Lijiang Pictures: Week 5

Lijiang: Unexpected Adventures

Well I apologize to my readers that I have not posted yet. I returned from Lijiang early Friday morning and then I had to move into my homestay.

With that being said now follows an account of my adventure and some advice for travelers to China.

The least I can say is that my trip to the mountains did not go as planned. This is both good and bad. I learned a lot on this trip; both about Chinese and about myself. I expect this to be a decently long post so I will start be giving some highlights of what I did:

Friday night, the 18th, myself and two of my friends left on a night train to Lijiang. This was my first experience on a sleeper anything and I highly suggest based on horror stories that travelers go by train if they can avoid a bus. The trains may have squat toilets which are inconvenient when moving but at least they have some form of toilet unlike buses.

I did enjoy the train ride even if I did not get to enjoy the scenery. However, we arrived in Lijiang at 6am.... 3 hours before we thought we would get there, and well before anything opens in China.

It then took us 4 hours to find me a hotel that was open and afterwards Maddi and Ben left for Tiger Leaping Gorge. (Side note: I HIGHLY suggest anyone goes to visit Tiger Leaping Gorge, I did not have time to do everything but the photos they took were GORGEOUS!)

Anyway...The rest of the day was spent relaxing and reading in Lijiang.

Sunday, (we arrived Saturday morning) I decided to visit Black Dragon Pool, one of the most photographed places in Yunnan. It has a beautiful view of the mountain and a very relaxing park. Unfortunately, I lack a decent ability to read maps and ended up inadvertently hiking up a small mountain about 2 or 3 miles east of where I wanted to go. I still eventually found the park and relaxed for a while (though rain blocked my view of the mountain). After this mini adventure I explored old town and found a HUGE outdoor market like a farmers market. This place had some of the biggest vegetables I have ever seen. I did though make the mistake of venturing to the meat market section which showed a much uglier (visually) side of the area. I understand the reality that comes with eating meat and I enjoy eating it, but that was the first time I saw live animals being sold. And my readers can infer what kind of animals that included....

But the truth is, though I found this disturbing to see, its a reality. And there a lot of realities in the world that aren't happy and fun to witness but are still a part of life.

and I will still eat and enjoy my hamburgers, even if some people may judge me :)

Anyway, Monday was my trip to Yulong Xueshan (Jade Dragon Snow Mountain) and it was an interesting one. I came fully expecting to hike to at least a part of the mountain. But ended up having to take a bus to the lift and a lift to the top and at the top I planned to hike to the peak, but there was a blizzard. So that was fun. But I did get a picture of myself at the top of the mountain and 15,000ft or 4500m, at least as high as I could go. I then took the bus back down and tried to figure out how to get to Yak meadow (note: no one that works in the park speaks English). I finally found a tourist group and asked them if they new how to get there (trying in my broken Chinese) and they had me follow them. There was a wonderful woman with them that used to live in America and spoke English. I found out that the group were all Taiwanese hiking enthusiasts all over the age of 60. I went with them to Yak meadow (Maoniu Ping) and when we all go there...there were no Yak. Turns out they are only there in the summer months... something not mentioned in there travel arrangements or my guidebook. So we all stood freezing on top of the mountain where many saw snow for the first time, and then they took a group video which they pulled me into. It was a lot of fun to hang out with such an interesting group of people.

Tuesday I planned to go to Shigu Zhen (Stone Drum Town) and see the First Bend in the Yangtze River but got lost and could not find the bus. So, I went on Wednesday. It is a 2 hour ride into Shigu. When I got there though it was worth it, absolutely beautiful scenery, however the boat rides were either out of season or closed due to bad weather. I walked around the river and the town and I visited the museum for the Red Army from the 1930s and the memorial for the liberation of China. It was mostly just a nice relaxing time. An Australian couple I met that used to do NGO work told me that if it was not for that mountain making the first river bend, then the river would run to the ocean and China would be a desert. I can now say that I have been to, and have a rock from, the 3 longest river in the world and fully plan on seeing both the Nile and the Amazon to complete that top 3. :)

The rest of the trip I relaxed and walked and explored until going back on Thursday night.

So now that you know what I did I would like to give a few tips to travelers going to the area based on what I learned while being on my own:

1) Blue vans are your friends if you find out where the right stations are, they are much cheaper than taxis and go to all places in the Lijiang area, just be sure to ask the person at the hotel where you should meet them, because some will try to offer you rides place for way more. I spent fifteen dollars taking a taxi to the snow mountain but only 3 dollars back in a van.

2) Go to Tiger Leaping Gorge, but plan on walking 7 hours a day and don't trust maps or signs that say how long or how far something is... its probably wrong.

3) Know a decent amount of Chinese or find someone who does

4) Don't listen to the internet, there are no city buses that take you to Shigu, the mountain, or the gorge if its not in season.

5) Go visit in the late summer, the rainy season is June to August, so late May or in the fall/September is best, or you won't see a lot or be able to do a lot... I missed riding a Yak on the River :(

I think thats all the advice I have, I had a great time and I learned a lot about the people and myself.

Oh and I ate Yak meat, very very tasty. I also accidentally ate Chicken feet noodles.... not so tasty..

That is my other advice, try Yak :)

okay well pictures are next, bye for now

April

Week 4 Pictures



Husky being sold at Bird and Flower Market



Old Town Market

 

Bird and Flower Market petshop


 

Many people smoke tobacco from pipes



Front gate of Yunnan Nationalities University



Rest of the Dormitory complex





Dorrn that I live in



 

Chinese McDonalds



 

Chinese Dairy Queen





Old Town Kunming building





Sunset on Downtown street



Outlook for Lijiang

Well I was very excited to hear that on last Sunday's Amazing Race episode the group went to Kunming and Lijiang!

I haven't seen it yet but I thought it was exciting!

 

Ok speaking of Lijiang here is what I plan on doing, and when I get back I will have beautiful pictures and a detailed account of my first adventures on my own!

 

So I leave Friday at 22:00 and take a sleeper train to Lijiang, then I will spend Saturday and Sunday exploring Old Town.

Monday is the trip to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain where I plan to rent a donkey and ride up the mountain.

Tuesday I plan to visit Yak Meadow (yes it is a meadow of yak :) I know my family will be excited, I am!)

Wednesday I will go to Shigu town, a small rural village at the First Bend in the Yagntze River.

I will stay there for the night and go back to Lijiang Thursday and that night take the train to Kunming.

 

I am VERY excited, and I hope this blog is going well because I haven't read one, so I dont know what I am supposed to do.

 

Not much has happened this week. Today we went to Walmart....that did not go well...

Its a Thursday afternoon and it was so CROWDED and expensive and looked nothing like Walmart.

 

A few days ago I went exploring in old town Kunming... where I found a Dairy Queen, McDonalds and Papa Johns... the Old town is falling into disrepair but has become a great place to find vendors and shops.

It reminded me a lot of Canton :)

 

I have taken to talking to people on buses and in shops and I feel that my understanding of Chinese is improving, though speaking is still a little troublesome because my vocabulary is limited.

Until next week!

April 

Week 3

Well not much has gone on this week except more classes and we took a field trip to a Traditional Chinese Medicine hospital which was pretty interesting. I am very excited to go to Lijiang next Friday. While I am there I am going to see the first bend in the Yangtze river, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, and hopefully some endangered species that live there. We learned about the Yunnan Golden Snub Nosed Monkey that lives around that mountain and I hope to see some.

I am excited to get some time to explore and observe on my own, and I am VERY excited to take a train :)

Peking Opera Female

We got to watch Peking Opera in a tea house and have it demonstrated to us as well which was a lot of fun because we got to try on the costumes.

I was excited the first week I was here, and the next two I was wondering if I made the right decision to come. But I can say that moving into the forth week I have come to the realization that even if I don't find what I expect, I am still thankful that I am getting this experience.

Now....Enjoy some pictures from week 3! 



Traditional Chinese Medicine: Insects, Herbs, and Minerals



Stock in Pharmacy



Pig at Miao Village



Miao (Mang) Village



Mang Farmer



Peking Opera



Week 2 Pictures

Classes

Well we just finished our first week of classes and this is the general outlook of my daily schedule:

 

8:00am-9:45am.......Grammar class

9:50am-10:25am......Taiji

10:30am- 12:00pm...Speaking class

Lunch

2:30pm-______........Lecture 

 

Afternoon classes very based on the subject.

From last Monday to the 9th of March we have been studying History and Religions.

From March 10th to the 18th we have our Social Issues Seminar.

From the 19th to the 25th we are doing a "Yunnan Exploration Project" where we go off on our own and research and explore the province.

The 26th begins our city homestay and until April 11th we will be studying Minority Issues.

The 12th of April to the 26th we will be going to Dali, Lijiang and Shang-ri-la. During that time we will be spending 4 nights living with a rural family in Shaxi.

When we return on the 26th I will begin intensive language study until the end of the semester on the 28th of May.

 

This week we went to the Western Hills, a Buddhist mountain, on Wednesday. Friday we visited a Hui Mosque. The Hui people are the population of Chinese that are Muslim. On Sunday we went to a Miao (Mang) Village to learn about Christianity and minorities.

Please enjoy some more pictures of this weeks adventures: