The world is full of dreams waiting to happen

Tuesday 12th December 2006

A relaxed morning as we were not meeting up until lunch time, so the guys we had met up with yesterday joined us for a long breakfast, sipping tea (and coffee) and eating ample supplies of toast. Emily and Andrew opted for a cormorant fishing boat trip to pass a couple of hours but my insides though on the mend were not up to sitting on a boat. The first time I have ever refused to go on water. The motorway journey back to Kunming was not very picturesque after what we had just experienced, but we were in for a treat when we got to Kunming – a free rollercoaster of a ride around the streets of Kunming. Myself and Andrew were sat right at the front which exasabated the sensation even further. Traffic weaving in and out of unmarked lanes, horns blaring out continously pedestrians and cyclists mixed precarously with the angry traffic, its a wander that we came out alive. I felt refreshed to get back to the hotel, put on some clean clothes, relax and soak in the amazing experience of the last 9 days. Such a fantastic relaxed trip, although organised we were very much left to decide what we wanted to do and when. Bora – the leader was very much part of the group, and it was his first trip to the gorge too so a new experience for us all. What an amazing way to discover rural China.

A Small World

Monday 11th December 2006

Dali is in the valley surrounded by mountains and Erhai Lake home of minorities Bai. Today was left free for us to “get lost” around Dali and discover Erhai Lake and the minorities. A free buffet breakfast to start the day was most satisfying. I don’t think I have ever looked forward to a slice of toast as much as I did today, the breakfast was a mix of Chinese and Western. The fruit wasn’t bad either especially with the free yoghurt and ample supplies of good tea made breakfast complete. As much as I like dumplings sometimes simplicity is best – toast, fruit and yoghurt to make a girl happy washed down with tea tea and more tea. All three of us had opted for a Monday Market trip out to a small village called Shaping. Villagers in Bai dresses filling the pathways with their knick knacks, exchanging products, selling traditional clothes, or simply haggling with the westerners. Although Westerners were very much the minority, the locals were obviously used to a few passing by. “You buy” the common phrase rang in our ears throughout, at one point we even got someone chasing us up and down the market “You buy” “how much” “very nice” until the price had been reduced from 150 Yuan to 18 Yuan. All in the nane of madness. One of the few westerners that we met at the market were a couple that I had crossed paths with first in Chengdu some 2 or 3 weeks ago, and later in a hostel in Kunming. They too had just done the gorge walk. Small world when you are travelling around. They too were missing their laptop and tea. In the evening we then bumped into the Spanish girl who we had spent an evening with in the gorge, its an even smaller world now.

Driving to Dali

Sunday 10th December 2006

Onwards and downwards we departed from walnut garden, on a goat track around the mountain but this time by a small bus rather than donkey or goat. What a hair rasing experience as the driver swearved around the corners honking every few minutes, reminicient of the Almafi Coastal drive in Italy but feeling twice dangerous. All in the name of adventure. We did make it alive out of the gorge for our next leg which was 5 hours on a 3/4 size local bus. Around the lush green mountainous landscape and through local villages, to Dali our next stop for a few nights. The bus stopped for a greece fill – I do not mean oil but it may as well have been by the look of the food there, my insides told me to stay well away from this sort of food, now that I felt like I had been cut in half. We had time to explore Dali on our own in the late afternoon after my priority of going to the Chemist to get some plasters for my inside. Thanks to Bora, his dictionary and sign language he managed to communicate to the non english speaking shop assistants that I needed something for heartburn. They gave me some interesting looking powder drink which tasted even more interesting than it looked, as long as it was to mend my insides I didn’t care as I was now sacrifcing tea for the pain. The hostel – “Guesthouse No 5″ was really quaint, a maze of courtyards on different levels, a computer room and a roof terrance. We had our own private room again which even had tv and tea. Dinner (tea but not the cup variety more the food variety) was dumplings at at traditional chineese eatery. Today we all tried the the steamed and the boiled, with own made up sauce that can consist of chilli, spring onions and soya sauce, have it as strong as you like. Or not.

Walnut Garden – but where are the walnuts?

Saturday 9th December 2006 

A day to discover the Walnut Garden but I found no walnuts I was so disapointed. Instead I decided to go with the boys 800m up the mountain. We opted not to take a guide but to make our own way, through villages, across rice fields and scrambling up rocks whilst Emily took a more relaxing option of looking for Walnuts in the Gardens. We were eventually pointed to the proper path after it may have looked like we had destroyed one whole villages’ crops for the year tramping across their rice paddies. Some strenous two hours later we made it to the summit of 2775m with breathtaking views of the gorge, well worth the climb despite the mid day heat. Exhausted some 5 hours later we made it safe and sound back to the guesthouse, the forth “intrepid” group to make it to the top and the first group without a guide. We are a clever bunch! My throat was now feeling like triple thickness sandpaper so this evening I opted for steam vegetables to keep off all that oily chinese food.

We’ll be coming round the mountain …

Friday 8th December 2006

A very cold morning but fresh mountain air was a godsend after the busy cities. The girls at the hostel were very accomodating serving me green tea as I was the first one up to admire the freshness of rural China. A much easier 11k walk was ahead of us today today, mostly flat around the cliff edge through waterfalls and over rocks, we’ll be coming round the mountain when we come….sing a long now. Lunch was at Tina’s Guesthouse, a spicy concoction of dishes, tasty but still very spicy for my poor insides which were being grated down to nothing. I am finally getting used to chopstick life and if things don’t go to plan then just stab it with the chopstick. Our arrival at Sean’s guesthouse in the late afternoon we were blessed with tea for myself (a Tibetan tea) and beer for the other guys, guess the English amongst our group. The evening drew in as we chatted through dusk. One of the girls at the last hostel had decided to stay with us for the evening, so once there were four now there were five. As it got darker we realised the whole village was in pitch darkness – we had no power. Powercuts are not infrequent in rural China. The torch and candles made an appearance and food was served via gas stoves.

Donkeys, Tigers and Naxi Pancakes

Thursday 7th December 2006

Another early morning rise to catch a mini bus a few hours to a settlement called Qiaotou the begining of Tiger Leaping Gorge walk – the deepest gorge in the world. Before catching our bus we had time for an authentic chinese breakfast which Bora ordered for us, steamed buns with soya sauce. The steamed buns were great but the soya sauce first thing in a morning does not do it for me especially when my insides felt like coarse sandpaper. What I did love though was the authenticity of it, this was daily life in china with four foreigners sat at a little street table eating real chinese breakfasts. What a great feeling that I couldn’t even begin to explain on here. We met our “guide” Sean once we got off the bus. Sean is a remarkable guy, not only did he make the path through the gorge himself, but he taught himself english through offering free accomodation to those who trecked through the gorge, all this ontop of having a disability with his arm. We set off for our first of two 11k hikes. Local’s were perched at farmhouse gates with donkeys, at first I thought this was show for the benefit of the tourists but then they began to follow us. Flash backs of the great wall came to mind, were they going to try and sell us a t shirt? Surely not in this unspoilt environment, perhaps they were just on their way home or something…. Our first two hours we passed through a few qaint villages – Landou village and Nuo Yu village with a luch stop at the Naxi GuestHouse where we were greated with free green tea and water. However the donkey men were still following us. We soon found out why after lunch. The walk got tougher as the afternoon sun came beating down, what started off with three layers and waterproof ended up with 1 t shirt and zip off trousers into shorts. All in the name of “28 bends” up to the highest point on the treck. Emily was struggling a little, so this is where the donkey men came into play. Throughout the walk they kept asking her “you want donkey” – eventually she gave in and “had donkey” through much negotiation whilst the rest of us struggled on with our sweaty backpacks. It was well worth the struggle up the mountain, but to greet us at top were 2 Little ladies who had set up stall of walnuts, chocolate and water – prices probably represented that of a pretentious bar in the middle of London. To add to this exploitation of treckers one of the ladies was charging to take a picture of the view, so onwards we walked to take picture of the view further along. I wasnt aware that the ladies owned the view. The rest of the walk was downhill to our home for the evening “tea horse guesthouse” a quaint guesthouse with a courtyard. Showers were outside but clean, and although the toilets were not even squat but more gutter style they too were clean. The view was impecable mountains rose tall all around us, as we met others on the treck and settled down to playing cards for the rest of the evening – a full international group of spanish, isreali, russian, english and australian. Some of the guys tried “rice wine” – no thanks not for me, I stick to the tea. Free banana pancakes went down very well.

Naxi’s, Dogs and Movie Sets

Wednesday 6th December 2006

A free day to explore the town on our own today. Andrew opted for a bike ride to a Tibetan village whilst myself and Emily decided to find a market which was marked on the map. After asking many locals of which there are three steps to: 1. Say Ni hao to them (hello in Mandarin) and look as if you can speak Mandarin. 2. Point to the map (this is where point 1 falls down as you know no more Mandarin) 3. When the local has gabbled on in Mandarin to you, you nod politely and say xìe xìe (thank you in Mandarin) and go on your way to get lost even further. This is what happened to us and some 2 hours later we accidently stumbled upon the market, where we finally had breakfast which cost us all of 1.5 pence each. I must admit though I can’t say it did my insides any good as I was feeling the affects of it a few hours later. But we did get a greesy fried long thing that looked like cod in batter but wasn’t cod, some interesting soupy bun things and a big dumpling for this 1.5p so no complaining please. Street venders filled the space peeling all sorts of wierd and wonderful fruits vegetables and animals, one sight i never want to see again was that of the skinning of a dog, I felt i was going to keep this vegetarianism up for a while longer. Our venture was to find the number 6 bus to go to the Tibetan village where Andrew had gone on his bike, but we were unable to find the bus stop despite asking at 2 hotels, by repeating the steps above. Instead we accidently found the “blind man’s massage” which we had heard was good, so spent an hour being prodded and pressed by blind men all for the price of £2. This would have cost up to or more than about £30 in the UK. To complement the cheapness of the massage we dug deep into our pockets and treated ourselves to an ice cream which cost all of 12p. I do like China. The novelty of the old town was begining to loose its charm a little after feeling so relaxed, shop after shop packed with souvenier shops to fix those hungry tourists so we headed back to find a cafe that served tea and had internet, the latter was so slow that I gave up half way through. I was not used to that sort of electronic service after free wireless broadband elsewhere in China. We were left to fend for ourselves in the evening, as Bora had told us, so we ventured up to a Naxi street to find food. En route a Naxi Orchestra using antique instruments weas re performing in the square for free. Using weathered transverse flutes, copper going-frames and 3 string banjos, it was an interesting performance of magical sounds which made the feeling of being there even more unreal. Eventually we headed to find food, there was little choice apart from Kebab food so we became adventurous and opted for this. I decided that I would try a local dish – Baba – thick breads served with a sweet sauce a bit like golden syrup rather than noodle soup and Kebabs which the others had. My insides were begining to feel a little like a chain saw had grated through them, as I was having some difficulty eating and drinking.

A long way to Lijiang

Tuesday 5th December 2006

6.30am wake up call in order to get our breakfast which was included, a nice buffet of both western and chinese food, a good selection but not too over the top with plently of tea and proper milk. We all stocked up on breakfast ready for our intrepid 8 hour journey to Lijiang a minority settlement in the mountains of the Yunnan province of South West China. The coach was also a plesent surprise, 2 seats and 1 seat rather than the usual 2 doubles meant more space to spread out and enjoy the journey. However the toilets at the first stop off did not live up to this standard. Not only did we have to pay (about 1p) but they were all asian (not surprising really though and this was fine as I am getting used to Asian toilets) but also no doors so you can see everyone doing their business, and they hadn’t been cleaned. By not being cleaned I don’t mean just dirty, I mean everyone’s excrement piled up in the Asian squat. A very interesting experience for 1p. The toilets were soon a distant memory as we expressed stunning scenary of postcard nature. Mountain forest rose tall, chinese villages supporting dried chillis and sweetcorn after sweetcorn dangling from the rooftops. Farmers bent over in the fields, sweating with their big hats and cyclists whizzing by going about their daily lifes. What a wonderful sight of rural China. Lunch stop at a chinese service station consisted of a concucion of sloppy stuff and rice in little compartments on a metal tray, a bit like school dinners apparently. Luckily I always either went home for lunch as a child or took my own but I was unable to go home and I hadn’t brought enough food to sustain me for the rest of the journey so I had little choice. It is wise in China to go vegetarian (this includes fish and poultry) so that’s what I did. We arrived in Lijiang some 9 hours later, a tiring journey but well worth it. Lijiang has an old town and a new town, the old town is a world heritage site, which looked at first sight like a movie set. Vehicles are prohibited in the old town so we had to walk 10 minutes or so to the hostel up and down and round and round a maze of cobbled streets, supported by rickety old wooden buildings. All we could say was “wow” and “is this real” over and over again, almost like a stuck record. The hostel the “sunshine inn” was “so cute” to quote Emily, we had private rooms with ensuite bathrooms (western toilet) all set around a quaint courtyard. The owners spoke no english however Bora was able to communicate any needs we had. The room even had a TV and….a kettle with english breakfast tea. That was me sorted. In the evening we went for a traditional meal trying out the local dishes whilst studying our maps of the town then explored the town by foot. Down a mad street (wonder if they call this the main drag) were the naxi equilivent of bar after bar with locals dancing and shouting and singing outside each “bar” – an amazing atmosphere in this world heritage site. Our leader found a nice cafe where I took it upon myself to have a lovely strawberry yohurt drink with fresh strawberries to finish off the day – delicous.

Intrepidly Intrepid

Monday 4th December 2006

Today I left the hostel to join my tour with Intrepid for a 10 day organised adventure walking through largest gorge in the world and exploring the local towns on the way. I had to navigate across the city to the “Camilla Hotel”. I was plesently surprised when I found out it was the hotel and not the hostel we were stopping in, a nice hotel with plesent rooms, kettle in the room and tea, English breakfast tea, that made me happy. I met my “roommate” Emily from Brisbane, Australia in the early afternoon then met the rest of the group later – Bora our leader from Isreal and Andrew from Brisbane, Australia too (but unconnected to Emily despite them both going to the same University) It was nice being such a small group, as there can be a maximum of 15 people on some of these organised trips. Bora seemed really relaxed which was a relief, and told us that we make decisions as a team rather than him making decisions for us – I was liking the sound of this trip already. The evening was fun getting to know each other “over the bridge” of noodles – translated this is a bowl of hot water. But there’s more to it than that, the ingredients come seperately and are cooked in the hot water. It’s all about the noodles, long and thick and quite yummy, and of course being a tight fisted northerner a bargain at 70p.