Guilin

Guilin

On arrival in Guilin, we were driven to our hotel (40 mins) only to find that it was FULL UP with conference delegates! We had to get back into our car and go to the sister hotel (Grand Bravo 5 star) at 11.30 p.m. This was a definite upgrade, but we were too tired to appreciate the opulence. The only thing wrong with our magnificent room was the aircon (temperature reading 26 degrees: controls in Chinese). Tried pressing every button. Finally I had to go back to Reception and ask for help. No English spoken at midnight: had to type into their Google Translate! A technician finally arrived and accessed  the roof space. We could at long last have a shower and go to bed!

Our opulent room at the Grand Bravo Hotel. Note the bath with gold taps behind the screen.

We were up at 6.15 a.m. in order to leave in good time for our Li River Cruise. First a 35 min drive to the embarkation point. Hundreds, or thousands, of Chinese tourists converged on the 50-plus river boats lined up for departure at 9.30. The boats have to go in convoy down the river, not allowed to pass each other. The lower deck, air conditioned, had lovely comfy seats, just right for snoozing after our short nights sleep.

The famous karst mtns soon came into view and everyone rushed up on deck to take photos; many people wanted to have photos taken with us Westerners. We met 2 couples from NZ who had done a 3 day Yangtse River Cruise. They said the worst part was the mad scramble for meals, as the Chinese refuse to queue up for buffets. Our cruise served airline type meals, reheated from frozen; we had been warned that they were not up to much, and had purloined items from our breakfast buffet to make our own packet lunch. The boat was a relaxing way to travel, watching the rural scenes go by. We saw many small boats dredging rubbish, water police vessels going at top speed and using up petrol for no reason, as well as a few water buffaloes, goats, horses and lots and lots of ducks grazing beside the river or pottering about in the shallows. Duck is now on the menu at every meal!  At lunchtime it was 36 degrees in the shade. We don't have enough hot weather clothes and have to keep washing things.

Val on the Li River. Note the convoy of boats ahead of us.

On the Li River.

A welcome G and T in the evening.

Kunming Day Two

Our hotel room on 17th floor faced west (setting sun) and was boiling hot, just like Burswood. Our guide took us to the hotel's Chinese Restaurant which was packed and noisy, with waiters hurrying about with plates of food. The huge menu was only in Chinese, and we wanted to convince the guide, Fang, to order only 3 dishes as we were still full from lunch. We can't manage 2 full meals per day!  We did manage to consume plenty of beer as we were so thirsty after walking round the Stone Forest. My waistband is now getting rather tight, but in actual fact I haven't put on any weight.

This morning's visit was to the Western Hill Nature Reserve. Val and I went up to the top of the hill by chair lift (a 20 min ride, just like at a ski resort).  The views were superb, looking down to the lake on our left. As we approached the end of the lift, there was a photographer who took snap of us and we were persuaded to buy it 5 mins later.

Chair lift photo.

Flowers outside Chair Lift Station.

In the afternoon there was a scheduled temple visit, but we had decided we'd had enough of Buddhist statues, so the guide suggested a tea exposition instead. This was a really worthwhile experience. It was at a government sponsored enterprise, where a beautiful young guide took us through the intricacies of preparing and drinking several types of Puer tea. We were able to have a nice rest in the early afternoon, thereby escaping the heat outside (24 degrees or so). Eventually we felt obliged to buy some. Actually, I was keen to obtain some, as it is said to help in losing weight (and for beautifying skin!) but only if you drink some every day for 15 years.

Our guide, Fang, explains the Ancient Tea and Horse Trail.

A cake of compressed tea.

Tea making demonstration.

Our last port of call was the Flower and Bird Market. There were cage birds, many varieties of rabbits, mice, Guinea pigs, terrapins, fish : you name it, it was there for sale. One row of stalls was devoted to succulents and orchids. Kunming is a flower growing centre, so we passed many sweet smelling stalls too. 

Succulents on sale.

Reconstructed ancient street.

Sketches for sale.

Historic pharmacy still in use.

Then we were driven to the airport for an 8.25 p.m. flight. Kunming Airport was packed and hot. Our guide say Goodbye and told us the temperature in Guilin would be 33 degrees!

Kunming

Photo on the wall of Zhongdian Airport showing the scene in mid winter.

Imagine leaving Zhongdian in 8 degrees and arriving in Kunming by plane an hour later at 21 degrees! This schedule is a bit too hectic for us! We were driven straight from the airport to the Stone Forest, still wearing our winter clothes, thermal underwear and heavy shoes and socks. 

The Stone Forest is a geological phenomenon: a huge area of dark grey limestone karst formations (something like the Pinnacles but much higher, almost maze-like in places). We had lunch first in a really nice restaurant which featured local produce hanging from the ceiling: corn on the cobs, chillies, garlic etc. Then it was 3 hours walking around the Forest, up and down steps cut into the rock, until my gammy leg was just about giving way and we were all boiling hot and out of water. It's always hard to control the enthusiasm of the local guide, who is determined to show us and tell us everything!

However, we shouldn't complain as this was the first sunny day of the trip and it was lovely to see blue sky!

Stone Forest.

Lunch in a traditional restaurant in the Stone Forest.

Around Zhongdian

Sumtseling Monastery

300 hectares inside

800 monks

Built 1687

This monastery was first on our agenda this morning.  The weather was only drizzling!  The monastery complex was huge, and built on a sloping site above the town. There were many Chinese tour groups, but hardly any Europeans. The buildings were ornate, with gold roofs which could be seen and marvelled at for miles around. A village had sprung up around the complex, with many houses still under construction. I took the 100 plus steps up to the top (where the gigantic Buddha sat) very slowly, because the altitude made me   quite breathless. Many people had left offerings for the monks, items of food or small denomination notes; we saw monastery officials going round collecting the money in a large bag. You have no idea how much there was: it was being scooped up like Monopoly money in large handfuls!

Afterwards we went to visit a "typical Buddhist family home" in the village, where we were given some snacks for morning tea. Their house was quite large and featured a loft where a massive amount of turnips and hay was being stored for the winter for animal feed. The two women were busy doing the washing, with a twin tub (of which they were very proud), but doing the rinsing by hand with a running hose pipe!  Their living area was quite large, with a special fire for boiling water in 4 large pots and (hanging from the ceiling) several pumpkin-like solid balls of lard, also for feeding the animals through the winter.

In the afternoon, we drove to the Napa Lake, a nature reserve, and did a circular tour, stopping once to observe many holiday cottages which had been submerged by rising water levels. The owners seemed to be replacing them with larger structures higher up. It was still a largely farming community sound the lake, with many horses grazing on the rich grass and even more black pigs and piglets running around or asleep by the roadside.

In the evening, we persuaded our guide to let us have Western food for a change. I had a pizza with 2 glasses of red wine. M and V had chicken and chips with pepper sauce! Tomorrow we are on the move again, flying to Kunming.

We had dinner here on our first night in Zhongdian. The first floor window overlooked this square, where locals and a few visitors gathered every evening for a couple of hours dancing.

Monastery.

Chinese tour group arriving.

Left: in the monastery gift shop;

Right: one of the courtyards.

Inside the typical Tibetan home.

Top left: stove for boiling water;

Top right: rendered pork fat for feeding animals;

Bottom: turnips stored in the loft.

Yak meat for sale.

Copper cooking pots for sale in the market.

Submerged houses in the lake.

Lijiang to Zhongdian

Lijiang to Zhongdian

Travelling in our "people mover", we went by road 1.5 hours to Leaping Tiger Gorge, mostly following a tributary of the Yangste. We had a toilet stop en route. These were squat toilets in a row of about 20 or 30, stalls with only waist high walls, ("horrendous and disgusting" to quote Ellie).

The gorge was spectacular: narrow and deep, with the water roaring through with tremendous force. In the middle was the rock which enabled the legendary tiger to jump across. This is said to be the deepest gorge in China and possibly in the world.

Another 2 hours on the road after lunch. The altitude (over 3200m) was getting to us. I was feeling very sleepy and dozed off, missing the scenery on the narrow winding road. Eventually we reached a barren plateau with yaks and highland cattle grazing on the roadside. Zhongdian lies in a wide, flat bottomed valley.  We checked into our hotel (Zhongdian Ancient Town Hotel). This is quite large. The corridors, lobby and breakfast room in the basement are freezing cold, but our room is double glazed with very efficient heating and hot water.

View upstream from our toilet stop.

Squat toilets with no privacy.

Statue of tiger leaping.

The Gorge.

Sedan chairs are available to take you down to the waters' edge!

Lijiang at night

When the lights go on, the Old Town takes on an entirely different character and crowds flock in to see it.

Top left: Val tries yak meat.

Top right: array of meat for BBQ at our restaurant.

Bottom: scenes along the river.

We had to find our own way home.

Guess who I met along the way?

Beautiful girl poses for a fashion shoot.

Lijiang

Lijiang

This is the nicest place so far. The old town is completely pedestrian and a World Heritage Site. Our driver stopped at one of the gates on the main road and our luggage was taken by cart to the hotel. Val and I have a big room with a big bathroom; everything plumbed in this time, but no door, so no privacy for toilet use! M's single room,however, had been flooded and the carpet was completely saturated. A de-humidifier was running. If it was me, I would not have accepted this for a minute but we were miles away from reception and feeling tired after the trip. She did not sleep well, needless to say, but was given another room next day.

Val and I left her in Lijiang to walk around the old town and do some sketching, whilst we went on the scheduled trip up to the Snow Mountain. We went up by cable car to  3,200 m. and then walked on a wooden pathway to the Spruce Meadow (very beautiful in winter with snow, also in spring with wildflowers). Wrong season for us! Vast numbers of Chinese tourists queued for everything, but most of them were going up to the glacier, the highest accessible point in China apart from Everest. They had all hired bright orange long down coats and many carried small portable oxygen canisters. They were ascending to 4,500 m. And would not see anything as we were already in cloud. It was an experience for us and we didn't suffer at all from the altitude. The best coffee ever was consumed when we got down to the bottom again.

Looking into our room from the bathroom.

Our hotel in the Old Town, which is a World Heritage Site.

Brandon, our guide, at the top of the cable car.

Walkway to the Spruce Meadow.

Naxi Village and Afternoon in Lijiang

We had lunch on the way back at a traditional Naxi village. We also bought freshly cracked walnuts from a little old lady street vendor. I was also tempted buy more indigo tie dye: this time a bedspread (or could make 2 tablecloths).

Nut seller.

Evening in Lijiang is pretty spectacular. All the lights come on which outline the roof lines, red lanterns dance in the breeze and all is reflected in the stream that flows through the old town. Couples strolled about (this is a famous honeymoon destination). We had dinner at a restaurant which served both Asian and Western food; I couldn't resist a hamburger and locally made wheat beer. Stomach getting decidedly fatter. Later I met Mr Putin outside the waxwork museum.