Yunnan in Pictures
As promised... :)
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Monday, May 7, 2007
Yunnan
...is a region in the south of China. It has borders with Tibet, Burma, Laos, Vietnam and two other Chinese provinces and accounts for "only" 60% of all biodiversity in China. Impressive, huh? :)
We took a flight from Shanghai to Kunming, the capital of the province. This was the first of 6 stops in only 9 days... An intensive journey, as it should always be! :) Kunming, a city of 5 million inhabitants, received us well. Broad avenues, noisy roads, busy people and a feeling from the west that "only" McDonald's, KFC, Louis Vuitton and Nike seem to be able to provide. The other face of the coin is a city where poverty is constant and people struggle to live decently.
As big cities were not really what we were aiming for the next stop was Shilin and the stone forest. Can you imagine a massive amount of huge rocks with imponent and funny shapes in the middle of trees and green? Well... I couldn't either, that's why we decided to go, and we weren't disappointed! I guess the pictures (that I will post soon) can speak by themselves!
Back to Kunming to sleep the next stop was a little village called Dali. Located in a valley by a lake, Dali seems to be a bit lost in time. Old buildings, nice little shops, a great Thai/Indian/Burmese restaurant, a cute and unbelievably cheap hostel (1€ per night) and a very cosy bar called Kafka made us feel at home. During the day we rented some bikes and got lost in some villages in the surroundings. We met really nice people who work in the fields all day, don't get more than 70€ a month but still smile at us. It really made me think about how privileged we are...
The next stop was Lijiang. About 4 hours in a bus to complete less than 200km. There, we found a picturesque city, which is humanity patrimony by Unesco. In downtown all buildings are made of wood and the background view is stunning... a mountain, almost 5000m high! Unfortunately we had not much time and we just stayed one night. We hired a driver who had a jeep and continued all the way Shangri-La. In between there was an obligatory stop: Tiger Leaping Gorge. It's one of the biggest Gorges in the world, just amazing. The less amusing part was the number of people there. Still worth it though!
In Shangri-La we visited a Buddist temple and went to a national reserve park where yaks walk around freely. Everything there is very peaceful but, as always we had to run. This time a plane was waiting for us back in Lijiang. After the mountains it was time to go to Xishuangbanna and its luxurious forests. That day we woke up with 5 degrees (Shangri-la) and went to bed with over 30 (Xishuangbanna)... Yes it's still the same province! :)
The objective was to go to the forest and sleep in a tree house. In between we visited some Dai villages (Chinese minority) and visited their homes. Incredibly simple and warm, it was great to be able to share a bit of their lifestyle. At last we arrived at the forest. It was already dark when the guard walked us to our cabins and for our luck there was no electricity. The dark and noisy forest and us... We spent part of the night waiting for the elephants but unfortunately we didn't see any (we believe we heard them though) :). The day after was spent walking around in the forest and seeing the animals; elephants, monkeys, snakes, wild pigs and many more.
Our trip was about to end so we decided to take it easy in the last day. Good food, great weather, it was time to relax before taking the plane back to Shanghai. Feeling tired never had this taste... The best ever!
We took a flight from Shanghai to Kunming, the capital of the province. This was the first of 6 stops in only 9 days... An intensive journey, as it should always be! :) Kunming, a city of 5 million inhabitants, received us well. Broad avenues, noisy roads, busy people and a feeling from the west that "only" McDonald's, KFC, Louis Vuitton and Nike seem to be able to provide. The other face of the coin is a city where poverty is constant and people struggle to live decently.
As big cities were not really what we were aiming for the next stop was Shilin and the stone forest. Can you imagine a massive amount of huge rocks with imponent and funny shapes in the middle of trees and green? Well... I couldn't either, that's why we decided to go, and we weren't disappointed! I guess the pictures (that I will post soon) can speak by themselves!
Back to Kunming to sleep the next stop was a little village called Dali. Located in a valley by a lake, Dali seems to be a bit lost in time. Old buildings, nice little shops, a great Thai/Indian/Burmese restaurant, a cute and unbelievably cheap hostel (1€ per night) and a very cosy bar called Kafka made us feel at home. During the day we rented some bikes and got lost in some villages in the surroundings. We met really nice people who work in the fields all day, don't get more than 70€ a month but still smile at us. It really made me think about how privileged we are...
The next stop was Lijiang. About 4 hours in a bus to complete less than 200km. There, we found a picturesque city, which is humanity patrimony by Unesco. In downtown all buildings are made of wood and the background view is stunning... a mountain, almost 5000m high! Unfortunately we had not much time and we just stayed one night. We hired a driver who had a jeep and continued all the way Shangri-La. In between there was an obligatory stop: Tiger Leaping Gorge. It's one of the biggest Gorges in the world, just amazing. The less amusing part was the number of people there. Still worth it though!
In Shangri-La we visited a Buddist temple and went to a national reserve park where yaks walk around freely. Everything there is very peaceful but, as always we had to run. This time a plane was waiting for us back in Lijiang. After the mountains it was time to go to Xishuangbanna and its luxurious forests. That day we woke up with 5 degrees (Shangri-la) and went to bed with over 30 (Xishuangbanna)... Yes it's still the same province! :)
The objective was to go to the forest and sleep in a tree house. In between we visited some Dai villages (Chinese minority) and visited their homes. Incredibly simple and warm, it was great to be able to share a bit of their lifestyle. At last we arrived at the forest. It was already dark when the guard walked us to our cabins and for our luck there was no electricity. The dark and noisy forest and us... We spent part of the night waiting for the elephants but unfortunately we didn't see any (we believe we heard them though) :). The day after was spent walking around in the forest and seeing the animals; elephants, monkeys, snakes, wild pigs and many more.
Our trip was about to end so we decided to take it easy in the last day. Good food, great weather, it was time to relax before taking the plane back to Shanghai. Feeling tired never had this taste... The best ever!
Golden Week
...yes, I was out traveling again! :)
I know it seems like it has been all I've been doing since I arrived China but everything happens for a reason. This time the reason was the May Golden Week! God Bless that!!! :)
In order to celebrate the workers' day all Chinese have 3 days off - actually this trip showed me that most Chinese don't have vacation, but it looks like everyone do because there are so many of them! These 3 days become 5 working days because everyone works the weekend before the holiday. In the end, and counting the weekend after there are 7 nice vacation days!
The final result is many millions of curious and adventurous Chinese traveling inside the country and abroad. Well; in China, be Chinese - only to a certain extend :) - so me and my friends João Alves, Rui Bom and Nuno Pereira decided to go to Yunnan, one of the most exquisite provinces in China.
Before the post about the trip here is a map that will certainly give you a hint about why we chose to go there! :)
I know it seems like it has been all I've been doing since I arrived China but everything happens for a reason. This time the reason was the May Golden Week! God Bless that!!! :)
In order to celebrate the workers' day all Chinese have 3 days off - actually this trip showed me that most Chinese don't have vacation, but it looks like everyone do because there are so many of them! These 3 days become 5 working days because everyone works the weekend before the holiday. In the end, and counting the weekend after there are 7 nice vacation days!
The final result is many millions of curious and adventurous Chinese traveling inside the country and abroad. Well; in China, be Chinese - only to a certain extend :) - so me and my friends João Alves, Rui Bom and Nuno Pereira decided to go to Yunnan, one of the most exquisite provinces in China.
Before the post about the trip here is a map that will certainly give you a hint about why we chose to go there! :)
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