Yunnan Part 2 - Touring

The capital of Yunnan is a very diverse (by China's standards) city called Kunming. It is known in China as the city with four Springs, as in the weather is like spring all year round. Right off the bat I noticed a lot of differences between Kunming and the other major Chinese cities I'd been to this year. The first thing I noticed is that people live at a slower pace: it is more laid back, less industrialized, calmer, with much more natural beauty. It was very easy to get into vacation mode here.

We spent a day and a bit in Kunming, and thus at our typical warp speed pace, we were able to see pretty much all it had to offer us tourists. I went for a run around Green Lake in the University area; we took a cool boat out on the lake over to a minority museum and village (essentially a zoo that almost warrants it's own blog posting); I got a massage on the street from a blind man; we had an amazing Thai food dinner; the hostel we stayed at had a roof top patio and of course I was very happy to take advantage of that!

Unfortunately, Kunming boils down to just another Chinese city. Too much pollution, too many people, ridiculous industrialization and construction, and lots of useless shopping.

 
We were determined to get out of the cities and into areas where few foreigners went during our last few weeks in the PRC. Therefore, we took a flight to Dali, a gorgeous community North-West of Kunming.
Unfortunately, every other foreigner had also heard it was a good place to get away from it all.
But we persevered.


China changes faster than I do - which is saying a lot - so although I had the most recent Lonely Planet Guide, it failed us quite often during our adventures in Yunnan. For example, in Kunming, we went looking for the Muslim quarters to no avail. After 6 hours of walking we realized the giant construction site we had been walking around was only several months ago a wonderful eclectic neighborhood full of shops and restaurants for the Muslim minority in Kunming. Similarly, we were excited to read about "Banana pancakes on every corer" in Dali. But after a few days of searching high and low, we still were unable to find anything more than a deep fried banana and some Baba bread.

To really get away from it all, we rented bikes in Dali for 1$/day and spent an afternoon cycling around Erhu, one of China's biggest lakes. Around it is mainly rice paddies and corn fields, which again reminded me a lot of other areas I have recently been in South East Asia.


Erhu lake was relatively clean. And yet, there was garbage piled up everywhere around it. It was infuriating and saddening at the same time. I don't understand how they don't understand. It is moments like these when I remember I am living in a developing country.


During our bike ride we got to see a lot of Bai people in their traditional clothing and unique homes. Over 80% of the 1.6 million members of China's Bai ethnic minority live within the villages of the Dali prefecture, the area they have occupied for 4000 years. The first thing most people notice about the Bai are the very distinctive traditional clothing their women wear, with their bright colors, beautiful, elaborate embroidery and dramatic headgear. The Bai like the color white (their religion, a mixture Buddhism and various ancient local traditions, regards the color white as sacred) and "Bai" means white in Chinese.


Dali incorporated the best of many south east Asian cities: the weather was perfect; there were many diverse people; the farming; the beautiful clean water and air; the coffee is cheap and delicious; and there are people offering you drugs everywhere you went.... "Hashishie???"... which I always think is really funny.


The next day, after relishing a walkabout in the morning's crisp, clean air, we hopped on a bus North to Lijiang.


Lijiang to an outsider looks a lot like Dali but it is just bigger and more touristy. But if you look a little closer, you notice a lot of differences, mainly due to the fact that the minority group here are Naxi people.

The Naxi minority is very cool (in my opinion) for two main reasons:
1. They are matriarchical.


 2. They have the world's last hieroglyphic language.


We hitched a ride a half hour north of Lijiang for the afternoon to check out an old Naxi village where we, of course, tried some new foods. This is Liang Feng. A green pea sort of fried tofu thing.... It was really good but a little, um, gelatinous.

After Lijiang we hiked the Tiger Leaping Gorge and then we headed further North to a city that felt so "un-Chinese" I kept forgetting I was in China. Zhongdian (AKA Shangri-la) is just out of the way enough (the hellish 6 hour bus ride helps) to deter most tourists from making it there. Finally our perseverance paid off and we were out into the boons!
Most of the minorities are Naxi and Tibetan. Everyone was so happy, calm and relaxed here. I am sure the fact that most are practicing Buddhists plays a large role in that.

In Zhongdian we tried a lot of new foods. Yak kebob (amazing), Yak yogurt (really good), fried cheese in honey and butter (so-so) and barley bread (meh). Having been given the opportunity, I didn't have the guts to try the pickled whole cow head or hooves though.

We also went to a beautiful Buddhist monastery.


Since we had traveled to an altitude of 3500m in 4 days, I felt it was necessary to see if I could run in the morning at this altitude. Heck yeah I could! And it was good to get some willies out before yet another bus ride from hell up to yet another city even further North. Our last stop. Deqin.

Deqin makes no effort to hide it's Buddhism roots as well as it's love for the Dali Lama and distaste for Mao Zedong.


Up here it really felt isolated. We were in the middle of nowhere with very little ability to communicate. But it was a price I was willing to pay a thousand times over for the clean air and nature.


After our 1,000ish km route from Kunming, plus hikes, Gina and I had different ideas of how to return home and also really needed a break from eachother. I headed on a bus back to Dali and explored that area a bit more. I bought a lot of gifts and even found those banana pancakes! I will certainly return to this wonderful country soon.