To China for an eclipse - for an adventure...

Mike (http://www.silkroadstans.blogspot.com/) and Curtis (http://curtisbryantmusic.com/news.html), two seasoned travelers, head to the Middle Kingdom for the July 2009 solar eclipse, billed as the longest of the 21st century. Below is a chronology of their three-week travel adventure, which took them from Shanghai, to Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces, and through some of the ancient capitals of past Chinese empires: Xi'an (Chang'an), Luoyang, Kaifeng and Nanjing, and finally back by rail to Shanghai.

Sun, July 19

Mike

Uneventful plane ride from Atlanta to Shanghai. Nearly went over the North Pole, actually crossed the Arctic and Siberia. We arrived in Shanghai on time. Everyone at the quarantine tables was wearing masks. Got through that and customs routinely.

The maglev into town (50 yuan = $7.30 US) took 8 minutes to cover 30 km. Then subway 8 stops on two lines got us to Hailun Rd Station, somewhat more than 1 km from the hotel (Hengsheng Peninsula Intl Hotel). And what a walk it was. In 30 minutes of walking with our backpacks, we soaked through our shirts and underwear. The temperature seems to be 37 (97) and it is stifling hot.

We have a smallish 4 star room on the 12th floor of the hotel. At 4 PM, we just sacked out for 2 1/2 hours.

Now (evening) we are walking through the Bund. What a Zoo. All the buildings on the Pudong (east side of the Pu River) are spectacularly lit up. The crowds are mostly Chinese, with some tourists. And the hawkers ... worse than anything I saw in Beijing.

As usual, the Internet at the hotel was 10 Y per 10 minutes. This Net cafe is 3 Y per hour.
The sun has set, and the temps are somewhat cooler - perhaps down to 91 or so. I think we are going to either be very sticky and sweaty, or we are going to run out of clothing very quickly.

It has been bright, sunny and HOT.

Curtis

We had a nice flight. We flew just west of the Hudson Bay, north over Ontario and Manitoba and close to the North Pole -- within 100 miles or so -- then came south over Siberia, the Eastern corner of Mongolia and down to Shanghai, arriving on time 15 + hours after takeoff. One view over the polar ice cap could have been a close-up of a flyover of Jupiter's moon Europa, of course without the clouds. There were some really interesting mountain ranges in Siberia, very desolate.

We took the maglev train from the airport, which briefly reached a speed of 430 kilometers per hour. Then, we got on the subway line, taking the #2 and #4. And then, we walked about a mile, and sweated about a quart, to our hotel, where we checked in totally drenched.

Anyhow, the hotel is quite comfortable, but walking anywhere is really, really hot. You are probably glad you're not here after reading this.

We got a good nap.

The walk along Shanghai's "Bund" district is wild. Lots of hawkers, selling laser lights and other junk. We are now going to look for a bite to eat, and hopefully get a real night's sleep.

We are now in an internet cafe in Shanghai, and it is 8:15 PM here -- 12 hours ahead of you! This computer is a little hard to use because most of the letters have been worn off the keys. I am stumbling over the keyboard as though in the dark.

It is now 93 degrees, feels like 108, already dark at 8:30 PM.

Our first full day in Shanghai

Mon, July 20

Mike

Weather: scattered clouds with temp probably 37 (maybe 38).

We got a slow start, with a long breakfast with some Finnish Swedes visiting Shanghai to see the eclipse. We took a bus (910) to Old Town, where Curtis negotiated for and bought a silk sports jacket, to be delivered on 7 Aug. We walked slowly through Old Town, along streets with food and markets. We bought buns and a fried rice (?) bread, along with lots to drink. Went into Temple of the Town City, where there are numerous Buddhist shrines. I bought a green bean ice cream bar.

Still, by 1 PM, we were close to collapse, because of the oppressive heat. We went into a movie theater and determined that Harry Potter movie was running at 1 PM, and then several times later, including 3:45 PM. So we headed over to the Shanghai Museum. After long wait to get into the museum, which was free, we toured the fourth, third and second floors: coins, ceramics, calligraphy, painting, furniture, jade, etc. spanning 8000 years. There was even a room with Silk Road coins that would have made any Persian museum proud.

We headed back to the movie theater, where we saw the brand new Harry Potter movie. The admission was pretty steep (80 Y), but the drinks outside the theater were cheaper than could be had on the street. Curtis got a large Coke (he was really tired of the green tea drinks) and I got a coconut drink (really tasty).

We were out at 6 PM. We had seen a 123 bus at the hotel and there was a 123 bus here, so we walked down the street trying to find the bus stop. After walking close to 1/2 km, we passed a 168 Motel (where my Silk Road friends Ile and Mirco are supposed to be staying), only to determine that there are maybe 8 168 Motels in Shanghai. Caught a crush loaded 123 bus, only to determine that the stop was at least 1/2 km north of the hotel.

Back to our hotel room. Accosted by the same woman who had bothered us last night (beer?... tea?... massage?) They are super aggressive here.

Back out for dinner. Two streets over is a restaurant row. We saw a Hunan restaurant and a Chogqing restaurant (is that different from Szechuan?) only to settle on a Uighur restaurant (8 sticks of lamb kebab, a potato in vinegar sauce place, a naan bread, and two large Xinjiang beers, all for 63Y).

It is now 9 PM, and we are at a really crowded internet cafe around the corner.

We did a wash last night of everything we had worn, and it looks like the same again tonight. The temperature last night was 93 (feels like 108) at 8 PM. Tonight it was 95 (feels like 107) at 9 PM. Rain is predicted for tomorrow night (1/2 inch expected) with 90% chance of rain on Wed (eclipse day).

Curtis

Well, I got signed in after all...

In a different wangbao (Internet Cafe) tonight, but very smokey and full of kids playing games, keyboards in better shape but too dark to see letters against the black. Good thing I can mostly speed type, except when I am thinking too hard about it.

I went to a tailor who specializes in silk this AM and ordered a new raw silk jacket. Interesting how hard it is to find. Lots of regular silk, but raw silk is uncommon. I'll pick it up on our return leg. Then we walked some back streets with open markets and noshed a few snacks on way to the Shanghai Museum. Nice exhibits, especially coins and porcelain. Then after the museum we went to a cinema and saw the current Harry Potter movie with Chinese subtitles. They don't show previews and they cut off the credits before the composer came up (guess I can go on imdb.com to find out). The theater was really, really cold, but I could not complain. They sold cokes in plastic bottle, no ice, but the price was right (3.2 Yuan). But the movie was 80 Y (about $12?).

Then we took a bus back to the hotel. Weather was clear and HOT. I wore my safari hat, which Mike thought looked ridiculous, but it keeps the sun off, and that's fine with me. Some of the locals wear anything to keep the sun off, but the most common protective gear is the parasol. It is interesting to be the only foreigners riding the buses. We get stared at by interested folk who don't commonly see Westerners on the public transportation. But the buses are air conditioned and only cost 2 Y (about 30 cents).

We got dinner at a Uighur restaurant, lamb kebob with nan bread and a potato dish in a red bell pepper vinegar sauce, soft shoe string style, hence easy to eat with chopsticks. It was yummy.

I hit a key that put me on Chinese letters。Oops。Anyhow, I am hoping to get a swim tomorrow if I can

Getting acclimated to Shanghai in Summer

Tues, July 21

Mike

The heat is too much; we are just going at half pace. Curtis stayed at the hotel to get in a swim. I went out to Ohel Moshe Synagogue and took the "expensive" tour. The synagogue wasn't much (built in 1927), but from 1939 to 1945 when the Japanese ghettoized the Jews in Shanghai, it was the center of a neighborhood of 25000. In 1949, all foreigners were expelled, and that was that for the Jewish community of Shanghai.

I got over there by walking 1+ km to the Metro and going two stops. On the way, I stopped in a magazine shop and found a map of Shanghai with all of the bus info (in Chinese, of course). So on the way back I took the 22 bus three stops. The bus stops are so far apart that sometimes it is a huge inconvenience to even try to take the bus.

I got back to the hotel at 11. Curtis finished his swim at 11:45. We finally got moving at 12:30. Took a bus to People's Square, and then walked several blocks to Shanghai Book Store. What an amazing place. The store fills 7 huge floors. We wandered through several of the floors - finally found Harry Potter on floor 6 - Youth Reading. Volume 1 (Sorcerer’s Stone) was behind an employee's door. It is really thin (only 190 pages) but I am assured it is complete, so I am bringing it back for the collection.

By now it is 2:30 PM. We are exhausted, but are walking back to the hotel. We got sustenance for the walk by buying two 50 cent hot dogs. Curtis also found a small 70c (4.5Y) bottle of rotgut bai jiu (white spirits). Halfway there we found an Internet cafe, where we now find ourselves.

It was sunny this AM, with blue skies. Now it is completely overcast. Maybe the prediction of rain tonight and all day tomorrow is really going to happen. Too Bad, So Sad.

Dragon eats sun, clouds eat dragon...

Wed, July 22 ECLIPSE DAY

"And now... for the very first time on record... the [2009 Shanghai]... ECLIPSE OF THE SUN" (Monty Python's Previous Record)

Mike

At 5 am, we got up, saw some breaks in the clouds, and decided to check out and go to Jiaxing. We were slow and didn't check out until 7:15 AM, after breakfast. By the time we got to the train station, it was too late to get to Jiaxing. So we waited at the Shanghai South Railway Station. Saw the sun a few times through the clouds, but then things got thicker and thicker. 20 min before totality it started to rain, fairly hard. The sky got totally dark during totality, but it was raining pretty hard.

Slowly back to town where we went to the museum of the First Communist Party Conference in 1921. Who do we see there but Electra Yourke and Todd Thompson from the 2008 Tropical Sails eclipse trip to Xinjiang. (http://www.silkroadstans.blogspot.com/) We discussed the weather and ascertained that it had gotten to 40 (104) on Monday PM while we were watching Harry Potter - the hottest in 75 years in Shanghai.

Afterward, we walked through the rain for a while. Finally gave up, to go back to the hotel. We had some lunch - two scrambled egg pastries as street food, and then into a cheap cafeteria, where we had 4 different dishes, including the special Shanghai buns, and a beer, all for 21 Y.
Changed some money, relaxed in the lobby with some other Americans, and then about 3:30 PM, took two buses to the airport, arriving around 4:45 PM. Checked in, discovered the plane to Kunming was delayed until 6:15 (from 5:45).

Dinner on the plane was rather adventurous, with lotus root and beef with rice, and a 100 year old egg-mushroom salad.

We took a taxi to the hotel - oh, the Kunming traffic jams, even at 10:15 at night!

Curtis

In short, our eclipse experience today was rather grim. We had heavy overcast, turning to rain. Even so, the sun broke through for a few seconds several times as the eclipse was starting, so we got a couple of glimpses through the welding glass and shared the ephemeral view with a few passers-by in the park. Then it started raining just before totality, so Mike and I hung out under the glass subway entrance with some others and experienced the darkness for about 5 minutes, watching the cars turn on their headlights to continue their way with the inconvenience. The buses in Shanghai had a time lapse loop of the eclipse on their video screens, shot from somewhere that had better weather. Oh well, "The best planned lays of mice and men" as someone once said...

We had a nice flight out of Shanghai on China Eastern Air Lines. Food on the plane was actually good.

We have just gotten checked in to our hotel in Kunming. Kunming is dry and cooler than Shanghai, actually quite pleasant. We are planning to go to the "Stone Forest" tomorrow for a day trip. You can probably get some idea of it by googling "Stone Forest Kunming." There are images of it all over the airport, so it appears to be THE major attraction for this area.

Yunnan Province

We will spend the next six nights in Yunnan Province in China’s southwest. Kunming, the capital is called “the City of Eternal Spring” because, at 23º N and 1,900 meters above sea level, it has moderate temperatures year round. It was the home of allied operations in China during the World War II. At the terminus of the Burma Road, and later the Ledo Road connecting Yunnan to Assam in India, Kunming was an essential supply center in the effort to push back the Japanese occupation. One of my uncles was stationed in Kunming in 1945 as an army medic. I wonder if I will cross any of the same streets he once crossed.

We will follow in the path of part of the old Burma Road as we venture westward by bus from Kunming to Xiaguan (The old allied route cuts south here) and on to Dali, medieval capital of the Nanzhao kingdom, which was independent from Han control until both were conquered by the Mongols. Then we will continue our exploration northward to Lijiang and meet Jinsha Jiang (the Yangtse River) where it passes through the Tiger Leaping Gorge. (Notes by Curtis)

Kunming and The Stone Forest

Thurs, July 23

Mike

Got up, ate a nondescript breakfast. We arranged with Tony Deng of China Kindness Tours to meet with him between 5 to 6 PM.

We took a bus to the bus station (right next to the railway station). Then, a 2 hr ride to Shilin (石林; literally "Stone Forest") - one hour to get 4 km or so to the highway, and the other hour on the highway.

The Stone Forest is a region of karst stone formations. Trails have been built throughout the park. We took the trail to the Lotus Tower and found ourselves on a narrow, exposed, slippery trail. Fantastic stone formations - sort of reminds one of Cappadocia, but here there is limestone karst, not basalt.

Back to Kunming - again the horrendous traffic.

Met with Tony around 5:50 PM. He is arranging Dan Oppliger's 2009 Tropical Sails eclipse trip, so he knows they saw the eclipse. Tony took us to dinner and ordered 7 dishes, local specialties of Kunming and Yunnan: 1. steamed pork chicken soup (qi4 quo1 ji1); 2. duck stomach (ya1 zhen1) crispy like pieces of pork; 3. fried goat cheese (ru3 bing3) like saganaki but without the liquor - salt and pepper instead; 4. rice cake with scallion (er3 kuai4); 5. beef with ginger and pepper; 6. steamed green pumpkin; 7. crispy potato (gan1 bei4 yang2 yu4) shredded potato, julienned and fried in a cake. Beer was Lan2 cang1 jiang1 (Mekong River beer). There was way too much food, but wow.
After dinner, Tony drove us back to the hotel. Now, to sleep.

Chinese cheese info:
http://www.ethnorema.it/pdf/numero%201/BRYAN%20ALLEN%20and%20SILVIA%20ALLEN.pdf

Curtis

We really enjoyed the Stone Forest (Shilin). It had incredible passageways that were quite tricky to negotiate, but really awesome vistas. I took bunches of photos. Our weather was quite pleasant, too, which was a good thing because some of the stone pathways could be disastrous under wet conditions. There are many otherworldly rock formations, some of which are given "pet" names for obvious reasons. The park attracts many tourists, and near the bus station you run into the usual onslaught of tour hawkers, and people selling all kinds of trinkets, including some very nice embroidery and other folk arts and crafts. These have their own unique local style based on traditions of the Yi and Sami people, ethnic minorities with long roots in this part of Yunnan Province.

After our return bus ride, Mike caught up with his travel agent friend Tony, who generously took us to a good local restaurant that offers Yunnan dishes. Most incredible was fried goat cheese similar to Greek saganaki. Also crispy duck stomach--very much like crisp bacon.

Tomorrow, after we do a little touring around Kunming itself, we’re planning on taking a bus to Dali. Tony says there is almost no damage in the old town from the recent earthquake. Also similar reports from travelers we have run into.

Birds & Flowers, then bus to Dali

Fri, Jul 24

Mike

We spent close to an hour trying to book a hotel in Dali. We finally convinced the hotel staff to make a phone call for us. Two different calls to two different hotels in Lonely Planet – “mei you” (full). So we gave up, and took a bus to the Bird and Flower Market. As we got off the bus, I bought my second umbrella. The first was over $7, but it fell apart pretty quickly. This one is $10, so we'll see. The market was not much: a couple of open air pet stores, including one with a dish of bugs, presumably to feed the pets. Hardly any flowers at all.

We walked the km to Green Lake Park. On the way, we passed the old Chinese medicine pharmacy in Kunming. Green Lake is kind of pretty, with abundant lotus in the water, and lots of people on the walkways.

We took two buses back to the train station, where we each had a bowl of Crossing the Bridge Noodles (8 Y apiece). Sort of like pho. The base seems to be a chicken noodle soup with chili oil. Into it are thrown some meat, tomatoes, veggies, etc.

By now it is close to 1 PM. There are many internet cafes near the train station, so we visit three of them. One is closed, and the other two require a Chinese identity card: no foreigners allowed. So we took the bus back to the hotel, from which we had checked out. We went up to the internet in the business center (20 Y per hour) but no one was there to collect the money. We searched ctrip.com, found a hotel, and took the number back to the front desk. They made the call. We had a reservation, and moreover the 260 Y room was only 180 Y ($27).

We decided to splurge on Jul 28: instead of taking a 10 hour bus from Lijiang to Panzhihua, then a 14 hour overnight train to Leshan, arriving Jul 29, staying in Leshan, and then going on to Chengdu on Jul 30 -- we decided to fly from Lijiang to Chengdu the morning of Jul 28, check in to a hotel, and take a day trip to Leshan. This whole thing costs us $135 apiece in airfare, and gives us 2 extra days to see Louyang, Kaifeng, Nanjing, etc. We pressed our luck in the Kunming hotel business center, and got that reservation done also.

Picked up our luggage, and walked to the bus stop. Right next to the hotel was a health and fitness center, with a picture of an exercising woman with a clearly western face. I guess if you exercise there, you start looking like an American.

We got to the bus station just before 3 PM and bought two tickets to Dali (actually Xiaguan - the real city 7 km closer to Kunming) for 96 Y apiece. The tickets said 16:00, so we set our bags down and waited. A guy came up, said he was on the same bus, and we should quickly get on the bus. It was only 15:10, but as soon as the bus fills, it leaves. Apparently this is true all over this part of China. The time on the ticket is merely the time the bus will leave if it doesn't fill by then. We had seats 19 and 20 out of maybe 27 in total. The bus driver turned on the engine at 15:23. Something was wrong with the bus, which didn't leave until 15:50. We didn't get our tickets checked until 15:45, when we were almost out of the bus station.

Traffic is beyond impossible in Kunming (Tony had told us that if he tried to drive the 5 km to his house at 6 PM, it might take him 90 minutes). In our direction, it only took 15 minutes to get on the expressway (right next to the train/bus station). Anyway, by 16:05 we were on the expressway, and ready to drive. There was one 10-minute stop halfway to Xiaguan. After the rest stop the driver put on the TV, with two concerts from Dali (we think). The noise level was excruciating, and the screaming crowd coming through the bus TV was so loud that Curtis had to cover his ears. However, the really cute kid in front of us on the bus, who had been sleeping the first 2 hours, stood up, and watched intently the rest of the way.

We got to Xiaguan about 20:15. In the bus station, we saw dozens of sleeper buses, with their lights on, getting ready to load up. In Xiaguan, the taxi touts wanted 40 Y to get us to Dali Gu Cheng (大理古城 Dali Old City), where all tourists go (none stay in Xiaguan, unless there are exigent circumstances). We walked a few meters to the other side of the bus depot, found the local bus, and paid 2 Y apiece. We got dropped off two blocks from our hotel, Landscape Hotel. It was 21:15 or so, and they had no record of our call. They did however have a suite for 580 Y ($85). Curtis complained loudly, and they finally put us in a 460 Y room, and charged us 230 Y for a very nice room (a little small, but very clean).

We went out to dinner at Marley's Cafe. Curtis had a hamburger, with fries, and onion rings. I had the fried goat cheese appetizer, and the Bai special fried chicken. The goat cheese was not as good as in Kunming, but still tasty. The chicken was not fried at all, but stir fried in a white sauce. What made it special were the local mushrooms, the bamboo, etc. To bed at 23:30.

Curtis

We rounded off our stay in Kunming with a morning trip to the Bird and Flower Market, which turned out to be a bit grungy - road construction and some recent rain didn't help. I had hoped for something a bit more extensive, nevertheless there were interesting things going on, and it was clearly a market that caters to the locals and not to foreigners. In fact, I can't remember seeing a Western face anywhere within the market. Not a lot of flowers in evidence, but if you wanted a caged bird or music lessons on traditional Chinese instruments, or perhaps a nice big root of ginseng, well you're in the right place here. We then walked down to the Green Lake Park, which was packed with strollers and boaters enjoying some leisure time in the placid lake that was filled with lotus in bloom.

We are now in the old city of Dali, heartland of the Bai people, and are staying in the Landscape Hotel, a beautiful location built in the style of the old buildings. We are in a 3rd floor walkup, but it is quite comfortable (they serve a decent breakfast, too). Finding a wangba is much easier than it was in Kunming, and they are not concerned with passports or ID cards. Clearly they are more accustomed to Western tourists around here.

Our bus trip up here was interesting, watching the landscape get more and more mountainous. Cultivation occurs in all possible places, and you could occasionally see field hands wearing the classic farm hats weeding or carrying their loads balanced equally on two sides of a shoulder stick or sometimes a big basket held behind the neck. The highway was quite good once we got out of Kunming so the bus went at a good clip. At one point I saw a man with a goat that was nibbling on the weeds growing in the berm: the people's way to mow the grass. Field crops here seem to depend on the location of the slope. You see lots of corn (the American type) growing on the slopes along with other vegetables. Rice gets planted mostly on the bottoms, but I also saw lotus in one boggy spot. We went through a succession of tunnels, one of which was over 3 Km long.

Another thing I noticed along the way was the prevalence of colorful decorative artwork painted on the white stucco walls of houses. One of the most popular images is the lotus, which is a prominent Buddhist image symbolizing spotless enlightenment arising from the mire of human existence. Although, in this particular stretch of the road (between Kunming and Chuxiong) I noticed lots of images of dinosaurs. I found out later that this region has major excavation sites of Jurassic and Cretaceous fossils. There are some dinosaur museums and theme parks in the area (Lufeng), which might have been interesting to check out if we had had more time. Ah, yes, time is always the problem when traveling....

We arrived late in Dali, but this town caters to tourists, so we had no problem finding dinner at 10 o'clock. We went to Marley's Cafe, which offers local cuisine as well as Western fare. Mike remained pure to the agenda, but I decided to go for a hamburger and onion rings. We also shared some fried goat cheese. Very satisfying to me, starved of proper bread and dairy products.

Dali and Cangshan - the Jade Green Mountains

Sat, Jul 25

Mike

Got up, and dressed and showered. Curtis had a small bout requiring Imodium. Then, down for breakfast and to take care of some business.

Originally, we planned to take the overnight bus from Dali to Lijiang. However, once we got to Lijiang, we realized that it only takes 3 hours from Dali to Lijiang: there is no such thing as an overnight bus. We arranged to stay in Dali another night (and keep the same room at the same rate) then take the 8:30 AM bus on Jul 26.

Curtis had arranged for the hotel to wash his two days of laundry. When we walked out of the hotel, we found a laundry across the street. So, I arranged for that laundry to clean my two days of laundry (30 Y) - supposed to be ready by 9 PM tonight (let's hope).

We found an internet cafe that didn't give a damn about Chinese identity cards (didn't even take our passport number), so we got on and booked two nights of hotel in Lijiang (Lijiang Mosuo Yiyuan House [Erma House] for 170 Y a night) for Jul 26 to 28. We also booked Shuda Mansion in Chengdu for 228 Y a night for Jul 28 to 30. We are now fully booked through Jul 30. We also bought our bus ride to Lijiang for 45 Y apiece.

All that done, we noticed that there were two cable cars up Cangshan Mountain to the west (cang means dark blue-green and shan is of course mountain). We started walking to one of them. The driver of a motorized rickshaw pulled up and convinced us to pay him 20 Y to take us to the cable car. 8 km later, we were at the other cable car. It cost 80 Y to take the cable car, and 32 Y to get off the cable car on the mountain (admission).

At the top, we got out and walked a few meters to the Qingbi Spring, a pretty waterfall. There are trails going everywhere. The standard trail between the two cable systems,named "Jade-Cloud Road" after cloud formations that appear over the Cangshan peaks, is 11.5 km, and apparently goes by some stunningly beautiful stuff. But even 2 km at 2500 m of elevation (or so), going up and down and up and down stairs, was as much as we could do. We spent a while climbing up the creek bed into what they call the Grand Canyon of Cangshan Mountains.

We descended Cangshan. On the way up, we had passed the most beautiful looking peaches, both flattish and regular shaped. I was going to buy some, but instead only bought 5 bananas. Since it was starting to rain, at 14:30 we took a taxi from higher up back to town, and didn't pass by the vendors. As it goes, we didn't see those flat peaches again.

There is absolutely no evidence of earthquake damage in Dali, so far as we can see.

In Dali: back to the hotel, and then out into town. Curtis was looking for a seamstress to mend his day pack. We found a couple, man and wife. Using a very old sewing machine, the man stitched the pack back together. He asked for 5 Y (75¢); Curtis was overly generous, and gave him 10 Y. We stopped by a tea shop and had a bottle of Feng Huang Xue Yue beer (rather ordinary) and also a cup of Yunnan coffee (15 Y). Tasty coffee, but we have learned that REAL coffee is (relatively) expensive all over the world.

We headed on to the East Gate of the city. There we climbed the walls, which were just a high berm, and walked to the SE corner. No tourists or much of anybody inside the wall in this corner. As we turned to the south portion, we were forced off the wall. So we got onto the street outside, and followed the wall, which now was a bunch of rubble, overgrown with trees. Then, we went on to a piece of fairly new wall, with a few marijuana plants nearby.

After a bit we were back at the South Gate, and it was tourist city again. There were lots of women dressed in what passes for Bai costume - it seems to be a universal costume for hotel front desk workers, tourist assistants, etc. Now, we climbed a new piece of old wall, and headed west to the Southwest corner, then north for a bit on the west wall. There, our path was blocked.

So we got down (it was 6 PM by now) and walked back to the center of town. We walked back along the mosque we had seen from Cangshan Mountain. I asked the Chinese woman there, "Masjid?" and got stares. These minarets were deceptive: the “mosque” turned out to be a hotel and maybe some other buildings. Next door was a new development that looked exactly like a huge Buddhist temple, but was clearly going to be a shopping mall. It’s funny how the cultural symbols are being expropriated by the commercial developers.

We got out of the internet at 7:30 PM. Back to the hotel for Curtis to get his laundry - mine was not going to be ready until 9 PM or so. Out for dinner. Curtis had two sticks of kebab as an appetizer. Then we went to a restaurant and had beef with peanuts (delicious), fried goat cheese (served with sugar rather than salt and pepper), hot and sour cabbage (best of the set), and some routine julienned potato dish. Way too much food. In the middle of dinner, I hopped over to get my clothes.

Back to the hotel and to bed. It’s so nice to have really clean clothes.

Curtis

This morning we made our travel arrangements for Lijiang. Then we spent a little time wandering inside the fascinating old town, watching the street vendors set up shop, and getting our bearings. Even the local produce of fresh mushrooms, eggplant and peppers was displayed in colorful arrangements worthy of its own art form. Much of the architecture in the old walled city of Dali is in the Bai style from the Ming era, with some of it surviving from the 14th century. Tourism propels the local economy, and very few vehicles are allowed onto the old cobble stone streets, giving the whole town an archaic feel. The town is also very clean. There are ancient canals that bring mountain water right into the city. Our wanderings led us up a road to the west side of town in the direction of the Cangshan mountain range, when we noticed a rickshaw heading in our direction. Clearly the savvy driver smelled tourists. After a little negotiation, he convinced us that the best way up the mountain was by a different route. He took us to the entrance for the Austrian built cableway up Cang Shan (Dark Blue-green Mountain). At the top, we climbed around on rock-hewn stairways up and down through the Cang Shan "Grand Canyon," following a natural cascading stream. Quite beautiful: lots of mosses and lichens as well as wild orchids, butterfly bushes and other flora.

This afternoon we walked around the East and South gates of Dali and followed part of the restored city walls. These survive from the Ming era and reflect the same style of architecture seen in the widely photographed sections of China’s Great Wall. At the Nán Mén (South Gate), where most of the motorized traffic comes to a halt, you can see locals dressed in traditional Bai costumes. There were some models, waiting for a photo shoot, probably for a tourism brochure and others in costume perhaps waiting to guide tours or just to go to work at some hotel. Also a man selling rides for children in a wagon drawn by some kind of big horn sheep, and tourists from all over China and Europe taking photos and enjoying the mild afternoon weather.

Tomorrow we will take a 3 hour bus ride to Lijiang and see the city in the afternoon. Then the plan is to take a tour of some kind up to the Tiger Leaping Gorge. Mike has booked us ahead through the 30th for Chengdu. We decided to take an extra night in Dali (here) tonight and fly from Lijiang to Chengdu instead of taking the overnight bus trip. Saw no reason to waste a day and a half on a stinky bus.

Weather here has been nice: occasional drizzle, especially up on the mountain, generally pleasant. We’re hoping for good weather in the gorge. I imagine it will be really hot again when we reach Sichuan, but we'll deal with that when we get there.

Bus to Lijiang... finding our hotel

Sun, July 26

Mike

Packed, had a quick breakfast, and walked over to the place where we were to meet to get the bus to Lijiang. We were supposed to be there by 8:25 for the 8:30 bus, but we got there about 8:08 (checkout was more efficient than we had planned). At 8:12 or so, the guy we had bought the ticket from showed, and told us to walk a block or so. There we found our bus.

We were almost the last people on the bus, and were wedged into the back seats, with our backpacks on the floor of the minibus. We thought about the rule to never be the last person on the bus, but I think that each bus would have filled up in Xiaguan, and anyone getting on in Dali would be last. The ride was very pretty, but we were crushed and uncomfortable. Anyway, around noon, we pulled into Lijiang, and got out of the bus.

After asking a few questions, we walked a few hundred meters and were at the north gate to the old city. We went to the tourist info center. The staffer pulled out a map. The name of the alley on which our hotel was located was not exactly shown on the map, so the guide didn't know where the hotel was located. However, the hotel had to be near the south gate, because its address was Nanmen (south gate) St Old Alley. We took a taxi to the south gate, and started inquiring. I had forgotten to get a phone number for the hotel, so there was a lot of frustration all around. Finally, someone let me on to their computer. I typed in www.ctrip.com, and My Trips, and found the entry in Chinese. The guy copied the name in Chinese onto a piece of paper. A little after 1:00 PM, we were finally at the hotel.

The hotel manager knew who I was without even looking because we were the only foreigners registering through ctrip.com (I guess). Anyway, the hotel is very nice for 170 Y a night ($25); ctrip had indicated we were getting breakfast, but that turned out not to be true. After unpacking and hitting the bathroom, we headed out into the city.

This area is a maze of alleys and walkways; the only certainty about it is that you will get lost. We found a bank and changed some money. Then it started to rain, so into a tea shop for some white snow tea and ginger tea, and an apple pancake (strudel like, but maybe made with rice flour) and a bowl of noodle soup.

Then, up to the north gate tourist center. Eric, the fellow there, suggested staying on the south side of the river to see Tiger Leaping Gorge, instead of going on a tour bus on the north side, or attempting any part of the 22 km walk. We wanted to go back to the hotel and do some reading. Anyway, we found an internet cafe, and sent a message (which could not be sent for any one of a number of reasons and got lost).

Back through the city (from north gate to south gate is 1.5 to 2 km) where we finally decided to do the suggested trip. The proposal was 350 Y for a private driver for the day, in addition to 50 Y for admission to the park.

It is now 7 PM, and we have braved the crowds getting back to the north gate. While walking, we had some grilled potatoes on a stick, and pieces of rice sausage on a stick. Also a bag of 10 walnut cakes (cookies). All were very delicious.

Back at the north gate tourist center, Eric said he had already promised the driver to some other party, but that we should come back at 7:40 AM: he would see if we all could fit in a minivan, with the price reduced to 250 Y for the two of us, and 250 Y for the other party. We said yes.

We headed back toward the hotel, looking for a Naxi (an ethnic group inhabiting the foothills of the Himalayas) restaurant for dinner. We stopped and bought 200 g of dried processed yak meat for next day’s hike ($6). We settled on a restaurant and had three "snacks": 1. hot and sour noodles, which turned out to be a bowl of noodle soup; 2. fried yak cheese, again coated with sugar; 3. lamb kebabs, which turned out to be 8 sticks in a peanut, pepper sauce (Yum). Ordinary bottle of beer, and Curtis had a glass of a wine, which had a spicy kick to it. He thinks it would go really well with hot and spicy Szechuan.

Back to the hotel about 9:30 PM. We got on the hotel internet and were still unable to send anything. We started talking with a fascinating Dutch couple, who had failed to see the eclipse from an island east of Shanghai. I absented myself to wash two days of clothes and then to bed.

Curtis

…3:50 PM Sunday (3:50 AM for you), in Lijiang.

The bus ride this morning went through some pretty high passes and was quite uncomfortable. Mike and I were the last passengers to board, so we were stuck in the very back: rough on my butt. It seems that when you buy a bus ticket in these parts, they tell you the departure time is 8:30, and if you show up early you might get on the earlier bus, but in a less preferable seat.

Someone we met a few days back said Lijiang is a little bit like Disneyworld in that there are no cars in the old town and you wind around a maze of tiny alleyways with little sense of NSEW orientation. It took a while to find our hotel because the Roman spelling on Mike's ctrip.com account was different from what it should have been (using the correct Pinyin), so nobody could understand what was written down. Anyhow, we finally found it. We're the only non-Chinese guests.

Then we walked around from the South gate section where we are staying up to the central square and back to the North gate, not much more than a kilometer; made a trip to the Bank of China where the ATM works; and then to the travel booth, to get info on the gorge. We are trying to decide: from which side of the Yangtze to view?

When we saw the wangba (internet cafe-- literally net bar), we decided to catch up on email. Nice folks here give you a cup of tea while you surf.

The locals are a bit less pushy here, which is very nice. Still, Mike ended up buying a whole bag of yellow plums from an itinerant vendor, when he really only wanted a couple. Oh well, the plums are quite good.…He also bought some yak meat jerky, which we will take up to the gorge for our lunch. It is strongly flavored with sesame oil and garlic. I wish we could find some decent bread, though.

Later, back at the hotel, I tried to get on the computer there on the second floor. It was free, but very slow, and it had a Pinyin keyboard. (See my rather frustrated attempt at sending an e-mail the next day, below.) Meanwhile we ran into a Dutch couple. Apparently we aren't the only Westerners in this hotel, after all. I struck up a conversation with Dr. Rieks Jager, who is an astronomer and was here for the eclipse as well. Also got rained out. Anyhow, Rieks and I had an animated conversation about Chinese history. I offered to share the bottle of beijou I had purchased in Shanghai, and he offered to share some Genever gin he had brought from Holland. One taste of the beijou was enough. We polished off the gin, and I abandoned the Chinese hooch, leaving it for the maid. The Jagers are going up to hike the gorge on the Shangrila side tomorrow– a 2-3 day hike. They are veteran hikers, while Mike and I have opted for the wimpy route, but again, time is our enemy. Hope to hear how their hike went at some point.

____________

Monday Night from a computer in the hotel sitting in a dark corner of the hallway:

Just a brief message from Lijiang. My computer is REALLZ slow and does not have a Z.
Anzhow, we saw the gorge from the south side todaz. That is the easier waz to view it. I have been unable to log in to mzZahoo mail, so I am trzing again. I hope zou got the message I sent zesterdaz, but in case zou did not, we are fine and are planning to take a plane to Chengdu tomorrow morning earlz. We are in good shape, but internet service is not. Well, Iäll trz to send this message. Love zou….

Tiger Leaping Gorge...Minivan Spinning Round

Mon, Jul 27

Mike

Woke early and got onto street about 6:40 AM. Breakfast was two glasses of tea, an apple pancake, some yak yogurt (flavored with vanilla), and an orange drink. It got us going.

Our plan was to reconnoiter at the north gate for the tour. There were food vendors there, so I tried a rice cake "burrito" (a rectangular rice cake, filled with various food items and topped with a spicy sauce, then rolled up).

We met up with Eric, the tourist guy. A few minutes later he introduced us to a French family (husband, wife, and 4 year old girl), along with the husband's sister (who had been living with her boyfriend in Shenzhen for 3 years, and so knew some Chinese). Curtis spoke a little French, and the family agreed to join us. So we paid 250 each (Curtis and I paid 250, they paid 250). Eric found us a minivan, and we were off at 8:15, in the drizzle.

The road went to the north, slowly uphill. We stopped so I could buy 6 Lijiang white snow peaches - pretty tasty. Then, we came on a lookout point over the Yangtze River and the mountains. It was cloudy and we could not see the two 5600-5800 meter mountains that span the gorge. We then headed downhill the next 20 km or so to the river. As we were going downhill, the driver lost control, skidded, and ended up in the uphill lane facing uphill. We were a little shaken, and the rest of the trip was rather slower, especially when 2 km later we saw a car that had run off the road and was tipped on its side.

Where we met the river, you can go north across the river to Qiaotou and then up to ShangriLa, or to the east along the north side of the river. This is the customary way of seeing the gorge. We continued straight, not crossing the river. This road continued for 21 km, along a wide quiet river, until it came to an entrance gate and a parking lot. It was now 11:10 AM; we agreed to meet back at 2:00 PM. Entrance was 52 Y apiece.

The trail was wide, paved, flat, and followed the river. On several occasions, because of the problem of rockslides, the trail was tunneled through the rock. As we approached the 3 km mark, the river started getting much wilder. Ahead on the north side were dozens and dozens of buses, and people walking down to the river. As we came upon this on the south side, it was clear that we had reached Tiger Leaping Gorge. The river foamed and leaped. On a canoeing scale of 1 - 5, this was a 5+++: clearly impassable by any river craft. As you stood, maybe 15 m above the river on a platform, you occasionally got splashed by the foaming waters. I took 3 10-second movies of the river on my camera.

Lunch was yak meat, walnut cakes, a peach, and a few of the plums from the first day in Lijiang. Finally, the other family came by (they had traveled the trail much more slowly). I offered the girl a peach; even though she was a picky eater, she grabbed at the peach and wolfed it down.

We all walked back, and got back to the minivan by 1:45. The rain had stopped when Curtis and I arrived at the parking lot, but now it started up again. This time we drove slowly, and made it back to town by 4:10 PM. We two went back to the hotel in the drizzle.

After 6 PM, we started out again, walking - first in a drizzle, and then in a medium hard rain. By 7 PM we reached the internet cafe, really soaked. Finally, I was able to successfully write and send the July 25 and 26 messages.

It was 8:30 PM when we finished, and Curtis absolutely insisted on pizza. We went to a place that advertised pizza, and ordered a salami pizza, a bottle of beer, and a glass of wine (for Curtis). The pizza was made “California style,” with a thin crust. I saw Naxi style fish with peanuts on the menu, so I had only a small portion of the pizza, and ordered the fish. It was truly fantastic. Total bill was 111 Y (although I think the owner miscalculated) and we left 120 Y. Truly, it was an amazing dinner.

It had stopped raining (finally!) so back to the hotel a little after 10, for packing, showering, and getting ready for a very early start to Chengdu.

Curtis

To start the day (and to get out of the rain-- light on-and-off drizzle), we had a snack at a little restaurant. I had a Lijiang pancake, which is sort of an apple strudel, with a very glutinous flour. It was yummy with some ginger tea.

Mike and I shared a minivan with some French tourists on a ride to the Lijiang side of the gorge. The ride there wound up and down over a ridge and was quite harrowing. There was a little drizzle on and off as we were above and below the clouds. At one point the driver went a little too fast on a curve and spun around, but thankfully we stayed on all four wheels. We blocked traffic for a few minutes until he got straightened out. After that he was much more cautious. A couple of kilometers down the road we saw a car that had skidded and turned upside down. Fortunately he had gone off on the inside of the road and not the cliff side. The driver called for emergency services on his cell.

The Lijiang walk is easier to arrange and much easier to negotiate. Basically a fairly wide and flat walking path of stone with several tunnels, around 3 kilometers each way. It leads to the south side of the gorge where you can walk down to the rapids at the "tiger leap" point. There is a stone tiger that you can see as you approach the last tunnel. When you walk down to the low observation deck you are about 5 meters above the water, but the spray from the torrent comes up to your feet and there is mist all in the air. Mike calls it a level 5+++ rapids. No one could survive on a raft or barrel or any such device.

I was hoping to have a few more trails to hike. The people on the other side (the Shangrila side), whom you could almost talk to if you could hear over the torrents, had to climb down several hundred stairs from a much higher road. There was a great wall of buses parked up there, and that would have been another option, but it would have required booking a Shangrila driver. So we opted for the geriatric path. Anyhow it was quite beautiful and dramatic. I will save my energy for climbing the Leshan Buddha.

On the way back we saw another truck that had been towed. The pair of vehicles was off in a ditch; at least the tow truck could call another tow truck to pull him out.

I am coercing Mike to let me go to the pizza restaurant, which imports mozzarella from New Zealand. All this Chinese food has taken a toll on my stomach the last few days - it is not really on my top ten list of cuisines. I did have some yak milk yogurt this morning. It is lightly sweetened with a little vanilla; you drink it with a punch-through straw. We also had some dried yak meat for a snack at the gorge. It was tasty, but sat a little uneasily with me. I'm trying to save my Chinese stomach for some real Sichuan food. Then I may have to hit the Imodium again.

We fly out to Chengdu tomorrow morning, so have to get up really early.