So the trip started with just mua. My flight to Kunming left from Hong Kong, whereas Craig and Jason were flying out from Shenzhen. I was a bit nervous not being with them from the get-go because I wasn't certain how easy it would be to find each other in Kunming, but it all worked out fairly smoothly. I beat them to the Kunming Airport by like 30 minutes and in that time I was able to hook up with a travel agent to help get us to the long distance bus station. Daniel from Austria and his German friend Lucas happened to be on the same flight Craig and Jason, and they even considered coming with us to Lijiang 丽江, but Daniel was pretty sick and felt that he needed to stay in Kunming until he felt good enough to travel by long distance bus to a more remote area. So, we unfortunately ended up splitting up from the get go.
From that point on, it was just The Three Musketeers. Our first mission: get to the long distance bus station within the next 30 minutes for the last sleeper bus to Lijiang at 9:30pm. Mission impossible because when we got there and I spoke with the ticket counter they said only two beds available. So, we had to go to Dali instead. This was no problem because I was actually looking forward to seeing a bit of Dali anyways. The sleeper bus was an eventful experience for us, especially for Craig and Jason with it being there first time. We were too nervous to put our belongings in the trunk like everyone else so we all slept with our huge backpacks. Not the most comfortable thing to have shoved in with you on a tiny bed where you have to shove your feet under a tiny metal rod/shelf for any other belongings. Speaking of feet, our first hilarious experience was the Chinese dude sitting in front of Craig saying in broken English, "move your shoes. They have smell!" haha.
After 7 hours or so we finally arrived very early the next morning to Xiaguan which from there we had to take a mini-van to the main gate of Dali 大理. Immediately we started to look for a bank because I couldn't get money in Kunming because the banks didn't take MasterCard. For some reason, Dali didn't have as well! I was pretty frustrated and thankfully Craig and Jason had gotten enough money out in Shenzhen before coming to get us by. Thank you Craig for lending me 2000RMB! After that frantic search, we then went to check on getting a bus ticket to Lijiang. When we got to the ticket counter, the guy informed us that the next bus was leaving in 15 minutes, and then the next in like 5 hours. Right on the spot we had to decide whether to go straight to Lijiang or stay in Dali. For some reason, which I am kind of glad, we decided to leave Dali and go on to Lijiang.
So we started walking with this guide to the bus pickup spot and along the way he stopped and pointed at this small store with a guy making these pancake things called Baba. He said we should get some for breakfast. What a perfect snack! Cooked and filled with honey (well the one I had was salty) they are really tasty treats. Now with a sweet taste in our mouths and adrenaline pumping for the heavily anticipated Lijiang Old Town, we got on another bus for about 6 more hours.
On the bus ride I finally was able to sit calmly and listen to the family next to us speak Mandarin. It was such a relief to finally hear Mandarin instead of Cantonese. At that moment I was reassured of all the hours I've put in for my Mandarin studies. Meanwhile, Craig next to me was asking me all kinds of questions about the language and I was excited to help him progress in his own studies. Then Jason, big playa, was in front sitting next to a Chinese girl asking her all kinds of questions on how to say this or that aka flirting (just kidding Jason).
Arriving in Lijiang late that afternoon, we were pretty giddy. With backpacks strapped on and adrenaline now fully pumped, we entered the Old Ancient City after quickly passing through the New City and started walking the cobbled streets. Definitely a touristy kind of place, but regardless of that fact it was undeniably cultural and the unique architecture and souvenir selection had us sold. Naxi paper, naxi clothes, necklaces, Pu'er tea, Dongba Characters, Tibetan scarfs, and much more. Of all that I had ended up coming back with a Dongba Character for "climb every mountain", a blue and white Tibetan scarf, and Pu'er tea. Pretty good seeing as I had no where to fit whatever I decided to buy!
Our first meal that evening after getting our hotel was a tough decision because of the amazing selection. Craig had done some research and printed off food reviews of most of the restaurants. We ended up picking Naxi Restaurant across the bridge and the main stream in the northwest part of the Old Town. Wow is all I can say. Delicious goat cheese, Sulima 苏里玛 and pineapple juice to drink, garlic and butter sauce with cooked spinach, crossing bridge noodles 过桥米线, eggplant, and I forget what else but we ate it all and were completely satisfied. Maybe we spent a bit too much, but we were way to excited about trying all the new foods and so we convinced ourselves that it would be worth it to splurge a bit.
No better way to walk off a meal than to get lost in the narrow mazed streets of Lijiang Old Town 丽江古城. It was so surreal being there because just a few months ago I was so excited about the possibility of coming but wasn't sure if it would actually happen. Well, after arriving to our hotel that evening and putting our belongings down in the nice room with three beds and a bathroom I was surely aware that this was going to be an awesome vacation.
When it came time for our first night's rest in a room with a bed, I took the time to do some journaling and reflecting on all that was happening. Having Craig and Jason there made it definitely a lot more fun and we had no idea how much more great memories were about to be made the next 9 days.
Journal Entry February 13, 2010: Chinese New Year Eve
What a day! God is incredible! He completely revealed himself to us today. Last night I was wondering if there was any Christians in this area. I began to pray for a sign. So we got up @ 10:40am this morning (12 hrs of sleep!). So excited for the day ahead, we set off to Black Dragon Pool 黑龙添 up just north of Old Town. En route, we stopped to get some walnuts and fruit. The walnut cakes aka Lijiang's gaidanzai were a delicious snack with yummy bean paste inside the ball shaped cakes. The fruit was such a satisfying choice as we enjoyed the best oranges with seeds to spit in each slice; and these strange small green apple-like things that we don't know the name of. Also we had this huge purple fruit that had juice inside and came with a straw like coconut.
After breakfast on the go, we found out from locals that you could by pass the 80元 ticket booth and get in the Black Dragon Pool for free. If it's free, it's me! Entering the pool area was so cool. Such a serene landscape and seats to relax and enjoy the scenery were everywhere. We found a nice table with a great view of the pool and Chinese style building on the other side. Just gorgeous. The fish were so easy to spot in the clear water and they were swimming without fear of being caught along the edge of the pool next to us. Jason got sick after eating the fruit. He went to go find a bathroom and Craig and I began to worry when didn't come back after 15 minutes or so.
Finally, we saw him talking to a family. He introduced them to us and happily told us that he was a missionary from South Korea. Wow, I thought. I was so thankful to meet him and immediately knew that God meant for us to meet. He had a Korean wife and three adopted Chinese children. They seemed so delighted to see us and we were just as delighted. They didn't speak a lot of English, so I had to really try hard to speak Mandarin with them. God helped me a lot and we were still able to communicate okay.
Waking up with an adrenaline rush, we all went out to get a nice breakfast at Prague Cafe. Oh wow, what a wonderful place for foreigners lol. With English speakers and English muffins, what could be better? Well, muesli was on the menu and was a must for Craig and Jason. As for me, I just wanted some coffee! While eating this lady walks up the stairs and starts talking to us about how she would take us on a tour of this Bai Minority 白族 monastery and then horse back riding through Naxi 纳西 minority villages. Personally, I was pretty excited to here her offer and the price seemed reasonable. But Craig was feeling a little iffy about the whole thing and for good reason because this lady had the craziest personality. She was a straight up nut! We call her marijuana lady because she jokingly said that she smokes marijuana everyday - who knows maybe she was being serious. Anyways, we needed transportation to Tiger Leaping Gorge and we thought that it would be a good experience for us to better understand the ethnic minority groups in China so we decided to accept her offer.
What an experience! The drive wasn't too bad and along the way I was able to learn a lot from Lili about the Naxi Dongba 东巴 religion and history. She also explained to me how the Naxi people in Lijiang are being bullied by Han majority businessmen and such. She thought it was unfair how they were able to have a better chance of becoming successful and wished that the minority groups were treated more fairly. I find it interesting how the Chinese government may be showing favoritism, but at the same time I feel that Lili had a pretty ethnocentric opinion about the matter and would like to hear other opinions before gathering my own.
Soon we arrived at the Bai monastery and it was in a rather beautiful location as we had to scale up a mountain side. The view from the monastery was great and the people were so glad to see us. Here Craig was able to get some wonderful photos of people as they were all happily gathering with their families for the Chinese New Year. It was rather difficult to understand all that was going on at the monastery for it was all rather foreign to me. But Lili said that they were Taoists, although I could see Buddhas at the top inside a cave so that really confused me. They were burning incense as well and burning prayers so that made me think that Lili didn't know what she was talking about. Regardless, I was glad to see and experience the rituals taking place and to see how the families would gather was definitely special.
After this wonderful experience, we hit the road again towards a large open land of 28 Naxi villages. This land had a beautiful lake and mountain scenery surrounding all of these similar styled homes. We must have went through all 28 villages because we stopped at a dead end in this beautiful remote area. Immediately we were welcomed by some villagers and they already had horses ready for us to hop on and giddy-up! This was Jason's first time on a horse and I was excited to get on one again because it had been quite a while since I last rode one. With adrenaline pumping once again, we set off with our new friends who couldn't speak a single word of English as they lead us to an unknown destination. I was so giddy that I could care less where we were going, but my camera was out and I was taking tons of photos.
We dismounted at this random basketball court in the middle of a poor village, and then walked into a local family's home. This was an interesting experience indeed! We were greeted by about 10 family members from toddler to elder. They had a room with chairs and a fireplace and dead animals hanging from the ceiling. We sat down on the floor in a large circle and just awkwardly sat there. I tried to speak Mandarin with them but none of them understood and instead spoke this strange dialect. The guy next to me offered me a cigarette and I said yes only because I thought it would make the atmosphere less awkward. Craig thought it was funny and obviously enjoyed taking pics of me puffing it up with a village dude whom I just met.
After a few minutes of hanging out with the family, they had us come outside to see these two younger newlyweds in their nice ethnic outfits. They both were very happy and they seemed to be very excited to see us and seemed proud to represent their family in front of us. We took pictures with them and gave them a little money because they were so nice to us and obviously could use a bit of help financially. I would have given them more but Lili said what I was about to give was too much.
After saying goodbye, we rode the horses another hour or so back to the "original place to eat food and drink beer!" according to our crazy tour guide. The Naxi hotpot and Baixue Beer was actually pretty good - although I would have preferred to have a glass of water! We were so hungry though that it didn't matter what they gave us. After dinner we told Lili that we needed to hit the road for Qiaotou, which is the small town where we would begin our trek of the heavily anticipated Tiger Leaping Gorge.
We made it that evening after 2 hours of beautiful views out the window from the mini-van. Saying goodbye to our new friend Lili was tough, but we knew that she couldn't wait to go home and have some Mary Jane. Thanks to the handy Lonely Planet Southwest China book, we knew exactly where we were going to stay the night: Jane's Guest House.
Have you ever seen Pirates of the Caribbean? You know the oracle lady? Well Jane is freakishly the same. The same hair, talk, expressions, attitude, demeanor, everything it seemed. No joke! Anyways, she made us dinner upon arrival and it wasn't amazing but the room sure was. Especially for the price we paid. I couldn't believe how cheap it was and the room was totally for backpackers. The whole environment was obviously flavored for hikers and I was loving it! Craig, Jason, and I were all so ecstatic about being there and we knew that we were in for an amazing adventure. Especially after talking to a British family who had just got back from doing part of the hike until they were stopped by a landslide of boulders the size of their heads. Although it was kind of scary to hear their life threatening stories, they still obviously were in awe of the mountain views. After hearing that I had much to sleep on that night and sleep I did because those beds were soft and the blanket was even softer!
The next morning we got some hearty breakfast aka "baba" and then set off for the main event: TLG. All geared up and ready to go we followed Jane's directions to get to the beginning of the high trail 高路, only to realize that we had gone 2km past the entrance! So we ended up hiking an unnecessary 4km before even starting this ridiculously strenuous trail. And believe me this was not a walk in the park! No sirry, this was uphill for miles. After 30 minutes we had already started to drip in sweat because of our heavy bags and we started to strip down even though it wasn't even that warm outside. Yea, thank goodness that we were only 19,19, and 21 years old! Our youth came in handy because we were in for a heck-of-a hike.
There weren't really many other hikers on the first part of the trail that morning, but soon we ran into some Koreans and Chinese who had much less gear than us. They must have thought we were crazy with our huge bags as we raced pass them rather confidently and seemed to be flying up hills with much haste. I think Craig and I were a little too excited and plus our competitive drive was making us feel the need to dominate the trail in cool fashion. Unfortunately, I think we made a mistake in doing the uphill part of the 16km trek so quickly because Jason started to have trouble breathing and his lungs were hurting. We started to slow down from then on and this was for the better I think because we needed to enjoy this beautiful scenery and not zoom through it all.
I was so proud of Jason though because not once did he give up. The whole way up hill and through the toughest part known as the 28 bends he made it backpack and all - and the whole way we had this guy following us with a horse waiting for us to pay him to use it for carrying our heavy bags. We made it our goal to persevere and finish the difficult part of the trek without any assistance. That we did! When we made it to the first breakpoint we loaded up on oranges and water and said no to the cheap marijuana being sold lol. Jason started to regain some strength and we met up with some French people from Jane's and together we started to tackle the second quarter of the trek towards the Halfway point. This second quarter of the trail was 10 times as beautiful as the first quarter because at this point we were at least 1500 meters high. When we first got a visual of Snow Jade Dragon Mountain 玉龙雪山 I couldn't believe my eyes.
It was heaven. The sunlight glistening against the glacier peaks and the clouds cuddling up against the skying mountain tops. It was just unbelievable. The three of us were so amazed and they finally understood why I wanted us to hike Tiger Leaping Gorge. It's the number one trail in all of China for a reason. And the reason was right before our eyes. The French were great company as they gave us sausage and wine as we sat gazing at the wondrous, glorious Snow Jade Dragon Mountain. No one has ever gotten to the top of the mountain because of it's peculiar shape. At 4500m high, it's not Mt. Everest, but still it has yet to be conquered. The mysteriousness of this peak really makes you relate it to heaven as you wait for the clouds to move so you can actually see the top. I still am not sure if I ever saw the top...but maybe Craig or Jason did I'm not sure. After spending quite a long time in sight of the sacred mountain, we realized that we better give ourselves enough time to get to the Halfway Lodge and or Tina's Guest House before dark.
We first decided to keep hiking to Tina's Guest House because we were making such good pace in the hike. However, Jason was really getting sick and the dust and wind had started to mess up his lungs to the point where Craig and I had to carry his bag for a bit. I know Jason would have rather felt more up to par, but I'm actually glad that his sickness made us stop because the Halfway Lodge was by far my favorite place in all of Yunnan. The location and view of this place is just ridiculous. The balcony they have and the surrounding rooms for backpackers from all over the world just made the coolest environment. I was astonished when we saw the view from our room's window and though Jason was sick I know that he was still astonished by the beauty.
I helped Jason get situated and tried to figure out why his lungs were effected and Craig and I were fine - especially when he is in better shape than we will ever be. I came to the conclusion that it was because he had been breathing improperly by only using his mouth. The dust was messing up his lungs because he was breathing it in through his mouth. If he had breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth then his nostril hairs would have stopped most dust from getting into his lungs. Although I'm not a doctor, I was glad to have figured out what the problem was!
Soon he started to get back up to par and then we went out to join the rest of the hikers for dinner. What a group! We first met two guys, an Australian and a German. We had a good conversation, but didn't really connect with them as well as we would have liked. But God was definitely at work as later this young American couple sits down with us and introduces themselves. Drew from Oklahoma City and his wife I forget where she was from though. They were both teaching at a University in Xian 西安 and were passionate disciples for Christ. It was so encouraging to listen to Drew and all that he had to say about China and I was so glad to meet them. Jason especially. After meeting the Korean family in Lijiang and now this couple in TLG, he was really wanting to join in on what God is doing in China.
After dinner, though it was cold, I went up to that balcony and gazed at the stars for a bit. They were so beautiful. I hadn't seen stars in months because Hong Kong is so polluted and the city lights light up the sky and clouds. But here was so nature - so heavenly. I wish I wasn't so tired and in need of rest because I would have stood there all night on that balcony until sunrise. But I did end up eventually going back to the room and slept with those stars in sight from my window.
The next morning I got dressed and went right back out to that balcony to watch the sunrise slowly over the high peaks. Hear is where my amazing facebook profile pic was taken (way to go Craig~haha). The weather was really chilly, but I was so not going to miss out on the sunrise from this view - I would so love to go back to that spot again someday. After a great breakfast at the lodge we all set off early for the second half of the trail. My shoulders were so soar from the big blue Lafuma bag, but luckily we wouldn't have to anymore uphill hiking. But the distance was still rather lengthy.
At this point my pants were pretty disgusting and I had worn all of my shorts and shirts - only putting on fresh underwear and socks. The weather was cold again but we would heat up because of the hike. My black Columbia jacket was so useful as it broke away the heavy wind and wasn't too heavy. But the wind was absolutely ridiculous on this day. It would randomly just start blowing so hard that we had to stop and grab the nearest rock so we didn't go off the cliff to our right. Yea, kinda scary but very adventurous! We crossed a waterfall that was kind of dangerous but I made it through without much trouble and so did Craig and Jason. We started to see a bunch of goats and then also some random village folk who were just sitting enjoying the view as chill as could be. This whole stretch still had beautiful large mountains, however we could tell that we were starting to get to a lower elevation.
We finally made it to Tina's in time for a late lunch. We had arrived much earlier than the other hikers because of our quicker pace and the fact that we started earlier in the morning. I think I would have liked to take it a little slower, but the timing all worked out in the end because we ended up going down to see the Tiger Leaping Stone, get up the crazy ladder of death back up the cliff and then back to Tina's right when Drew and his wife whom I wish I could remember the name (Amber? maybe) were getting ready to take a bus to Qiaotou. We originally planned on going to Daju, but everyone was saying that it was not a good idea because it would be difficult to get a bus back to Lijiang. So we decided to save time and money by joining them and their mini-van back to Qiaotou.
This was a great idea because we were able to get to know Drew better and I was looking forward to hearing more about him after seeing the evidence of Christ in his life from the dinner conversation the night before. I think I speak for all of us when I say that this guy was sent by God to help encourage us in our own walk. He definitely helped me see how urgently I need to join in on what God is doing on this side of the world. I am excited to see God at work and this revelation that I have received is without a doubt been a blessing and I am anxious to see how God continues to equip me for my career as I seek to bring him glory to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).
The drive to Qiaotou along the trek we just hiked was not easy because the road was blocked from a landslide. So we waited a while and then had to get on a bigger bus with a bunch of Americans. This was pretty cool and the fact that basically all but 3 people on the bus were American was very awesome. We all connected and Drew with his excellent communication skills kept the conversations interesting the whole trip. Some were even singing praise and worship songs so it was definitely a surreal China experience!
Finally we made it to Lijiang and Drew and Amber invited us to eat dinner with them in the Old Town before they would head back to there friends house in Shuhe 束河. Before we went to eat Sichuancai, we had to get a room for the night and that was rather difficult because now Lijiang was much busier than when we had arrived on the 12th. We ended up staying in this crappy room that was too expensive and didn't even have three beds or hot water. It was frustrating but we dealt with the cards played and made it through the night. But I had a bad headache so I was grumpy anyways. Using my scarf as a pillow didn't help things and neither did eating the "death ball" which was the ultra spicy ingredient used in Sichuancai.
We went to the long distance bus station that morning to get a bus ticket to Kunming as soon as possible. We left around lunch and arrived in Kunming that evening only to be warmly welcomed by the worst weather I think Kunming aka Spring City has ever had. It was freezing! After just leaving heaven I think this was a huge drop in excitement, but luckily the hostile we were staying in, Cloudland International, was legit. The food here was good, the atmosphere was cool and chill, and the beds and showers were okay besides the fact that the first night they didn't have hot water.
Although Kunming itself sucks, this hostile really met our standards. They offered us internet access which was a first (Lijiang no way) and they had great maps and information for traveling to surrounding areas such as the Stone Forest 石林. We wanted to go to the Stone Forest even though it was 1.5 hrs away so we went to get a bus ticket but the bus station was a hassle to get to and when we got there we were disappointed when they said that there weren't anymore going that day so we had to buy the ticket for the next day - which was fine because we were 2 days ahead of schedule. We were tempted to go see the rice terraces in Yuanyang 元阳, but I was worried we wouldn't make it back to Kunming in time to meet up with Quqi on the 20th.
That night we had a nice dinner at the famous 汽锅鸡 restaurant which I forget the name of lol. Amazing food and we definitely made the most out of this horrible city with horrible weather. After another nice night at Cloudland with a late snack and hot shower, we woke up the next day and started the day off with a nice Swiss breakfast. Yum - and I also got some coffee so I was ready to take on the day, no matter how freakin' cold it was. We headed early so we could make it in time for our bus that left at 10:30ish or so. We made it just fine and I got a liter of tea for the bus ride: bad decision. With still 30 minutes or more to go until we arrived at Stone Forest, I was about to burst in my pants I had to go so bad. It was the most painful feeling ever - having to hold it in that long was extremely difficult and definitely the worst part of the trip for me. That made me moody for the rest of the day and so I'm sure I got on Jason and Craig's nerves with my negativity, but we ended up having a good day still because of the fact that Stone Forest was such a joke.
Probably the most touristy place for Chinese people. So many people there and hardly any foreigners. We were tired and grumpy because it was the tail end of our 10 day trip, but we managed to laugh and kid about all the funny Chinese tourists in particular "Mr. Relentless". This dad was trying to take pictures of everything and there wasn't nothing that was going to stop him, not even a gajillion other tourists pushing shoving on the top of a lookout zone. It was kind of funny to make fun of other people all day seeing as we didn't have anything better to do. But all in all I'm glad we had an experience like that because now I can know that I won't be going back to Kunming again unless to see Quqi of course.
Probably the most touristy place for Chinese people. So many people there and hardly any foreigners. We were tired and grumpy because it was the tail end of our 10 day trip, but we managed to laugh and kid about all the funny Chinese tourists in particular "Mr. Relentless". This dad was trying to take pictures of everything and there wasn't nothing that was going to stop him, not even a gajillion other tourists pushing shoving on the top of a lookout zone. It was kind of funny to make fun of other people all day seeing as we didn't have anything better to do. But all in all I'm glad we had an experience like that because now I can know that I won't be going back to Kunming again unless to see Quqi of course.
Speaking of Quqi 瞿麒, it was finally time to meet up with her! We planned on meeting her in Grand View Park near Yunnan University and I couldn't wait to finally see her again. That day was so much better than the previous days in Kunming. The weather was beautiful and that in itself made it a much more pleasant environment to be in. When we met Quqi, I was so excited and we gave each other a hug and then I introduced her to Craig and Jason and she introduced her husband. He didn't speak English, so we didn't talk much but he seemed like a nice guy I guess. Well, he bought us dinner for that night so he was indeed nice! And the food was unique because it was from the Dai minority 傣族. Kind of spicy, but it was much more tasteful to me than Sichuancai.
After dinner they invited us to stay in Yuxi 玉溪 which is their hometown near the Stone Forest. After already being sick of Kunming, we all thought it would be a good idea to go elsewhere for the night. I was excited especially because I wanted to see what Quqi's home was like and the guys were content I'm sure because they were taking care of our every need. They got us a nice hotel and a coach back to the airport the next day. The only thing that I will forever regret about Yuxi is that meal we had. My Lord it was atrocious. Rotten tofu that was unbelievably gross, pig's palate that was unbelievably strange, duck's tongue that was strangely textured, tape worm veggies that were ungodly spicy, chicken joint bones that were the most edible dish, and hot soy milk that made my already intensely spiced mouth beg for something cold. So, I had to drink beer just to make my flaming mouth feel somewhat cooled. Horrible, just horrible.
We did end our trip on a good note however. Our hotel was so nice and completely western and the shower was top of the line. I slept like a baby one last time and it was funny to look back and reflect on our trip...especially the randomness of the last 3 or 4 days in Kunming and Yuxi - extremely random lol.
All in all I consider this trip a complete success. Sure there's always something wrong on the itinerary, but I signed up for an adventure - not a tour guide. We definitely had an adventurous time in Yunnan, and I will never forget TLG - especially because good ole' Craig has it all on youtube and facebook!
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