How nice it is to be back home. After spending over ten days traveling, it feels great to be in our own apartment again. The trip had many high points and a couple lows, but overall it was memorable. Let's jump right in and share with you the highlights of what we experienced.It was a bum deal but Adan got sick from the get go on this vacation. Since we worked an extra week during our school's winter camp, that gave him just enough time to catch a bug from someone there. It was almost too perfect in how it all unfolded. Adan started to notice a scratch in his voice Thursday night. Then on Friday, the last day of the camp, he knew that an illness was coming. Saturday we wake up and are off to travel. Unfortunately for Adan he would end up being sick the entire winter vacation. Funny but you could never tell just from looking at the photos from the trip, but he was hurting!
As we said, Saturday came around and we flew from Shenzhen to Kunming in Yunnan province. Yunnan is a southwestern province in China that is very unique in many ways. First, its geographical location has it bordering countries like Myanmar and Laos to the south. Then to the west is Tibet, and north is Sichuan. So this means that certain areas of Yunnan are "tropical," other areas are mountainous, and then you have everything in between. Another aspect to Yunnan is the fact that a large percentage of the province is made up of "minority" Chinese. This means that they do not come from the Han people lineage. Their culture is rich with amazing music, costumes, languages, and food.
Our flight lasted two and a half hours. When we landed in Kunming our friend Bill was waiting for us. We work with Bill at school and we planned the trip together using our ideas and resources, and his Chinese contacts and speaking abilities. It was a great combination and since he is a fairly laid-back kind of guy it ended up working out alright. After exiting the airport with Bill the first thing he told us was to eat Kunming noodles. Apparently noodles are famous in Yunnan. So we found a small noodle joint right away. The experience of eating Kunming noodles was interesting. The waitress brought us a plate full of thinly sliced meats, vegetables, and small eggs. Then in a small bowl we received freshly made noodles. Lastly, we each got a large bowl of boiling broth. Minus the eggs, we put everything into the large bowl and chowed down. It was actually quite good we must admit.
From here we decided it was best to go to Dali. Dali is a small, old town with so much to offer. It is located between a large lake and a small mountain range. We really enjoyed the area's charm so we spent a lot of time there. The town is surrounded by the old Ming city walls and two towers signal the beginning and ending of the city center's main attractions. Tens if not hundreds of shops are lined up selling anything and everything. Snack shops also sell incredible goodies. Our all-time favorite was the deep fried bananas. We kept going back for more!
By far the highlight of our stay in Dali was going to San Ta , which translates into Three Pagodas. This national park has been given the highest rating by the Chinese government, and thus thousands of dollars are spent on maintaining this historical wonder. The location has over 1800 years of history and is a symbol of the how Buddhism developed in this particular area. Local legends say that the pagodas were built to appease gods and provide protection against natural disasters. Through the years the durability of the structures has not been doubted as they have survived numerous quakes, fires, and other catastrophes.In Dali we also meet a few Chinese girls that would become our travel buddies. Tracy, Flora, and Amy were three ladies on vacation from work in Hong Kong. When we went out for dinner one night we learned that they took the exact same flight from Shenzhen to Kunming, ate at the same noodle restaurant we ate at, and were staying at the same bed and breakfast in Dali. What a small world! As it turns out these gals were very personable and we spent several days on our trip hanging out with them. Their travel plans almost mirrored ours so we were able to split travel expenses, and have meals together frequently.
By far the biggest event of our trip had all six of us climbing a 15,000 foot mountain. Okay, well we didn't actually climb the whole thing but we did hike a good chunk of it. The mountain we tackled was the famous Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. This was once again one of China's highest rated parks. The location was awesome. Wide open space with amazing big blue sky. In China, for those living on the eastern sea board this is like heaven. Once our driver got us to the park entrance, we realized we were not as prepared for cold weather as we thought. Adan ended up borrowing one of Bill's extra coats and Pazi rented a long overcoat that the park rented for about three bucks. We also noticed several other people purchasing oxygen cans. Due to the altitude, many individuals experience sickness and dizziness so they try to combat this with oxygen cans. We passed on the oxygen and decided to take care of things naturally.
After paying the fees, the park loaded everyone on to a large bus that would take us to the base of the mountain. From here we would take a cable car up to over 4,000km! At the top you could feel the difference in temperature. Adan did not notice the thinner air, but Pazi and Bill did. In fact, Pazi was only able to spend about forty-five minutes outside on the mountain before she felt faint and rested inside the mountain cafe. Adan and Bill decided to tackle the mountain and reach the top before descending. On the way up Bill nearly fainted and Adan had to coach him with breathing techniques. Half way up, the two ran into Tracy, Flora, and Amy. The groups broke apart but reunited to make it up to the top of the mountain. From above the view was amazing. The snow capped peak glistened as the sun beamed brightly on it. And the clouds from above appeared to be cotton candy floating in air as it contrasted with the baby blue sky background.
The next major attraction we went to was Lijiang. This picturesque old town is a maze of cobbled alleys lined with wooden houses, workshops, cafes, restaurants, shops, and everything else you could imagine. On top of this, canals criss-cross walking streets channeling spring water from the nearby mountains. The people here have done a fabulous job of maintaining the nostalgia of an old time Chinese village. We thoroughly enjoyed relaxing here. It could not have came at a better time for Adan got a pretty nasty cough in Lijiang. After having conquered the mountain the day prior, the combination of harsh cold and dry air took its toll on Adan as he began to cough constantly. He brought some medicine but ran out very quickly. Bill encouraged him to try Chinese medicine and ultimately he did. However, the syrups were mainly sugar and had almost no positive effects. It was also about this time that we parted ways with the girls. We did not want to hold them back with Adan's illness so we traded contact information and said our goodbyes.
While in Lijiang we walked the streets several times, climbed up to see the incredible view above the cityscape at Wangu Lou, and even made it to the world famous Black Dragon Pool. At this park we spent the entire day taking in the incredible scenes. Amazing Chinese pavilions floating on lakes and five-arched bridges with mountainous backdrops made this location almost surreal. The weather for this day was almost perfect as few clouds filled the sky, the sun shined bright, and just a subtle breeze came around from time to time. It was incredible.
Before heading back to Kunming, we had one last tourist site to reach. It was the renowned Tiger Leaping Gorge. This day was brutally cold and because this location is nestled deep in a gorge, the lack of sunlight made it even colder. The original plan was to hike the area and spend a full day there. However, because Adan was ill and Pazi was not up to such a treacherous hike, we decided to take the commoner's paths to the gorge. This route was full of man-made walkways that appeared to be safe, but in reality several rock slides made it quite dangerous. We spent most of our time close to the walls and occasionally came out to take photos. Ultimately at the end of the trail a few sets of staircases open up for great shots close to rapids that pound against huge rocks near where according to legend, a tiger leapt across the river to escape a hunter.Our last day of vacation was spent back near Kunming at Shi Lin. The best part about this attraction was Bill's good friend's father worked at the park and got us in free! We had lunch with the man and he was awesome. The guy was extremely hospitable and made sure we enjoyed our short time there. We couldn't believe it when he told us he had worked at the park for thirty-five years!
Since our flight home was the same day as this visit, we were only able to spend three hours at the park. In this short time we learned a lot about this fascinating natural wonder. For example, the stone forest is Yunnan's most visited tourist attraction for its incredible limestone pillars that trace back over 270 million of years. Or that a whole entire village of the Sami people, a subgroup of the Yi minority, live at the park. We even learned that to see the whole park in its entirety it would take over one whole week due to its massive size! Supposedly in all the world, this is the largest formation of its kind.
