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Published: November 2nd 2008
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Dad and I were popular back in Kunming, being the centre of attention of about 20 chinese uni students. Fun, but a bit intense. I cannot believe it is already November!
When I departed from Shanghai in August, I had reasoned with myself that a good length of time to travel is about 4 months. The six months of solid travel before living in Shanghai really burned me out and 2 or 3 months is just not enough time to get into a good easy-going rythymn, therefore I told myself that I would give myself about 4/5 months to travel around southern China, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. This would leave me in Southern Vietnam, looking for work in late December or early January.
Its now been almost 3 months and I am
still in China.
I really need to think about leaving.
Rain and cold are two other very good sources of inspiration to point one's toes south. The weather in Yunnan right now, quite simply, is shit. In general, this province has been a dissapointment for me. Yunnan is a place where you need to hit the outdoors, go hiking, climb mountains, etc... Tiger Leaping Gorge is a must-see, the Tibetan monasteries on top of pristine mountains need to be explored, mythical places like Shangri-La and Deqin need to
be wiped clean of their mystery, back roads in western Sichuan need to be travelled, and the traveller must savour the little tastes of Tibet.
Its been rainy pretty much nonstop for the past 2 weeks, I hear there is snow in Shangri-la and that the views of the mountains are nonexistent, hidden by dark gray billowing clouds. GRRRR
Funnily enough, for about a week and a half I have been joined by my sister, my mother and my father. They all flew into Kunming from their respective homes in the US and my little island. Although it has been a bit stressful at times playing tour-guide, it has been fun and we have been taking advantage of the rainy days by catching up over hot cups of coffee and ginger tea. Together, we have explored (or at least attempted to) Kunming, Dali and Lijiang. Apart from the weather, what can I say about Dali and Lijiang?
Dali is an old walled city, just a few kilometers square set up on the high Yunnan plateau with large mountains and lakes serving as a backdrop. Inside the town, it is like going to Disneyland. TOURIST CENTRAL. Everything is
very clean, very cute, and very polished. A small stream runs straight through the town under the pavement, old ladies walk about in traditional minority dress, and red lanterns light the way at night. The main activity in this town is shopping. This is closely followed up by drinking coffee and eating banana pancakes in the huge selections of bars and cafes that cater to westerners. The third activity for backpackers apparently, is getting stoned, and you are constantly approached on the strret by old ladies offering you "ganja". Dali was not at all what I expected.
The food was great though! Places offer Bai and Tibetan Cuisine, Yak meat, thick breadlike Yunnan pancakes, and amazing fresh veg. THis is also the only province in china (except tibet) that has and uses cheese! My mother fell in love with a little restuarant we stopped off at outside of the southgate. There are no menus but all the beautiful vegetables are out on display and so I was put to work ordering for us. A little corn, some eggplant, what can you do with those bean sprouts?, OOOH! we got to have some of those mushrooms, no spicy chillis as
Lijiang1
VIew over all the rooftops mother doesnt like it, hmmm and we'll also have the classic egg tomato dish, lots of rice and 4 Dali beers. Job Done. The meal was simple, vegetarian, and absolutely DELICIOUS. We ate there for lunch everyday we were in Dali.
After a few days we went up to Lijiang. Lijiang is not just ridiculous, it is absurd. The Old town is
perfectly manicured in every little detail. If Dali felt like Disneyland, this place is Disneyworld. Its pretty fake obviously, loads of money has been poured into the "preservation" of the town, but the result is a more or less authenticly motivated, and undeniably CUTE. THey have done an extremely good job here, and we were all slowly won over be the plastic surrealism of our surroundings. The hilly town is a maze of stoned paved alleyways, traditional wooden houses, red lanterns, waterwheels, and weeping willows. The backdrop for this town is even more stunning, every now and then the clouds separate to hint at the majesty of the mountains behind them. The place in rammed full with chinese tourists. We are certain that at high-season you would not even be able to walk down the street because
of the crowds.
However, the rain kept coming down, dashing our hopes of trekking tiger-leaping gorge, and my hopes of continuing farther north to the tibetan border towns. THe parents did not want to go colder. GRRR.
In general, I don't plan to use this blog to promote or talk about hostels or hotels, but I got to mention Mama Naxi's. It was a highlight of the trip up to Lijiang. Mama and Baba will take good care of you. Mama is a fantastic energetic woman, and she also dishes out a community meal to all the hungry backpackers each night. The food is all you can eat, simply divine, and costs you nothing at 10 kuai per person (about USD 1.40) Stay there.
Now, I am back in Kunming, the sister flew out a few days ago and my parents fly out tommorrow, so once again I will be left to my own devices, all on my lonesome. I still intend to head back to Chengdu for a few days, for some reason I just have a feeling that I have to go back there again before leaving. I tend to follow my feelings when I
Lijiang 3
Typical alleyway in Lijiang can. After that I will be heading to Jinhong and mengla and finally... Laos
I got to get out of here!
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