Well, Lijiang has been a bit of a whirlwind. For the first few days all I could manage was a bit of souvenir shopping and lots of rest (much too sick for anything else).
Vinny and I took a risk last night and booked tickets to visit Tiger Leaping Gorge today. It is about a three hour bus ride so if our stomach problems persisted we would be in for a rough day. Fortunately, we managed to kick our sicknesses and ended up having a great time.
Last time I went to the gorge (three years ago) our group travelled on the well groomed, and completely flat, south side of the river. Today our cheaper tickets meant we were off to the north side. About three kms downstream, and devoid of any high priced tourist centers, the second rapid of the gorge is accessible only by a series of shoddily maintained switchbacks. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise though. Sun and a bit of strenuous activity were just what we needed.
Most of the Chinese were awfully slow moving. At the river bank you can climb onto a large boulder in the center of the river. I think I got some good shots with my camera. Tomorrow we will head off to Jinhong in Southern Yunnan.
Then we're going into Laos.
C. Johnson
Friday, January 28, 2011
Merrily We Roll-A-Sewer
Great Day, Man!
"Yesterday was a great day, man." We've all been repeating this today. Like a mantra.
Yesterday we woke up and grabbed some bikes with Sebastian and Chelsea, the latter being a 'World Teacher' who Frank is familiar with, the former her boyfriend. As a group we are far from expert planners (and proud of it), and so we decided to just head east, sure that we would reach ErHai lake.
Crossing the highway that connects Dali's old and new cities we rode along a cobblestone road that cut through countless plots of leafy green vegetables. The farther we went the worse the road's condition, but we continued on until we reached a construction site where workers were extending the road into a small village.
After conversing, and then trading cigarettes with the workers, our little band started off into the village. Tight alleys with oddly angled walls and hidden intersections created a maze for us to explore. We kept heading east and eventually we spilled out onto a small rock 'pier' that extended some twenty feet into ErHai lake's flooded banks.
We were greeted by a few old ladies washing vegetables and clothes in the dirty water. Was it a marvelous temple? A popular tourist destination? A well maintained vista viewpoint? NO! But there is no way that I would have preferred any of those locales over the simple stone pier that we stumbled upon.
We lingered for a bit and then we reentered the maze with the goal of heading south. After a few wrong turns we found ourselves on another elevated road bouncing through the countryside. Eventually we came upon a group of villagers who were also trying to further extend the pavement into their town. The current task was to move a massive cement pipe (you know, the ones that they build sewers with).
I was the first in our group to reach them and I jokingly asked if we could help. A tired looking woman stopped struggling with the pipe and nodded that any help would be appreciated. The man who seemed to be in charge laughed "dui, bang bang mang wo men", surely thinking that I would just ride past. The four guys in our group hopped of their bikes (I didn't even put the kickstand down) and we replaced the women on the pipe. Chelsea whipped out her camera.
There were several obstacles and a very bumpy stretch of rode between us and our goal some 15 meters away. We were aided only by two long 2 x 4's that kept leapfrogging the pipe. The next bit was a blur of Chinese instructions, English instructions, and laughter... lots of laughter. I was giggling like a four-year-old for ten minutes straight. With one final cheer we rolled the pipe into the ditch that would soon be a road, and not long after that we were back on our bikes and back in a maze of village side streets.
I think everyone involved will have a hard time forgetting the day the crazy foreign people helped roll a sewage pipe into a ditch on the outskirts of a tiny village on the banks of ErHai lake.
C. Johnson
(sent via email on Monday, January 24, posted Friday, January 28)
"Yesterday was a great day, man." We've all been repeating this today. Like a mantra.
Yesterday we woke up and grabbed some bikes with Sebastian and Chelsea, the latter being a 'World Teacher' who Frank is familiar with, the former her boyfriend. As a group we are far from expert planners (and proud of it), and so we decided to just head east, sure that we would reach ErHai lake.
Crossing the highway that connects Dali's old and new cities we rode along a cobblestone road that cut through countless plots of leafy green vegetables. The farther we went the worse the road's condition, but we continued on until we reached a construction site where workers were extending the road into a small village.
After conversing, and then trading cigarettes with the workers, our little band started off into the village. Tight alleys with oddly angled walls and hidden intersections created a maze for us to explore. We kept heading east and eventually we spilled out onto a small rock 'pier' that extended some twenty feet into ErHai lake's flooded banks.
We were greeted by a few old ladies washing vegetables and clothes in the dirty water. Was it a marvelous temple? A popular tourist destination? A well maintained vista viewpoint? NO! But there is no way that I would have preferred any of those locales over the simple stone pier that we stumbled upon.
We lingered for a bit and then we reentered the maze with the goal of heading south. After a few wrong turns we found ourselves on another elevated road bouncing through the countryside. Eventually we came upon a group of villagers who were also trying to further extend the pavement into their town. The current task was to move a massive cement pipe (you know, the ones that they build sewers with).
I was the first in our group to reach them and I jokingly asked if we could help. A tired looking woman stopped struggling with the pipe and nodded that any help would be appreciated. The man who seemed to be in charge laughed "dui, bang bang mang wo men", surely thinking that I would just ride past. The four guys in our group hopped of their bikes (I didn't even put the kickstand down) and we replaced the women on the pipe. Chelsea whipped out her camera.
There were several obstacles and a very bumpy stretch of rode between us and our goal some 15 meters away. We were aided only by two long 2 x 4's that kept leapfrogging the pipe. The next bit was a blur of Chinese instructions, English instructions, and laughter... lots of laughter. I was giggling like a four-year-old for ten minutes straight. With one final cheer we rolled the pipe into the ditch that would soon be a road, and not long after that we were back on our bikes and back in a maze of village side streets.
I think everyone involved will have a hard time forgetting the day the crazy foreign people helped roll a sewage pipe into a ditch on the outskirts of a tiny village on the banks of ErHai lake.
C. Johnson
(sent via email on Monday, January 24, posted Friday, January 28)
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Small World!
Only in China.
Some of you may think us egotistical jerks after this post. But we are awesome....
Our first night in Dali, Frank and Vinny met a laoban (boss) in his bar. Then on our first full day we grabbed lunch at a restaurant that he happened to own. After calling us over and offering some tea, he asked us to help him write an English happy hour menu.
In China guanxi is very important. Guanxi is like a game where one can gain or lose face. The three of us have honed our guanxi to a science in China's biggest party town, Changsha. By helping this laoban we gained major guanxi.
Some time and several pots of tea later two beautiful American girls sat down at a table at the restaurant we previously ate at. Time for more guanxi. We sent Frank over to make the introductions and before long the girls had joined us at the table. Foreign girls=major guanxi.
They (our new Chinese friends) offered to take us to dinner and we obliged them... although the girls were a bit nervous about hopping into a Mercedes with a bunch of guys they just met. Having foreigners pile out of his car was major guanxi for laoban and we played our part well, drinking homemade baijiu and trying even the most adventurous dishes placed in front of us. A spread of peanuts, fruit and beer (a lot of beer) greeted us upon our return to laoban's bar. We had played our part and now it was time for our reward.
At breakfast this morning we met a girl who lives in Xiangtan (45 minutes from Changsha). One of the workers at our hostel lives in Changsha. A foreigner we met in Kunming also lived in Changsha!!!!
Small world.
C. Johnson
Some of you may think us egotistical jerks after this post. But we are awesome....
Our first night in Dali, Frank and Vinny met a laoban (boss) in his bar. Then on our first full day we grabbed lunch at a restaurant that he happened to own. After calling us over and offering some tea, he asked us to help him write an English happy hour menu.
In China guanxi is very important. Guanxi is like a game where one can gain or lose face. The three of us have honed our guanxi to a science in China's biggest party town, Changsha. By helping this laoban we gained major guanxi.
Some time and several pots of tea later two beautiful American girls sat down at a table at the restaurant we previously ate at. Time for more guanxi. We sent Frank over to make the introductions and before long the girls had joined us at the table. Foreign girls=major guanxi.
They (our new Chinese friends) offered to take us to dinner and we obliged them... although the girls were a bit nervous about hopping into a Mercedes with a bunch of guys they just met. Having foreigners pile out of his car was major guanxi for laoban and we played our part well, drinking homemade baijiu and trying even the most adventurous dishes placed in front of us. A spread of peanuts, fruit and beer (a lot of beer) greeted us upon our return to laoban's bar. We had played our part and now it was time for our reward.
At breakfast this morning we met a girl who lives in Xiangtan (45 minutes from Changsha). One of the workers at our hostel lives in Changsha. A foreigner we met in Kunming also lived in Changsha!!!!
Small world.
C. Johnson
Blue Skies
Sent via email on Friday, January 21
We spent the first full day of vacation walking the streets of Kunming, visiting parks and a few local restaurants and cafes. In our ramblings we came across a street of shops that sold only trophies, plaques, and other awards. We bought a trophy and declared ourselves 2011 "Hide and Seek" champions. Our trophy also makes a great cup.... and we have taken to drinking from it to celebrate our 'victory'.
Kunming is a gorgeous city and seeing a blue sky is unbelievably refreshing. The first park we went to was centered around a pond with thousands of white birds that resembled sea gulls. Pond gulls maybe? There were families all around and I got to watch some old people dancing, which is one of my favorite activities. After another night out in Kunming we were all ready to leave the city behind us.
After a mildly stressful 4 hour bus ride we found ourselves in Dali. It is a beautiful small town famous for three pagodas overlooking the city from a great mountain vista. It was late though, so we went to find something to eat. Yak steak is the best food ever. After filling our stomachs we went back to the hostel and fell asleep. This morning we were greeted with the bluest sky I have seen in 6 months and a massive snow capped mountain in the near horizon.
Time to go climb it...
C. Johnson
We spent the first full day of vacation walking the streets of Kunming, visiting parks and a few local restaurants and cafes. In our ramblings we came across a street of shops that sold only trophies, plaques, and other awards. We bought a trophy and declared ourselves 2011 "Hide and Seek" champions. Our trophy also makes a great cup.... and we have taken to drinking from it to celebrate our 'victory'.
Kunming is a gorgeous city and seeing a blue sky is unbelievably refreshing. The first park we went to was centered around a pond with thousands of white birds that resembled sea gulls. Pond gulls maybe? There were families all around and I got to watch some old people dancing, which is one of my favorite activities. After another night out in Kunming we were all ready to leave the city behind us.
After a mildly stressful 4 hour bus ride we found ourselves in Dali. It is a beautiful small town famous for three pagodas overlooking the city from a great mountain vista. It was late though, so we went to find something to eat. Yak steak is the best food ever. After filling our stomachs we went back to the hostel and fell asleep. This morning we were greeted with the bluest sky I have seen in 6 months and a massive snow capped mountain in the near horizon.
Time to go climb it...
C. Johnson
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
CHANGSHAREN in Kunming
Craig has taken off on a trip with two friends during Spring Festival. He promised to start his blog again. Here is his first entry:
After a terribly bumpy flight we arrived in Kunming in the early afternoon. Paranoid that we would be mistaken as Laowai or tourists we blew past all the people offering us rides to the city center. We also accidentally blew past the bus station we were supposed to use. After walking for about twenty minutes we reached the next stop on the line and hopped on bus 67.
The congestion of human traffic on this line is mind blowing. At each stop no more than 5 disembarked while no less than 20 got on the bus. A gentleman was trying to help us find the stop we wanted but after he told us that he was actually from Beijing I had an ominous feeling. His advice wasn't completely accurate and we needed to walk another 20 minutes before we found our dormitory.
THE HUMP is one of those Lonely Planet endorsed megahostels where the number of foreigners is just creepy for someone who left Changsha just once in the last 4 months. Everyone from professor types, with grey hair and pipes to smoke, to hippies on the run, with wild shocks of hair and scummy clothes, share a gigantic common room. After eating BBQ at a place with meal worms, pig feet, and whole intestinal tracts on display we started interspersing shots of tequila and mixed tonic drinks with over-competitive games of ping pong.
At the hostel a group of Chinese drivers were playing pool and after buying them a shot of tequila GANGZI (a person) bought us two bottles of watered down gin. While we drank we met a foreigner who lived in Kunming and told us horror stories of Laowai beatings occurring within Kunming's KUNDU bar district. With these thoughts in mind we set off to find said district and offer the Chinese a different point of view on the foreign devils.
Everyone we talked to howled with laughter when we told them we were CHANGSHAREN (people who lived in Changsha [this terminology is reserved for those who are native to a given region]) We finished the night with more BBQ and philosophical conversations. All in all it was a great night.
C. Johnson
After a terribly bumpy flight we arrived in Kunming in the early afternoon. Paranoid that we would be mistaken as Laowai or tourists we blew past all the people offering us rides to the city center. We also accidentally blew past the bus station we were supposed to use. After walking for about twenty minutes we reached the next stop on the line and hopped on bus 67.
The congestion of human traffic on this line is mind blowing. At each stop no more than 5 disembarked while no less than 20 got on the bus. A gentleman was trying to help us find the stop we wanted but after he told us that he was actually from Beijing I had an ominous feeling. His advice wasn't completely accurate and we needed to walk another 20 minutes before we found our dormitory.
THE HUMP is one of those Lonely Planet endorsed megahostels where the number of foreigners is just creepy for someone who left Changsha just once in the last 4 months. Everyone from professor types, with grey hair and pipes to smoke, to hippies on the run, with wild shocks of hair and scummy clothes, share a gigantic common room. After eating BBQ at a place with meal worms, pig feet, and whole intestinal tracts on display we started interspersing shots of tequila and mixed tonic drinks with over-competitive games of ping pong.
At the hostel a group of Chinese drivers were playing pool and after buying them a shot of tequila GANGZI (a person) bought us two bottles of watered down gin. While we drank we met a foreigner who lived in Kunming and told us horror stories of Laowai beatings occurring within Kunming's KUNDU bar district. With these thoughts in mind we set off to find said district and offer the Chinese a different point of view on the foreign devils.
Everyone we talked to howled with laughter when we told them we were CHANGSHAREN (people who lived in Changsha [this terminology is reserved for those who are native to a given region]) We finished the night with more BBQ and philosophical conversations. All in all it was a great night.
C. Johnson
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