10 Days in Yunnan

YUNNAN

The first 10 days of my 22 day tour started in the province of Yunnan. Yunnan is situated in the south-west of the country and borders Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar (Burma) and the Chinese Tibetan province. Yunnan is considered one of the most picturesque provinces of China. It has a varied environment, from tropical rainforests in the south to tall mountainous peaks in the north-west.

KUNMING

The tour started in Kunming. I arrived on Saturday, 16 September from Hong Kong. I had pre-arranged an airport transfer to my hotel and found my driver holding my name, and the names of two other travellers, in the arrival hall. After spending 15 minutes trying to explain that the other two people were not travelling with me, I thought, SHIT, I'm in China and this guy has NO idea what I'm talking about.

Kunming is a modern city with around 4 million people. I can't say there is anything spectacular to see in Kunming, its inner city, in many ways, is very similar to Adelaide (which is kind of weird). The city has large wide streets, with lots of gardens and squares dotted all over. I met an American chick (who's vegetarian) at the reception of my hotel after arriving from the airport, who was also on my tour. We decided to spend the next day walking around the city and checking out the sites. We had an interesting day, filled with paddle boating in the gardens, trying to order vegetarian meals in Chinese and finding western toilets in hotels and department stores- all fun stuff!

My 22 day tour started on Sunday, September 17. There's 16 people on the Yunnan tour in total and only 7 for the rest of the tour. There is a mix of nationalities and ages (from 19 to late 60’s). On the first day of the tour, we visited the Flower Market and Bird Market in Kunming, which was filled with some interesting sites. Some fish on display in aquariums near the bird market had dull blue and red colourings on their sides. It turns out they are lasered to produce these colour variations???

LIJIANG & TIGER LEAPING GORGE

One 10 hour overnight train, a stop for breakfast in Dali, then a 4 hour bus ride, finally ends in Lijiang. Lijiang is split in to an OLD and NEW town – we stayed in OLD town. Old town (as described by Lonely Planet) is a ‘delightful maze of cobbled streets, rickety old wooden buildings, gushing canals and the hurly-burly of market life’. Lijiang is home to the Naxi people – one of 56 minority groups within China. OLD town is one of their traditional towns. Although the town is quaint and pretty, there is now a large international and internal tourism element which, in some ways, spoils the ‘authenticity’ of the experience.

Ignoring the tourists, there is a great atmosphere and so much activity everywhere. We had the afternoon to explore, before preparing for our three day hike in Tiger Leaping Gorge the next morning (the gorge being another 3.5 hour bus ride from Lijiang).

Tiger Leaping Gorge is the second deepest gorge in the world – it measures 16km in length and 3900m in height. The gorges sits in the far west of the province, very close to the Tibetan border. The river at this point is known as the Jinsha River, but eventually flows in to the Yangtze River and on to Shanghai. There are two tracks available to hikers – the low road (which is a paved road for vehicles and sits at an elevation of around 1800m) or the high road which is only available to people and horses. We started on the low road and walked 11km to Tina’s Guest House, which is 5km short of the length of the gorge.

The gorge is spectacular. Below is a mighty river, filled with off the scale rapids, and above, snow capped mountains, with whisks of clouds occasionally blocking the view of the jaggered peaks. The low road is flat and easy. We make it to Tina’s in around 2 hours and rest in preparation for our next days hike.

The next morning a group of us descend 100m (almost vertically) to the river’s edge – this part of the gorge is known as the middle rapids. Being up close to the rapids was awesome and I was able to get some great pictures of the enormity of the gorge. We went back up a different way from our descent track. This way involved some serious climbing (the hardest in the whole track) and in one part, a 90 degree, vertically aligned ladder, known to the locals as the ‘sky ladder’. This was BLOODY scary – in fact – I can’t believe I actually did it. From the bottom it really didn’t look that bad, but about half way up, looking both sides at a completely vertical drop down to the rapids below, and hearing the creaks and moans of a ladder tied to the cliff by some old steel wire, the andrenalin seriously started pumping (this ladder would have to be around 25m from bottom to top). By the time we climbed back to the low road, I was amazed at what I had done, although some people in the group thought it was a piece of cake!

By the time we reached the top it was lunch time and we only had an hour before starting our trek up to the high road and on to the Halfway Guest House (you guessed it, it’s halfway along the gorge). The high road is a 500m ascent from the low road (2300m elevation). This was the hardest part of our three day trek in the gorge, taking over 5 hours. We ascend to the low road then walk along a spectacular path, passing under waterfalls, through thick shrub and forest and passing a couple of local houses dotted along the path. Eventually we make it to the Halfway House.

The third day of the hike involved a small ascent of 300m to the path which eventually leads us back down to the low road. Since most of this hike was downhill I found it quite easy and really enjoyed taking in the scenery on the way down. There were some great spots for photographs and I can’t wait to show a couple of these when I get back! We made it down to the low road in around 4 hours, just in time for the public bus back to Lijiang.

We again spend another night in Lijiang, which was good fun! A small group of us decided we needed a KFC injection after our three day marathon in Tiger Leaping Gorge and I couldn’t agree more – western fast food is like a god send after 11 days of Chinese cuisine (what a cope out, but I couldn’t help myself)!

This night, a small group of us end up in one of the local pubs dotted along the canals. There are pubs each side of the canals and are all open in the front. It has been a local tradition to compete with members in opposite pubs on the other side of the canal with this chant game. First a group sings a short song or chant (I don’t really know what because I can’t understand Mandarin, but one group was singing Happy Birthday) and at the end of the chant they scream Yashou, Yashou, Ya Ya SHOUUUUUU. The group in the opposite bar then starts with their own chant and again finishes with the Yashou (which is a Tibetan chant meaning – Come On or Bring It On). The aim is to be the loudest and most expressive group and really ‘give it’ to the group you’re opposing.

Being the ‘voyeristic’ aussies we are (there were four of us), we decided to give it ago and see what the reaction would be. We sat ourselves up in the top floor of this bar and decided on Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi! The four of us, at the top of our voices, sang the chant, but were completely rejected by the locals in the opposing pub – how embarassing. Down below were four westerners that congratulated us on our efforts, we of course invited them up to join us (they were from Finland, but currently living in Ireland). We were also joined by my American buddy from Kunming along with two other members of the other tour group – now we meant business. Over the next 1 and a half hours we sang tunes from Row Row Row Your Boat to Madonna’s ‘Like a Virgin’ – we were unstopable! With 11 people, we were really getting the attention of the locals and had three groups apposing us in the two bars opposite! We’re not sure how this game is meant to end, but since we had run out of tunes and had no voice left, we decided to hit the sack.

DALI

The next morning we had a four bus trip to Dali. Dali has been a popular spot for western tourists to chill out. The city is split between old town and new town. Old town sits between 2100m high Jade Green Mountain and Erhai Lake. The Bai minority group inhabit this region and have thought to have settled in the area around 3000 years ago.

The group opt for a horse ride up Jade Green Mountain to Zhonghe Temple. The temple belongs to the Taoist religion. I hate horses – I seriously was not made to ride them. If there was an alternative path, my horse would take it. I would regularly find myself in thick shrub, waiting for my horse to finish a feed on some lush plant growth. Sometimes, my horse would enjoy teasing the horse in front, ending in a small tussle between the two horses. Going down was not much better, again my horse would take great pleasure in subjecting me to small vertical cliff jumps, instead of the purpose made steps on an alternative path. All the time behind me, was Steve Irwins reincarnation, shouting ‘just pull his head up, mate’! I was very happy to be back on ground and walking.

The next morning we took a bike ride to the Bai villages and rice fields dotted along Erhui Lake. I loved exploring this area and got some great pictures of the locals at work in the fields. In the afternoon I explored Dali city and met up with the group for dinner and a night out on the town.

The next day we travelled back to Kunming via bus (had to pass two traffic jams along the way. Adelaidians would not survive the roads here, there is no order to the traffic and everyone simply beep their horns around two seconds before they are about to plough in to your ass. Bike riding on the main roads is even more interesting!

Back in Kunming, the 10 day Yunnan adventure is over and we fly to Guilin to start the rest of the tour (more on this in future blogs). I really enjoyed Yunnan and have learnt so much about the minority cultures that exist in this region.

THINGS I HAVE LEARNT SO FAR

1. Traveller’s Diarrehia really SUCKS,
2. Squat Toilets (when you can’t squat properly, like me) really SUCK,
3. Squat Toilets, combined with Traveller's Diarrehia and the horrible realisation you forgot to bring your toilet paper with you, can get VERY messy – believe me. I have never been so happy to see a copy of Chinese Vogue in a public toilet in all my life,
4. The Chinese word for Tampons (some how I must have said this whilst trying to find a lufer in a supermarket in Lijiang, because the shop assistant giggled and handed me a packet of Tampons whilst running away),Why we have MALE and FEMALE toilets at home (think about it).
5. Why we have MALE and FEMALE toilets at home (think about it).