Break Away To Yunnan Province

    by Lydia L. Jensen

Mountains, terraces, streams Briefly the child laughs and plays he works and passes China. The land of many, diversely ethnic people, expansive valleys cultivated in terraces of quilted patterns, unclothed, snow-capped mountains. Timeworn stone houses nestling closely together at the foothills of the mountains or in pockets in open spaces, shielding themselves from the encroaching changes of a modern world.

For most of us our first impressions were derived from the land as we flew over in the plane, then the people as we mingled with them. We had arrived in YUNNAN Province, in the southwestern border regions of China; it is the sixth largest of China's 27 provinces covering a total area of 394,000 square kilometers or similar in size to California, USA Its icy mountains border Tibet and Burma in the northwest, and its lush jungles border Laos and Vietnam in the South. Its 33 million people include members of 24 ethnic groups. In Yunnan Province we were jolted into realizing that China is people.

We arrived in Kunming City, the provincial capital of Yunnan. We were greeted with the eternal spring weather, a refreshing change from the tropical warmth of Vientiane. Upon entering Kunming airport, we were greeted with a banner held by two young Chinese women "Welcome You." We milled about in the airport for a little while and were then introduced to Julie and Lucy, our guides in traditional dress. About fifty-five of us then divided ourselves to fit into the two large, modern buses for our journey to various parts in Yunnan Province. Julie took the group bound for Dali-Lijiang and Lucy took our group Kunming-Dali. We were escorted to the Golden Dragon Hotel-four star hotel by any western standards-and proceeded to check in, no small endeavor for our guides. The rooms were spacious, clean, and comfortable. We had mini bars and satellite television. Welcome to Yunnan Province.

Kunming

We visited the wonders of Yunnan Province from parks to golden temples, caves, stone forest and the Western Hills and Flowers and Birds Market as well as a Traditional Chinese Medicine hospital. We loved our guide who was very punctilious about announcing our arrival at the various scenic wonders by announcing, "We are here. Get off the bus; let's go." And promptly marched off the bus, as we slowly gathered ourselves together and managed to stumble after her.

Kunming boasted of Daguan Park with its rambling, willowed causeways, humpbacked bridges built in 1690 during the Qing Dynasty. We enjoyed the wonders of the Golden Temple located in a pine forest atop Phoenix Song Mountain in the northern suburbs of Kunming. The entire temple, from roofs, pillars doors and windows, to altars, incense burners and statues were weighted of pure copper at approximately 200 tons. On horses, camel, donkeys, and goat carts we were escorted the short distance to the temple.

Later we hiked through the Alu Caves which derived their name from the ancient Yi Tribe of the area. The first part of the caves covered a length of three kilometers, including scenic pots, stalactite and stalactite formations and the Yusun River. We embarked upon boats and cruised the river to be returned to our point origin, continued a short walk (not without shopping opportunities, of course) to chair lifts which lifted us across the mountain's expanse to the other side, then continued the winding descent on foot with plenty more shopping opportunities, of course. We all agreed that we had enjoyed a wonderful day's outing.

We met evenings for drinks to compare notes, to shop some more, to go for walks. The doors to the hotel rooms were open to welcome one and all to drift in an out at his/her leisure. We shared our wine, our soft drinks; before the evening ended we ran out of Wild Turkey. We departed for the evening; someone had forgotten "her" shoes in our room. Some continued the nights revelries with the help of the hotel staff who had put on an evening of traditional dancing, karaoke, and disco dancing which continued until the hotel staff dismissed everyone at 1:30 a.m. by saying, "Time to go". Finished. Everyone out.

At the recommendation of some of our more experienced travelers, we found the physiotherapists from the neighboring hospital gave great massages. Indeed, the massages here were good and professional; a contrast to the masseuse in the fitted black evening dress and stiletto heels at a previous hotel. In fact one of our fellow travelers inquired-passed on the information of the many talents of the masseuse and masseuse, available to tourists. One couple visited the massage center with the slogan "painful in, happy out" and found it to be quite good! Hmmn.

One of the most magnificent and impressionable visits was the trip to the Stone Forest. The Stone Forest is an extremely rare geological phenomenon. The Stone Forest area was deposited with a thick formation of pure lime stone. About 270 million years ago, during the Permian Period, this area was covered by water. Through the ages of orogenesis and earth crust changes, due to erosion and weathering processes, a most magnificent stone forest has emerged. It is a petrified forest of 200 acres of karst limestone pillars in fantastic shapes that, from a distance, resemble a forest.

Like some of the other places we visited in the first part of our trip, Western Hills is located about 26 kilometers on the outskirts of Kunming. It is 2,500 meters above sea level. Some of our more energetic and/or ambitious group members were quite willing to climb to the mountain's summit. Since some of us have climbed in Switzerland, Germany and Austria, we were quite pleased when Lucy suggested the chair lift. The vegetation was lush and green with the unfamiliar floral fragrances penetrating the afternoon air. Two people to a chair, we ascended to the summit of the mountain to be greeted by age old trees rising to the sky as we brushed over them. Dianchi Lake was magnificent and "humongous" at 350 square miles. On our descent, we viewed the lake and surroundings area as well as the monasteries built in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. A particular spectacle was the Dragon Gate which permitted a view of the expansive Dianchi Lake. On the cliffs of the main peak, Lohan Hill, are some carvings on steep drops and relief sculptures and tunnels along the way. One story of the Western Hills is that one monk spent 70 years digging the tunnel through the mountain.

While in the Kunming area, we visited a Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital near the Flowers and Birds Market. This hospital specialized in herbal medicine, acupuncture and other natural treatments of various kinds. The study of traditional Chinese medicine requires the study of anatomy, physiology and modern sciences. The clinic has a department for foreigners for massage and acupuncture without needles. Traditional medicine has been practiced for 1000 years.

Transportation

We flew to Dali and continued our excursions in a modern, comfortable minibus. Our bus driver was excellent; we were truly impressed with his driving skills especially in view of the fact that there were no guard rails along the roads. The roads were excellent for the most part, but quite narrow. Our drivers in both Kunming and Dali sounded their horns incessantly, but in view of the narrow roads, we did not complain. Our drivers sounded their horns to signal people, bicycles, motorcycles and other "slow' vehicles to move to the right so we could pass safely. We did see the odd truck and car which had landed in the canal due to an inability to judge distance accurately. The Chinese tend to drive the way they walk-everywhere. A major infringement of traffic rules is to cross the center, solid white line. We saw a few policemen stop cars and strongly encourage the perpetrators to pay up or pay out.

Hotels

Most of the hotels were quite good. Sometimes the showers were a bit cool and the water pressure very low. We heard interesting conversations from the neighboring rooms as the rooms were not always completely sound proof. It all added to the fun and flavor of China. Many of the hotels, especially the Golden Dragon had shopping malls where you could buy some extraordinary items. Compared to Vientiane, everything seemed so inexpensive.

Shopping

Somewhere between the Stone Forest and Alu Caves, we visited an outlet from the pearl farms. After some debate about the authenticity of the pearls, some of us took the risk and began to bargain and buy pearls in earnest. We found that the pearls in China are a good buy. You can buy individual strands and have the clerk fasten the clasp to the strand.

Our guides, John and Donna Howell, guided us to the local village near the Stone Forest. The local Sani people at the Stone Forest have many shops and very actively engaged in small cottage industry. The shop houses were small and completely open in the front. The entire front rooms seemed to be filled with fabrics as well as completed garments or other items to be sold to tourists in the shops further up the road. The only furniture in these houses seemed to be the sewing machine. The men appeared to be the craftsmen and the women the most persuasive sales agents. Items produced in this village were hats, embroidered purses, wallets, pillow cases, aprons, rucksacks, tablecloths, etc. Several of us bought traditional hats in bright colors and pearls, and to the delight of the locals, posed for pictures. Our guide, Lucy, told us that the Sani people in this area have a very special marriage custom. When a young man selects his bride, he kidnaps her from her home and brings her to his home. Later they have the wedding.

At Western Hills as we entered the houses and waited for the rest of the group, we were inundated with vendors selling their specialty of batik tablecloths and vests. Several of us bought blue batik vests and ended up not only dressed alike, but turning "blue" alike as the color rubbed of on our T-shirts and hands. But the prices were good!

Rest stops, we soon learned, were at government tourist centers so we could us "clean amenities" and, you guessed it, shop! These shops offered jade, marble, granite, more antiques, and handicrafts.

Kunming shopping center was only about a five to ten minute taxi ride from our hotel and cost Yuan 9-12 one way. We enjoyed many ventures into the city to investigate the Sakura Shopping Center, East Wind Square, Kunming Department Store, Flower sand Birds Market as well as the other street markets where we tried some of the local delicacies such as pancakes. In the Flowers and Birds Market a young woman took us to see her "private collection" of porcelain from the "Ming Dynasty", of course. We also bought such novelties as Chinese dried ham, mulberries, dried apricots, mangoes and pineapple, malt balls, marshmallows, fresh strawberries, jasmine tea, statues, wallpaper, rings, earrings, carve walnuts, hand painted cards, paintings, scrolls, antiques and the list goes on.

We shopped, compared, bargained compared, bought and bragged or bought and complained. Someone else always seemed to drive a better bargain. It was difficult to know what the final price should be. On a painting we could get Yuan 100 reduction, on a piece of jade Yuan 600 reduction. Watch out for film prices--do not forget to bargain--one of our fellow travelers paid Yuan 70 (she forgot to bargain) in one place and Yuan 19 (she had learned her lesson ) in another.

In Dali on Foreigner's Street (appropriately named) or Fuqua Street, you can buy beautiful tapestries, and embroideries, batik pictures, paintings, silver jewelry, antiques and batik clothes-customs-made dresses, blouses, shirts, jackets, pants and skirts available at 24 hour's notice for as little as Yuan 60, including the fabric.

A lot of us enjoyed the shopping in the Flowers and Birds Market with its exotic selection of plants, flowers and live animals. The market consists of a maize of twisting, turning narrow streets where you can spend hours browsing among the treasures of China. Be sure to have a calculator handy, as few Chinese speak English. The calculator is you only mode of communication in many instances.

If you still find a lot spare time on your hands in Kunming, you can always venture out of your hotel into the streets of Kunming and for a small fee "watch the tourists in their hotel rooms through telescopes. Keep you curtains drawn when you are in your rooms!

Food

Most of our meals were served in government approved restaurants (eating houses). All the tourist buses seemed to stop at these restaurants. At one place up to ten buses were lined up outside. We though we would never be served this side of midnight, but no such misfortune. We had barely seated ourselves and the platters were put before us. The food was standard and plentiful. Lunches and dinners consisted of one or two meat dishes (usually chicken, duck and sometimes a little pork or an omelet), all the rice you wanted, several stir-fried vegetables dishes such as choko, Chinese asparagus, cucumber, CABBAGE or bitter melon (greens as we called them) and once or twice we had snow peas and cauliflower, one or two soups and sometimes steamed dumplings. For breakfast we received soup, noodles with a ground meat sauce, hard-boiled eggs, small steamed dumplings or shitso ba ba-around thick pancake sliced into six wedges. We drank green tea at every meal and for Yuan 5.- you could have hot water or coffee served in glasses. We also ordered Pepsi or beer at Yuan 2.- to 5.-. Most of the dishes were chipped, so we drank carefully.

We continued our trip to Dali where we visited the Non Zhon Kingdom, the tranquillity of Gantong Temple, Butterfly Spring, the Three Pagodas and enjoyed a boat trip on Lake Erhai.

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