structures.
Lijiang old town is still a joy to stroll around, and there are a lot of the local people here, with their bright traditional dress on. The only difference is that they are being outnumbered by Han Chinese businesses which crowd the streets selling their tat to tourists from Beijing or Shanghai. It is the same story in another small place which I had visited before and really enjoyed, called Dali. We went there from Kunming and discovered that the whole north of the town had become a building site where the g'ment had decided to build a new 'old town' from scratch to attract more tourists. They really don't seem to get it.
We've been in Lijiang since Sunday, with a break to do the gorge inbetween, and are off to a place called Jinghong in Xishuangbanna region tonight (Friday) for a few days. It is a new place for me (they are all new places for Gemma) so I don't have any expectations.
But if I don‘t see a wild elephant I will be most disappointed...
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