Blogs from Yunnan, China, Asia

Here are some pictures of Lijiang and the trip back. Pictures of Shangri-La and today in Beijing will be up later :)... read more

Sunday morning came too early. I woke up on the wrong side of the bed and was cranky until getting to the monastery. Our tour guides are obnoxious in the sense that we (the group) feel rushed through everything. They (our tour guides) are always yelling at us to “Hurry up!” “Come on!” “Let’s go! Let’s go!” I sometimes don’t even get a chance to take a breath before getting yelled at to continue on and I can’t even go to the restroom without being rushed! But so Sunday morning I got yelled at to hurry up, even though half of the group wasn’t even ready yet. :/ Don’t be yelling at me, I’m up, I’m ready. So breakfast was less than appetizing. Besides that it had rice noodles, I’m not sure of what was in ... read more

So I have discovered that I do not like overnight train rides. I rode a train from Kunming to Lijiang on the top bunk in the cart. There were 3 beds on each side. I liked that I was on the most top because Kelly gets motion sickeness and she was below me so I knew that she wouldn't throw up on me. But the train left the station at 10:30, lights were out at 11:30 and the first time I woke up was at 1:10am with motin sickness. I had rolled over onto my stomach that caused me to feel sick. So I flipped over, drank some water, and fell back to sleep. I didn't have any problems after that but I kept waking up because the train kept stopping at various stations because the ... read more

So after one day in Lijiang, we took a van ride that took all day. I was originally told it was going to be 2 hours, then 5, then because we stopped for lunch and stuff it took 7 hours. So my whole day was pretty much in a van on dirt roads because there are no highways to Shangri-La, but they are being built as we speak. The lunch wasn't too bad though. We met up with our tour guide and then went to his house for lunch. It was pretty much all Yak. There was Yak cheese, yogurt, meat, and butter tea. Liking 50% isnt too bad. I liked the meat and cheese. We also ate steamed buns, potatoes that were like scalloped potatoes minus the cheese, and tried this powder stuff that just ... read more

The overnight train from Chengdu to Xichang in southern Sichuan was again a very easy and comfortable 9 hour trip, and I highly recommend using the trains for long trips. I booked a 2nd class sleeper for $24 and had about 7 hours sleep before arriving in Xichang at 7 am. I found a minivan going to the bus station, and when I arrived 15 minutes later I was lucky to catch the bus to Lugu Hu which was departing in 10 minutes. Lugu Hu is a large lake on the Yunnan/Sichuan border at an altitude of 2700 metres and as I found out attracts quite a few Chinese tourists, and as usual very few foreign ones. My original plan was not to come to Lugu Hu but because foreigners are not allowed into western Sichuan ... read more

Today was my last day at the school. ): Amy was super sad, I almost cried. We chilled at break and then played games with her friends (that I gave the names Katie, Sarah, and Jamie too). We played their version of Ninja Ninja Turtle (Duck Duck Goose) and this other game where everyone except one person made a train and the one person left out has to tag everyone behind the first person. The group donated fans for each classroom (which was greatly needed. I probably lost at least 10 pounds simply by sweating so much while teaching). Amy gave me a bracelet on Monday. She gave me a note today saying how I was her favorite teacher and how much she loved me (a scan of the note will be posted on facebook when ... read more

Last full day in Kunming.... read more

These last few days have been pretty fun. Monday I went back to the school that I have been volunteerting at. I also did a language exchange, which was awkward. They basically singled out the few that could speak some Chinese and put us into groups with Chinese students, some speaking English, others that couldn't that well. My group wanted to meet up with one of the other groups that had left the building to go to a coffee shop. It ended up being a lot of fun and tonight there is another language exchange, so I'm kind of excited. Yesterday we went to Yunnan Arts University where we saw a mini drama by two students, ate lunch, and then watched a few films that the students had made themselves. We got to ask them questions ... read more

The Chinese do not build elevators in buildings that are 6 stories or shorter. Some of us had wondered, before the trip, why are most Chinese people thinner than most Americans even though they eat a lot of carbs? Well it's probably because they have to walk everyhere. There are steps all over the place and the terrain is pretty hilly. It doesn't take long for that quick relief of flat land to quickly start taking you up or down. That's what we realized, is that we needed all of the food we could get to just maintain the amount of energy that we burn in a day. My apartment here is 6 floors up. The school I work at has 4 floors and to get to any of the classrooms I have to at least ... read more