Are we game??

Grandpa turned 80 and his party is tonight - a true milestone. Many family members will attend. After reading more and more blogs of people who have travelled out West of China we have found the town of Xiahe. There are not many diappointed travellers. The Tibetan temple there is one of the 5 big ones (including the major one in Tibet, the one near Tongren, Huangnan (near Xining). There are 2 round walking tracks with prayer wheels an inner circle track and an outer circle. Those who have walked it rave about the experience. Getting there is possible, and we could potentially stop and sleep enroute at another town that has a big muslim mosque and Hui majority (in contrast to Tibetan style). Anyway we will skip that as there is only 1 bus per day from Xiahe to Tongren early in the morning. And if it starts to snow all buses stop and the drivers look to make some profitable kuai. http://ahugelittlemistake.blogspot.com.au/2011/01/12-january-epic-bus-from-tongren-to.html Have a read of the above blog re the bus trip (note it is in reverse order to the way we would take it and BEWARE OF THE LANGUAGE!!). From what a number of people have said, the views are spectacular with a Chinese version of the grand canyon. I am worried re what happens if we miss the bus and can't find a driver willing... and what about keeping kids on overcrowded bus for that many hours?? What about my dad? Anyway we may try. We got 2 x coats, woollen ugg boots, and a lined bath mat for the girls. According to the pics their class rooms have bare concrete and so do their dorm rooms with icy water on the floor. It looks freezing. The average temperatures are minus 8 to plus 5 celcius. Was very excited about booking some of the hotels. A friend is currently in Beijing and has stayed at a hutong in the area we are looking to stay at this time, so awaiting the reports.