Tourist towns of Yunnan

---

---

I crossed the border into China quickly and without any hassles. According to the Lonely Planet, some people have had their China LP confiscated and been treated badly by the officials at this border so I was mentally prepared for this and had also hidden my LP deep inside my big backpack wrapped up in clothes. However, appart from sending the luggage through an x-ray machine there was no searching or any other annoyances. All of a sudden I was in China - no moto drivers yelling at me, but also no moto drivers to get directions or information from. I had no Chinese money so walked around looking for a bank which I eventually found quite a way away. Next stop, bus station to hopefully catch a bus to Yuanyang and the amazing rice fields, except buses only run until 10am so I'd missed the last one and would have to spend the night in Hekou if I wanted to go (or backtrack 6 hours after Kunming). I wasn't keen on this so I caught a bus to Kunming, arriving at 9pm, skipping Yuangyang.

There were five other travellers on the bus so we stuck together on arrival (at a bus stop in the middle of nowhere - at least 10km from town) and caught a minibus together to a hostel. There was an English couple who were doing essentially the same trip as me only they managed to get a cargo ship from Brisbane to Singapore - jelous. They said it took an enormous amount of planning and cost a fortune though, and they didn't leave Southern Thailand in the floodwater break like me so got stuck for another 5 days in Suratthani and had to fly to Bangkok (so we're even, 1 flight each).

I tried to go to Xi Shan, the Western Hills by a big lake 15 km from Kunming but failed because of wrong bus information. I caught a bus to a terminal west of town where I was meant to change to a different bus, but this particular bus didn't come to that terminal or any other bus stop on the surrounding streets and noone could help me. Apparently I could also catch bus 33 but the driver just shook his head when I showed him where I wanted to go on the map and wouldn't let me on the bus. I thought about hiring a bike to get out there but by this point it was 11:30 and would be midday by the time I caught a bus back into town so I just settled for wandering round town which is actually a city and enormous! I don't know what exactly I was expecting - it is the capital of Yunnan after all. The place is motorbike free, but full of electric skooters, deadly silently coming out of nowhere and apparently its totally fine for them to drive on the footpath. Then again, when our minivan went past the hostel the night before it just turned around and drove back on the footpath, which is wider than some highways in SE Asia.

Everything is very different. Theres KFC, McDonalds, Walmart, massive department stores everywhere. But in a way its very similar with the street food and stalls. I bought what looks like a microfibre towel on the footpath for under $1 and expect it to disintegrate all over me the first time I use it. There are also crates full of puppies for sale at street corners. I found it quite hard to breath at times and I'd like to blame enormous pollution but it probably had more to do with the cold I've picked up (again!).

I tried to change my Laos kip at the bank but they wouldn't accept them. The money exchange situation here is rediculous. When I was in Laos noone would take my Cambodial Riel, then in Vietnam, noone would change my Laos kip. What the hell, it's the bordering country, millions of tourists passing back and forwards all the time. I should have learnt after having trouble with my Cambodian money but I thought it was just because even in Cambodia, the US dollar is more common than the riel so now I'm stuck with a massive wad (about $200 worth) of kip.

After my bank trip I caught a bus to Dali. Well actually buses from the south terminate in 'new Dali', aka Xiaguan where I was bombarded with taxi drivers who speak no english trying to take me to old Dali. I knew there were minibuses and regular public buses that go there too so I found the town center and tried to find the criptic place the LP claims the minibuses leave from. I never found it, or the right number public bus so I started walking the 18km to the old town, trying to flag down the minibuses. The third one stopped for me and dropped me off right in the tourist center of old Dali. Since I spent almost 2 hours in Xiaguan looking for a bus it was evening by the time I got there.

I went hiking in the Cang Shan mountain range, if you can call it that. I left early in the morning and headed for the cable cars following the LPs directions (so expecting to get lost). Turns out I was heading towards the wrong cable cars but thats ok, there was a trail close to that one too - stone steps the whole way up to the path. People in 'moderate shape' supposedly take 2.5 to 3 hours to get to the top (which isn't the top of the mountain, only about half way). After spending a large chunk of the last 3 months sitting on buses using nothing except my pelvic floor muscles which certainly get a good workout, I wasn't even sure I would be in this category, but I made it in 1 hour. The whole trip from town to Zhonghe Temple, including the 5km extra I had to walk since I went to the wrong trail to start with, took almost 2 hours. From the temple, I walked along the 11km stone paved, flat path along the mountain side to Qingbi Stream and Gangshan Canyon. By the time I got to seven dragon maiden pond, about half way, the Chinese tourists and daytrippers were out in force. Oh my god they were everywhere! The area by the pond was packed with posers, photographers, and idiots throwing rocks. The aim seemed to be to throw the rock into the water as close as possible to a person to splash them but I wouldn't really trust their aim. Usually I would find this sort of thing entertaining but this was a little too hectic and I just wanted to sit somewhere nice and have a rest. I tried to take a trail heading up, which I assumed went to one of the peaks, but was turned back by official looking Chinese men.

I walked along another trail through the canyon which was nice and people free but quite overgrown and again, stone steps which were pissing off my knees so I headed back. I tried to walk down the mountain but was again refused entry to the trail by Chinese officials and was forced to take the cable car. It's bad enough that they errect cable cars everywhere to make the mountains accessible to the lazy masses, but to force you to use them rather than walk is out of control. From the cable car I saw at least 2 trails going down, one with people on it which was frustrating. From the base I walked to the main road and caught a minibus back to town. I wandered the streets of Dali and the city walls for the rest of the afternoon. Its a very touristy place but I rarely saw other westerners so its more of a domestic tourism thing. I think I actually prefer masses of Western tourists since they don't quite take over a place in the same way Chinese tour groups do, even if I'm in China.

I hired a bike the next day with plans of riding to the lake and to a few towns on the lake. It started to rain just as I left and more or less kept going for the rest of the day. I still rode to the lake which was quite rough (for a lake) becuase of the wind. I walked along a path then rode back to town against an icy cold head wind. The rain wouldn't normally have stoped me so easily but none of my stuff was in a waterproof bag and I was wearing shorts so I was freezing and worried about my cold getting worse. I'd been slamming down some pretty hardcore fresh ginger tea and was already much better. I had a bus booked in the late afternoon to Lijang but wasn't allowed to change it for an earlier one so I hung out in my hostel reading.

The bus to Lijang took an hour longer than expected (there is so much road construction going on) so I didn't arrive until quite late. The ride was nice and scenic though heading up up into the mountains. Its definitely rice planting season and the fields were going off!

I assumed I was dropped off at the long distance bus station South of the city so I hopped on a bus heading North. Wrong - I was already North of town but not to worry, the bus didn't go too far before the end of its route where it turned around and went in the right direction. I got off at the right stop near the old town with the help of the bus driver and an older woman, although they didn't speak any English. Hardly anyone does and travelling is quite hard. I've only been to increadibly touristy places so far and even there its hard to find someone with any English so just imagine if I tried to go off the beaten track!

The old town is a complete mess of alleyways which is awesome unless your trying to find a hostel late at night and the map you have is impossible to follow. I got there eventually and easily found my way back to it every time I left. It was absolutely freezing - I was in my spanking new Vietnam North Face jacket and still shivering. The next day was much warmer though and I hired a bike for an adventure into the countryside.

I got up early and wandered the alleys of the old town before breakfast before it got swarmed with tourists. Suprisingly at 6:30am there were still quite a few other people out with their cameras. After a few hours I picked up the bike. It was amazing and most of it really easy and flat. I rode to Baisha, a village, then further to the Jade peak monastery in the foothills of Yulong Xueshan (or Jade Dragon Snow mountain which did in fact have some snow on it). This ride was uphill and not easy but I'm proud to say I did ride the whole way up rather than get off and walk. Further along the road you get to Jade Water village which has a hefty 50 Yuan entrance fee which I might have paid if I knew more about the place but I had no idea what to expect. This was a good choice since as I was riding away I counted 32 tour buses in conveys of about 5 or 6 in the 5 minutes it took to get to the turn off for Yuhu village. They were all going to this place. Yuhu village was another uphill slog and once I hit the rough cobbled streets I got off and walked. In this village everything is build with stones - Lijang must have some pretty rocky soil! I got to the end of the village and am pretty sure if I kept going I'd get to a trail leading up to the top - very tempting but I wasn't sure it did, had no idea how long it would take, and didn't have much water with me.

I rode back to Baisha then tried to find the ruins of Fuguo monastery. I followed the LP directions and think I found the right trail up into the hills but only found some prayer flags wrapped round a few trees and a bunch of gravestones. Still there were some amazing views from here. I rode back into town, stopping at Black Dragon Pool park which was very Chinese gardeny then went food shopping for the next days hiking trip.

---

Photos

Gangshan Grand Canyon
Not exactly grand, but it is a canyon