10/10/2007-10/12/2007
Yunnan ("Yun"=clouds, "nan"=south) Province is deep in southwestern China with the Himalayas to the northwest and Laos, Vietnam, and Myanmar to the south. It is known for its rugged, beautiful terrain and its diverse ethnic minorities. Of the 56 ethnic minorities in China, at least 25 different minorities live in Yunnan. Important trade routes such as the Silk Road from the west (Italy, Persia, India, etc.) ran through Yunnan, bringing in diverse peoples who intermixed with the majority, creating new groups with their own traditions, languages, culture.
Kunming, called "The City of Eternal Spring," is the historic capital of Yunnan Province, with 6 million people. We loved Green Lake (Jade) Park where we were able to mingle with various minority peoples who were enjoying their afternoon dancing and playing instruments.
The Bird and Flower Market was a fascinating cultural happening and we loved wandering the streets here. One can buy everything from dogs, as in designer dogs, to turtles, birds, scorpions, cockroaches, flowers, and all types of housewares and crafts.
You will see photos above of the geologic marvel called the Stone Forest. Formed beneath the sea 270 million years ago, it is a cluster of dark gray-limestone karst formations. In the Stone Forest, we visited a traditional Sani Village where the corn was drying on the roofs and the women wore colorful, embroidered clothing. In fact, embroidery is a lovely cottage industry in this area, and everyone is quite happy to sell and buy a little.
What we didn’t have in the Sani Village were the deep-fried bee larvae, the deep-fried bamboo worms, grasshoppers, or bamboo mice. And we definitely didn’t have the Three Screams Mice, the ones you eat alive and which scream three times before you swallow them. I guess we’ll never know what we missed!
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10/12/2007-10/15/2007
Lijiang ("beautiful river") sits at an altitude of 8.280 feet in the foothills of the Himalayas. Our flight there descended through majestic mountains and over lush valleys dappled with shadows and light, blues and greens.
Our hotel was situated just a few feet from the entrance to the Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Old Town is a maze of narrow, winding stone alleys, canals filled with fish, back streets with Naxi homes, many small shops and restaurants, and other sites.
Lijiang and the Old Town are home to the Naxi (Nah-shee) minority people mentioned above, who are related to Tibetans. Every night there was Naxi singing and dancing right in the square outside our hotel. This music, with its special rhythms and sounds, is a time capsule dating back through many dynasties and centuries.
We were privileged to visit a Naxi village where you will see some of the interesting faces above. The Naxi are a matriarchal society, so the women do all the work, and the men socialize and play games all day. Above you will see a woman shucking corn in her open-sided house (and it was cold that day). By our standards, she had nothing in the way of comforts, but she told our tour director she was happy. Many of the people in this village have never been to Lijiang which is only about 15 miles away and so this is the life they know. It was very, very humbling.
Our local guide, Tom, is of the Yi minority group, which lives in the hills. He was the first member of his village to graduate from university. His parents are not literate, but he speaks Yi, Mandarin, and English quite well. He was extremely poor as a child. He said that his family could not afford books, so that when he would get one, they would sew it together over and over again to enjoy it. He said, "To us, books were like candy." Can you tell he won my heart just a little bit?
We took the cable car up to 18,360 foot Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, which was an adventure in itself. You don’t see any pictures because we were fogged in! We also visited Tiger Leaping Gorge at 11.700 feet and Stone Drum Town at the first bend of the Yangtze as she comes down from the north and turns east to cross China.
Lijiang is quite charming and different with its mountain minority groups and dramatic terrain.
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