Ric - Master B-B-Q-er

I have only been back only a month and I am starting to miss a thick piece of beef (McDonalds just doesn’t fill the bill). I didn’t ‘crave the beef’ the first semester I was here because I hadn’t spent a week at my sister’s prior to arriving in China. I am worried all the great BBQ that Ric fixed for us has me in “meat withdrawal”.

July 28th-Aug 6th
Dinners at Barb and Ric’s were great. I got my fill of Italian, Mexican and most important MEAT. Ric cooked three of the main courses while I was there. The back yard is filled with a variety of Male-Testosterone Reinforcing Cooking Equipment (shorten that to BBQ Equipment). A large Jenair gas grill, a Weber charcoal grill and a smoker. He seems to be equally versatile on all of them. The First night he dazzled me with thick juicy seasoned hamburgers on the gas grill. There were leftovers so I was able to enjoy them 2 more times for lunch. Next act was rib eyes on the charcoal grill. For his final performance he smoked 3 racks of ribs for 3 hours and then finished them off in the gas grilled for another 3 hours. There were worth every hour. They were delicious. They had a yummy spicy rub on them along with an apple BBQ sauce. The meat was so tender it fell off the bone.

Mouse in the House

My apartment is right next to the elevators so I hear a lot of dinging as the elevator gets called to each floor. I have learned to ignore it. One day I was hearing a unusual amount of dinging along with the alarm bell that lets you know that it was being held 'against its will' on a floor. After a couple of hours I went outside to investigate. I found what was stopping the elevator from responding to other calls. It was a poor mouse that had gotten smushed in one of the door closing and was now stuck as the door opened and tried to close and opened and tried to close and so on. The width of its tiny smashed head was enough to trigger the ‘open door’ signal. I took a picture and showed it to our front desk person and he promptly came up and gallantly removed it. I could have done it – I have definitely picked up my share of gnawed and slobbery rats that my dog, Sadie, proudly presents to me but I figured I would use the ‘girlie’ excuse while I was in China.

MANDATORY Freshman Military Training

Last couple days I have been hearing a lot of Chinese counting but they never get past 4. It is the freshman (really beginning sophomores and a lot of my last terms students) going thru their mandatory (girls too) 2 week military training. They march all over campus practicing their different steps. They start early in the morning 6 or 7 am and go until 8 at night with a lunch and dinner break in between, Not sure how they are managing it in this heat. I have spoken to some of my English Majors during their breaks and they are hoarse from yelling their 1,2’s, suntanned (a definite no no for the girls) and exhausted. It is 7:30 Thursday night and they are now singing military songs.

They graduated early this Saturday morning. I slept late and missed the final show but I got to see the aftermath. Some of which is pictured above. Good camaraderie was definitely evident among all the different divisions. As much as I would selfishly never want my son to go to war, this kind of mandatory military awareness might not be a bad idea for our college freshman/sophomores.

Hidden Mickeys

If you don’t know what a Hidden Mickey is – check out the web site listed below. It will change your next visit to Disney World and give you something to look for while waiting in the long lines for rides.
http://www.hiddenmickeys.org

And for any of my ex-students that DO remember what a hidden Mickey is – I didn’t find any inside the Hong Kong park and I really did look for them between Space Mountain rides and shooting up Buzz Lightyear’s battery stealing enemies. But I do think they made the ones on the train a little TOO EASY to find. Look thru the windows and see the hanging hand grabber thingies.

California, Florida, Paris, and Hong Kong – Just Japan Left

Yep, I spent one of my 4 Hong Kong days NOT visiting famous temples, I spent the day in HK Disneyland. I can’t help it – it must be the kid still lurking in my soul (and not very deeply hidden either). HK Disneyland is smaller, and lacking a lot of the standard Disney rides, but it was worth the $30 USD and the $100 USD I spent on souvenirs. I went early so I didn’t have to deal with any major lines except for the noon Lion King show. Space Mountain was smaller so not as thrilling as the Florida one. I have decided the Buzz Lightyear ride is really “It’s a Small World” ride in disguise. Your slow car winds it way past lots of different scenes with different creatures from different places on either side. (sound familiar?) Only difference is that instead of listening to that awful mind permeating song you get to listen to the sound of laser fire as you shoot the creatures you travel past. The Jungle Cruise was EXACTLY the same with the same elephant shooting water and the same rhino poking the guides in the butt up the tree. And the guide told the same dry jokes as in the US but with a Chinese accent. (They had separate waiting lines for either English or Chinese language version.)

Food was mostly Chinese and I had to look hard to find a nice American Hamburger, but the famous Mickey Mouse head shaped ice cream bars were easy to find.

Neat Idea!

Not sure if this is a weekly event but early Sunday morning on the pedestrian part of Nanjing Street in Shanghai there were tables set up that were providing a variety of free services. I am also not sure if there was an age requirement, but the majority of the people receiving these services appeared older than 60. They were getting free haircuts, eyebrows plucked, umbrellas fixed, blood pressure checked, knives and scissors sharpened and even fingernails clipped. I would estimate that there were 50 or 60 volunteers and 300-500 patrons. I wonder if this is just a Shanghai thing or if it occurs in other communities.

We Stayed at The YMCA In Hong Kong

Betcha you can’t read that without humming the Village People’s disco version. The YMCA was a 4 star hotel and reasonably priced. The Salisbury YMCA was also right next to the 5 star Peninsula Hotel, a very ritzy and famous old hotel in Hong Kong. It was a great location, right across the street from the harbor. We could see the night light show from our room every night. You were within walking distance of Nathan Rd (shopping jackpot), Star Ferry, Hard Rock Café, and a bunch of metro stations. The only weird thing about the hotel is that they had such a large pool that the whole lobby smelled like a chlorinated pool. For someone that enjoys swimming like me, it brought back good memories of my summers life guarding (and when I could still wear a bikini). First day in HK we took one of those cheesy city tours. We saw Victoria Peak, Stanley Market, Aberdeen and took ride in a sanpan. That night we took the Star Ferry night tour of the Hong Kong Harbor.

With all the official sightseeing out of the way the next day we took the hydrofoil to Macau Island. We were expecting some quaint Portuguese village with a couple of new casinos thrown in. Boy, were we wrong. It was a huge, crowded city with lots of Chinese casinos, the Sands Casino and the Wynn Casino. The casinos didn’t have many slot machines the majority of the floor space was taken up with the table games, most of which I had never seen before. The slots that we did find had some interesting differences. Instead of the “Lucky Sevens” slot machines there were “Lucky Eights”. Instead of card faces they showed mahjong tiles and of course there were a lot of dragon themed slots. We made a big point of changing our HK dollars to the Macau dollars when we arrived and found out later that you couldn’t use them in the Casinos. We went to the center of town to see the original Portuguese village – but all that was left was a front wall of a church and a fort. We had a real hard time finding a taxi back to the boat.

After we got back to Hong Kong we spotted a Mrs. Sees candy store. If you have never been west of the Mississippi and had Mrs. Sees you have missed a real chocolate treat. We refuse to tell how much we spent there. YUM ! We had dinner at the Hard Rock Café, which was not very busy. Most of the customers were foreigners, our waiter was lousy but the food was great! We shopped in their famous t-shirt store and walked back to the YMCA. Next morning Cathy me left for her Hawaiian cruise and I braved the Hong Kong Metro and went to Disneyland.

Chillin' in Shanghai

Basically in Shanghai we just sort of chilled but we did do some of the Shanghai tourist stuff. We went to a couple of museums, strolled thru the Shanghai food store (always interesting) walked thru the Peace Hotel, bought pearls, and stood at the bund to take the obligatory daytime and nighttime pictures. We intended to eat at a real restaurant that evening but we were lured by the smell of Shanghai’s version of BBQ. It was a 6” square, flat, piece of meat – I am assuming it was some sort of pressed pork. It resembled jerky in its texture and toughness, but it was hot, with a spicy honey coating. This place was only a small sidewalk storefront but it even provided entertainment. We ate our pork jerky/BBQ on an outside bench near a performing Saxophone player. The many Shanghai McDonalds aren’t going to get any more of my business when I am in town. The BBQ place is! I took the easy way out and got the hotel to get our train tickets back to Hangzhou so we left Shanghai the next morning for a “soft seat” ride back to my apartment.

Going Home Or Rather Close to Home

I guess I have been here too long if I think about “going home” as my little apartment in Xiasha, We left Shangri-La today for a plane ride to Kunming then to Shanghai. There was a slight traffic jam with the livestock but we got to the airport fairly early. While checking in the ticket agent asked whether I wanted a window or aisle. I pondered -1 hour plane ride –“window”. When on the plane, I turned to look out the window but all I saw was wall. She had placed me in one of the only two seats on the whole plane that did not have a window. On purpose or by accident?

In Kunming we had a 6 hour layover which was not pleasant, because the airport did not offer very much in the way of comfortable seats or a variety of food. Part of the time was spent worrying and figuring out our tickets because my travel agent had given me the wrong flight numbers. Luckily we ran into Cynthia, my friend from Xiasha, AGAIN and she helped us sort it out. All I can figure is that we must have turned enough prayer wheels while we were in Yunnan Province to warrant another chance meeting with Cynthia right when we needed her. We arrived in Shanghai, got to my favorite Shanghai hotel Hyland Sofitel, settled in and walked to the bund.

Really Large Prayer Wheel OR ........

Chinese Merry-Go-Round

Marching picked us up for a tour of the old city night market. Very entertaining with lots of dancing and music. On the way back we walked past the largest prayer wheel I have ever seen. We climbed up and joined the people in turning the prayer wheel and giving the local kids a ride.

Another Chance Encounter

After a nice lunch of Yak meat which was really good! We had the afternoon off so we asked for directions to the nearest Internet Café. We followed their very vague directions and when we just about ready to give up we stumbled onto the very large and very crowded Internet café. We both squeezed into the last 2 available computers. I was lucky, the two guys that were sitting next to me were playing very absorbing video games, so they couldn’t smoke. Cathy had some major smokers next to her. We got our communicating done and headed back. On the way we met up again with the Austrian couple and took a picture to remember our strange chance encounters. And this wasn’t the end of these strange meetings. No, we won’t see the Austrian couple again – their next stop was Tibet – those lucky ducks!

The Kids

Photo cost 1 yuan - but it was worth it. Parents bring their children out and let the tourist take pictures of them. Children probably make more than the parents do.

The Homes

On our bumpy slow trip back we took a couple of pictures of the traditional and very common farmhouses. All fronts of the homes were facing east. It appeared that they used large wooden poles to frame the house with very thick mud or cement sides. Downstairs is the barn area (to keep the yak, sheep, and goats warm) with family quarters upstairs. Food and fuel storage is in the attic. In the fields there were large barley racks for drying the barley and the fences were made out of woven reeds or sticks. Almost all of the homes had a satellite dish. It just seemed so weird that most of these people did not have cars, or farm machinery, they warmed their houses and food with Yak manure but they had a satillite dish......

Hanging Our Prayer Flags

Outside the monastery walls we hung one of the prayer flags Cathy bought in LiJiang amongst hundreds of others that were strung up throughout the trees. Some of the strings were strung so high up that we figured the more difficult it was to get them hung the more ‘prayer value’ you got. We opted for an economical (easy to put up) prayer. We figured we were already extremely lucky just to be able to travel in China.

Monastery, Prayer Wheels, and Prayer Flags

The hilltop monastery was up many steps lined with 100 or more prayer wheels. We did our turn at turning them. The locals supply the monks with their food so there were chickens, a lamb with a broken leg, big bags of rice, vegetables, yak butter, and other food stacked all around. Other gifts scattered about were scarves, candles made of barley butter, cats, money, and of course prayer flags. It sort of made the monastery look like combination farm/trash dump. The monk slept and ate in one dark smoke filled room with very little ventilation. The monks take rotations at the different monasteries and this one must have been at the bottom of the list.

There was another small Hong Kong tour group here at the same time. Since Hong Kong people generally speak Cantonese (not Mandarin) and English, the guide spoke to his group using excellent English. He also was very knowledgeable about the Buddhist faith. Our hard to understand guide Marching knew all about the barley butter candles but very little else. We kept trying to listen in on the Hong Kong guide’s speech but Marching kept pointing out more barley butter candles. We were very jealous!

Shangri-La and Its 4-Star Hotel - HA

We got to Shangri-La that afternoon and checked into our 4 star hotel. I am positive that the star rating system is way different from the US hotel star rating. Maybe China uses a rating of 4 out of 10 instead of 4 out of 5. This hotel did have a business center that was open but the computers didn’t work. The rooms had been getting smaller and smaller the further north we traveled and this one was the smallest with the smallest bathroom. No AC but we didn’t really need it. It was very cool and you could open the windows (no screens though). The carpeted floors were filthy (looked like a frat house after a rush party) with many, many stains and burns. Chairs had stains and the wallpaper was peeling. We saw an English sign in the room that had its room rate at $60 USD. On the other side in Chinese was the Chinese room rate 60 RMB a night – that is about $7.50. Think they might be gouging the foreigners just a little?

I forgot to mention the “extra” we had in our room. In the corner of the room we had a large machine that allowed you to plug in an oxygen tank (which you could purchase downstairs at the front desk.) Our elevation had been increasing each city but this was the first place that I really felt ‘winded’ and had a headache. My headache finally went away by the end of the 2nd day but I still huffed and puffed more than usual with any hill or stair climbing. Elevation here was a little over 3000 meters. We saw many tour groups carrying around their portable oxygen bottles. We never bought one, we just wheezed.

Prayer Flags

On the other side of the road was a different type of stuppa along with lots of prayer flags. A Buddhist prayer flag is a colorful piece of material that has Buddhist prayers written or drawn on each square of material. They are strung on a banner and reminded me of the colorful plastic flag banners you see at ‘new store openings’. These prayer flags were stuck on reeds and put into a large container, but in other places we saw them strung between trees and buildings.

Tibetan Photo-Op

After our curvy, narrow road back down the mountain, we stopped at a large and very windy plain. There was a Buddhist stone stuppa, which is a pile of rocks that you walk around 3 times for your morning prayers or contemplation. There were also lots of people dressed up in authentic costumes. There was a charge for photos, but the kids sure knew how to pose. The smile and the peace sign came flashing out at any appearance of 1 Yuan.

Side Note: Cowboy hats are really popular in this area. I wonder who started the fashion trend? Texans or Tibetans?

Tiger Leaping Gorge

We drove to a restaurant that was close to Tiger Leaping Gorge for lunch and there met up with our new guide. Her name was Marching (not pronounced like it is spelled). She was a nice young girl that was eager to please but her English was hard to understand and very limited. Where are my ZUFE English Majors when you need them? First stop was the Tiger Leaping Gorge. After a very curvy and narrow road we got to the spot that overlooked the gorge. The 15 km long gorge, which is believed to be the deepest gorge in the world, is between Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and Haba Snow Mountain. Supposedly it got its name because a tiger would leap on the big rock in the middle to get from one mountain to the other over the rapids.

Marching said we could go down the many steps to the bottom and she would wait for us at the top. We figured that was a big hint to stay at the top. She did point out that you could take a chair coming up. We pictured in our minds ‘chair lifts’ like you see at ski resorts. Nope, they were big calved young guys that actually put you in one of the old fashion chairs and CARRIED you up. So we declined that possible humiliation and stayed on top to take our pictures from there.

Stone Drum

It’s a town that was named after the monument pictured above. The stone was carved to look like a drum and has a crack running thru it. Myth has it that if it crack opens there will be war again. The town of Stone Drum is one of those strategic military spots that has had a bunch of battles. A Tibetian Army during one dynasty, Kublai Khan during another dynasty, and the red army in 1936 all used this town as a crossing point in the river. The Yangtze makes an 180 degree bend here which make crossing easy. They also say that this town made the river turn back toward China.

We literally pushed our way up thru the massive market crowds to the top of a hill to this monument. We sadly left Tom here and proceeded on with Mr. Mao to our next stop and guide.

Tom's Story

I guess he was saving the best till last because on our long car ride from LiJiang to Stone Drum Tom turned around in his seat and said “Now I am going to tell you about my life”. His story gave us insight on what it was like in China 25 years ago.

Tom had an older brother so it was a given that he would not inherit the farm and be a farmer. Unfortunately he was not a good student in school and even confessed he only got a 3 (out of a 100) on his Math Exam in their version of 9th grade. His only option left was the Army. He wasn’t crazy about that career route so when he was being tested for the Army he faked being colorblind and got turned down. With that possibility removed his family sent the 15 yr old Tom to boarding school. The cost and quality were both low. Tom said they spent their afternoons literally building other dorms and classrooms. He said it was his first time away from home where he had to cook and wash clothes for himself. The school was located 20 kilometers away so he walked home on the weekends and had to carry back all the water, food, and supplies he would need for the next week. At this school he was motivated to change his attitude and life by a new teacher and a bike. The young teacher owned a bike, which was a rarity, and bribed the kids with letting them ride it if they did their assignments. Tom was willing to study hard just so he could learn how to ride that bike. That's when he finally saw the "error of his ways" and decided to really work hard in all subjects. He never got much better in Math but he discovered an aptitude for languages and ended up being the good tour guide he is today. He borrowed money from all his relatives (one advantages of having a big extended family) and went to college. This is China’s version of the ‘college loan’. Tom says he is now paying it back by giving money to help other family members go to college. Interesting story - thanks for sharing it Tom!

Strange Sightings

Yunnan Province alone has about 40 million people along with lots and lots of tourists (web information had it at 1 million overseas tourists and 30 million domestic tourists in the year 2000 – betcha it is much higher now). The point being – what are the chances of running into someone you know, in a foreign country with a population over a billion and in a city with over 1 million and 1000 miles from my normal Xiasha residence?

One evening we were wandering around the town looking for good pashmina bargains, ba ba and corn on a stick, when Cathy takes my camera and runs into a restaurant full of singing and yelling people to take a picture. As Cathy leaves the rowdy restaurant she finds me hugging a Chinese woman. It was Cynthia, a fellow teacher and friend from Xiasha. Cynthia is the friend that took me to my first tea-house, got me my first foot massage, explained the strange canteen food, and taught me how to buy train tickets. She and her mom and dad were touring Yunnan also. Strange wasn’t it?

To add to strange people sightings we also ran into the Austrian couple twice while in LiJiang: right in front of us at a cultural show and in a crowded town square. LiJiang wasn’t the end for Strange Sightings……

Two Villages and Two Docs

One of our side tours was to the Yuhu village. This is where Joseph Rock lived for 15 or so years. Dr. Rock was a botanist, translator, and photographer. Sponsored by the National Geographic Society, he sent many different Chinese plants and seeds back to Europe and the US. Unfortunately, a lot of his research was lost when he was forced to leave China around the time of WWII. The ship he sent his research on was sunk by the Japanese.

At the Bai Sha village, Tom encouraged us to visit with Dr. Ho. Tom wouldn’t go in with us but kept telling us 5 minutes - no more than 5 minutes and don’t drink the tea. We ended having to ignore him on both suggestions. When we got inside the dark and cluttered office it was obvious why he kept emphasizing the 5 minutes. Pictured above, Dr. Ho is an 83 year old Chinese Herbal Medicine doctor and a very unique and colorful character. He announced that he was “The Most Admired Man” as he proceeded to give a 20 minute speech on his great accomplishments and accolades while presenting us with a cup of muddy looking, nasty tasting ‘medicinal’ tea. We were also proudly shown newspaper articles and letters that all supported his “The Most Admired Man” status. We were finally able to extricate ourselves after 20 minutes AND after drinking his tea AND paying 20 Yuan for a package of the nasty stuff. He was good, really good – I didn’t know what hit me – maybe it was something in the tea.

At one of these villages we saw lots of strange money littering the road. I turned out that it was tossed by mourners that were following a funeral procession up the mountain. This is so the dead will be rich in the afterlife.

Lock Away Your Troubles

We went the Dragon Pool Park where they had a temple with thousands of locks permanently attached to every railing possible. Our new LiJiang guide, Tom, said that it was to lock away their problems. I looked the tradition up on the Internet and got another story – the lock was like a prayer asking for good luck or a favor. Most of the locks were engraved with something. So whatever it meant it was still an interesting ritual and sight.

Dali To LiJiang

Cathy, Jimmy and I climbed into Mr. Mao’s black VW for a 3 hour drive to LiJiang. We took a break at a open market where local people trade and sell their livestock, vegetables, souvenirs, and Buddhist religious necessities, such as prayer flags, incense, candles, and play money (to throw at a funeral). This is where I got some good pictures of the colorful vegetables and seasonings.

LiJiang is an area that has a lot of the Naxi minority. They tend to live in small, all wood houses. The Naxi have their own form of pictograph writing called DongBa (pictured above) that looks a lot like Microsoft Office Screen Beans.

The city, which is over a mile high, has many canals and bridges (350). Almost every street in old town ran next to a canal. The cobble stone streets were very crowded so you had to be careful that you didn’t accidentally walk or were nudged into the many open canals.

Side Note: “IA challenged” (Internet Availability). The hotel was ok but its advertised 24-hour business center was never open. I know that doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it is to me! No Internet has a direct ripple effect on this blog. I am starting to realize how dependent I am on the Internet and not just for normal family/friends communication. I email myself with my daily journal experiences and then clean it up a lot for the blogs. One reason is that my handwriting skills have declined as my typing skills have increased. So lack of Internet means I don’t have good notes from LiJiang or Shangri-la. Hopefully you will forgive the lack of information due to my temporary ‘handicap’.

Dali's Main Claim to Fame

The 3 pagodas. The largest was built by the Tang Dynasty over 1200 years ago. The smaller ones were added just 700 years ago and form a symmetrical triangle with the larger one. Recently lots of new temples have been added above the pagodas to honor Buddha and Quan Yin. We cheated and took a tram ride up the mountain, climbed a bunch of stairs and had a great view of the temples, Pagodas, clear lake and mountain. We walked down and went thru most of the temples. They sure used lots of gold leaf! Quan Yin received a large share of the gold leaf. She is sort of the Buddhists version of our Virgin Mary. Quan Yin, The Goddess of Mercy, seemed to be very important in this area, our Dali hotel had a picture of her that was literally 6 stories high on one wall of their lobby. This area also had some of the biggest prayer wheels we had seen (SO FAR). We turned the big prayer wheels, which was the beginning of a temple ritual that we followed throughout the rest of our temple and monastery visits.

Next stop was a walking tour of Old Town and its walled gates and a stop at a tea shop. In Hangzhou, you check the packaging to make sure the tea is from this seasons leaves, in Dali the older the better as in 7-20+ years. They preserve it by pressing it into a mold it so that it resembles, in color and texture, a giant round tobacco plug. It is called Pressed Pu-erh. Most common shape is of an ancient Chinese coin about 6 inches in diameter. But they come in other forms ranging from mini-pumpkins, to huge disks, and calabashes five feet tall. They were very expensive and are a traditional gift to impress your boss.

We rested up at the hotel, which had a nice mountain view, and then caught a leaky (but free) bus back to old town for some retail therapy, massage and dinner. This town is where we started having trouble with suitcase overflow. Silver was very reasonable as well as many other items. On the bus we met a humorous Austrian couple that were taking a video of the leaky roof. They were on a different tour but we ran into them a couple of times in old town, which was strange because the area was large and very crowded.

Side Tour - Chinese Massages

Since Cathy makes a living at giving great massages we decided we would take side tours of as many massage parlors as possible. I knew of a foot massage place in Xiasha so we started our tour here. Here in Xiasha Cynthia introduced me to a great massage establishment. I have lucked out and keep getting a guy named Shaopo (have no idea how to spell it in PinYin but that is how I pronounce it) who is really good. He doesn’t speak English but it doesn’t matter because my feet and legs feel like they belong to a 30 yr old person after he is done. In Kunming our guide and our wanderings did not provide any massage tour opportunities. In Dali Jimmy showed us a massage establishment that is sponsored by the Chinese government. They hire blind or deaf people and train them to be massage therapists. I got a deaf young man that was good but not as good as Shaopo. Cathy thinks she got a kid in training because other workers kept coming up and instructing him.

Since we were in LiJiang 2 days we decided to spurge and we had a foot massage the first day and a full body massage the next day. This was also another China government establishment. My masseuse for both sessions was a very talented blind guy. Cathy, again, got two different girls which were probably still in training because both of them were watching my blind guy very closely and copying his movements.

In Shangri-la we skipped getting a massage because our hotel room was so nasty I wasn’t crazy about using their other hotel services and had not discovered any on our walks in town. We skipped Shanghai but we tried a place we found in Hong Kong. It was our least favorite. A very large roach ran across the floor during our session and most of the time the therapists were watching a Chinese soap opera while they worked on us, so we definitely did not have their undivided attention. Out of all of them we toured, my Xiasha establishment was the cleanest, best and cheapest ($6 USD). But please note that we never paid more than $15 USD for any of the 60 minute or 90 minute massages.

Chinese Minorities

After breaking free of the market we went to a General’s house and a merchants house. They were supposed to be typical of Bai homes. Bai is one of the 56 different nationalities in China. Yunnan Province is famous for having a wide variety of nationalities. The Hun people being the majority in China. If you would like to learn more about the different minorities go to this web site. It provides a very short explanation and picture of each. http://www.paulnoll.com/China/Minorities/China-Nationalities.html

Ok, back to the homes. Both reminded me a little of the Hutong we saw in Beijing. Both were large walled-in squares with 3 houses around a courtyard. No windows were on any of the outside walls just windows on the walls facing the courtyard. The 4th side is just a white wall to reflect the heat. The houses shared an courtyard, a communal kitchen and well. The merchant’s house was bigger and fancier with lots of old paintings on the ceilings and walls.

After our 'tour of homes' I bought something called a Ba Ba from a street venders – they came in two varieties sweet and salty. I of course opted for the sweet one. It was sort of like a hot cinnamon calzone without the cheese of course. Yummy, I tried to buy one in another town but it was cold and not near as good.

On To Dali

Just as Cathy and I had were conquering our jet lag and actually sleeping till 6 am we had to get up at 4:30 for a 5:45 flight departure to Dali. We arrived at 8 and got a new driver, Mr Mao, (YEA!) and a new guide Jimmy. Above is a partial photo of Jimmy chuckling at us – explanation follows.

Our first stop on our Dali tour was a small Village of Xizhou (she-joe). We started with a very slow crawl thru the village market. It was slow because of the women that were trying VERY hard to sell such things as Antique opium containers, (but made of plastic – hummm – I wonder), ceramic beads, old locks, coins, and silver hair thingys. They were packed around us and made it very hard to move – we heard our guide, Jimmy, laughing at the mob and telling them that there were more tourists coming behind us and to let us pass, but they weren’t about to give up a “sure thing” for some unknowns. I had been pegged as the “sure thing” because I bought the first set of beads I saw. (And kept buying until I had acquired the large pile you saw pictured in a previous blog). Ladies kept grabbing Cathy’s long hair and wrapping it around this silver thing they wanted her to buy – she finally gave in and purchased one but hasn’t figured out how to get it to hold up her hair like they did.

Bai Goods or Was That BUY Goods?

Zhoucheng village, our next stop, was where we visited a Bai tie-died cloth factory. The 5 or 6 step process seemed to be very time and labor intensive but the finished products were beautiful. (Which of course we couldn’t resist buying.)

We had lunch in a restaurant located on an old cobble-stoned street in part of Dali where the most of the shops are only open during the Spring when the Burma Jade merchants come thru to sell their jade. Food was good we had spring rolls, meat, rice, watermelon, and fried cheese (what ever kind of cheese it was – it wasn’t as good as the goat cheese). Cathy had to keep taking breaks anytime a group was ‘toured’ pass our table, because she didn’t want them to laugh at her chopstick skills or rather lack of

I Got Carried Away Again....

I also got carried away with the Bai material. I cheekily admit that I bought 3 large rectangle pieces and 1 round piece. I have no idea what I will do with them but I really like their designs and for $15 UDS each I couldn’t resist. Pashminas were another great Yunnan deal – which lead to another strange purchase. A lot of Chinese carry large (& surprisingly VERY sturdy) plaid plastic zipper bags around instead of suitcases. They are about $1.50 (USD) in price and come in all sizes. Cathy and I had purchased so many Yunnan ‘bargains’ that we ended up having to buy a suitcase-size plaid plastic bag to stuff it all in. The only problem was locating it at the airport baggage claim among the many other plaid plastic suitcases.

Ok - I May Have Gone A Little Overboard

When you visit China you learn that most cities seem to have a product theme. Some cities have lots of electrical supplies, or wood carvings, or silk or plumbing supplies, or socks or tea, or Bai tie-died material, or ceramic beads. Only exception seems to jade and pearls – you can find those in most cities. Anyway, back in 2004 I bought some beads at the Great Wall and used them to make ID tag lanyards and necklaces. Since I have returned to China I have kept my eyes open for more beads to bring back and keep my little fingers busy for any idle time I have. I had no luck finding ANY until this Yunnan trip. I was worried I would never see them again so I went a little overboard. The pushy ladies in the markets sure loved me. So hopefully everyone will want a Katie-made lanyard or Chinese accented necklace when I return.

The Ultimate in “Kodak Moments”

August 12, 2006
The next morning we drove a couple of hours to the “Stone Forest”. It is so picturesque that you wanted to take photos at every turn. This 400 sq kilometer area is made of limestone structures that were underwater about 270 million years ago and over time rose and eroded into some pretty neat shapes. There were thousands of people and thousands of steps (most of them slippery as per Chinese tradition) and thousands of opportunities to take photos.

We had a typical lunch at a nearby tourist restaurant with lots of different things to try, beef, duck, a green vegetable that tasted like mustard greens, fried goat cheese (which was great!) and a soup that had a very pale melon looking vegetable in it.

After living here more than 4 months, I thought I had become jaded to the Chinese driving practices. Nope - and remember that ignoring lanes, honking, and passing with minimal distance or visibility is the norm. Even I was shocked when on our ride back our driver passed a car that was passing a truck with a bus approaching. I was thankful that it was the last day with that driver, for the rest of the trip we lucked out and had a great driver called Mr. Mao.

On the way back through the countryside we were fascinated by how much of the land is utilized for farming. Since they do all their farming by hand they can and do cultivate every inch of hill and mountain. This manual labor intensive type of farming would never be profitable in the US.

Weddings at the Kunming Hotel

August 11th
Pictured above is a decorated Chinese Wedding car. We arrived at the hotel in the late afternoon during one of the weddings. The Kunming Hotel with its beautiful lobby, had at least 4 weddings during our 2 nights stay. The rooms looked nice but our tub did not drain so only one of us could take a bath each day. The room had the typical hard Chinese beds, and very little AC and unfortunately the “eternal spring” Yunnan Province was having a hot spell.

That afternoon we walked around town and found a western restaurant. It featured Italian, Mexican, and Chinese food (cooks were Chinese, owner was English speaking). I had pizza, which was pretty good. Cathy decided to try the lasagna, which she said tasted like hamburger helper.

Chinese Sunscreen

It’s cheaper and it doesn’t smell or stain your clothes, the only drawback is having to hold them up all the time. (And if you are tall – you need to avoid getting hit in the eye with other peoples’ sunscreen end spokes). I have noticed that it seems to be an unwritten rule that guys can’t use these Chinese sunscreens. Unlike the boring black, gray, and dreary ones Americans carry around, most of the Chinese Sunscreens are in a variety of pastels so it really looks very colorful to see groups of them on a sunny day.

Side Note: Cathy and I went to WuMei today and as we were leaving we noticed it was pouring outside – Of course we had both forgotten our Chinese Sunscreens so we decided to buy a couple while we were still dry in the store. We tried pantomiming that we needed an umbrella but all they brought me was a comb. I have to start carrying my language book around with me ALL the time. By the time we got the salesgirls to understand what we wanted and bought them it had stopped raining.

Chinese Recliner

Who says you have to forego all comforts of home when traveling in a foreign country? Just Adapt! I have taken a beach chair, foot stool, and various pillows to approximate my nice leather recliner. All I am missing is my dog in my lap.

Bored In LAX

August 6th-8th (remember you lose a day in translation)

Don’t get into LAX 9 hours before your flight cause you’ll have nothing to do. I am sitting up in a restaurant with no Internet connection and not even a connection to pay for – whats'up with that? Brunswick Jet Port has free Internet access. Albuquerque Airport lets you charge and surf for free with nice comfortable padded desk chairs. LAX and no Internet? Strange, one of the most plugged in areas the world and no free Internet. Side Note: - Hong Kong Airport did not have free Internet access either but it did have an Internet you could pay for.

I got to ride from Salt Lake City to LAX in first class. No champagne but all the diet coke and snacks you can drink and eat. I bought a sandwich in Salt Lake Airport so I had that for lunch. Can you tell I am bored out of my mind – typing about buying lunch in an airport (pastrami on rye). So sorry will make this one short. On my wanderings I went by the LAX Chinese Food stand and sort of chuckled at how UNCHINESE the food was. The people serving it were speaking Mexican. I couldn’t even show off and say Ni hoa!