Xiding

From Jinghong we got in a little Chinese style mini-van and left for a small town named Xiding. Starting out early in the morning it was difficult to see outside the windows, and there was little to see besides flat, desolate farmland. Then once we got passed another town, where most tourists stop for the day, the landscape and scenery improved (though the road got noticeably bumpier). All of the sudden we were seeing mountains pop up through the clouds of fog.

Up one mountain we rode, our final destination being where the town holds its weekly market (plus a nice, white pagoda). There was nothing spectacular about the market itself, but there were some Hani women in their finest head gear. Our driver took us to the restaurant in the area, where he seemed to be friends with everyone, even helping prepare the fish for lunch. We had what I consider to be just about the tastiest meal since living in China, accompanied by travel companions from the UK and Austria.

On the way back from Xiding we stopped off at a small Buddhist monastery/pagoda, and then a tiny village on the side of the road. It felt a little strange walking into this village for no good reason, and then being accosted by a few women wishing to sell the white folk all their tourist nicknacks.

Xishuangbanna

Our next stop after Kunming and the Western Mountains was Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture. It is the southern most part of Yunnan, bordering with Burma and Laos. Quite different from other areas of China, the Han Chinese are not the majority in the area, the largest ethnic group being the Dai, and it feels like you have entered a new country that is half Chinese, half Thai. The name of Xishuangbanna was established in 1570 during the Ming Dynasty, at which time the area was divided into 12 sub-districts, or "Xishuang" (meaning 12 in the Dai language), for the purpose of collecting taxes. In the Dai language, a "Banna" is one thousand Mu, a unit of measurement in Chinese similar to an acre.

From Kunming we took a 10 hour ride on a sleeper bus (I didn't fit in my bunk) to Jinghong, the capital city of Xishuangbanna, which by Chinese standards feels like a little town. There is nothing much going on in the city itself, but it is a hub for travellers looking to explore the surrounding countryside. We simply sat around in a foreigner friendly cafe and met other people who were looking to share the cost of hiring a driver for the day.

Kunming

Over the Christmas/New Year holidays I had a visit from the beautiful Miss Tanya Erassova. We spent a week traveling through Yunnan province. Our various modes of transportation were complete with trains, planes, and automobiles.

Our first stop was in the provincial capital of Kunming, aka Spring City - it never gets too hot in the summer, and never too cold in the winter. Kunming itself isn't all that interesting, just another big Chinese city, but it was nice to be able to differentiate the sky from the clouds for a change.

We spent one day just outside the city in an area called Xishan (Western Mountains). Getting there was interesting, and provided the first instance in which I realized that my guide book was not to be trusted. Once there we climbed high up the mountain in search of something called the Mini Stone Forest, only to discover that there were just a few small rocks next to the path.

The first 3 pics are from Xishan. The last is from the centre of the city, and needed to be taken quickly, because of all the people begging the foreigners for money, intent on ruining our pictures.

Chengdu - Part II

Our hostel was in the small Tibetan part of the city. Walking around that area there were many men dressed in monks clothes that would come up to us with a picture of a burned down monastery accompanied by an explanation in Chinese and Tibetan. They would get fairly pushy, stroking your arm, and one even rubbed my belly. All this seemed kind of fishy, but we gave some money to one of them, and then subsequently tried to explain to all the rest that we'd already given their friend money and to leave us alone. The first day we had lunch at a Tibetan restaurant and they would walk inside and harass us. The Tibetan people working in the restaurant didn't take too kindly to them, which made us even more suspicious of what was going on. (There was also a shop we walked by where anyone could by monk's robes)

So basically we were good little tourists in Chengdu. We went to a mausoleum/museum/gardens commemorating Guan Yu, Liu Bei, Zhang Fei, who were these important guys during the 3 kingdoms period in China (~200 AD) who took an oath of brotherhood. Rememberance day in China (at least at int'l schools) is about these kindof guys. We also went to a Buddhist monastery where monks still live though its a tourist attraction, to a Tex-mex restaurant, and to see the pandas.

Chengdu - Part I - Getting There

This weekend I traveled to Chengdu with Jesse & Chris. Chengdu is the closest major city to Chongqing and is the capital of Sichuan province. We were supposed to leave at 5:50pm Thurs evening, but somebody (who shall remain nameless) was mistaken about which train station we were supposed to leave from. First, we went to the North Train Station, arriving at about 5:30, only to be told that there are no trains that go to Chengdu from there. We then taxied it to Chongqing North train station, getting there 2o minutes too late. In Chinese the 2 stations don't sound as similar as in English.

So we exchanged are tickets for the 12:30am train, which was a bad idea. Hindsight being as it is, the best thing would have been to take the 6:00 am train. Our tickets got us onto the train, but did not provide us with seats. This wouldn't have been all that bad, but keep in mind that we were on the train for 5 hours, and this train was filled with people who had already been on it for as long as 30 hours. It was loud, (what were these people talking about at 2:30 in the morning?) filled with smoke, (even the train employees were smoking at that time of night), and crammed tightly so that the aisles and spaces between cars were filled with seatless people.

Jesse was standing next to a baby, which was in its assless pants. This meant that he had a birds eye view of how babies in China relieve themselves on Chinese trains. At around 3:00, after a few stops, I managed to get a seat. Seated next to me was a wisp of a man, not much more than a skeleton, who looked slated to have died a few days beforehand. All in all, not a pleasant experience. Jesse said it was only his second worst train ride in China, so that gives me something to look forward to :P

TV Interview

Yesterday I had my five minutes of fame and was interviewed about Halloween. As we were waiting for the crew to set up the stage I was asked by some other people to enter a soundproof room and read a few lines of English. A couple of the lines had the acronym MUN, so I assume that refers to Model United Nations. I'd be interested to know where my voice will be heard.

For the Halloween interview there was also an Irish teacher with me. He carried most of the load answering questions, since he knew about the origins of Halloween, traditional legends and games etc... I didn't have anything nearly as interesting to talk about, just the basics of trick or treating costumes. Our interviewer was very nervous and she kept forgetting her questions and fumbling over her words. I think it was her first time interviewing people on camera. When the team is finished editing I will receive a copy of the interview.

Halloween and other developments

Last night I went to a Halloween party in the district closest to the school. It was at a restaurant called A Taste of Singapore. It's a foreigner friendly place with owners who speak English. The food was disappointing; a buffet with Western style Asian food... strange how the fake Chinese food costs more than the real food in China. My costume was a bit unimaginative, and I have just decided to name it Zionist Zvi.

On a different but related note, I may be interviewed on some school tv program run by journalism students from the university next door. They get different foreigners to talk about random Western things, and I will probably have a conversation about Halloween. So quick, tell me what fun things I should make up to tell them.