First Half of Summer Travels (Yunnan Province)

Panzhihua

Panzhihua in southern Sichuan was described to us as an armpit of a city, a necessary but very unpleasant stopping point on one's way from Chengdu to Lijiang in Yunnan province. After arriving in Panzhihua - post-overnight sleeper train - we decided to give the city a shot. This was in part due to the fact that we dawdled a bit after breakfast (who, us?) and missed all of the day buses to Lijiang. There was no way we were going to miss bumping through the beautiful mountainous terrain on the Lijiang route by taking a night-bus, so we found a hostel and started to explore. Any city where you magically stumble onto a ferris wheel is OK by us. A little wandering led us to an amazing meal and a jaunt in the hilly park in the middle of the city (with said ferris wheel, surrounded by castle-style walls!). Many elderly Panzhihuaians were out for their evening stroll, and the highlight of our stay was one curious stroller walking a circular route past the bench where we were sitting. Our exchanges were short, but every time he passed us he had a smile and something new to say or ask.

Early morning the next day we boarded our 7hr bus to Lijiang. We had a bag with everything we needed to keep us occupied during the trip: ipods, lonely planet, a couple of novels, sketchbooks, study materials ... we didn't even open the bag. The bus ride from Panzhihua to Lijiang definitely lived up to the hype, the views were breathtaking and kept us glued to the bus windows the entire trip.

Lijiang

Yunnan province is home to more than 30 recognized Chinese ethnic minorities. This was evident as soon as we set foot in the city of Lijiang, home to the Naxi people (see pictures). Lijiang is also a frequented stop for Chinese and foreign tourists which is evident in the touristy "Old Town" part of the city. The weather was gorgeous for our first three days in Lijiang - this and our "on-the-road!" excitement motivated us to scale elephant hill, find and swim in a local swimming hole and rent bikes for a closer look at the sprawling farmland of the Naxi people (our most rewarding venture). As we returned from our bike ride on the third day, the rain clouds rolled in. This ended up being quite appropriate, for with the rain came the food poisoning - for both of us. We still can't seem to trace the exact culprit but our digestive shananagins kept us in Lijiang a bit longer then we had planned.

After a couple days, with bellies full of the blandest food we could find (mantou and soy milk), we finally boarded a bus for the attraction that brought us to Yunnan, Tiger Leaping Gorge (La Garganta del Tigre - The Throat of the Tiger - en espanol), and prepared to be awe-inspired.

Tiger Leaping Gorge

Somewhere along our 5-day trek, after our sun-splashed days relaxing in the Naxi Family Guesthouse and climbing the "28 bends", but before the real waterfalls began, we experienced a moment of true perfection. As we walked around a rocky bend - stories above the raging Yangtze river - a beam of light shone on a seat for two. Perfectly carved out of the rock face - an ideal place to rest and reflect, directly across from a view that seemed too grand to be real. It was here that we realized what it means to be timeless. That this gorge, this rock face, this river, was here long before we were, and will continue to be here long after we are gone. Moments like these truly make a person appreciate the majesty of the earth.

We continued on our merry way, marveling at what gorgeous weather we were having, and stopped to admire a lovely waterfall in the distance.

*Clouds darken* At that moment, we noticed that ahead of us, calmly eating some mountain grass, stood a horse. As the path was narrow, and the horse was obviously too busy to move, we decided to walk off the path a bit to get around the horse. As we approached the horse, we locked eyes (the horse and us) and upon further review, we believe we were put under some sort of horrible spell by the creature. Somehow this warlock horse managed to turn the next 20 minutes into a hideous nightmare. As we made our way around the rear of the equine wizard, Cody had to dodge a fearsome mountain serpent and Stephanie was lashed with an unidentified poisonous (well at least skin-irritating) plant. As we approached the waterfall, things began to get worse.

*Lightning strikes* The skies opened up and started down pouring. The waterfall that was across the bend was still beautiful, but as we approached it, we realized that there was no convenient path behind it (as one could hope for in a downpour), but that we had to ford it. The water was flowing considerably faster because of the rain, and combined with the packs on our backs and the 300 foot drop-off to our right, it was no small task crossing the obstacle. Once past the water hazard, we thought our worries were over until the mind-controlling horse took the reins again. We managed to lose our way in the chaos of the downpour and ended up following a treacherous path along the rain-soaked rocks and steep grade, clinging to tufts of grass for support, until we realized that there was no way that this was the actual footpath. At that moment, the clouds lightened, we found the real path, and Sorcerer Horse's control came to an end.

Tiger Leaping Gorge trek was definitely the highlight of Yunnan and if you are headed that way, do the high path! It's worth it! And if you happen to meet Sorcerer Horse on your path, be sure to be kind, do NOT look it in the eye, and perhaps give it an apple.

Dali

After Tiger Leaping Gorge it was on to Dali where the highlight was the Shaping market and a glimpse of Bai (the ethnic group of the area) culture. We were feeling a bit lazy one day and decided to spend a couple hours on a street corner, sipping milk teas and watching the passerbys. This led to the up-close observation of a Bai funeral procession which consisted of a man tearing paper out of a book then strewing it on the ground and musicians playing drums and horns. Behind the musicians were eight men carrying the casket which was shrowded in a canopy of white and red cloth and finally, white clad (the clothing color for mourning in China is white - many people also wore white to the memorial in Chengdu's Tianfu square after the earthquake) women, men and children, with one child carrying a large photograph of the deceased. Incredibly interesting - we felt priveledged to have witnessed this.

Kunming

Our final stop was Kunming, which to be honest was kind of like a less-interesting Chengdu. However, the weather was beautiful (much cooler and less sticky then our home to the north) and we had a great time wandering the city streets and taking in some performances in Green Lake Park. The best part of Kunming was the friend we met on our sleeper train from Dali. Not only did his words offer some peace of mind while we bought cheaper train tickets from scalpers, but once in Kunming, he invited us to dinner with his friend. After dinner we hung out at his apartment, where we drank tea, ate almonds, and had a nice chat.

The Difference 8 Months Makes

Apart from the amazing views and fascinating culture, our time travelling this summer has been especially rewarding now that we have spent some time in China. Our increased knowledge of the language, people and landscape, has made our interactions this time around much deeper and more rewarding. After eight months we just have a better feel for how China operates. This was especially illustrated alongside the large number of short-term travellers we met in Tiger Leaping Gorge. One rewarding experience happened post-food poisoning when Stephanie's stomach was still on the rocks in the gorge. She quietly knocked on the door of the Naxi mama at the Naxi family guesthouse and asked if there was anything bland she could eat, uttering the phrase "wo de duzi bu shu fu" (my tummy hurts:( a very important phrase) Mama went into mama mode and offered Stephanie an apple from the kitchen, refusing to take any money. After that, a bond was formed. This mama gave us a cheaper room than all of the other foreigners staying at the hostel, and made sure we were stocked with apples for our hike the next day, again refusing any payment. This experience along with our Kunming friends are just a couple examples of the unflinching kindness and generosity we have experienced here.

What's Next?

From Yunnan we returned to Chengdu for a week to tie up some administrative (visa) loose ends, and to relax after traveling. From there we took a 22 hour sleeper train to Lanzhou, Gansu province where we immediately connected to Dunhuang, from where we are publishing this post. (Excellent melon in Gansu- honeydews, watermelons, mystery-melons, etc…)

Tomorrow, August 1st, we will be in Xinjiang province (around the town of Yiwu, outside of Hami) to view the total solar eclipse! We didn't actually find out about this Event until yesterday (oops) and the chances that we would be so close to this once in a lifetime experience are about 2% ... we figure we'd better try to check it out. (Our current location is swarming with eclipse chasers from around the globe - you should have seen their looks of horror when we said "what eclipse?") The path of totality runs right through Russia, Mongolia and Northwestern China, where we happen to be, so you'll be sure to read all about that in the next post! After some Xinjiang travel, we'll be making our way to Xi'an (terracotta army) and then on to Beijing for the 2008 World Farming Expo... and the Olympics. Keep checking in, amigos. Thanks for reading!

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