Blogs from Yunnan, China, Asia - page 151

When I was passing one of the narrow alleys in Lijing, an old man beckoned to me to come nearer. When I sat down next to him he started wispering to me. He showed me twelve steel balls and a balance and gave me the following riddle: One of the twelve balls is different in weight than the others. How is it possible to find out which ball is different in weight and if it is heavier or lighter than the other eleven balls by using the balance only three times? It took me a long time to find the solution, finally I found even two different ones. Maybe you want to try?... read more

Kunming is the last major city in China before the southern border to Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam. It is the capital of Yunnan province. The people here have there own way of life partly because Yunnan is surounded by quite high mountains and thus has been more separat from the rest of Chiana during its history. One thing I definitely noticed was that people are not as active and bustling as elsewhere. Together with the warm and clear weather this made me enjoy my time pretty much. When I strolled the streets I came by many tea shops, selling the famous Yunnan tea. Another task for me in Kunming was to get a visa for my next country. In the ground floor of a hotel I found the Laos and the Myanmar consulate. It is quite ... read more

Arriving in China was cool. Always going to be the highlight of our trip, it was nice to reach here at last. First stop was Kunming, which although there wasnt much to do, was a nice with a friendly atmosphere, and a good place to get our first taste of chinese life and the delicious chinese dumplings! A couple of days spent, then on to Dali. Dali is a purposely built tourist town (by the governement) and is very nice and pretty with good chinese architecture, though it feels slightly like disney china. Another couple of days here spent mostly shopping for the warm clothes needed for our himalaya expidition. Similar to Dali, was Lijiang, only bigger. Again very pretty, we shopped again and saw an ethnic minority show/dance which was a bit dodgy. Unfortunately we ... read more

We have made it to China! We crossed the border from Lao Cai in northern Vietnam to Hekou in south west China (this was by far the warmest reception we have had at any of the border crossings so far, the officials actually smiled and welcomed us to China!) and took a 12 hour overnight bus to our first stop, Kunming. We weren't quite prepared for the cold, rainy city that awaited us and we immediately had to go out and buy hats, coats gloves etc! Luckily rainy days are rare and it has mostly been fresh and a bit cold but sunny and bright. We spent a couple of days in Kunming, which is a nice chinese city and we enjoyed just strolling about and getting used to being in a new country. Then we ... read more

Feet blistered and scabbing....three days through the gorge ended in success! On a wet, gray morning we left Margo's cafe - bellies full of muesli, fruit and yogurt and a spring in our steps. Gerry recruited 3 British travelers to join us in our trek the night before. Clair, a 28 year old failed entrepreneur (in the nightclub business), and Dave and Andy, two young guys who just completed a 3 month expedition through Borneo, completed our 5 man hiking crew. Our packs weighed down with strange Chinese snacks and water, we tackled the gorge ferociously...errmmm..everyone but me. As it turned out I was the weak link; struggling behind the team trying my hardest to catch my breath as we ascended. Yes, I said ascended..up, up, up we climbed into the clouds. We watched the villages ... read more