Kunming, Dali and Lijiang
Trip Start
Sep 18, 2004
1
19
69
Trip End
Jun 05, 2005
Lijiang, China
Saturday, October 30, 2004
Progress Update
Since the last entry, we've been to Kunming, Dali and arrived Lijiang today. We are leaving Lijiang for Qiaotou tomorrow morning to start our hike in Tiger Leaping Gorge. We'll be in the Gorge for about three days, and head to Zhongdian after that.
We are looking forward to the hike in the Gorge, a lot of travellers that we've met have raved about how beautiful it is, and how few travellers you met along the hike.
Also, we've decided not to go to Nepal after Tibet, since the US government has issued travel warnings in the last few days against any non-essential trips to Nepal.
1. A small pool in Cangshan Mountains, Dali
What happened to the Muslim Quarter?
In Kunming, there's a Muslim Quarter that's supposed to be old and interesting with Islamic architecture. First day we arrived Kunming, we decided to go check it out. We eventually found some rubble and few old buildings still standing, perhaps not for long. The old Muslim Quarter is being razed down to the ground. We don't know what will replace the neighborhood, we were rather disappointed.
Spicy tofu and potatos
In Kunming, the street vendors sell fried potatos and tofu on skewers for 1 RMB. They then put this spicy seasoning on it. It smells fabulous and it tastes fabulous. Unfortunatley, it's not really good for my sore throat.
Soldiers on vacation
On the train ride from Kunming to Dali, we shared a room with two Chinese men who are in the military. One man has been in the military for 14 years, while the other one has been there for 3 years. In fact, the car we are in were full of these military guys who are on vacation. They all joined a package tour from Kunming to Dali and Lijiang.
Our roommates were very curious about us and asked us tons of questions. They were very eager to know our impression of China. We were also curious about what their daily life is like, but they said they can't tell us what they do exactly. All these guys are skilled technitians in the army, they are not foot soldiers. They are based in Xinjiang province, which is consider the boondocks of China
2. Jesse sporting his new haircut on Cangshan
. Since they are stationed in a remote area, they get 40 days of vacation a year! Dali
Dali is a touristy backpacker town, I think Chinese tourists come to Dali so they can check out all the foreigners there. The scenary around Dali is really nice, lush mountains, fertile farms, and Erhai Lake is near by. We stayed in Dali Old City, I don't really know how old the city really is, since I'm convinced that they've rebuild a lot of the houses to fit the old look. In fact, they were tearing down a building by our hostels because it's an "eye sore" and doesn't fit the Dali image.
Bus ride in Dali
We took a bus from Dali to a town called Xizhou, the bus ride was very interesting. Since it was a local bus, farmers and merchants would get on the bus with their baskets and produce. Some of these people were wearing their traditional Bai outfits. It was a very fun experience, on top of that the scenary along the way (again, farms, mountains, people working on the farms) was very nice, albeit intermingled with smells of manure. There doesn't seem to be fixed stops, when you want to get off the bus, you just yell at the driver so you can get off
3. Xizhou Village, outside of Dali
. You are from Seattle too?
In Dali, our hotel provided free internet. While I was sitting there trying to log into gmail, I saw the woman next to me looking at University of Washington's website! I could't contain my excitement and asked her if she's from Seattle. As it turned out she and her husband are indeed from the Seattle U-district neighborhood. While her husband was getting off the computer, another woman came up to use the computer and it turned out she is from Seattle and lives around Green Lake! We are all practically neighbors. The three of them are the first Americans we have met in China and all of them are from Seattle!
Lijiang
We arrived Lijiang today via a bus from Dali. Lijiang is another "old" Naxi town. The town itself is pretty but very made up. The town itself is a UNESCO site, but a lot of buildings seem really new. The best thing about Lijiang is the "Jade Dragon Snow Mountain" looming over the town. It's really quite fabulous to be able to see the snow capped mountain everywhere you walk.
E-mail Problems
We have been having difficulties login to gmail in the last few days. Just want to let you all know that we are well, but unable to check our e-mails.
