On our website you will find galleries of our photos plus blogs for some of our travels. You can view photos from our recent dive trip to Saronde Island in North Sulawesi HERE.
Our travels to China, including Tibet, and Nepal have been cancelled due to the earthquake in Nepal. We feel so desperately sad for the people in those areas that have been affected and consider the changes to our plans to be minor in comparison.
We are now heading for Hong Kong and alternative areas in China in June.
Watch this space for updates.
We departed Hobart around noon with pleasant blue skies and sunshine despite
the earlier frosty start to the day. Bryce kindly transported us to the airport
leaving poor Jacquie at home suffering from a terrible viral flu infection that had
kept her low for the past two days.
In contrast to the Hobart’s sunshine, on arrival in Melbourne we were greeted by
heavy rain and cold wintery conditions which persisted for much of the
remainder of the day.
We caught a taxi from Tullamarine to Marcus’s home in Preston and settled in
prior to heading off to do some supermarket shopping. This sortie was to seek
provisions to prepare a meal for Marcus, Deb and Elliott when they arrived home
from work.
We made a chicken and rice stir-fry meal with bacon, water-chestnuts, bamboo
shoots and other several other vegetable treats to add to the flavour.
When they arrived home we celebrated Marcus’s and Deb’s engagement with a
lovely bottle of (Tasmanian) Devil’s Corner pinot noir bubbly. The stir-fry was
scrumptious!!
After catching up on all the news and playing with Elliott we packed up and
prepared for an early start in the morning when we head for Hong Kong.
Jak playing with Elliott.
It is exciting to think that we’ll be staying with Bobbie tomorrow evening.
Marcus dropped us off at Tullamarine airport at 07:00 am giving us plenty of time to ready ourselves for the 10:40 flight to Hong Kong. Being so early inevitably led to a touch of irony. As fate would have it our flight was delayed by an hour due to the late-arrival of the plane from its previous destination.
We finally got away at 11:30 and had a pleasant and uneventful 10 hour flight through to Hong Kong. The Qantas Airbus A330 was a quite old and showed copious signs of hard wear and tear and the quality of the meals indicated budget savings were a top priority.
On arrival at Hong Kong we managed to get through customs/immigration fairly quickly and were then met by Bobbie (Robyn Gregory) who has been living and teaching in Hong Kong for nearly nine years. We caught the airport express train through to Kowloon station and then taxied to her apartment which which is on the 29th floor of Harbourview Horizons overlooking Hong Kong harbour. The evening scene across to Hong Kong Island is enhanced by a spectacular light show with many of the sky-scrapers illuminated and pulsing with multi-coloured LEDs.
We sat up till late and chatted over wine and G&Ts until we realised that we’d been awake for nearly 20 hours and needed sleep.
In the morning we had an early breakfast and then walked around the Kowloon waterfront to the Star Ferry Terminal where we caught the ferry across to Central on Hong Kong Island.
View from Robyn Gregory's apartment, Kowloon
We then caught another ferry to Yung Shue Wan on Lamma Island which is half an hour or so by ferry south west of Hong Kong. On Lamma Island we did a five kilometre walk around to a fishing harbour called Sok Kwu Wan where we had a pleasant lunch in a fish restaurant on the waterfront. The walking conditions were pretty hot and humid so some cold beers provided a well deserved supplement to the seafood luncheon.
We then caught the ferry back to Kowloon via Ape Lei Chau Island which is the second most densely populated island in the world with 66,755 people per square kilometre. The incredible number of 30 plus storey buildings jammed into such a tight formation is mind boggling.
Ape Lei Chau Island
On arrival back at the Star Ferry terminal at Kowloon we strolled back once again around the waterfront and when back at Bobbie’s unit we had cool showers prior to relaxing over some more cold drinks. The day’s temperature maximum was 32°C and 76% humidity which gave us justification for G&Ts.
Night time view from Bobbie's apartment, Kowloon, Hong Kong
The wake-up alarm brought us into a rapid state of (semi) consciousness at 04:00 and after a quick shower and a check of bags and travel documents we said a temporary farewell to Bobbie (we’ll see her again in three weeks) and jumped into a taxi and headed for Hong Kong airport. At this time of the morning the roads were pretty much deserted which gave our taxi driver the opportunity to practise for any future Hong Kong F1 grand prix. The maximum speed we reached was only 135 km/h but considering the age and dilapidated condition of the taxi this was impressive!
We alighted at Terminal Two and duly found that we should have been at Terminal One; this being our mistake having misread the itinerary in the dark of the taxi. Fortunately we were in no great rush and the walk from one terminal to the other took only a matter of a few minutes and was very well signposted.
When the time came for boarding our Beijing flight, a massive passenger queue formed extending from the departure lounge, around the corner and into a corridor so far away that we weren’t even certain if this was still the correct flight.
Tony enjoying business class on Hong Kong Airlines plane
On finally reaching the check-in staff we were pleasantly informed that we had been upgraded and were now to be travelling in business-class. We didn’t ask for this and no reasons for the change were offered but we certainly did not complain about this unexpected alteration.
The Hong Kong Airline’s Airbus 330 was newish and the facilities in business class were luxurious, super comfortable and the quality of the in-flight service and meals left nothing to be desired. The only criticism was that it being an early morning flight meant that alcoholic drinks weren’t available so Corinne’s ‘Bloody Mary’; her traditional holiday tipple was not on offer. Before leaving the plane, one of the very attractive stewardesses came and chatted with us and amongst other questions asked us if “we’d enjoyed our fright” to which we gave an unequivocal affirmative response!
We arrived in Beijing at around 10:30 and we were through customs and immigration very promptly. We soon found our ‘g-adventures’ contact driver and after raiding an ATM for Y1000 we headed into Beijing city. The main highway from the airport into the city seems little different from when we were last here in 2007 with the traffic still being chaotic. The avenue of trees lining the highway seems remarkably healthy and green despite the pollution that must result from this traffic density.
Surprisingly, the weather conditions we initially experienced were great with a pleasant temperature of 27°C and clear skies with significant patches of blue. The smog and haze that we’d encountered last time were not apparent, well at least today they weren’t.
Our taxi dropped us off at our Chong Wen Men Hotel which is close to the heart of Beijing and near the main railway station.
After checking in we went for a walk in the local shopping precinct and were surprised to see the changes in Beijing since we were last here. The traffic is just as bad as before but now battery-powered mopeds have largely replaced the previously ubiquitous bicycles.
We walked along the main road from our hotel and encountered touts by the dozen seeking custom for their eating houses, acupuncturists operating in the street and clothing stalls on the footpath. The present preoccupation in the merchandising division seems to be women’s shoes with numerous shops focussing on this demand.
We ventured down a back street and found a supposedly hutong area that looked a bit too modern to be the real thing. In the alleyway we sighted window cleaners abseiling down the side of a 15 storey building with their buckets attached to their rope. As fortune would have it, a small 7 Eleven shop was discovered in the back street and we bought some local beer to have later when the sun was a little lower in the sky.
Street Scene, Beijing
Bicycle park, Beijing
Street garbage collector, Beijing
Window cleaning, Beijing
Tricycle van, Beijing
Our group of 12 people in the G Adventures “Wild China” trip met with our guide Paul at 18:00 and after the usual introductions, formalities and paper work we all headed around to a back street restaurant for a delicious banquet style meal featuring tasty and authentic Chinese cuisine. The cost for each person was Y35 (less than $8). The current exchange rate is Y4.61 to the Aussie $.
After some final planning for tomorrow’s trip to the Great Wall we headed for a nearby supermarket to be greeted with the doors closing just as we arrived. We thus need to work on plan B for tomorrow’s snacks.
The main activity for the day was to visit the Great Wall of China at the Mutianyu section.
Our group, now comprising thirteen people assembled after breakfast and headed off from central Beijing on a two hour bus trip to Mutianyu.
On arrival we were given the option of climbing the approximately one thousand steps from the car park up to the wall or ascend using the cable car. We being the oldest in the group were determined to do the steep climb but about half the group elected to take the cable car.
The climb was pretty hard and we didn’t linger on the way up except for the opportunity to get a couple of photos to show the steepness of the stairway. On arrival at the Great Wall we turned left and started on a two kilometre walk along the top passing through twelve watchtowers.
This section of the Great Wall was constructed during the early part of the Ming Dynasty and was refurbished in the 1960s. It is built along the precipitous section of a 1000m mountain ridge and is famous for its high number of watchtowers. The surrounding valleys on either side are densely forested and the whole area looked lush with green foliage abounding. The region is made up of a number of intertwined mountain ranges with jagged orange coloured peaks. The section of the wall we were walking along is just one of several sections as the wall has several branches which we could make out along distant ranges. These parts appeared to be without repair since their original construction and are now dilapidated and in places overgrown by vegetation.
The Great Wall #1, Mutianyu
We walked mainly upwards along the wall for about two kilometres in beautiful sunny conditions with blue skies and a gentle breeze that made the 27oC air temperature quite ideal for walking. Some sections were steep and some were very steep. We’d been warned that near watchtower 20 there was a climb up a brick staircase that was like going up a ladder and that was no exaggeration as the incline would have been more than 45o. At tower 21 we had reached the highest point possible and beyond this point the wall was closed to the public.
The return journey to the car park was downhill and understandably dangerous in the very steep parts but we proceeded with caution and as there weren’t many people visiting the wall this day we had no worries of crowded staircases!
On return to Beijing we showered and then went out to have an early dinner in a local restaurant specialising in roast (Peking) duck. This was delicious and the three different types of duck meat were served separately and best eaten by wrapping them with spicy sauces and vegetables in a pancake.
Peking Duck
After our meal we caught a local bus and attended a performance of “The Legend of Kung Fu” at a theatre in a nearby suburb of Beijing. The ninety minute’s of high powered activity was superbly choreographed with music to match. The story followed the life of a young trainee in Kung Fu and the trials and tribulations of his development from a young boy to being a grand master. The drama exhibited supreme levels of gymnastic action together with trapeze acts performed on dangling ribbons. The stage opened up like a giant bridge with other front sections that were raised or lowered to release fire, smoke, fairies, soldiers and dragons. Amongst the truly amazing acts (and there were many) was a Kung Fu master who lay on his back across a frame supporting three broad cutlasses and then had placed on his chest a square section with hundreds of nails pressing into him. A further person then lay on top of the nails and had a concrete slab placed on his chest. This in itself looked precarious and life threatening particularly for the poor man at the bottom of this dangerous sandwich. Finally a third person using a large sledge hammer struck the concrete block and it split into several pieces; thankfully everyone survived with no apparent loss of blood.
We were disappointed by some members of the Chinese audience who talked loudly and laughed throughout the acts and seemed to have no interest in this fabulous drama. The performers, including the three or four young boys all come from a local Buddhist monastery which specialises in the religious rituals and training associated with Kung Fu.
This had been a very busy day and all our group were ready for a big night’s sleep in preparation for another strenuous day tomorrow.
This was to be a day visiting some of the touristy highlights of Beijing.
At 08:00 we assembled in the hotel foyer and walked to the nearby sub-way station and caught a train to Tiananmen Square. Security was on high alert as is always the case but especially so due to the visit of the Angolan President.
The crowd density was unbelievable and in some sections of the underground the atmosphere was oppressive and a little threatening with people pushing past and others desperately trying to sell you post cards, trinkets and other delights.
Paul, our guide gave us an overview of the history of Tiananmen Square but no reference was given to any of the actions taken against dissidents in the past.
The square was an open 75 hectares until the Chinese government built the Monument to the Peoples Heroes and the Great Hall of the People. The queue to visit Mao’s mausoleum was many hundreds of metres long so we decided that having seen it in 2003 we’d give this a miss.
The next few hours were spent in the Forbidden City.
This involved a progression through outer sections until we reached the centre with the impression being that each stage of further entry meant a ‘ground-hog day’ as the buildings, courtyards and marble staircases were repeated each time we progressed.
The number of visitors to the Forbidden City made the experience a little daunting with people pushing and shoving to make progress but we soldiered on in warm to hot conditions and clear blue skies and none of the smog we’d been expecting.
After finally reaching the end we walked a kilometre or so through a hutong (narrow alleyway) to a restaurant for a lunch break. A sumptuous meal/banquet cost us a mere Y35 per person ($7.50).
We then strolled along the banks of a small lake and entered a hutong area that was originally a region where tobacconists congregated but now it seems that all matter of wares are on sale.
A bus trip back to our hotel was next on the agenda and there we collected our bags and caught the underground train to the West Beijing Railway Station. The crowd on the underground train was amazing and to get on board with our bags we had to push people inwards so as to make room. The locals regard this as standard procedure and although the ‘sardine can’ effect was barely tolerable, we all made it to our intended destination.
Our departure hall (number six) must have had over a thousand travellers jammed into an area designed for half that number so all we could do was to pile our bags in one section and stand and wait the one hour before boarding the train to Xi’an commenced.
We had a ‘hard-sleeper’ cabin which means six people sharing the small compartment with three bunk beds on either side of the cabin. There was hardly enough room for our luggage but we managed to jam it under beds and on a shelf above the door. Only the bottom bunks have room to sit up so we congregated there until sleep time seemed the best option at around 21:30 pm.
Toilets in China vary enormously in form and cleanliness. The one for our carriage was a foot-plate style toilet which was to become increasingly disgusting with use. The recommended plan is to use it before the masses and this is what we did.
In front of us was a fourteen hour overnight train trip to Xi’an and we were all feeling weary after our nine or so hours of walking around Beijing this day.
We slept surprisingly well despite the cramped conditions on the train and by 0745 we were in Xi’an at the main central station. As in Beijing the crowds were extraordinary but the older style station meant no escalators and in their place crowded stairways. This certainly added to the difficulty of getting out of the station.
Paul had arranged for a bus and within minutes we were at our hotel, the HNA Business Hotel in central Xi’an. The room we have is excellent and we even have access to wifi which had not been the case for much of the time in Beijing.
After showering and doing some washing we jumped on our bus and headed off towards the Terra Cotta Warriors Mausoleum some ninety minutes away.
Paul had arranged for us to have lunch in a small family restaurant that specialised in the local cuisine. This was most enjoyable and for the first time we has a dessert course which was potato wedges covered on toffee; strange to say the least.
Even for a second time, a visit to the Terra Cotta Warriors Museum is a fantastic experience.
The first of the Qin Emperors, Qinshihuang was buried about 2200 years ago within a tomb surrounded by thousands of clay modelled warriors most of whom were around two metres tall. All are individually carved from terracotta clay and each one has a different face, hair-style and stature. The warriors’ horses are individually carved too. The warriors and horses are all hollow and so where they have broken apart they’ve become clay fragments which are very hard to reassemble. This is a jig-saw puzzle of monumental proportion!
The mausoleum was hidden underground and only discovered by accident in 1974 when a farmer found a subsided section in one of his paddocks. Apart from the warriors there are horses but most of the discovered relics were severely damaged due to either other ancient intruders or the general passage of time.
The task of recovery and repair to this fabulous site is slow and very costly despite UNESCO’s assistance.
It is now suggested that there are three more major sites of terra cotta warriors within the 56 km2 area.
In the centre of this vast area is a man-made hill some 125 m high which is thought to have been originally a much higher pyramid under which Emperor Qinshihuang is buried. The burial chamber is recorded in later history as being adorned with precious jewels and surrounded by a moat of mercury which symbolised the mighty Yangtse and Yellow Rivers of China. The Emperor’s concubines who had no children were supposedly killed and buried with him.
The four main museums in the complex have their exhibits beautifully presented and the information (in English) is very detailed and comprehensive.
The final museum we visited held amongst other things two bronze chariots each towed by four bronze horses, all to half life-size scale. These were magnificent and the detail of the bronze sculpture was superb. In this same room were swords, arrows and axes made from hardened bronze, a metallurgical skill that we can’t replicate today. As was evident from the exhibits, the Qin dynasty had perfected chrome plating around 200 BC, a skill that didn’t reach Europe until the late nineteenth century!
We then returned to our hotel in Xi’an for some well deserved rest after three days of frenetic tourist activity and limited sleep.
Lunch at village family home
After breakfast we caught a local bus to the East Gate of the Xi’an City Wall. The wall is a fourteen kilometre rectangle surrounding what used to be the old part of the city.
The wall is 10-12m high and about 18 m thick at its base. The upper section of the wall is a nearly flat but uneven brick road of width about 12 m.
The Xi’an City Wall was constructed from rammed earth between 1370 and 1378 during the time of Emperor Hongwu from the Sui-Tang Dynasty. The Provincial Governor of Shaanxi Province, Bi Yuan later had the wall rebuilt with bricks. This occurred during the Qing Dynasty and the vast structure is now regarded as the most intact amongst the many ancient Chinese city walls.
The defence system is quite intricate having a moat, a drawbridge and eight large towers around the 14 km perimeter. The towers are at each corner and half way along each side. Between the towers at spaces of about 120 m are archery towers set as abutments to the wall. These were strategically placed to ensure that archers could fire arrows upon an invading enemy no matter from where the attack occurred.
We hired bikes at the middle of the Eastern Wall and rode anticlockwise for about 12 km to the Southern Gate. The ride was in warm conditions with blue skies and barely a hint of the smog that dominated yesterday’s weather. The worn brick surface tiles made the ride like being on cobblestones. Walls of about a metre along the sides prevent anyone riding over the edge. There were relatively few riders today so the going was easy but gauging from the hundreds of bikes available to hire it must get quite congested during holiday and weekend times.
After our relaxing ride we walked around towards the Muslim part of the city and in so doing we passed the Bell Tower, a famous city landmark used originally to indicate the time to the city’s residents.
We spent an hour or so wandering through the Muslim section where the action was frenetic with many of the markets selling food, especially kebabs and noodles.
Several shops in the main alleyway were preparing noodles by drawing pasta repetitively from a large hook on the side of their shop. The stretched pasta was two metres or so long and then folded back to half a metre and then drawn out again. This process kept going but meant that pedestrians had to stop as the stretched pasta blocked part of the walkway.
There were the usual trinket shops selling jewellery, artwork and fans but most interestingly were shops preparing a traditional toffee and peanut bar. The raw toffee initially had to be beaten repeatedly using two large wooden mallets and was then pressed with peanuts before slicing into strips for sale. We bought a box of the toffee nut delicacy as compensation for the number of photos they let us take and enjoyed a sugar hit which is a bit of a rarity in Chinese meals.
We then meandered for an hour back to our hotel and called Jacquie and Zoe. It was reassuring to know that Jacquie is now recovering, albeit slowly from the dreadful flu virus she contracted last week.
In the evening we all headed out to have dinner in a restaurant located in the back of a shopping area. Without local knowledge one would never have known of its existence.
The food was interesting and a little different from other meals we’ve had recently and was particularly spicy and hot. Paul selected eight different dishes for us to try. Aubergines are a specialty and so are various fungi fried in batter. Another local tradition is to finish the meal with soup. Local wines are generally undrinkable so we had beers with our meal at the exorbitant price of Y4 (about 90 cents) for a 500mL bottle! The cost of the restaurant meal was Y27 (about AU$5.50) per head.
Interesting beer 'glasses'
Paul, our guide, serving soup at the restaurant in Xi'an
One of the 8 dishes for our dinner
Before returning to our hotel we ventured into a nearby supermarket and bought provisions for tomorrow’s breakfast and snacks to eat on the 20 hour train trip tomorrow evening. The supermarket was vast and there was practically nothing labelled in English which made for some guess work. Sadly, in amongst the various shelves we found glass tanks holding small tortoises for sale as food.
At around 21:30 pm we returned to our very comfortable hotel room to relax and prepare for another busy day in Xi’an prior to our departure on our train trip to Southern China tomorrow evening
After a leisurely start with breakfast in our room, we went for walk in the adjacent park where several of the locals were doing Tai Chi and another form of ‘slow speed’ exercise using a wooden pole.
Our group then gathered and we caught a bus to the Wild Goose (Dayan) Pagoda and the surrounding parklands.
At 12:00 midday we were entertained for half an hour by a very impressive water fountain display for which Xi’an is famous. A terraced area of about a hectare in front of the Wild Goose Pagoda suddenly comes alive with thousands of water jets that perform a water ballet choreographed to classical music. The jets are able to swivel so as to send the water in various directions to form patterns representing shapes of flowers, spheres and vertical walls. There were several spouts that sent water vertically upwards 50m or more. The really impressive part of this display was the sheer size of the area in which all this action was occurring.
Dayan Pagoda Cultural and Leisure Scenic Spot, Xi'an
We then walked around the Wild Goose Pagoda but we didn’t have time to climb to the top. This pagoda, Xi’an’s most famous landmark is 4 km southeast of the South Gate and dominates the surrounding modern buildings. The pagoda is one of China’s best examples of a Tang-style pagoda being squarish rather than round. It was completed in AD 652 to house the Buddhist sutras brought back from India by the monk Xuan Zang. His travels inspired one of the best-known works of Chinese literature called Journey to the West which was the basis of the ‘Monkey Magic’ television production. Xuan spent the last nineteen years of his life translating scriptures with a team of linguist monks and many of these translations are still used today.
Our group then headed for the Xi’an History Museum where upon presentation of our passports we were given free admission. The museum traces the history of the Shaanxi Province from Neolithic times through to the days of the final Dynasty (1911). Most exhibits include detailed explanations in English and in the Sui and Tang sections there are elaborate murals and a series of painted pottery figurines with elaborate hairstyles and dress.
Xi'an History Museum
By far the most numerous of the exhibited artifacts are bronze and gilded bronze relics unearthed from around Xi’an over the years. There are some exquisite ceramics from the Han dynasty, as well as figurines and an exhibition of Ming-dynasty seals and jade artifacts. There are ten Terracotta Warriors and their horses on display too. A wall adjacent to this display features around 200 images of the faces of terracotta warriors.
The museum was very crowded despite the imposed limit of 4000 visitors per day and it was exhausting work coping with the pushing and shoving of the locals who seem to be unaware of issues of etiquette!
Outside the museum was a man flying an extraordinary kite. It was on a string he claimed was about 480 m long and it had 240 small A4 sized kites every 2 m along the string. It was so high that its furthest end was barely visible in the less than clear Xi’an skies.
Man whipping top in the Square
After a meal and supermarket visit for supplies, we headed by bus for the 22:15 train to Emei Shan. Our group together with bags, backpacks and food supplies had great difficulty in cramming onto a local bus to get to the station. However with plenty of shoving (a local sport?) we eventually all got aboard.
The Wall at night from the railway station
The population of Xi’an is around nine million and it seemed that a fair proportion of them were at the railway station when we arrived. After a long period of queuing we eventually boarded the train and found our 'hard-sleeper’ compartment that we are to share with four other strangers. A bonus was that neither of us had the top bunk this time. In the meantime there were some furious rows going on with locals arguing about access to baggage space. It eventually subsided and we then tried to sleep but the train was very noisy with the linkage between carriages squeaking continually.
We have 20 hours of travel before we reach Emei Shan tomorrow evening and head for a Buddhist Monastery.
After a long night and day of train travel in a very congested compartment we eventually arrived at Emei station. The train trip covered just over 2000km and took about twenty hours. The train’s maximum speed was 120 km/h and it carries around 1000 passengers.
Our carriage on train from Xi'an to Emei Shan
We made quite a few stops along the way for passengers embarking and disembarking in the many provincial towns we passed through. The train comprised 20 carriages and we estimated that it was just under one kilometre in length. In the early morning section of our train journey we passed through numerous tunnels cut into a steep hillside overlooking a large river which is apparently a tributary of the Yangtze.
The amount of infrastructure development occurring in China is staggering and throughout much of the travel time today we had views of cranes on multi-storey building sites plus road-works and large scale bridge building. For much of the journey we could see, adjacent to our railway line the works for the new ‘bullet-train’ line which is due to be finished in 2017 at a cost of Y38 billion.
On arrival at Emei we were greeted by our local guide Patrick. He bundled us into three small vans and we headed off for the Bauguo Monastery where we will spend the next three days hiking in the region around the sacred Mount Emei.
Arriving at the Bauguo Monastery, Emei Shan
Bauguo Monastery, Emei Shan
Mt. Emei is located at the southwest edge of the Sichuan Basin and is internationally renowned for its scenery and cultural heritage.
We were assigned dormitories in the monastery and then headed down to the local shopping area for a meal in Patrick’s restaurant.
Walking from Bauguo Monastery to restaurant, Emei Shan
After a quick trip to a mini-market we returned to our rooms and had showers. The communal bath-rooms are a fair walking distance from our bedroom and are only accessible between 18:00 and 21:00.
Tomorrow we have plans to spend much of the day hiking around the various trails on the sacred Mt. Emei or Emei Shan.
At around 05:30 the monks in our monastery started tinkling bells and chanting but it was not very loud initially and we managed to sleep in till nearly 07:00.
After sunrise they were into full swing with larger bells, gongs and the chanting became louder and yet pleasantly melodious.
Buddhas in the Bauguo Monastery
Entrance to inner Bauguo Monastery (note beer cans)
We had a yoghurt and fruit breakfast in our room and then gathered our hiking gear and met up with Patrick at his hotel down the road. Before heading off, we managed to find a hotel with WiFi and were able to FaceTime our granddaughter, Zoe, to wish her a happy 2nd birthday.
Our group was then transported by Patrick’s cars to the Wannian cable car station and for Y65 we took the cable car to Wangnian Temple. Possibly because it was Sunday, the whole mountain was teeming with visitors and this was to be the situation for most of the morning’s walk to the Joking Monkey Zone.
The walk started with a gentle descent past the Bailong Cave and then on to the Niuxin Pavilion where the major climb was to begin.
The path upwards followed a spectacular and winding river gorge hundreds of metres deep cut through limestone rock and in places the gorge was only 20 m wide. The lush vegetation clinging to the precipitous cliffs was incredibly dense and typical of a jungle rainforest; bamboo and vines being the dominant species.
The concrete stepped pathway was narrow and in places where the walls were vertical it was anchored into the cliff face. This section is called the Heilongjiang Plank Way. The splendour of the scenery is undoubtedly marred by the ever present blue plastic water pipes and black communication cables that are visible much of the way up the gorge.
Along the pathway there were wider areas where Buddhist characters and symbols had been carved into the rock walls. As one might have expected there were people every few hundred metres selling drinks and food. Incidentally, throughout the whole day we saw no other Caucasians which maybe explains why the locals were so keen to photograph us!
As we approached the highest point on the track we encountered macaque monkeys about which we’d been warned. The monkeys will attempt to steal water bottles, hats, cameras, etc from unsuspecting tourists. The monkeys may become aggressive and bite which is a concern because rabies is prevalent in this region.
One monkey snatched a bottle of orange drink from Steph’s pack and within seconds had bitten the top off and started drinking.
During our return and descent to Niuxin Pavilion someone attempted to push a monkey off their shoulder and subsequently they were bitten. Fortunately a medical centre nearby had the appropriate (first) vaccination available for just this occurrence! The inappropriate practice of feeding the macaques with little bags of corn has led the monkeys to become increasingly dependent on the tourists and react accordingly, often with over exuberance!
The majority of the group elected to do the long walk back to our Baoguo Monastery even after having been warned of the length and steepness of the walk.
We took a further three and a half hours to return home with the first hour and a half being a near continual climb up to yet another temple called Chunyang Palace. This section is clearly not so popular with the general public and consequently we had very few other walkers joining us.
The final hour was practically all downhill on a concrete stairway which in places was quite slippery, uneven and precarious so the use of our walking poles proved highly beneficial.
We arrived back at our Boaguo Temple Monastery after more than 20 km and seven hours of walking in steep, hot and humid conditions. Needless to say our clothes were absolutely soaked in perspiration.
The shower room was a popular venue when it opened later in the afternoon.
After showering and resting we walked back down to the local shopping area and ordered a meal. Our difficulties with comprehension of the Mandarin language caused some in our group to order unexpected meals and much merriment ensued. The meals were, once again incredibly cheap even if it wasn’t what we were hoping for!
We then headed back to the Monastery for a good night’s sleep after an exhausting day of hiking on this famous Buddhist temple mountain.
Tomorrow we head off quite early for Leshan where amongst other things we’ll visit the biggest stone carved statue of Buddha in the world.
Today was to be principally a day of travel with our final destination at the end of the day being the capital city of Sichuan Province, Chengdu.
All fifteen of us plus our voluminous luggage were judiciously packed into two small vans and like sardines we headed off for Leshan which is about 40 km from Emei.
Even at this reasonably early hour the traffic was highly congested and our drivers performed ‘dodgem’ car manoeuvres to duck and weave in amongst the cars, buses, trucks, bicycles and pedestrians. In China all pedestrian crossings are utterly ignored by drivers and crossing the road on foot requires courage, determination and cautiously selecting the opportune moment.
Although Emei and Leshan are separate cities, on either side of the main highway connecting them we viewed continual housing and industry as far as the eye could see.
On arrival at Leshan we purchased tickets and boarded an old 30 m steel river boat and proceeded down the Mingjiang River towards the site of the centuries old Dafo, the largest Buddha in the world. After the recent tragic accident on the Yangtze we were all issued with life-jackets and instructed to put them on before we left the river bank. We were pleased about this as our old boat had certainly seen better days and the river was wide, muddy and fast flowing. The boat had about sixty passengers and nearly all went up onto the upper deck which would not have enhanced the vessel’s stability.
River boats, Mingjiang River, Leshan
The giant Buddha was carved out of the vertical cliff face sandstone rock of Mt. Lingyan on the banks of the river which is one of the upper tributaries of the Yangtze River. The enormous rock structure of a seated Buddha is 71 m high and was carved under the leadership of the monk Hai Tong during the Tang Dynasty period between 713 and 803 AD. Even from a close viewing position on the river, the head of Buddha, way above us was partly obscured due to the prevalent smog within this city.
Rather than viewing the Buddha from the water, visitors can also cross the river and then from a high point near the head, descend on a carved stone, steep stairway to reach a viewing platform near the Buddha’s feet.
Quite close on either side of the giant Buddha there are two smaller (20 m) carvings into the rock face depicting other Buddhist figures.
On returning to the wharf we then spent the next two hours wandering around the Leshan market area, a totally fascinating experience.
The wares on sale included a wide variety of fruits, nuts and spices plus meats from all manner of animal.
There were a dozen or so species of live fish including eels in big buckets, turtles, tortoises and bags of toads all for sale. The butchers’ area had for sale racks of less than appetising meat such as poultry parts, tongues, trotters, livers, intestines and other unidentifiable offal. Somewhat surprisingly there did not seem to be any flies on the meat carcasses and gutted fish dangling along the street’s edge.
We had a lunch break and then crammed into our vans once more and headed for the railway station with Chengdu being our destination.
To our chagrin we found that our express train to Chengdu had been incorrectly booked and we subsequently had a four hour wait until 5.00 pm before it left.
The 190 km trip from Leshan to Chengdu took one hour on the very modern and comfortable express train which averaged 195 km/h. This is comparably slow when you realise that the Chinese Bullet trains have speeds of over 350 km/h.
The massive Chengdu Railway station was quite new and remarkably clean. We transferred through a security check (these happen on most stations) and then caught the sub-way to the Quingyang District to then walk the best part of a kilometre to the Cheng Du Flower Hotel. The city appears to be very modern and the street architecture where we’re staying is most attractive. The shops and luxury cars that abound indicate that this is a wealthy region of China.
A quick check-in to our hotel and within 15 minutes we were out the door and racing for a local bus to take us to the Sichuan Opera.
This occurs in a special theatre and features Chinese music, singing, dancing, puppetry and acrobatics all performed with magnificent costumes and a stunning light show using smoke, rain, fire and lasers.
There were some incredibly impressive events but most unusual were the ‘Face Changing’ dances. Five members of the large cast did a series of dances and as they twirled across the stage their face masks changed in both colour and form and this seemingly occurred in a fraction of a second. The puppeteer was the star of the show and had his puppet princess held high above him on controlling rods and had her change her masks several times and eventually breathe fire.
We returned to our hotel, negotiating our way across streets dodging motorbikes with no lights on. Back at our hotel, it was time for a shower, a coffee and preparing for tomorrow’s day at the nearby Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.
We were up at 06:00 and for an early breakfast ate some of the offerings typically enjoyed by the Chinese at the start of the day. For us, cold noodles, oily pickles, steamed buns and rice soup make for an uninspiring breakfast and we’d been hoping for something like porridge or even corn-flakes! The supermarkets sell no cereals as far as we could find but oatmeal (rolled oats) is available. However most breakfast menus do include hen or duck eggs, usually boiled.
It’s interesting to note that in China unlike Australia, you seldom see obese people. This may change gauging for the inroads being made right across the country by KFC, McDonalds and similar fast food chains.
After breakfast we had a private minibus to take us to the panda park which is about 45 minutes away in a northern suburb of Chengdu. The 08:00 traffic was frighteningly chaotic and the adherence to road rules seemed non-existent. The number of overloaded motor bikes having ‘near misses’ was scary.
The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding occupies 100 hectares of beautifully manicured hillside parklands with paths meandering in amongst the numerous trees, gardens, lakes and bamboo forests.
This world renowned ecological research base was established specifically to conserve the endangered giant panda and red panda species. As a sanctuary it has proved to be very successful and it has received honours from numerous international groups.
Giant pandas are naturally solitary animals that live in the remote bamboo forests in mountainous regions of China. Much of the giant pandas’ habitat has been encroached upon by humans and with the numbers of pandas in the wild diminishing, they are now regarded as a critically endangered species.
Within the research base is a veterinary hospital where techniques in artificial insemination have proved to be very beneficial in the breeding of pandas.
Throughout the park are many viewing areas where tourists can view pandas of various ages from small cubs to adults. The typical scene is one where a solitary panda is sitting next to a heap of bamboo sticks and eating continually. An adult typically will eat about 40 kg of bamboo a day and then produces 32 kg of faeces suggesting that they only take in about 20% of nutritional value.
Panda cub
Adult females usually produce two offspring per pregnancy but in the wild one cub usually dies soon after birth. This is partly due to a very short gestation period of only 4 to 5 months resulting in the cubs being born prematurely and the tiny cubs are so weak and vulnerable. Pleasingly, in this panda park they have been able to supplement diets and with there being a hospital for sick animals they have significantly increased the survival rate.
Within the base there are presently about eighty pandas of varying age; they live for about 60 years. The hand rearing of the pandas means that they are not able to survive on their own and subsequently are not released back into the wild.
In addition to the giant pandas there is also a good deal of conservation work being focussed on the smaller but equally attractive red pandas. These tree climbing pandas have a fox-like face and a long bushy, striped orange tail.
Red panda
Red panda
We then returned to Chengdu and had a traditional Chinese ‘hot-pot’ lunch and then went strolling through the nearby hutong area where silversmiths were the most prominent artisans.
Hot pot lunch
Street scene, Chengdu
At around 18:00 we caught a bus to the Chengdu airport which is about an hour away from the town centre. Needless to say the traffic was at its worst and we spent a good deal of time just stuck in a traffic jam with people honking horns and everyone getting frustrated.
Our flight to Lijiang was on time and took about ninety minutes. At around 23:00 we arrived at our accommodation having been driven from the airport in three vans which had definitely seen better days. Our bags were jammed in behind the back seat and when we went over a bump doing 40 km/h the back door swung open and upwards and if it wasn’t for the quick action from the girls on the back seat, our luggage would have tumbled out onto the road.
The Jinyuan View Guesthouse is located up a narrow alleyway about 100 m from the road and at the late hour and at an altitude of 2400 m, carrying our heavy bags up steps meant a tiring end to the day. Our room seems clean, spacious and comfortable and even has a ‘sit-down’ toilet.
At midnight we looked out our door and could see stars in a clear sky above; now that‘s something we haven’t experienced for a while!
We slept in until 08:00 and then wandered down our alleyway to the main street below where roadside markets were busy selling food and other wares.
We purchased yoghurt, pastries and fruit juice and had these for breakfast back in our room.
Lijiang is only 80 km from the border of Myanmar (Burma) and has a backdrop of snow capped mountains, the most prominent being the towering peak of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (approx 6000 m) which is part of the south eastern end of the Himalayan Range. The town of Lijiang is at an altitude of 2400 m.
At 10:00 we started a day of exploring the town commencing at the main square which is dominated by two large water wheels. This is part of the ‘old town’ known as Dayan. The new part of Lijiang is on the other side of a hill and is an uninspiring modern day glass and concrete metropolis typical of China today.
The old town has flourished for centuries as it offered a caravanserai for travellers to and from Tibet. Kublai Khan gave the town its name meaning ‘beautiful river’ in 1253. The town now is a very popular tourist destination for Chinese travellers.
The local inhabitants of Lijiang are the Naxi who are a branch of the Qiang people of Tibet who left the north-west of China some 2000 years ago and settled in this fertile temperate plain. The Naxi is a matriarchal society with women having a dominant role in business, finance, landownership and the raising of children. Their religion is based on Tibetan shamanism.
On our morning’s walk we headed north from Yu He Square in lovely clear blue skies and followed the stream along willow and chestnut lined paths towards Black Dragon Pool Park. The area is home to some architectural treasures from as early as the 17th century but unfortunately, the one we’d hoped to see, the Wufeng Lu Temple (it’s on the front of our “Insight Guide Book”) was partly covered as its restoration is occurring at present. The gardens and small arched bridges around the lake are a sheer delight and the beauty and tranquillity of this locale were in sharp contrast to the recent crowded cities we’d visited and the blue sky was a bonus. Large and colourful fish are plainly visible in the clear waters of the lake.
Dragon Lake
Souvenir shop, Dragon Lake
Eucalypt sign, Dragon Lake
Grandfather & boy, Dragon Lake
Eaves & blue sky, Dragon Lake
After a lunch break in a local food-hall that sold every conceivable meal including silk worms and other insects served as kebabs, we ventured down past Yu He Square to Dayan’s part of the old city.
Pig outside restaurant, Dayan, Lijiang
Food hall, Dayan, Lijiang
This is a network of tiny streets in amongst narrow canals where many of the old Naxi cottages have had their fronts converted into tourist shops. No cars are allowed in this old part. We did a three kilometre loop through Dayan and in the middle of our sight-seeing there was a short but dramatic thunderstorm that lasted a mere ten minutes but was impressive nonetheless. This is the first real rain we’ve had since leaving Melbourne.
reet scene, Dayan, Lijiang
During this very pleasant afternoon’s stroll, Corinne bought some souvenir items for the grand-children while Jak took dozens of photos of the people, the old Naxi buildings and the varied tourist merchandise on sale.
In the mid-afternoon we headed back to our guesthouse via an ATM and a shop and made preparations for the next few days of hiking the Tiger Leaping Gorge. We’ve been warned about the four hour steep climb at altitude that is the start of tomorrow’s seven hour hike. An early night and a high energy meal provided an appropriate finish to a wonderfully relaxing day.
After an early start we headed down into the town and caught the local bus to Qiaotou which is 100 km north of Lijiang. This trip took over two hours and finished at a most unlikely starting point for our walk. We were dropped off at a junction in the road about 8 km from Qiaotou and with a degree of uncertainty (is this really the start of the famous walk?) we headed off up a very muddy road being used by large trucks transporting rock to a point further up the hill where roadworks were taking place.
The road became progressively steeper and less muddy and after one and a half hours we reached a settlement called Naxi Guest House about 600 m above our starting point. We were now at 2217 m above sea level. As the conditions were quite warm we stopped for lunch and had some well deserved cool drinks.
After lunch the walk started getting quite a deal tougher as the climb was now steeper and over uneven rocks. We continued climbing for a further two hours on a zig-zag track with 28 corners to reach the highest point where we were at just over 3100 m. A local man was asking hikers to pay to view the gorge from a prominent rocky point. We told him to get lost; we’d paid Y65 to enter the National Park and he was being very cheeky asking this fee!
Throughout most of the climb we were pursued by locals offering us rides on their small ponies. The going price for a ride to the top started at Y400 but those who used the ponies managed to barter the price down to Y200. At the high point it started raining quite heavily and the track became increasingly slippery and dangerous.
Down in the gorge approximately 1000 m below us was the Jinsha River, a headwater of the Yangtze. The muddy waters were flowing rapidly through a ravine that was quite narrow in places. The gorge takes its name from the local tale concerning a tiger that eluded pursuing hunters by leaping across a narrow section.
From the high point we followed the descending trail for about two hours in intermittent rain to Ya Cha village where we found our accommodation, The Tea Horse Guest House.
We had clean rooms with hot showers and fantastic views of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain Range. The guest-house then put on a range of food dishes for us to try as our evening meal.
By morning our wet clothes were now dry and we were ready to do the final four hours of walking the gorge trail.
This section started off being largely a flat section on a narrow ledge looking down into the Jinsha River. Along the way where the terrain was not vertical there were small farms growing corn, potatoes and they usually had goats grazing the steep slopes below us.
The track in places was very narrow and great care was needed especially over slippery rocks. We passed two waterfalls along the way. At a guest-house called Half Way we stopped for refreshments before commencing the final very steep descent into Tina’s Guest House where we were to meet our bus for the return trip home to Lijiang. The total distance covered in the two days was 24 km.
We arrived back in Lijiang at 16:00 where we have the same rooms at the Jinyuan View Guesthouse as two days ago. After the last two days of strenuous hiking everyone in our group is looking forward to a quiet evening and a relaxing sleep ready for tomorrow’s next adventure in the area around Dali.
For the final time, we walked down our narrow Lijiang alleyway having said farewell to our guesthouse staff and crammed our group and luggage into three small taxi vans that transported us to the main bus station a few kilometres away.
At 08:30 we started our 200 km journey southwards to Dali. We sat in the front seat upstairs in the modern and very comfortable coach. The new highway was divided almost all the way with two and sometimes three lanes in each direction. There were several tunnels two of which were about 4 km in length. There are numerous overhead signs along the highway warning drivers “not to litter, not to drive while drunk and not to follow too close to the car in front”. As is frequently the case most signs are very conveniently in both Chinese and English. Spelling errors occur quite commonly but we never criticise this and merely express gratitude as without the English names we would have enormous difficulties getting around.
Road from Lijiang to Dali
The scenery on the drive south was of mainly rich alluvial soil over agricultural flatlands with bountiful crops of rice, corn, egg-plants and fruits. On the high eastern hillsides were several hundred wind turbines, presumably for generating electricity.
After three hours we arrived in Dali at an outer bus station and then caught taxis to our accommodation, the MCA Hotel which is right in the centre of town, just outside the old city wall.
Swimming pool at MCA Hotel, Dali
Dali has the reputation as one of the most picturesque destinations in all of China. It is flanked on one side by the 4000 m Cangshan Mountains and on the other by the blue waters of Er Hai, Yunnan’s second largest lake.
After settling into our rooms we ventured out on an exploratory walk through the old town that is now a Mecca for tourists, particularly the Chinese themselves. This may well be due to Dali’s location at 2000 m and Dali having a year-round temperate climate. Tomorrow is the summer solstice and today’s temperature was in the high 20s.
Prior to China opening up to westerners in the 1980s, Dali was a quiet provincial town but with the advent of pioneering backpackers and group tours this area has become a drawcard for bus loads of Chinese and foreigners. This is aptly illustrated by the fact that the main street in Dali has been renamed Yangren Jie which translates to “Foreigners’ Street”.
As was the case with Lijiang there are both old and a new towns. Old Dali with its walled township is better known as Dali Gucheng. The newer city of Dali is about twenty minutes south by road and is called Xiaguan.
The walled town of old Dali was established around 500 AD and was a home for the Bai minority people. By the time of the Tang Dynasty, a local chieftain named Piluoge had unified six regional kingdoms into a southern kingdom called Nanzhao with Dali as its capital.
A walk through the old town on a Saturday market afternoon was an interesting and colourful experience. On sale were the usual tourist wares of silver jewellery, clothing hats, jade, drums, trinkets and loads of different vegetables and fruits. Amongst the plants on sale were lots of orchids and succulents plus strange branches and leaves presumably used in herbal medicine.
A popular specialty for Dali girls is to have their hair braided with colourful silk threads; these look very attractive and are often complemented by a small crown of many different intertwined flowers.
Girl with floral headdress at market, Dali
Local lady braiding hair at the market, Dali
Lady selling rose jam at market, Dali,
A street-side cobbler enticed Jak to have his shoes cleaned for a mere Y2 (less than 50c) that seemed a bargain. However, without asking the crafty devil proceeded to do some minor repairs and glued small pieces of rubber onto the heels. On completion of the work he duly asked for Y84, not the original Y2. Needless to say some stern bargaining followed and eventually we came to a mid price. He had done well out of the deal we feel sure.
Tony having shoes cleaned (and repaired) at market, Dali
Man smoking pipe at market, Dali
We had a mid-afternoon luncheon in an off-street courtyard restaurant and then wandered our way back to our hotel to do washing and prepare for a full day of exciting activities tomorrow in and around Dali, including another 28 km bike ride.
Today was scheduled as a full day of interesting activities in and around Dali.
Our local guide named Rivers collected our group at 08:30 and we drove in three quite new vans a distance of about a kilometre north to the San Ti Si, more popularly known as the Three Pagodas.
In the guide books this site is regarded as Dali’s most spectacular and famous attraction. The three towers are known to be over twelve hundred years old and are arranged at the three corners of an equilateral triangle. They are of the Tang Dynasty/Nanzhao provenance.
The central tower (Qianxunta) is 69 m tall and has 16 tiers while the two towers on either side are just 43 m tall and have only 10 tiers.
The towers were restored in 1979 after an earthquake that has left the two smaller towers leaning inwards very slightly. The taller central pagoda tower miraculously survived the earthquake. In a nearby square there is a large golden eagle sculpture positioned high on a marble plinth. The eagle is supposedly protecting the Buddha in the central pagoda.
Three pagodas, Dali
Central Pagoda, Dali
Golden eagle, Dali
We then ventured further north and down towards Er Hai Lake into a Bai village called Xizhou just in time for the opening of the local market. The Bai people have their own language and traditions and exist as a separate enclave within the wider Dali community.
Building in Bai village, Dali
The market was in full swing when we arrived selling everything imaginable from meats, vegetables, fabrics and live animals such as chickens, ducks, fish and ponies. There were also some very interesting antique shops with a fascinating array of objects for sale. We sampled some local pizza bread that was freshly baked on a charcoal heated hot plate while we waited.
Cooking local pizza bread, Bai village, Dali
Antique shop, Bai village, Dali
Ladies in market, Bai village, Dali
Raw sugar in market, Bai village
Lady in market, Bai village, Dali
Man cutting grass in rice paddy, Bai village, Dali
We then strolled around the local village and observed the different styles of architecture that the Bai people have in their buildings. In a grouping of the old homes with a central courtyard we were given a demonstration of cheese making by hand and some of our group including Corinne participated. The freshly prepared cheese is then dried in the sun before eating although we all tried some whilst still soft and fresh.
Street scene, Bai village, Dali
Corinne making cheese, Bai village, Dali
We then visited an embroidery factory where highly elaborate and beautiful pictures were being made by use of incredibly fine threads of coloured silk. Some of the larger pictures on display were reputedly the work of a single seamstress over a period of nearly a year. Not surprisingly, the cost of the more elaborate pieces was usually in the order of US$500 or even more.
Silk cocoons, Embroidery factory, Bai village, Dali
Girl embroidering, Embroidery school, Bai village, Dali
Our next little jaunt was in horse drawn carts as we headed towards lunch. The neatly painted carts each held six people and had a canvas roof and awnings. The ponies pulling the carts had a flat section of road of about 4 km and didn’t seem too puffed when we alighted.
Drying silver fish, Bai village, Dali
Tony & driver with horse & carriage, Bai village, Dali
After our lunch we visited another ‘cottage industry’ for which the Bai people are renowned, namely tie dyeing of fabrics. The materials on display were intricate in their patterns and very colourful with indigo blue being the dominant dye used. Indigo plants were growing in pots next to a very large barrel of indigo blue dye. A number of purchases were made by members of our group and we bought a square of tie dyed material for making a cushion cover.
Woman with cloth after dyeing, Tie-dyeing factory, Bai village, Dali
Tie-dyeing factory, Bai village, Dali
Dali’s most obviously compelling natural attraction is Er Hai Lake, a 250 square kilometre expanse of water that was a profound shade of aquamarine in the sunny and hot conditions we encountered. Er Hai translates to mean Ear Sea because of the ear shape of the lake.
We had heard of the traditional fishing method using tame cormorants with their throats restricted with a band and in the mid-afternoon we had the opportunity of seeing this in action. We were rowed out into the lake in long steel boats and upon arrival at a designated point, the cormorants were released into the water and encouraged to dive by the boatmen throwing food into the water. Within minutes, two cormorants had caught fish and brought them to the surface only to be scooped up by the fishermen using nets on the end of long poles. The fish were removed from the bird’s gullet and then they were rewarded with fish morsels and cast back into the water to try again!
This was a fascinating process and the cormorants were certainly well versed in the whole process and knew precisely what the task at hand entailed. The birds appeared in very good health and despite the restricted throat they could eat small pieces of fish but not large ones.
Cormorant with fish, Cormorant fishing, Bai village, Dali
Tony, Cormorant fishing, Bai village, Dali
Man & cormorant with fish, Cormorant fishing, Bai village, Dali
Corinne on jetty, Cormorant fishing, Bai village, Dali
Lake Er Hai, Dali
Our finale for the day was to ride the 28 km back to our MCA Hotel in central Dali.
We had well serviced mountain bikes and the path we followed was mostly flat along the lake’s edge. Our only problems were where traffic jams occurred in the narrow street section within the villages along the way. There were also road restrictions caused by the locals who use large stretches of half the road to set out mats on which they dry fish caught in the lake. The tiny fish are called silver fish and are somewhat like whitebait.
We peddled merrily along at a relaxed pace with the highly scenic lake on our left side complemented by rich green agricultural areas on our right. The main crops grown in this highly fertile area are rice, corn and tobacco. The nearby lake provides for ample irrigation supplies.
We stopped at a few spots along the way for photos and ice-creams as the conditions were still hot with blue skies even in the late afternoon.
Tony & Corinne on bike ride, Dali
Group, bike ride, Dali
RIding by fish drying on road, bike ride, Dali
Boat on road, bike ride, Dali
On arrival back in Dali we returned our bikes and ventured back to our hotel to prepare for tomorrow’s trip to Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province.
This, being day sixteen of our China adventure was largely a day of bus travel as we headed further south-eastwards towards our final destination of Hong Kong in five day’s time.
With today being the summer solstice, we were greeted at dawn with clear blue skies and the promise of another glorious day. Dali has been a wonderful retreat from the often oppressive and smoggy conditions that prevail in many of the big cities.
Our team of fourteen plus guide Paul managed to get all our luggage and persons into a van that did two separate trips to the nearby Dali bus depot.
The bus was a double-decker and had reasonable comfort for what was to be a six hour trip to Kunming.
Our bus from Dali to Kunming at Chuxiong
Almost all the first hour was through the other, new half of Dali city called Xiaguan which is south of the old town but continues as a highly populated, concrete metropolis that forms an urban ribbon along the southern part of the Er Hai lake.
Juxtaposed within this sprawling mass of humanity one finds pockets of rich soil with vigorous, irrigated crops of corn and rice growing adjacent to multi-storeyed buildings.
We had a couple of short ‘comfort’ stops during the six hours of travel and as the day headed towards 16:00 we encountered the outskirts of Kunming. One’s initial impressions were not encouraging as the air was undoubtedly smoggy and the greenery of the countryside we’d passed through earlier was now practically non-existent. Despite the wide highway into the city, the traffic density meant that it still took a long time to reach the bus depot.
We then caught a dilapidated old taxi into the centre of this large city where we’re accommodated at the Qianlvchen Hotel.
The taxi driver was unsure of the exact location of our hotel and dropped us off in the main street causing further traffic jams while we unloaded. After entering the foyer of a very posh hotel which was clearly too ‘up-market’ for us, we were directed to the correct location quite close by.
View from our hotel room, Kunming
View from our hotel room, Kunming
Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province is a city of nine million with a skyline punctuated by high-rise office blocks, multi-storeyed hotels and boulevards lined with shopping complexes and billboards.
Kunming has the nickname ‘Spring City’ supposedly due to its all year temperate climate and lack of pollution. We presently reserve judgement on this second factor. Although it is mid-summer, the temperature today is only 25°C, this largely being due to the moderating effect of altitude with Kunming being at 1890 m. This contrasts with cities like Xi’an and Beijing where presently the summer weather is causing palls of heat haze, pollution and oven-like conditions.
Little is known of Kunming’s early history. It acquired its name after the Mongols swept through China establishing the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) and making it the provincial capital rather than Dali, the former regional seat of power under the Nanzhao Kingdom.
We spent the remainder of the afternoon checking emails, doing some washing and generally relaxing prior to going out for a group dinner.
Tomorrow we explore some of the highlights of old Kunming such as the bird and flower markets and visit Cui Hu (Green Lake) Park.
We caught a local bus and spent the first part of the morning in the local flower and animal market. As it was just after 09:00, the markets were only just opening up their stands but nonetheless we saw many strange sights. Only in China could one expect to find a market specialising in pets including not only kittens, puppies, mice and guinea pigs but also a range of song birds, four or five different species of tortoises, numerous fish, insects and arachnids. We found the whole concept most distressing as the animals were couped up in tiny cages or, as were the tortoises/terrapins, crammed into crates with no space at all. Genetically modified frogs were also for sale as pets. These poor unfortunate creatures have had a gene transplanted into their genome giving them colours of fluorescent pink, orange and green.
Equally bizarre was a box of very large scorpions for sale.
Pets for sale in the market, Kunmin
Scorpions for sale in the market, Kunming
Terrapins for sale in the market, Kunming
Fluorescent frogs for sale in the market, Kunming
Orchid plants for sale in the market
We soon found the animal market far too much to tolerate any further due to both the inhumane treatment of the ‘pets for sale’ and the appalling smell their conditions had generated.
The flower section of the market was only partially open. As is often the case in China, many small businesses don’t open until 11:00 and then stay open well into the night. However amongst the flower stalls that had opened the most popular plants seemed to be orchids, succulents and bromeliads.
Having had more than sufficient market exposure for the morning, we walked a kilometre through the streets and traffic to Green Lake Park, that being a pleasant sanctuary in a city with few redeeming natural features.
The park comprises a number of small lakes with gardens, community areas, brightly coloured pavilions and paths all intermingling to create a lovely relaxing atmosphere. The lakes are ‘green’ because they are almost totally covered with lotus plants. Many of these were flowering with large, highly attractive blooms of pink and white. This floral bonanza had created a photographic frenzy amongst the locals and tourists alike.
In the open community areas people were participating in activities such as tai chi, yoga and ribbon dancing to music. Many appeared to be sitting quietly and meditating in solitude.
Ribbon dancing in the park, Kunming
Park, Kunming
Giant waterlilies in the park, Kunming
Giant waterlilies in the park, Kunming
We then returned to our 21st floor hotel room in the central metropolis and gathered our things and caught a local bus the Kunming airport, in preparation for our ninety-minute flight to Guilin.
View from our hotel room, Kunming
View from our hotel room, Kunming
Police vehicle, Kunming
The Riuli plane was stiflingly hot when we boarded and we all suffered near heat exhaustion. Corinne fell asleep and doesn’t even remember the plane taking off. She later awoke and was surprised that we were already half-way to Guilin!
Now being in Guangxi Province, we clambered on board a private bus and headed south from Guilin towards Yangshou, our intended location for the next few days. The road was rough and uneven but the scenery was breathtaking. Apart from the relief of seeing green farmlands again the landscape has features that are described as ‘karst’ mountains.
There are literally thousands of limestone stacks protruding from the flat plain in every direction one looks. These small mountains are pinnacles with sheer sides often several hundred metres high. Most are covered in lush vegetation but where the rocks are barren there is often evidence of white limestone being present. The plain from which these amazing structures rise is rich agricultural ground with rice paddies predominating.
Our path south from Guilin to Yangshou followed the Li River which we’ll travel on tomorrow. On arrival in Yangshou we booked into our hotel and then when for an orientation walk in the central part where night-time creates a party atmosphere with colourful lights and the decorated stalls in the streets set against the illuminated backdrop of the karst mountains that surround the village.
Corinne & Jak at Lucy's cafe, Yangshuo
We had an evening meal of ‘western’ food in a local restaurant and then headed for bed trying to put aside and lingering memories of the concrete and glass edifice of Kunming.
We spent the majority of the day on the Li River near Yangshou surrounded by scenery with natural beauty that is hard to put into words. The karst mountain peaks of weathered limestone were originally the coral reefs of an ancient sea pushed upwards by seismic activity over the eons. The ethereal beauty of this splendour has drawn artists, poets and travellers to view and shower praise upon the natural wonder of these inverted parabolic mountains and the associated caves, rivers and lakes.
We drove about ten kilometres east from Yangshou to Fuli town situated on the banks of the Li River. We then boarded an old steel-hulled river boat powered by an ancient and exceedingly noisy diesel engine and headed downstream at a very gentle pace with the spectacular scenery on either side.
At every bend there was something special to catch one’s attention whether it be a new mountain peak, wading water buffaloes or locals fishing from bamboo rafts. The breathtaking scenery was a delightful change of scene compared to the gargantuan cities of Kunming, Xi'an and Beijing.
Karst mts from ferry terminal, Yangshuo
Group on the ferry, Li River, Yangshuo
Karst mts, Li River, Yangshuo
Karst mts #14, Li River, Yangshuo
Fishermen, Li River, Yangshuo
After about half an hour of steaming we tied up to the river bank; the river in the region we visited was a fairly constant 200 m wide.
Group disembarking from ferry at village for lunch, Li River, Yangshuo
Leaving the boat, we clambered up steps and entered an old Asian village that was comprised of traditional buildings several hundred years old intermingled with relatively modern town-houses. Between the houses were vegetable gardens and small farms with water buffaloes, pigs, hens and the inevitable mangy dogs.
Women doing washing, Li River, Yangshuo
Village men, Li River, Yangshuo
Building in the village, Li River, Yangshuo
Old wall in the village, Li River, Yangshuo
Firewood in the village, Li River, Yangshuo
Buffalo in the village, Li River, Yangshuo
Peanut & corn crops in the village, Li River, Yangshuo
In the middle of the day the conditions were hot and steamy and we sought the cover of a farmer’s cottage where we were served lunch by the farmer’s family.
Buffalo, Li River, Yangshuo
Karst mts, Li River, Yangshuo
We then undertook the return journey to Fuli and went shopping in the wharf-side tourist area where we purchased a hanging scroll depicting the karst mountains and the Li River. We also acquired some little trinkets for the grandchildren. Once back at the Li River Hotel we gathered and planned tomorrow’s various activities before heading to a nearby shop for some introductory calligraphy lessons.
This was great fun but required much practice and dexterity to manipulate the black inked brush to give the sweeping tails on each of the complex characters we attempted. We did improve a little during the hour’s lesson but not sufficiently to make our calligraphy look much more than a reasonable attempt at this appealing and artistic form of communication.
Calligraphy lesson #2, Yangshuo
We finished the day with a group dinner in a nearby restaurant and then Corinne went shoe shopping and found just what she was after; casual canvas shoes with colourful fish designs on them.
Street scene, Yangshuo
Street scene at night, Yangshuo
Tomorrow is our last day of full-on activities with another long bike ride and several short hikes to a mountain top and areas of caves. The forecast is once again for steamy, hot weather and maybe a storm later in the day. Great!!