Yunnan

Evelyn, Richard, Jeff, and I had been planning a trip to China for more than a year.  Last fall, E and R went on a Sinorama tour, hitting the hot spots - Beijing, Shanghai, Yangzee cruise, etc.  This time, we decided to focus on Yunnan Province in southwest China.  We hired Dave Bruels from Interlake Tours to plan and book our trip ... more about Dave later in the blog.
Our visitors arrived in HK on Monday, October 10th, and spent three days being shlepped around the city in the pouring rain.  There's so much to see here, but it really isn't any fun when it's wet.  No complaints from Evelyn and Richard - they were excited and raring to go.  They visited the Art Museum and History Museum, and I even brought them to volunteer at the high school where I do the English conversation class with Form 5 (16 year olds) on Thursdays.  And, of course, Jeff and I took them to Hometown Dumplings, our favourite local Chinese restaurant (along with Joan and Ronnie, who are part of the official Jeff and Dale HK tour).
We left for Yunnan on Thursday the 13th, late in the afternoon.  As we were lining up to board the plane, a very obnoxious, disheveled-looking Westerner with a slight limp stood at the front of the line, harrassing the airline staff because we were 10 minutes late!  As luck would have it, he ended up sitting across the aisle from Richard, who was seated in front of Jeff.  When the plane leveled off, he began to rudely demand coffee from the stewardess.  We all heard him berate her several times when she erroneously poured the coffee into the cup before adding the milk.  Mr. Obnoxious, of course, preferred his coffee to be poured after the milk.  During the two-hour flight, he battled with the staff over every cup of coffee and every beer.  We all cringed every time we heard his booming voice.  After a while, he became a joke among us, as well as Jeff's aisle-mate, Shaun (our new best friend) and his traveling companion, Kate.  When the plane began its descent into Kunming, I remarked to our friends that Mr. Obnoxious wasn't in his seat.  We looked around the aircraft and couldn't spot him anywhere!  We never saw him get off the plane, and we didn't see him at the baggage claim.  Evelyn figured he ran out of frequent flyer points somewhere over central China!

The domestic terminal at Kunming airport is the worst I've been to in Asia.  It is chaotic, loud, and smelly.  The doors to the smoking areas are left open to allow the smoke to fill the entire departure lounge.  Unfortunately, we had a scheduled four hour wait for our next flight.  Welcome to China - our flight was delayed an extra hour!  We sat on the plastic chairs in the domestic depatures lounge trying to read or do crosswords, with the loudspeaker constantly droning out (mis)information in Chinese and English.  We managed to befriend the only other Gweilos in the airport - a couple from Israel who were on their way to visit their son in Jinghong.
One of those famous TIC (This is China) moments arrived when we boarded our flight to Jinghong.  We were all seated in row 33.  Jeff boarded ahead of the rest of us, and when we followed, we noticed that he was seated in the third row!  I said "Row 33 not 3" and he laughed and said "This is row 33".  We don't know what happened to the first 30 rows, and were too nervous to ask!
It was after midnight when we finally arrived in Jinghong, Xishuangbanna.  Ian, our guide, was waiting for us at arrivals.  He picked up our bags and led us to our van and introduced us to our driver (whose name we never learned).  We took to Ian right away - he's a 25 year old university-educated young man who spoke perfect English.  He seemed older than that in the confident way he escorted us to the hotel, and, in fact, in every thing he did with and for us over the next two days.  By the time we arrived at the hotel, he had revamped our itinerary to include interesting minority villages and cultural sights.



The Prosperity Hotel is a typical Communist-style hotel.  Large and impressive in its entrance areas, but shabby (a polite term) in its guest rooms.  There was no western breakfast at all, nor were there yummy dim sum dishes.  We made do with rice and vegetables.  The tea was weak, and coffee wasn't on the menu.  Richard and I began to exhibit the symptoms of Starbucks Withdrawal Syndrome.  (Dave-the-travel-agent had obviously never booked Western tourists here.)

Ian fetched us early the next morning, and off we went to visit the Dai people.  The Dai are Hinayana Buddhists (as opposed to China's majority Mahayana Buddhists).  Please don't ask me to explain the nuances of Buddhism - perhaps by the time we leave Asia, I will have sorted it all out.  The Dai are related to the Thai and Lao people, and they even have their own written script, which resembles Thai.

Our first stop was a local market - one of our favourite sights in Asia.  We always see something new!  This time it was bamboo worms, exotic vegetables, and baby chicks.

Almost all of the women wore traditional dress, and they didn't seem at all bothered by our cameras.  From the fruit displays, we made our way to the meat stalls.  It was awful enough seeing the dead chickens and ducks lying on the wooden tables, exposed to the elements.  But it was totally gross watching the butcher relax with his bare feet on the same table!

After we had had our fill of the market, we wandered down to the mighty (muddy) Mekong River, where we took the local ferry across and back.  This part of China borders on Laos, Thailand, and Burma.  A few weeks before we arrived, 13 Chinese sailors were massacred by a gang in this notorious drug-smuggling Golden Triangle.  It was so peaceful in the Dai village, that it was hard to imagine anything violent happening nearby.  I'm also including a photo of the new homes being built across the river.  Sometimes it feels like China is one enormous construction site!

After a delicious local lunch, we visited a Dai village, stopping first at the unadorned village temple (left).  We saw lots of saffron robes hanging outside the temple, but the monks were nowhere to be seen.

We wandered through the village across the road.  The houses are built on stilts, with rickety staircases leading to the living quarters above.  Socializing and business takes place on the ground floor.  We saw women playing mahjong, and even met a local character who raises fighting cocks!  Dai villagers are becoming rich.  Their chief industry is rubber, and business is booming.  We kept wondering how long traditional life will remain before the Dai move to fancy new condos on the river.

Before heading back to Jinghong, we spent an hour at the Tropical Plant Garden in Menglun.  This government-operated research facility covers 933 hectares.  I was rather disappointed, since it was not even remotely as beautiful as Singapore's Botanic Garden nor Montreal's Botanical Gardens.

Our last stop for the day was at a tea shop!  Yunnan is famous for its pu-erh tea, and Jeff and Evelyn could not wait to taste (and buy) some.  Richard and I kept looking for Starbucks ...

Our day had gone very smoothly, but we didn't have long to wait for our next TIC moment.  Our guide had recommended a Thai restaurant for dinner.  He arranged a taxi to bring us there, and told us that our driver would pick us up at the restaurant at a pre-arranged time to drive us to a local musical show for 8 p.m.  The taxi dropped us off and drove away.  We walked up to the gate of the restaurant, peeked through the metal slats, and were waved away by the owners who told us that they were closed!  Luckily, there was a strip of restaurants across the street, and we had a lovely al fresco dinner.

The musical extravaganza was truly wonderful.  There was dancing, music, acrobatics, and lots and lots of colour.  The show was an absolute treat, and, at the end of our week, Evelyn proclaimed it her favourite part of Xishuangbana.

Our second day in Xishuangbanna was as interesting as our first.  In the morning, we visited a Hani village.  (Yunnan Province has over 30 ethnic minorities).   The Hani are closely related to the Tibeto-Burman group.  They live in a more mountainous area, where they cultivate rice and corn.  After passing through the market, Ian (in the photo with Jeff and Richard) led us up the hill to look at the houses.  We passed a grandma looking after her two grandchildren.  She seemed very pleased to hear me make all the appropriate noises: "Oh look how cute they are"!

And then came the biggest treat of all!  At our prodding, Ian asked the woman in the photo if she had any embroidered jackets that she was willing to sell us.  She smiled broadly and invited us up the ladder and into her home.  Richard and Evelyn literally purchased the jacket right off her back AND proudly presented it to Jeff and me as a gift!  (Thank you again)  The photos show the living quarters:  a hearth with a constantly burning fire, sleeping areas separated by curtains, the living room, and the television.  Not exactly the Ritz, but the woman seemed happy - her son was in secondary school, giving the family hope for the future.

Our last stop in Xishuangbanna was Manting Park.  A huge memorial to Zhou Enlai greeted us at the entrance to the park.  As we walked around the large man-made lake in the centre of the park, we passed peacocks strutting their stuff, and also an elephant show.  The elephants did not look well cared-for (TIC).

And then we were off to Lijiang!  A one-hour flight took us way above sea level into the most charming, picturesque place in China.  In fact, James Hilton modelled his Shangri-La after Lijiang.  (Hilton never visited China, but he read Dr. Joseph Rock's descriptions of Lijiang, and it inspired him to set his novel in that town - more about Dr. Rock further on.)  Moreover, we visited Lijiang during the chrysanthemum festival - all of the streets were bedecked with thousands of flowers, adding even more beauty to an already lovely place.

A bit of history:  Before the great earthquake of 1996, Lijiang was a small Naxi city.  The Naxi are the majority ethnic group in northern Yunnan.  The region was so poor, that our guide, Rock, commented that he often ate only potatoes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  The earthquake measured 7.0 on the Richter scale.  200 people died, and thousands more were injured.  However, many of the low-rise wooden structures survived, and with the help of the provincial government and the World Bank, the traditional buildings, cobbled streets, and bridges were restored.  In 1997, Lijiang was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site, ensuring its lasting touristic value.
Our small, rustic inn (SanHe Hotel) was very well-located right in the middle of the old town.  This time Dave had chosen well (except for the fact that the hotel did not provide soap or shampoo, and Jeff and I had two small twin beds while Evelyn and Richard had twin double beds).  We spent hours wandering through the hundreds of shops selling hats, scarves, handbags, and shoes.  I was determined to buy a pair of embroidered cloth boots, but alas, they were all too small!  Dinner at a Naxi restaurant (recommended by Dave) was tasteless - we were quite sure the food was not flavoured because we are Western tourists.

Rock met us at our hotel early the next morning.  We walked through Black Dragon Pool Park where we watched the locals performing Tai Chi and also aerobic dance.  We couldn't get a very clear view of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain because of the clouds, but the park was just wonderful to stroll through.  We also spent some time at the Museum of Naxi Dongba Culture where we found out more about the local customs and religious practices.

Yu Hu Village was our next stop.  Unlike Lijiang where the houses are made of wood, structures in Yu Hu are built with small, round stones.  We visited Joseph Rock's house.  Dr. Rock lived in Yu Hu  from 1922-1949.  He became the world's leading authority on Naxi culture and local botany.  Many of his articles appeared in National Geographic.  Dr. Rock was also an eccentric character who liked his creature comforts.  For example, he always travelled with an Abercrombie and Fitch canvas bathtub, which his servants filled with hot water.  No matter where he went, he could always enjoy a good soak in the tub.  Dr. Rock left China in 1949 after the Communist takeover, and spent the rest of his life in Hawaii.  (Note the Hello Kitty blanket on the donkey in front of Dr. Rock's house)

Lunch was an adventure - stir-fried yak with vegetables.  Having learned our lesson the night before, we asked our guide to order spicy food for us.  The spices masked the greasiness of the yak meat - it was delicious!  (No - it didn't taste like chicken.)

Dave-the-travel-agent insisted that a trip to Lijiang was not complete without a visit to Dr. Ho in Baisha Village.  No matter how hard we all tried to convince him that we were not interested, he still included it in our itinerary.  Dr. Ho is a self-promoting, senile old man who claims to have cured people when Western medicine failed.  I could not take my eyes off his filthy lab coat!  He was propelled into the limelight years ago by the British travel writer, Bruce Chatwin, who described the doctor as the legendary Taoist physician in the Jade Dragon Mountains of Lijiang.  We were not impressed.

We were calmed down by a stop at an embroidery workshop down the road from Dr. Ho.  We watched the artists at work, and Jeff and I bought an embroidered tea pot created by the woman in the photo.  It took her 67 days to complete!

On the way back to Lijiang, Evelyn asked the driver to stop at a government-run jade market. The market is enormous!  Hundreds of tour buses stop there each day.  Evelyn was looking for jade bangles.  First she had to determine quality and price.  Then she started looking for bangles that might fit over an average North-American woman's hand!  The sales staff kept insisting that if she put soap on her hand, the bangles would fit.  Needless to say, she left empty-handed.

That evening, we once again made the round of the shops, and made sure that we left room for dessert - crepes filled with whipped cream and fresh mango!  I haven't eaten many sweets since we moved to Asia, but this was "something to die for"!  You'll notice how warmly we were dressed - the cold, crisp air was such a relief after the heat of Hong Kong.

Evelyn, Richard, Jeff and I had a lot of fun the next day on our own.  We watched the Naxi women (some with babies on their backs) dancing in the main square early in the morning, then lost our way through the narrow, winding, climbing streets trying to find the local market and the Mu Family Mansion.  Since Lijiang is quite small and compact, we soon found the market, where we bought our daily fruit.  Even though it was raining, we then climbed through the various tiers of the Mu Mansion and reached the top of the hill where we had a great view of the old town roofs.

A few more tidbits of information about the Naxi culture.  The women do all of the hard labour and the men sit around singing and playing musical instruments!  Many of the men while away their days raising and training hawks.

We started the last leg of our journey the following morning.  Rock and our driver, Mr. Lee, took us north of Lijiang into the countryside.  We stopped in Sigu and took photos of the first bend in the Yangtze River.  The river makes three turns before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai.  In the photo on the right, Rock is showing us the carved testament of all of the battles that the Naxi people were involved in throughout the centuries.  Rock left us in Sigu, and our third (excellent) guide, Shao Ma, joined us just before we reached the absolute highlight of our trip: Tiger Leaping Gorge.

TLG is the Grand Canyon of China.  The power of the Yangtze is awesome!  Tourists arrive at the top of the Gorge, and walk down 600 steps to view the Gorge in all its glory.  The alternative to walking are sedan chairs carried by strong young men.  When our van arrived, they approached us and asked if we ladies wanted to be carried down the steps.  I was very insulted!

Living in HK, we really miss the fall colours.  It was wonderful to see all the yellows, reds, and oranges surrounding the Gorge.  TLG is a photographer's delight!

We reached our final stop, Shangri-La, about 5 p.m.  (Shangri-La was formerly called Zhongdian, but the county's name was changed in 2001 in order to promote tourism.)  The elevation at Shangri-La is 3200 meters (that's over 10,000 feet for North American readers).  The temperature was a "balmy" 2 degrees Celsius.  We all wanted a hot shower before dinner.  However, we had to experience a few more TIC moments before setting out to dinner.  We arrived at the Shiner Hotel which Dave-the-travel-agent had booked for us.  The hotel was a block of most unattractive "Shanghai cement".  We should have realized that something was amiss when we walked through the ultra cold lobby to the elevator.  Our rooms had no heat!  Through sign language with the hotel staff, Jeff determined that the heat was only turned on from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.  To add insult to injury, Evelyn and Richard's bathroom leaked (note the puzzled looks on the hotel staff in the photo).  The hotel was a 20 minute cab ride away from the Old Town (the only part of the city worth visiting), and it overlooked an extremely noisy industrial construction site (photo on the right).  We had reached our limit of tolerance with Dave-the-travel-agent!  Somehow, I was designated the representative of our little group who should deal with (scream at) Dave's China contact, Frank, who resides in Chengdu (thank goodness Jeff had his phone with him).  Frank kept addressing me as Mr. Dale and tried to calm me (and the rest of us) down.  I stood my ground and insisted that he find a better place to stay inside the Old Town.  Frank said that the Shiner was the best 4-star hotel in Shangri-La!  As I hung up the phone, I turned to Jeff and we made a vow never to stay at anything but a 5-star hotel in China from now on.  Anyhow, 10 minutes after the phone call, Shao Ma arrived and whisked us away to a charming guest house smack in the middle of the historic Old Town.  Charm worked better than Shanghai cement and no heat, but our new abode had other challenges - blocked toilets, and heaters that were not terribly efficient.  We made do.

After our to-do regarding our accommodations, we were in dire need of a good meal.  Tara Gallery Cafe did not disappoint.  Tara's is owned by Uttara Sarkar Crees, a beautiful woman who has lived in the Himalayas and Shangri-La most of her life.  Uttara is a good friend and former colleague of Bill Hurst, a friend of ours from Hong Kong, whom we met on our September trip to Harbin.  The restaurant is housed in a restored Tibetan-style wooden house on one of the Old Town's hilly cobbled streets.  The walls of the house are lined with local art, including hand-painted mandalas.  Uttara greeted us warmly, and guided us to a cosy alcove.  We ordered the set Indian/Nepali dinner along with local beer.  I just wish I could adequately describe the sounds of our lips smacking with each delicious bite, and the feeling of well-being we all experienced.  This was truly one of the best meals we have ever had!  As we were leaving, we asked Uttara to prepare a meal for us the next evening, and we left it up to her to surprise us with the menu, although we did request the absence of yak!

The next morning we bundled up in warm layers, and set out with Shao Ma to visit Ganden Sumtseling Gompa, a 300-year-old Tibetan Buddhist monastery complex that is home to about 600 monks.  The monastery is second in importance only to the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet, the former residence of the Dalai Lama.  The temples which lie at the top of the complex are surrounded by ramshackle buildings which house the monks.



Although there are hundreds of daily visitors, the monks seem unperturbed by visitors - they go about their business ignoring the paparazzi.  Inside the temples there are enormous 30-meter-high statues of buddha.  The monks sit on the floor in the darkness chanting (unfortunately no photos allowed).  A bleak existence, seemingly in the middle of nowhere!

I am including a few more photos taken at the monastery: a woman with her baby on her back chanting at the prayer wheel, and one of the many beautifully decorated windows in the complex.

We had quite a little adventure in Ringha, our next stop.  Ringha is a Tibetan village about 20 kilometres from Shangri-La.  Shao Ma led us through the streets as well as the yak pastures so that we could experience the village closely.  At one point we came to a small stream which we had to cross using a rickety plank (Shao Ma bravely led the way).  The yaks didn't bother us, but they didn't look too happy to see us (very ugly creatures).

Before heading off to Uttara's restaurant for dinner, we stopped in the main square and watched the locals dancing.  This ritual, which we have now experienced in Harbin, Lijiang, and Shangri-La, is an unexpected pleasure in "communist" China.

We literally ran into Shaun and Kate, the HK expats we had met on our first flight to Kunming, on our way to dinner.  Hearing our rave reviews about Uttara's cooking, they joined us and were not disappointed.  We had another excellent meal and toasted our Yunnan adventure.

Before leaving the next day, Jeff and I climbed up to the Buddhist temple in the Old Town.  Many of the seniors in the city were taking their daily constitutional around the temple as well as around the golden prayer wheel, but some were just content to sit and shmooze!

Our trip back to HK was uneventful except for one last TIC moment.  We flew from Shangri-La to Kunming and then had a three-hour wait for our flight to HK.  Searching the confusing Kunming airport for somewhere to have dinner, we realized that there was only one restaurant in the entire place - good old KFC (up a long flight of stairs with our suitcases - no elevator)!  Lowering our culinary standards, we hungrily ordered greasy fried chicken, fries, and soft drinks, and did not leave a crumb on the plate.

Evelyn and Richard, thank you again for visiting us and sharing our Yunnan adventure.