Details... Details...: August 2007

Friday, 31 August 2007

Texture (7)

Even more texture! From Tiger Leaping Gorge and Danba in China.

Corn drying at Naxi Guesthouse, Tiger Leaping Gorge, China

Bougainvillea at Naxi Guesthouse, Tiger Leaping Gorge, China

Danba, Sichuan Province, China

Sunday, 26 August 2007

A girly entry... (guest Blogger, Ros!)

Fireman Stu and Jane the ex-intrepid leader managed to get us motivated about more exercise, and while we were in Litang, we wandered up past the Monastery to a hill overlooking the town and mountains beyond. A few yaks and their seedy babysitter for company, plus an incredible array of mountain flowers, clinging to the steep slope, and no doubt hoping not to become yak dinner...

Friday, 24 August 2007

Climbing a Mountain (2)

Maybe we're suckers for punishment? If you haven't checked out the earlier 'Climbing a Mountain' blog, then I suggest you review that one first. This time is was just Ros and I, and no flashpacking. Simply a large hill that starts at about 4,000m above sea level. We thought we'd acclimatised, and therefore it should be a 'walk in the park', but no.

We had to stop every 10 meters for air - that's a lot of stops - but we made it. Few!

This is Litang, with the hill that we climbed behind

The view from half way up, overlooking the Monastary that dominates the town

Hanging out with a local Yak farmer on the peak. We were pleased to see that he was out of breath whe he arrived also

Climbing a Mountian

Everyone we'd spoken travelling in the reverse direction (that is from the high altitude towns of Zhongdian 3,200m above sea level and Litang 4,000m) warned us about bad experiences they had adjusting to altitude, so we were cautious to plan a gradual accent to 4,000m+. By the way 'bad experiences' ranged from vomiting, to 6 days in bed with bad headaches - this is serious stuff.

So we planned 3 days in Zhongdian (Shangri la) to acclimatise, and ended up hanging out with some great people we'd met in Tiger Leaping Gorge (see Ros's Blog for more about this amazing place). One of these new friends, Jane, suggested that we climb a near by mountain. Well why not? A bit of exercise is a great way to test ourselves at 3,200 before rising further, so a plan was hatched.

First, let me show you the mountain - it's the one on the right.

View from a small hill behind the old town

Now let me show you the view from the top.

The small hill where the other photo above was taken is in the far left. Note the Prayer mound and flags to the right

Now the best bit - we 'flashpacked' it! We were mostly Aussies, pining wine, cheese, and great picnics, so we improvised. A few bottles of local wine (quite good actually), some 'to die for' yak cheese, and all the other accouterments you'd expect of a tip top picnic. If I was Leighton I'd say "Yeah, we do alright"

Jane and Stuart in the background (those who suggested the trip). You can't see the wine as it was being drunk!

Dancing in Zhongdian

Zhongdian is otherwise known as Shangri la and for good reason. This is a mixed city (many are in China I'm finding) where old and new sit side by side. The old town is beautiful with a cobbled square as its centrepiece, which is where we spent our evenings. At about 5 pm we'd arrive and feast on delicious yak, veggie and tofu kebabs (about 15c each), then as the sun lowered at about 7:30, the music starts, and the the first of the locals start dancing. Over the next 2 hours the crowd grows with locals the mainstay, supplemented by adventurous travellers here and there. The earnestness of the local involvement during this time was special, and while trying to dance along with them created its share of embarrassing moments, it was a wonderful time where smiles and chuckles were mandatory. Here are some shots we managed to capture...

Early in the eveneing - one cirle only (it grew to about 5 as the night progressed)

Ros getting in on the act

What did I say - it was fun!!!

Tuesday, 14 August 2007

Texture (6)

It's probably fair to say that I'm getting excited about colour too...

Dragon Pool park, Lijiang, China

Dali Old City, China

Entrance to the 'old town', Lijiang, China

Park in Kunming, China

Sunday, 12 August 2007

Welcome to China

It's hard to arrive in China without expectations. So much is made of the political situation, commercial growth, environmental crimes, human rights record and the average per capita GDP, that I'm sure most people arrive with an fairly base expectation of how the people live, similar to how we view the South East Asian countries.

I was this way.

Surprising then that I found Kunming in the southern province of Yunnan to be very impressive. As far as a city is concerned, it presents very well. Clean streets, excellent bus network, beautiful gardens, electric scooters everywhere are just some of the highlights. (Yes 'electric scooters'! So quiet. Every city should have these!!!)

Main train station

A not to uncommon sight: well dressed women with umbrellas as parasols

After 3 days in the city, I've left with the impression that many residents enjoy a quality of living similar to smaller Australian cities with the major exception of housing. Yes, housing is very important, but my comment on this is that there were apartments everywhere (it doesn't look like even the rich have free-standing houses), and you had to get quite a bit out of town to get to fairly decrepit looking estates. There were cars everywhere (including Lexus, Audi, VW etc), great clothing (in moderation), and fantastic food. The big difference was the relative pricing e.g. bus ticket 10c, basic lunch 40c, hostel bed $6.

Great parks to. This one even had a jumping castle (although there were kids on it, so I didn't get my chance. Bloody kids)

Just because it's a modern city, doesn't mean there wasn't any references to the past.

Friday, 10 August 2007

Dragon's Gate

The peak of the hills/mountains to the south of Kunming are home to an amazing array of caves, carvings and walkways built by monks about 400 years ago. After a beautiful 2 hour walk to the summit (see the flower photo blog for some images) we encountered the 'Sky Village', the translation of the sign below:

The two photos below give an indication of how the 'sky village' hangs over the picturesque green lake (I didn't ask why it is green):

This is an example of the work they did within the caves.

And these were our friends for the day - met us atop a mountain, shared heir horse-drawn carriage, and then assisted us to understand the site. We were very grateful!

Very impressive!

Flowers (2)

Kunming in China is known for it's amazing array of flowers (e.g. hosted the World Horticultural Expo in 1999), and is the home of the Azalea (with over 650 of the worlds 800 varieties native) mostly because of it's amazing climate. When walking up a mountain recently, I managed to capture most of these shots:

Massive sunflowers everywhere

Not too sure what this one is? (Jenn?) Like a Dahila, but maybe not?

Hydrangea (as usual, I had to learn the name of this from Ros)

Lotus's everywhere in Asia, with massive numbers in Kunming's Green Park

This plant wasn't actually flowering when I saw it. Any ideas what it is?

Let's face it, I didn't know anything about flowers before this trip (despite George's best efforts), so I can't actually claim to know all of these plants, but I'm trying. I mentioned the Azaleas in the into, but I don't have a clue what they look like...