Travelling through Yunnan

It probably comes as no surprise that I have been living a life of sloth and gluttony over the past few weeks. Well…scratch that, more like 1 week. I was actually very busy during the first half of January, hence my absence from my blog, Facebook (but I’ve been growing out of that for a while), E! News (which I’m growing more dependent on), torrent downloads, and practicing Chinese in any way.

My family came to visit me for two weeks, arriving on New Years Eve at 11:30pm. It was non-stop traveling after that: walking around all day, every day while in Kunming, then on to Lijiang, Tiger Leaping Gorge, and Guangzhou.

Kunming, affectionately nicknamed China’s “eternal Spring city,” thankfully didn’t disappoint. The weather stayed warm and the snowflakes waited until my family left to make an appearance. We went to the Western Hills (西山), Green Lake (翠湖), the old 飞虎队 Headquarters, the Military Academy Museum, the 云大 campus, and ate lots.

We went to Lijiang via sleeper train, en route to Tiger Leaping Gorge. I figured I’d give my family the China experience and put them through the quintessential overnight train ride, a popular mode of transportation that everyone from college students to migrant workers depend on. In general it’s not so bad – I prefer it over the sleeper buses, on which everyone smokes (turning the bus into a hot box) and the driver blares bad SciFi movies till 3 am. Plus, the probability of getting into an accident on a train is much less than riding a bus with a sleep-deprived driver who is navigating icy roads.

Lijiang (丽江) has two parts: the old/ancient city (古城) and the new city. 古城 is often described by foreign visitors as a tourist trap, but Chinese people love going there. I found it interesting for a day trip.

Up until the early- or mid-90s, Lijiang was a cute town of traditional houses, hard-working people, and a mix of Naxi people (one of China’s ethnic minorities) and the Han majority. But then travelers realized how beautiful it was and it because a major tourist destination for Chinese and foreigners alike. It’s also a great stop between Kunming and Tiger Leaping Gorge, the latter being arguably even more popular than Lijiang.

So, in about 10 years it became what it is today: a small-scale Disney World, with stores lining every street, 24-hour ATMs, KFCs and Pizza Hut, and old mansions renovated into charming hotels. It’s worth a day-trip if you’re on your way to Shangrila or Tiger Leaping Gorge. If you need a hotel recommendation, I’ll gladly give you the name of where we stayed: the bathrooms were amazing (I’m hard to please when it comes to bathrooms)!

We went to Tiger Leaping Gorge (虎跳峡) after a day of rest from the sleeper train. It was definitely a difficult hike, and though we could have gone back to Lijiang after staying just one night in the gorge, we decided to stay one extra night to relax and take in scenery from the guest house balcony.

January counts as the off-season in the Gorge, and I thought it was the perfect time to go.

The altitude is high and dry, so it rarely snows there, and the sun is especially strong, so there were times when I was hiking in just a tank top.

We happened to go when a huge Korean high school student group was also hiking through, but besides passing them on the trail and seeing them at Halfway House (one of the guesthouses which is located, well, halfway through the gorge), we didn’t see many people on the trail during our 2 1/2 days there.

During the rainy season (summer), there are mudslides and waterfalls that appear all over the Gorge trail. We had to pass through a few “waterfalls” on our hike. Having to walk through them with any more water force behind them would have been terrifying. Every few years someone dies on the trail, and I imagine it must be during the rainy season.

After going back to Kunming to rest for a few days, we were off to Guangzhou.

Cold, a bit rainy, relatively expensive, but the food was good and, for once, I felt tall. The men may have been taller in Guangzhou than in Kunming, but the women were definitely shorter. Guess I know where my awe-striking height comes from.

I’m still recovering a week after my family has left. I can’t remember the last time I was so exhausted! The horrible bout of food poisoning I got the day before yesterday didn’t help in the least bit. I was throwing up so much my eyes were tearing. In 7 months, only once did I get food poisoning in Beijing, and that was from a McDonalds. Kunming really has to up their standards in food quality control and cleanliness standards. At least I have an excuse not to join the gym for a few more days! 🙂