Life as a Chinese tourist

A much overdue Hello from Vietnam!

First of all, I apologize for the lack of updates the past few weeks (Has it only been a few weeks? Time does strange things in backpacker world...). The internet restrictions in China made it extremely difficult to access my blog, but now that I am in Vietnam, I can blog away as much as I'd like (and check Facebook!!)...ahhh freedom of expression, how I missed you...



Because it's been a while, this post is going to be a long one, so get ready...


Last I left off was Kunming...We only stayed a quick night in the city of 1-6 million (the government reports 6 million, but Lonely Planet says only 1 million...who to trust?). We battled an entire day of downpour and a bought of the stomach bug on Becca's part, but we did manage to meet some interesting people, including a few Israelis who currently reside in Kunming and teach English. Yes, China is learning Israeli English. But as long as you look like a Westerner, the Chinese don't care if English was your second, or maybe even third language.


Our new friends, Shaked and Li-Raz, showed us the best of Kunming cuisine and brought us to the city park, which was probably the highlight of our stay in the city (this all happened the day before the rain and stomach issues)! It was like stepping into old school China--all around the park, there were old men playing Chinese instraments, dressed in blue Maoist suits, and groups of women performing traditional Chinese dances for the curious on-lookers. There were ponds full of lily pads and wandering ducks, cool Chinese buildings (the colorful ones with the arched roofs), and street food lining the stone path. All in all, Kunming felt like the "real deal" China, a city not yet corrupted by the tourist industry, just people living their lives.

After a night in Kunming, we took a sleeper train to the Bai town of Dali. Dali was another quick one-nighter, but it was enough time to get a feel for Bai culture and see the area. We rented bikes and explored, finding ourselves facing Dali's famous 3 pagodas. Absurd entrance fees kept us out, but we were able to catch a glimpse of the gold pagodas from outside the monument walls. As we walked around the town, we were struck by the amount of Chinese tourists, but no Westerners! Due to the "national holiday" (aka the 60th anniversary of communist China), we found ourselves in the peak of China's tourist season everywhere we went. More on that later.

From Dali, we boarded a cramped mini bus--again, the only Westerners among a bus full of Chinese--and set out to the touristy but marvolous town of Lijiang. Like Yangshuo, Lijiang's quaint cobblestone streets, bridges, and classic shops attract loads of tourists, both Chinese and Western. We decided to stay at the much talked about Mama Naxi hostel, featuring the tough but loving "Mama". Although it's all about buisness and money here in China, Mama still took care of us, feeding us cup after cup of green tea and arranging all our transportation to the surrounding sites. As a family-run buisness, Mama Naxi's had a nice family-style/communal feel to it.

Mama Naxi is also a backpacker's haven; it's the perfect place to meet other travelers, which is where we met our newest friend, a happy-go-lucky Aussie named Josh. Josh ended up sharing many adventures with us in Lijiang, and met up with us later on in Beijing to keep the good times going.


The funniest thing about Lijiang is it's easy-going vibe by day, but it's wild nightlife scene. We walked around our first night with Josh and few Israelis we met at our hostel (did I mention that the entire nation of Israel also stays at Mama Naxi?), and we found ourselves on a street with open air clubs pouring out neon lights, fake smoke, and Chinese techno. We got a glimpse inside of girls dressed up in traditional Chinese costumes, dancing away on a stage! It was a little bit like Vegas meets Lijiang...and of course, the streets were packed with Chinese tourists!

The highlight of our 4 nights in Lijiang was the Tiger Leaping Gorge hike, an overnight trek just an hour or so north of Lijiang. On the morning of the hike, Mama arranged 2 vans to shlep about a dozen of us to the base of the gorge; however, Josh somehow found his way onto the other van, and we didn't see him until we got back to Lijiang! We assumed the vans would stop at the same place at the same time, which was not the case. Much to our annoyance, the bus driver ran a few personal errands on our way to the gorge. However, Becca and I ended up on a bus with all Israelis, which was a blessing in disguise. We found ourselves surrounded by Hebrew for the entire trek, and all the Hebrew I thought I lost somehow came back!

We ascended the mountain day one, stopping over at a guest house for the night, and continuing to the end the next day. Surrounding us the entire trek were towering mountains, the tops hidden in a fog of clouds, and at the very bottom, a muddy river cut it's path through...I'm struggling to find the words to describe Tiger Leaping Gorge, it was just spectacular. Supposedly, you need to be cautious of the wild monkeys, as they have a tendency to attack hikers when they want food! If you are quiet enough, you can hear them in the trees.

The thing that maybe struck me the most about Tiger Leaping were the small agriculture villages scattered throughout the mountain. Looking across the river to the peaks on the other side, you can see 2 or 3 house villages surrounded by acres of farmland. You get the sense that the mountain natives truely live off the land. And because it's fall, the local harvest includes pumpkin, corn, potatoe, and all sorts of other fall fruits and veggies. We hiked past lots of agriculture fields, including a soybean crop!

The other interesting thing about the gorge, that also reflects the rest of western China, is how quickly it is developing. Throughout the mountains were the basic necesities that symbolize development--powerlines, water pipes, and modern-day equipment (for both farming and building). The toilets along the trek were still squat non-flushers, so I guess some things have a long way to development! However, with the influx of tourism, it seems as though the Tiger Leaping trail will develop very quickly over the next decade or so. See it while you still can.

After the trek, we reunited with Josh back in Lijiang, and the three of us hit the town with two Israelis we met on the trek--a Borat-type character named Odad, and his friend Dana. Somehow, Odad had this strange ability to communicate with the Chinese locals using Hebrew. He said it had something to do with the tone of his voice, which makes sense considering the Chinese language is all about tones. That evening, we found ourselves the only Westerners at an open-mic night bar. Odad got up and improvised some sort of gibberish non-sense that the Chinese went crazy over, and later on, we befriended a Chinese man who just wanted to sing "We Will Rock You" with all of us. So that's what we did!

Lijiang showed us the fun touristy side of China, but we were ready to move on to the rustic Tibetan highway. We said our goodbyes, made plans to meet up again with Josh, and then headed north to Shangri-La. Unfortunately, Shangri-La has recieved much hype in recent years, and is quickly falling into the clutches of the tourist industry. As usual, there were tons of Chinese tourists and very few Westerners, but it was still an interesting stop over as we got our first taste of Tibetan culture. The old city also had a neat, Colorado ski town vibe going on, but we still felt that rural Chinese flare as we watched our bus yeild to the free-roaming pigs and cows that wandered around town. Again, we witnessed tons of building and development in the outskirts of the city--It looked as though suburbia Shangri-La was underway. It's absolutely facinating to see China's change and growth right before our eyes. From what I hear, buildings have been going up in a flash, overnight it seems, all around the country.

From Shangri-La, we ambitiously continued up the Tibetan highway, traveling further and further away from developed China. Our plan was to spend about a week or so exploring the Tibetan towns right on the border of Tibet (it's very difficult and outragously expensive to get a travel permit into Tibet), but we had to map our journey well. The towns we wanted to see were hidden away in the mountains, with only a few undeveloped roads connecting each town to one another. One wrong bus ride could land us in the middle of nowhere!

It was Yom Kippur when we boarded a cramped bus to Doqin, and being good Jews, we decided to fast. We figured it wouldn't be so bad, seeing as we would just be sitting on a bus the whole day. However, I spent the next 5 hours trying not to throw-up, despite the lack of food in my stomach, as our bus puttered it's way around the curvey, one lane, up and down mountain roads. I guess the only good thing about the ride was the georgous scenery, when my stomach was up for looking out the window.

We finally arrived in Doqin, a grungy mountain city in the middle of nowhere, and met a Chinese couple who were also touring the area. They spoke a bit of English, and offered to help us buy a bus ticket to our next destination, Litong, right then and there. Well, as we found out, there was no bus from Doqin to Litong...yes, we did our research before departing for Doqin and got confirmation that there was in fact a bus, but I guess no one really knew what's going on in this country. We discovered this reoccuring pattern in China--everyone wanted to help us, no one knew the answer to anying, but everyone gave us answers anyway. We should have known better.

We debated right there if we should stay in Doqin for a few days and do some of the hikes in the area, or if we should hop on the next bus to Shangri-La and get the heck out of there. The Chinese couple convinced us to stay, and told us about a small town about 10km away where all the tourists go. We decided to follow our new friends, and 20 minutes later, found ourselves in a "town" that consisted of a 200 meter stretch of hotels and restaurants lining the road. And again, we were the only Westerners among Chinese tourists, this time smack-dab in Nowhereville, China.



However, as promised, the mountain views were spectactular. As we were snapping some photos, we met a 25 year-old Chinese young professional who told us to call him Jack (his Chinese name was too complicated for us). Jack's English was basic, but enough to communicate, and he along with the couple we met earlier joined us to eat, finally. So Becca and I broke the Yom Kippur fast with our 3 Chinese friends in a Chinese restaurant in the middle of the Tibetan mountains.

We learned that Jack was part of a tour group that, among other activities, would eventually get us back to Lijiang. He told us that there was room on the bus for us, and in the matter of minutes, Becca and I became Chinese tourists! The next day, we joined the group for a day hike to a glacier. The neat part about the hike were the Tibetan prayer flags lining the trails as the monks hiked alongside with us, and at the base of the glacier, a modest but peaceful monestary. The views were also spectacular and our new friends very friendly. The majority of the group was young, Chinese professionals from the east on their "national holiday" vacation, their English level basic conversational. In the end, it worked out for us.



That night, the "tour bus" (it was the same exact type of run-down bus we'd been taking everywhere...more on that later) drove a nausiating 3 hours to a small Tibetan town where we spent the night. I think the most interesting part about spending time with so many Chinese people were the meals; we experienced how Chinese, homestyle eating should be! The irony (one of many ironies in China) is that Chinese dining involves sharing several dishes and eating right off the plate, which does not coincide with the germaphobe culture that's formed around swine flu. Had our their English been a bit better, or had I been able to speak fluent Chinese, I would have asked our new friends about this predicament.

The next morning, we got an early start with the plan to make it to Lijiang by early afternoon. Of course, nothing went to plan as disaster struck our bus. After years of hauling people around, our "tour bus" could not handle the mountain roads any longer, and about 5 hours away from Lijiang, the transmition died. The driver was able to get it going, but over and over, our bus failed us and left us nearly stranded in the middle of the mountains. We detoured a bit and somehow made it to a mechanic shop in Shangri-La, which also became an unexpected stop to tour around for a bit. Becca and I never thought we'd be back in Shangri-La, but alas, here we where.

A few hours later, we were on the road again. We stopped at a few tourist traps along the way (including a Tibetan knife museum and some other unidentified museum with buckets of Chinese herbs on display), and almost made it to Lijiang before our next hurdle. Because I could not stomach the twisty roads, I sat up front right behind the driver, literally resting my feet on the protruding engine. About an hour away from Lijiang, I was lost in my own thoughts until I innocently looked down and saw smoke billowing out of the engine! I caught the driver's attention, he poured a bottle of water on the engine (did not help), and we pulled over--more like stopped in the middle of the road since there was no breakdown lane--and waited for the engine to cool down. 10 minutes later, as if nothing happened, we piled back onto the bus and gingerly made our way to Lijiang. We arrived sometime in the evening, thus concluding our experience as Chinese tourists. At that point, Becca and I decided to leave the Tibetan highway for another time, and the next day we caught a flight out to a city called Chengdu.

We left for Chengdu on October 1st, the official "national holiday" day (although the holiday continued for over a week following the 1st). Every TV in China must have had been tuned into the celebrations in Beijing, so we caught glimpses of the parades, speaches, and fireworks all day long. By midnight, we decided that the celebrations were spectacular, but rediculous and completely over-the-top; it was as if China was saying to the world "look at us, we are the great and mighty China".



We had until the 10th to be in Beijing (Becca's friend was due to meet us in Beijing the 10th and travel with us for a month). From Chengdu, it was possible to go west to Tibetan areas, including a town called Songpan that offered 3 day horse treks through the countryside. However, our hopes and dreams of seeing anything Tibetan were slashed when we learned that foreigners were banned from going into Tibetan towns until after the holiday, due to the fear that we would start riots. China, you win again.



After spending one night in Chengdu (the highlight was a trip to the reknown panda conservation park, where we saw captive pandas in action), we made a split-second decision to hightail it to Beijing and spend about a week and a half getting to know the city. It was a major bummer to miss out on the horse trek, but the great thing about traveling is when plan A doesn't work out, plan B, C, or even D are great adventures as well.



So Beijing...too much happened in our 10 day stint for me to go into much detail. I did not like Beijing as a city--it's massive, smoggy, and over populated. And the holiday crowd did not help. We stayed right near Tiananmen Square, which meant getting stuck in the masses of tourists every time we left our hostel. It was not pleasant for the first week, but an experience nonetheless. Although I did not love Beijing, I still had a wonderful time experiencing the chaos.



As promised, Josh from Lijiang reunited with us for a few days, followed by Becca's friend Matt (who goes by "Medved"). The biggest highlight from Beijing was, surprisingly, the Great Wall. It's amazing when a landmark as well known as The Great Wall of China lives up to it's name, and even exceeds expectations. We ventured to the less touristy, less developed area and did a 10km hike along the wall. Words just can't describe how incredible it was, so I will leave it at that and hope my pictures can do justice.



We left Beijing 2 days ago, suffered on a 30 hour sleeper train to the border, and then took an 8 hour bus into Hanoi, Vietnam to kick off our tour around Southeast Asia. I will post again soon about Vietnam, but so far, the Southeast is amazing and so different than China!



So, my concluding remarks about China...Where to begin? As frustrating as China was at times, we absolutely loved it. We felt as though we were there at a huge turning point in the country's history, which made it all the more facinating. Now I know what people mean when they say China could become the world's next superpower...it's definitely the place to be! China is also one of the most culturally different places I have ever been, and I still don't remotely understand the "hows" and "whys" of Chinese society and norms. I could go on forever about China, but I'll stop here and save the rest for stories when I return home!



If you made it to the end of this post, thanks so much for taking the time to read. As always, e-mail me, stay in touch, and keep checking my blog every so often. I hope to post more often now that the internet is unrestricted.

Peace, love, and dumplings,
Danielle