Bana, Bulang and the Burmese Border

Leaving Dali was hard. After 3 weeks in luxury hitting the real world again was a bit scary but a special hi to Dave and Song and all the staff at Jade Emu for making me feel so at home. (Special mention to Della and Nancy for taking me out for dinner, and to Chen Li and Karissa for all their help!) It was also sad to say goodbye to Yuxiu who showed me lots of different places and experiences that the average tourist would not get to see.
So it was off the the Bana (Xishuanbana) in the hope of getting a bit warmer. I had a bad hangover when I arrived and spent most of the afternoon getting to know the part of town I was staying in. I had an email from my friends Alex and Evelyne (German and Swiss) who had given me some ideas about where to stay and what to do. At first I was too tired to do too much but for some reason I decided after dinner to ask about some trekking info at a Cafe Alex had mentioned. Within 5 minutes Anipa, a local guide was at the cafe telling me that he had a trip leaving in the morning! So I got myself organised before bed and the next morning we were off!
Anipa is a Bulang people. One of the many minority groups in Yunnan. We caught buses West, towards the Myanmar border, to Xiding where we had lunch at a local restaurant before hitting the hills.. (day 1 - 16kms)
We walked over a couple of mountains - through a lot of farming plots, past a massive Banyan tree, past a village with a large temple (Zhanglang), before we hit a small local village around dusk at 6'ish. This village used to hold many more families before a large number of them set up a secondary village 30 minutes away due to a lack of water. The secondary village (Manwa) is now bigger than the first and is where Anipa's family live, this is where we stayed the first night - in his parents house.

Many visitors came that night and I slept pretty well - in fact didn't get up till after 9 the next morning.
It was ok because we had a lazier day planned for day 2 (only about 14 kms). We walked past a local temple before hitting a border post for lunch. This town (Bada) was 28kms from the border but the last settlement so it had a customs office. This village was an Akha people village - the thing that distinguishes their costume is a piece of wood, like a prisoners stock that they wear around their neck..
We had lunch and pushed onto the next Bulang village (Manmai) where we stayed with another local family. The food was delicious, including some venison recently hunted from the nearby forest.















It was an early start on day three and after looking at the the local temple (which was large) we headed down into some rain forest. It was very lush and green and there were some huge trees which were great..
After crossing a stream it was back up hill for a couple of hours before another hill top village (Manxi). This was where my friends Alex and Evelyne had stayed, but since they were here.. just 2 weeks ago the locals have put a new road in, down the side of the mountain.
So instead of walking down like they did - this means that we got in the back of a tractor and rode it (in Neutral) down the mountain - at quite some speed. It was a bit scary at times - particularly, as you can see - it's not all that easy to steer around the hairpin corners. But we made it a long way down before the road got too rough and we then walked into town, which is another border town with Myanmar (Daluo) - this one right on the border - it was pretty interesting to see the diversity of peoples and cultures in China.

Anipa told us a story of the Chinese official who had the money to build the road from Daluo to Jinghong. Just over the border in Myanmar is a large Casino and apparently this is where the money for the road stayed.. Chinese people are now banned from visiting the Myanmar Casino over the boder, and so they should be because the current road is shocking. Jinghong has a massage center that is run by blind people and I was thinking of visiting after the hike... After the bus ride back - I am definitely heading down there too sooth some aching muscles.
Its a bit cool today in Jinghong so it seems that winter is chasing me south fast.. Laos here I come...

The Dali Community

It seems like not much has been happening over the last week, but when I think about it quite a lot has. I have been in Dali for quite a while now and it is a really great way to get a better understanding of the way people live and the way of life here.

I have been spending a bit of time at the renowned bar 'The Bad Monkey', helping one of the owners get a website organised. It is a bit hard working on old computers with bad software but we have done quite a bit.

Whilst I was in there one evening a local guy came in to look at getting a tattoo from Ollie (the tattooist). The local guy had a friend with him (Yuxiu) and after a while we were communicating, really we could only use Yuxiu's English, which isn't that great - but it is much better than my Chinese!

Duan Zhangdi decided not to get a tattoo but before they left I arranged to meet Yuxiu for some home grown coffee in the morning.

So the next day she introduced me to local Bai breakfast (pancake thing) called Er Hai (ear - the same as the lake here), because it is shaped like an ear. It was delicious. After that we went to Duan Zhangdi's hostel where Yuxiu had been staying for the last week on holiday. It is a house/guesthouse that is over 100 years old and had a great feel and character. After coffee we went to the local market because we were having a lunch where everyone had to cook a dish. It was the first time that I've cooked for a while - and even longer since I cooked Chinese but my dish got finished so it must have been OK (or maybe my friends were being polite!)

I got a bit of a shock when Duan Zhangdi put a chickens heart into my bowl - I think this was considered the best part of the dish but I had to graciously refuse.

I had been noticing for a day or so that my elbow was feeling a bit tender. I got a small cut on it when I fell in the dark at Tiger Leaping Gorge. The following day it had blown up a fair bit and was very red. I was sure of an infection and was hoping to see the building owner of the Jade Emu who is a Chinese Doctor. I missed him that day but I was lucky enough to get invited to a family dinner at Yuxiu's house. Yuxiu lives with her parents in Xiaguan (Dali new town) which is 20 minutes from Dali old town by car. Duan Zhangdi was good enough to pick me up and we had dinner with Yuxiu, her parents, her 2 aunts, one uncle and 2 cousins (who she calls brother and sister). It was a great experience - unfortunately I don't speak enough Chinese to really talk to too many of the family, but I really enjoyed the meal. Afterwards we came back to the Jade Emu for a bit of pool on Dave's pool table.

The next day my Elbow was very swollen. Luckly I saw the Chinese doctor when I got up (quite late), his immediate response was 'straight to the hospital for an injection'. I decided to head into Xiaguan as there are better hospitals there and rang Yuxiu to see if she could come with me. She agreed but unfortunately due to communication breakdown she was waiting at a different bus stop to where I got off and after an hour or so I headed off on my own.
It's quite an experience walking into a hospital where you can't communicate effectively. Luckily I had a note written by the staff at the Jade Emu and after I showed this to the registrar(?) she quickly took me around a few sections of the hospital and then pushed me to the front of the queue to see an outpatient surgeon. He couldn't speak English but soon had his wife on the phone to translate for us! She explained that the doctor thought I would OK after an injection but I needed a blood test. I managed this, and after that the surgeon send me down to some emergency doctors. These 2 could manage a small amount of English and wrote me notes. We considered 3 injections but they decided to give me some strong antibiotics instead (yay!). These weren't cheap in Chinese terms - probably similar prices to Australia, but considering that I didn't have to pay anything for the medical services, I was really pretty impressed with the treatment I received. (I fetl a bit bad being pushed to the front of medical queues!)
My arm is healing quite well now - Dave's brother Tim is here from Melbourne so yesterday I did the Cloud Belt path walk in the Cangshan mountains with them (again!).
It's getting cooler here in Dali so I think it's really time for me to head south soon. Xishuangbanna on the Laotian border is looking good.
Yesterday I visited Xiaguan and had "cross the bridge noodles" which were delicious for lunch. For dinner I went to visit some of Yuxiu's friends and we made and ate heaps of dumplings..

Chickens feet

I had a few relaxing days in Dali, or maybe not so relaxing as they have involved recovering from having a few big nights particularly around the full moon! I was feeling a bit annoyed with myself so it was time to get out and see a bit more around the area.
Last Saturday I grabbed a bike at the Jade Emu and set off exploring the lake and its surrounds. First off I headed to Xi Zhou which is the most inland point of the lake and famous for its architecture. It was interesting to cycle through the villages and markets and all the kids and some older Bai people all run out and shout 'hello' as you ride through. It is also great to see lots of locals getting around in the local minority dress. From there I headed to the top of the lake where I stopped in a local restaurant for lunch before heading into the north east saying hello to more and more locals as I went and checking out the huge vegetable plantations that line the road. I eventually decided to turn around and after a very long ride back I made it to the Jade Emu just around sunset. I slept pretty well that night - maybe too well as the following day the plan was to head to Jizu Shan or chicken foot mountain.
After helpful directions from the Jade Emu staff I started my journey around midday, it involved 3 buses and a taxi ride. Jizu Shan is a sacred Buddhist mountain in China (1 of 5) and a point of pilgrimage. I waited for a while in a mini-van with a few others including a uni student, who eventually persuaded the driver to head off without a full van - we all payed a little extra. Overall the journey from Dali took around 4 hours before the mini-van dropped us off at a temple about half way up the mountain.
I was heading to the top so I could get up and watch the sunrise and found my way up the path after reading that the cable car that covers the last 2.5 kms shuts down at 5pm. I starting walking up at a pretty fast pace, the walk through the forests was beautiful - maybe a bit to hard to be rushing! I eventually made it to the cable car and it was still running - which I was quite pleased about - especially as I hadn't really had lunch. I attempted to get the cable car but the attendants wouldn't let me in! They pointed at watches and while I was gesticulating at them the last people got out of a carriage and it all shut down. I was pretty tired but it looked like my trip to Jizu Shan was also going to be a pilgrimage too.

I set off on foot and the first thing I came across was a staircase with about 500 steps up - some Bai women selling things including accommodation waited at the bottom watching me as I went up.

It actually felt quite good walking all the way up myself. The top is around 3200 meters up and I arrived at the top sections just at dusk which was really quite beautiful. I also had a few feelings of insignificance as I was trying to take photos on lookout points with no railings and huge gusts of wind made me sit down with fright!

I was the only foreigner on the mountain top that night and you could tell that they weren't used to having too many stay up there as there was no English and whilst the Chinese were eating large delicious meals I was eating small plates of vegetables which cost me a lot of money in Chinese terms.
It was pretty cold being so high up so I went to bed early - ready to get up for the sunrise.
It was still cold in the am but the colors in the sky were fantastic as the sun came up. I had a look around the temples at the top and climbed the pagoda before starting my decent.
The walk down through the forest was great again and for the first time in China there were birds chirping in the trees. There are a number of temples, nunneries and convents to visit on the way down and I stopped at them all aside from the few near the top I checked out the night before.





Eventually I made it down to the half way point of the mountain where the main temple for the mountain is and there is a memorial to one of the grandfathers of Buddhism in China. This temple was nice - particularly compared to a lot of the others which were much more simple and low key. I was feeling pretty tired by this time and after meeting up with a friendly Chinese girl I met the night before we jumped on a bus back to Binchuan which luckily for me headed onto Dali new town which is an easy stop from the old town and the Jade Emu. I've found some muscles in my legs that I must have previously forgotten about so it looks like a couple more relaxing days ahead! I was having a chat to the guys who own the 'Bad Monkey' bar in Dali - which is a bit famous for being here for so long - and they need some help with their website..

Some Yunnan Photos..

Hi,
The Internet is very slow around here and I'm having trouble getting some photos up..

Here's a few of my recent highlights in Yunnan. Mostly Tiger Leaping Gorge

Click this Link

Dali and the Jade Emu

After Lijang it was an easy bus ride to Dali to visit my third mate in China and the last pre-planned destination on my trip. It was great to get into Dali and see my mate Dave. His guesthouse has been open for around 6 months and is definitely the nicest I have stayed at in China. The Jade Emu also gets fantastic ratings on the big hostel websites so everyone thinks its great. I'm a lucky VIP guest and will probably chill out here for a week or 2.

Dali has a great feel and is perched between a mountain range and the 7th largest lake in China. It has been slightly developed into a tourist hub but not as much as Lijang so the numbers of people around is much less - again there are city walls and water or rivers running through the centre of the town.

I arrived to find my friends from the Gorge walk and had a bit of a late night to start with. My only real concern was that my Chinese visa was about to run out so the next day I rode a bike down the lake highway and it was really easy to get a visa extension. I had heard some horror stories about visa renewals so this was a big relief and I now have another 30 days to check out Yunnan. Surrounding the highway is lots of villages and acres and acres of veggie patches which is nice to look at and see the local Bai people working in.



The next couple of days I spent hiking in the cangshan mountains which sit behind Dali. The mountains are great - there are around 10 of them and they are all over 4000m high. There is a national park behind Dali and there has been a stone path (cloud pass) built into the side of the mountains which make for spectacular walks. You walk out around a ridge to look out over the villages and lake and then back into waterfalls in the valleys. The first day we walked up one of the mountains and caught a chairlift to the south down.. and the second day I caught a cable car up and walked a different section, north, to the same chairlift down again - after the chairlift we head quickly into town for some yummy food at one of the cafes/restaurants.






Hanging out at the guest house and I have really started to fit into traveller mode and meet lots of other people. I have also bumped into some friends I made in Shangri-la and they had a spare mosquito net which will come in handy for Laos which will be my next destination.

I have actually been in Dali for around 5 days now. It has seemed to be getting harder to find time to do postings to this blog. (Thanks to all the people sending me messages and posting comments.)

Yesterday I wandered up to the 3 pagodas which are probably the most famous things in Dali. They have been here since the 800's and are in lots of photos. Many travellers don't pay to go into the complex here because it is very expensive in China terms (around $25AU) and also because you can't climb the pagodas. I was just going to wander up there and take some photos but something drew me to pay up and go in.
The 3 pagaodas had a great feel and ther were some interesting artifacts that have been found when they were restored.
Behind the 3 pagaoda's I was quite surprised. There is a Buddist temple complex that is the centre of Buddism for Yunnan. The complex is only about 25 years old as the original one had been destroyed during the cultural revoltuion and I though that it wouldn't be as good as old temples that have a more historical feel.
I think the price of the entry kept most people away and there was nice buddist chanting and music being piped throughout all the complex and gardens so it was a really relaxing and peaceful afternoon. There are 1000 statues which are gold plated throughout the complex and one hall which contained 500 lifesize ones was amazing. I thought a few of them were live people! I ended up spending the whole afternoon up there and it was well worth it.

All the walking has caused some more split heels so it looks like I'll have to take it easy for a few days.. but that shouldn't be a problem in Dali!
Luxury accomodation and I have a few books to read - the hardest decision is which restaurant/food should I try tonight!

The old town of Lijang

We got into Lijang in the early afternoon and went on a search to find Mama Naxi's guesthouse. Mama Naxi now runs 3 guesthouses with different price ranges but we eventually found our way to number 3 which is the backpacker version and where Mama gives you fruit and cooks a cheap family meal for everyone each night. It was nice to feel so welcomed and a great way to meet the other guests staying there.
The old town of Lijang looks fantastic - it has been fully restored to its old state and has about 8 rivers running through it - with the streets built around and over them.. The only problem is that Chinese tour groups also think it looks fantastic and there are heaps of large groups of them walking slowly through the street all day long so it can get a bit tiring walking around. I was surprised at the amount of Spirilina shops there(?)
Lijang is also the home of the "World Famous" Naxi Orchestra.. This is an orchestra that plays ancient music and uses ancient instruments - some of which there are not many remaining in the world. Baba Naxi got us cheap tickets and we went along to the concert hall.. The songs were interesting - the "president" of the orchestra started the group around 50 years ago and there were a number of musicians over 80 years old. The president is obviously quite famous in China and the majority of our concert was him talking - mainly in Chinese which got a bit boring after a while..
I decided on the second day that I would hire a bike to look at a nearby village that used to be the capital of the Naxi empire before Genghis Khan came through.. Maybe there would be less tourists there! Before I left I had a quick look in an English bookstore for a travel guide for Lao as this is where I'm planning to go next and maybe it would be my last chance to get one. They wanted about $50 so I decided not to buy it but while getting my bike organised I saw an Irish guy Myles who I had met over dinner last night.. He wanted to come bike riding so I waited a bit and as we headed of he told me about his travels and how he wasn't going to Laos as planned. He had a guidebook that he didn't want anymore so I decided to help him out and take it off his hands!
We got a bit lost finding our way to Baisha but eventually we got there and it was nice and small and empty too! It wasn't long before we were stopped by the famous Dr Ho and invited into his house/rooms for tea. How do I know he is famous? Because he told me! He told us about himself for quite a while and all the famous people he has met. He even pulled out Andrew Daddo's, channel 7 card and told me that he will be on television in Australia soon.. His story is quite interesting and he is a herbalist and has cured at least one person of leukemia.. I bought some herbal tea from him (feels great when you drink it!) which he makes with herbs from a nearby famous mountain..
When we left his home it was starting to rain so we decided to head back to town which was a long, cold ride! The rain convinced me that tomorrow was time to move on and head to Dali where my mate Dave has started a hostel earlier this year..

Like a Tiger

Shangri-la was great. It is a lovely town and not too touristy yet..! It was a bit cold at night and the altitude was affecting my sleeping a bit so I thought it best to move on to somewhere lower. I was hoping to walk Tiger Leaping Gorge but the guidebook suggested not doing this alone, while I was having some Tibetan food I heard a couple talking about 'Dave' and some suggestions he had made. I though "No it can't be", so I asked them if they had been to Dali - they had, so I asked where they stayed and yes - they had been staying at my friend Dave's new guesthouse - where I was heading for a visit while in the area. Before I knew it we were planning dinner and then the trek of the gorge!
Julie is from the UK and her partner Mikko is from Finland. They have been living in Finland and are on a long trip around Asia. Over a hot pot dinner I also met Nancy from Canada, who also knew Dave, Julie and Mikko and she was keen to do the trek as well so the following afternoon we caught a bus to Qiatou which is the town at the start of the walk.
We got off the bus around 5pm and were immediately met by Margo who is an Australian woman who has been living in Qiatou for 11 years - she suggested we leave immediately to get to a guesthouse 2 hours away before dark. This way we would avoid touts and other groups. After a quick bite and leaving most of our luggage with Margo, we set off with small (day) packs on the hike.
Tiger Leaping Gorge is a contender for the deepest canyon in the world. Starting the walk the views were fantastic - as the sun started to set it was changing the colors of the white snow topped mountains across the gorge.
We made it to the Naxi family guesthouse after dark - the last 15 minutes with no light was a bit tough. It was a great guesthouse though and we had a yummy meal before looking at a fantastic view of the stars.
The next morning we could actually see where we had arrived. The guesthouse was quite large and on a hill above a small village. The morning cloud was below us and it looked like you could walk across it.

The morning walk up the "28 bends" was the hardest part of the hike and after it you reach the highest point of the hike. We had lunch at another guesthouse before the afternoon hike and then stopped at the "halfway guesthouse" for the second night. This guesthouse has "toilets with the best view in the world" looking across at the snow capped mountains. Many other groups arrived that afternoon and it was a lively night.

The third day was an easy 3 hour walk to the actual gorge. Many people stop here, Mikko, Julie and I walked down to the gorge and then paid more money to do a trek along the river which was fantastic and well worth it. We stayed another night in Walnut Grove in the valley, with more spectacular views before getting a ride back to Margos and picking up our luggage, and getting on a bus to Lijang.