The rain clouds, that is. It was raining a little the day we got into Chaing Mai. More like I'm following the rain... Sigh. Nonetheless, the rainy weather makes Chiang Mai even greener and more lush. The air is much cleaner as well. Perfect for a rainy day, J and I signed up for a full day's cooking class at "Best Thai Cookery" (how can you go wrong with a name like that?)! We had a great time - I would highly recommend it (9:30 AM - 4:00 PM, 800B per person). Cooking class: The teacher picks everyone up at their [View Full Entry]

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Hello from Bangkok, Thailand! Night 1 in Bangkok: I got here earlier this week from Kunming. I happened to re-connect with another traveler who I went biking with in Lijiang. We were on the same flight to Bangkok, which was nice since I had some company transiting from BKK airport to the city center. We took the bus to Khao San area, and looked for hotels and had dinner together. Day 1: I was in Bangkok by myself one day while I waited from my friend to come from SF. Since I had a slight cold, I just spent the day [View Full Entry]

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Kunming is supposed to be known to feel like Spring all four seasons of the year. That said, the weather is mild and great for growing flowers. I read an article about about Yunnan's flower industry, and Yunnan province produces one of the most flowers in Asia. The market in Dounan, near Kunming is Asia's largest flower exchange and exporter of flowers. I was curious about this and wanted to go see it for myself. I asked the taxi driver from the bus station, and he happened to be in the rose business for 10 years before becoming a driver. He [View Full Entry]

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Dali is surrounded by beautiful mountain ranges - Cangshan and one range that I don't know the name of. Our driver told us it was nicknamed "Chicken Feet Mountain". Who knows. Cangshan is on the west side of Erhai Lake. There are two "summit" areas. I only went to the top of the first area (2450 m). From the mountain top, you can see all of Dali and Erhai. Anyway, I rode a horse up Cangshan today. The trail was very muddy and steep. The poor horse. The ride up took about 1.5 hours. The views were so-so. The trees were [View Full Entry]

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Went back for sunshine Back in Dali （大理） - the weather is perfect here. Blue skies, long-sleeves and jeans, fleece vest in the morning kind of weather. I spent the day around Erhai Lake （洱海湖） with a couple from Spain. The husband was hard-core, he had his thick LP rebound into smaller sections and spent three months studying China destinations before the couple's 40 day trip! So cool. We rented a car and driver for the day (Y450). Xizhou （喜洲） We started off in Xizhou which is sli [View Full Entry]

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Believe it or not, all I brought with me for my 35 day trip was an oversized backpack. I somehow have survived alternating between two pairs of jeans. However, in Dali I sent one pair to the cleaners and never got it back! I was pretty unhappy, but left to Lijiang and called the cleaners 3 times to follow up. I was pretty desperate for another pair of pants, so while I was in Lijiang I picked up a pair of jeans for Y230. They are OK, but not the greatest pair of jeans. Anyway, I came back to Dali and [View Full Entry]

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Back in Dali. Yunnan is supposed to be very ethnically diverse - meaning, there are a lot of ethic minorities. I had finished reading "Leaving Mother Lake" which is about the Mosuo Nationality. Technically, the Mosu are classified with the Naxi Nationality. In Lijiang, you see so many women laborers - because in Naxi culture, women work and provide. There are a lot of female cab drivers, female police, etc. Interesting. Maybe Lijiang would be a good place for Westerners to live - more gender equality? In Lijiang, I saw Naxi women carrying around loads of bricks, shoveling dirt, etc. [View Full Entry]

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One of Yunnan's most popular adventures is trekking the Tiger Leaping Gorge in Yunnan (云南). It's a two day trek through a very large, deep gorge. I've seen photos of the hike and wasn't thoroughly impressed, but it's more for the experience than the scenery. I was planning to skip the Gorge all together, but since I was already in Lijiang, I decided to just go. I told one of the girls at the hotel that I wanted to go to TLG and asked if she could recommend a driver to me. She suggested that I team up with some other [View Full Entry]

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I am starting to get a little lazy. I just feel like staying in one place for now. I originally wanted to do the Tiger Leaping Gorge two-day trek, but I think I'm going to pass. It's super touristy here, but I like relaxing in the little town. I started my morning with breakfast at Prague Cafe. They have yummy Naxi cheese with eggs, toast and coffee. The Muesli with fruit and yogurt is great too. I love breakfast. I spent the morning walking and exploring Black Dragon Pool, slightly north of the old town. The place is actually a quaint [View Full Entry]

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In Lijiang, Yunnan Province today! I left Dali today, hoping I could catch a dry day in Lijiang. It's supposed to rain in Lijiang for the rest of the week as well. The rain is miserable! I got some clothes laundered in Dali, and I went to pick them up this morning.... and you've guessed it! They lost my jeans and shirt. Considering I only have two pairs of pants and three long sleeved tshirts, I was pretty annoyed. Grrr... I'll go back to Dali at the end of the week and maybe they'll find them. Stuff like this happens, but [View Full Entry]

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