Blogs from Yunnan, China, Asia

Kunming, China (May 21, 2019) We spent the afternoon Tuesday in Kunming, first going to see Lake Dian - one the 8th largest lake in China which is on the southern edge of the city. While it has picturesque views and a nicely developed waterfront park, sadly pollution is a problem. Historically, Kunming had no water shortage, since the city was right next to one of Asia's biggest freshwater lakes. But 90 percent of Kunming's wastewater was pumped untreated into the lake until 1990. In addition, much of the marsh system around the lake was destroyed in a misguided effort to raise rice production by filling the marshes in with trucked-in soil, and agricultural runoff is still a problem, and over half the fish population has been killed off. The lake water is now undrinkable despite ... read more

Kunming, Yunnan, China (May 20, 2019) Dynamic Yunnan is a fusion of traditional folk songs and dances set to modern choreography drawn from the rich legends of Yunnan’s ethnic minority populations. There is no central theme other than the cultural celebration, enriched by the colorful traditional costumes. It is a high energy routine that integrates all ages of dancers, themes of nature (sun, moon, rain), young love, a drum dance. It is broken down into a Prologue (Dawn of Life), 4 Acts (Sun, Earth, Homeland, Pilgrimage) and the spectacular solo Spirit of the Peacock Epilogue. The peacock is a Dai worship totem and a symbol of love…called the Sun Bird. Yang Liping emulates the subtleties of the bird’s movements in her dance moves in a vivid and graceful style that is mesmerizing. Spectacular performance!... read more

Would be there every year, beautiful lake+amazing people, fall is the best season, pick up a hostel with local coffee and music, you then have all the time in this world.... read more

September 27th:October 5th - Liming - Dia 98:106 Many days out climbing. Many new climbing friends. Amazing times and memories shared. I went on climbing for 9 days straight. Usually you take breaks after a couple of days but I just felt I needed to take full advantage of all my days in Liming. I started to really enjoy my daily routine. It went something like this. After an extremely good sleep I woke up at around 8am to head over to my usual breakfast restaurant. A nice simple breakfast costing only around 40 cents 😌. I usually got 3 steamed buns filled with pork which I ate alongside a bowl of a really good red pepper oily sauce. Accompanying it I served myself green tea and kept on drinking while reading my kindle book. I ... read more

September 23 - Yubeng Village-Día 94 Walking up at 6:30am to see the sunrise. At sunrise it was the best opportunity to see the great Meli Snow Mountain Range. After, the clouds tend to come in and cover the peaks. My lucky morning since the clouds seemed to have let us see the majestic Mt Kawagarbo. The tallest and holiest mountain in the region of Yunnan. Unclimbed till the present day. The BEST moment was when the sun hit the top of Mt Kawagarbo  and spread itself over all the top section of the range. It was a magestic moment. Understanding why the Tibetans consider them as the holiest mountains. Soon enough the clouds came in and covered the mountain range from our view. As if the curtain in the theater had been closed. After such ... read more