Blogs from Yunnan, China, Asia - page 22

Kunming has been an adventure from the second we left Dali... When we left Dali, we got on the wrong city bus. We wanted to get to the train station and ended up at the bus station. Since we hadn't bought tickets in advance, we were on a bit of a tight schedule so we had to get a taxi to take us across town to the train station. We were able to get train tickets no problem and were super happy to be back on a train instead of those stupid buses (we've had a few rough rides). We arrived in Kunming slightly ahead of schedule (another reason to love the train) and had figured out how to get to the hostel we were looking for. It was going to take two buses but seemed ... read more

Hi All, We wanted to go out and about around the lake today on bicycles but unfortunately the weather was against us. With getting wet climbing the mountain yesterday we didn't really fancy getting wet again so we went for a walk around the town. Dali is very small, compared with other places we've been, so it's very easy to walk from one side of the town to the other. The centre of town is very touristy but on the outskirts of the town there are still old houses and a vegetable market for the locals is still going strong in the north east part of the town. I've really enjoyed our time here and I wish it could of been longer. Dali is a great place to come if you want to relax. Enjoy the ... read more

Oct. 7 This morning we tried a Skype call (voice only) with Ron. We managed to get through and could hear him fine, but he had trouble hearing us, and it's a bit awkward with the few-seconds lag. Good to have some contact, anyway! Then we looked at the "Ladies' Market" near hotel, so named for clothing stores and beauty parlors, but these were not open yet. We concentrated on the fruit stands and convenience store, where we marveled at the giant mangoes, dragon fruit, durian (stinky fruit), and one we had never seen before called Buddha's hand (yellow basketball-sized fruit with protruding fingers? See photo.). We got together to go out at 11 and went right to lunch, to everyone's dismay. We are certainly not going hungry on this trip! After leaving much food uneaten ... read more

Oct. 6. Kunming Well, we can tell we're foreigners now if there were ever any doubt. The Golden Dragon Hotel is first class - don't get me wrong - but there must be few western travelers here, because the staff do not speak any English, and the breakfast did not make many accommodations for western tastes, except to have white bread for toasting. There was an interesting machine that looked something like an ice cream machine. I tried to ask what it was, which resulted in my receiving a glass of hot milk (?) or soy milk that was a bit sour and salty. It was indicated to me that I should add sugar. It was Ok, but I would rather have found some cold milk (the Mu type). Anyway, we had some yummy bean-paste-filled dumplings ... read more

Oct. 4-5 - Today we are exploring Lijiang ("beautiful river") near Tibet, because we were not allowed to travel to Tibet itself. This is a smaller city, about 130,000. There are several minorities here (Bai, Na'xi, Tibetan), so the culture and style of dress is a little different from what we've seen. Certainly many people dress in modern style, but some also wear traditional Na'xi clothes with a vest or cloak, coin-like head pieces, and bright colors. The women's cloak always has 7 knots tied in the back that symbolize that they are expected to work in the fields until seven stars appear in the sky. According to our male guide, the women do all the work while the men are lazy and drink tea. The neatest thing about Lijiang is the central Old Town, which ... read more