Left Providence,across RI at 9:15 am Thursday morning,
The mad dash at 5:45 p.m. thru Narita Airport in Tokyo to catch my 6:00 p.m. flight to Guangzhou proved unnecessary as they were actually holding the plane. The flight was the usual hell; after 20 hours of flight time and 25 hours of travel time it is suddenly Friday 11:35 p.m. Kim and her friend without a name met me at the airport in Guangzhou. I checked into the hotel and the day was over; before I reached my room.
The Training Apartments on Zhong Shan University campus. The price is right. There is heat and hot water and even a water cooler in the room, but there is NO water pressure. Warning: The water from the tap is not potable in all of China. However it is better to drink a little of the water then get a second degree burn on your lip from the hot water coming from the water cooler. I foolishly tried to rinse my mouth with hot water without checking the temperature of the water before trying to drink it. Kim and I walked around the campus and Guangzhou a lot. We also made more arrangements for the trip to Yunnan.
Death March Day. I went to a park with Kim; her niece, Susan, met us later. I had a lot of fun just walking around and talking with Kim. Susan spent most of the time on the phone talking and sending instant messages. I thought it was to be expected of sixteen year old with a cell phone. Auntie Kim was very annoyed, I was very amused. Next we took a cable car ride to the top of Baiyun Mountain. The bird display was good, but it felt like we walked half down and back up the Mountain. Next we walked down the mountain after sunset. For some reason we could not take a cab to the subway, but had to wait 15 minutes for the bus. So we paid 3 RMB (1 each) for the bus versus 10 RMB for the cab. There are 8.25 RMB to the dollar. I was admonished for even suggesting we waste the additional 90 cents for the cab.
The pain sets in. My legs are killing me. Still we walk all over Guangzhou. I have a list of items to buy. I have decided to wait on purchasing anything so that I do not have to drag it over half of China. No fat clothes to be found anywhere. I had dinner with Kim and Maggie. No one was killed or injured.
We fly to Kunming. It has been decided that we only need one and half days in Kunming. We spent the morning signing papers. Well, I get to here a lot of Chinese and Kim signs the papers. 2 hours later we are off to the 1999 Horticultural Exposition Center. Only got to see about half of the center and it is off to a lousy buffet dinner courteous of the travel agent, the free lunch was excellent, though.
Off to the Stone Forest. Somehow a luxury bus turned into an aging mini van. The people were great. We made the usual stops at the tourist traps. Also visited a buddhist temple whose name I do not know. The tour as expected is in Chinese. I do the usual routine of reading the english signs and people watching. Ken from Singapore was an unexpected bonus. He is fluent in Several languages, luckily English is one of them. Everybody was calling him 'Singapore' when I realized I did not even know his name. The Stone Forest was cool, but we seem to be on the "hurry it along" schedule. I would have liked to have taken more pictures and ride the electric trams. The van lost pieces off the drivers side suspension on the way back to Kunming. We were listing on the drivers side and now doing 30 (mph) miles per hour instead of 50 mph. Visited the Traditional Chinese Medicine tourist trap, where I got a free foot massage and now my calfs no longer hurt.
Travel Day, Spent the morning flying to Lijiang. The afternoon was spent walking around the old city and sleeping. I hate these travel agent routes. You get no free time. You are getting up early every morning and changing hotels every night. We did find a nice Inn that we have decided to stay at for the extra 2 days we will spend in Lijiang. I am finding myself short of breath, hopefully it is the altitude. I solved the terrible headaches by drinking more water.
The trip to Lugu Lake. First they were late, next it appears the bus does not actually come to the hotel. Instead we have to drag our bags about a quarter mile up the street and around the corner. The bus was small, but that was because the road was narrow and very scary. There is something wrong with no guardrail on a hairpin turn with a 100 meter drop. Still gasping for breath when climbing stairs and dragging my bags. The lake was beautiful and we saw the minority dances. I had the usual drinking challenge from HaiFeng Liang, who Kim says is a funny guy. Everytime I go to China; guys are buying me drinks. Unfortunately it is usually beer, but it is better then Hennessey, which they like to call wine.
They rowed us to an island with a temple on it. We got the feed the birds on the way out to the island, either terns or seagulls I could not tell. There we many blossoming trees and I think there were small apples growing on a vine. Kim was enchanted by the dog PooPoo (translates to fat-fat). We return to Lijiang and walked a quarter mile back to the hotel dragging our luggage. They actually tell us that since we are switching to another hotel that we will have to make arrangements to meet the bus as they cannot drive to the Inn in the Ancient City. I point out that they could not drive to the current hotel anyway, but it got lost in translation.
Yulong Snow Mountain. Usual walk to the bus, but at least this time not dragging any luggage. The tour bus seats 30 but only 5 people are on the tour. Kim was the only one that spoke english. Ran into the same people from Lugu lake. My friend, HaiFeng Liang, as Kim was calling him was part of our group. There was great camaraderie even with no common language. I completed the hike after the chair-lift to the top of Yulong snow mountain, gasping for breath. It's a beautiful mountain which is 3328 meters high with yak, rainbow trout ,some of the trout where gold, which I have never seen in the US. We moved to the Taichi Di Inn. It is like staying as houseguests in a family home. Kim wants to add that it had a friendly dog that like to lick us. We attended a performance, LiShuiJinSha ,which represented many of the ethnic minorities of China.
Relaxing day. We just walked around the ancient city and relaxed. We also looked at other hotels and Inns. The high point of the day was finding strawberries. Women walk around selling them by the bag full. I broke the boil, peel it or forget it rule. I am glad I did, they were the best strawberries I have every had. Better then Nova Scotia, which had the previous record. Of course, the best thing about them was no ill health affects from eating them. Camera malfunctioned, well actually, more like user error, The last 2 days have been shot at 320x480 pixel high speed shots. What would have been really excellent pictures are now postage stamps.
Off to Shangri-La (Deqin). Saw the first bend of the Chang Jiang (Yangtzi,Yangtse, Yangtze River). A 2 hour drive took us to Tiger Leaping Gorge. The view was spectacular and the walk back up was agonizing. The altitude is 2865 meters. I got numerous offers to be carried back up for a fee. I made it on my own. After lunch we are off to Shangri-La. On arrival we visited the smaller version of the Buddhist temple at Lhasa. It is the second largest Buddhist temple in China. The walk up was a killer. We are at 3800 meters. Visited another ethnic minority dance that night.
Visited a lake that is suppose to be fantastic but that is only May thru December. The mountains surrounding the lake are a nice backdrop for the lake. There are dogs, yaks and pigs everywhere. They walk through town and across the highways. The mountains are spectacular. The food in Shangri-La has been the best food so far this trip. They use a lot of garlic and ginger. The vegetables are also excellent.
Another travel day. Could not get a good shot of sunrise, the buildings around the hotel are too big. The airport has one runway. The planes flying with passengers and back out with new passengers. The noon flight from Kunming to Guangzhou was cancelled, so we spent and extra two and a half hours in Kunming for the 14:40 flight. We arrived at Guangzhou airport and I can breath again. No longer gasping after walking up a flight of stairs or carrying my bags.
Visited Kim's Temple Guang Xiao Chan Si. Walked around Guangzhou looking for fat clothes. I met the Husband of Kim's Friend and his 3 year old boy, Toto. We were finally able to locate some clothes that fit me. After shopping it was off to dinner. We ate at a western Buffet place with very little western food. But I had a good time and the food was good. Two of Kim's cousins joined us for Dinner, Susan and Nancy. I got to give Nancy her western name as she forgot the one she already had.
Silk Day. My mission is complete I bought the silk my family requested. I added cashmere to the mix, hopefully it goes of okay.
Day of Rest and Dim Sum.