Stoned Forest, Far Out Man

Sorry, another 60's flashback. That would be the Stone Forest.  


When informing some of our more China savvy colleagues about China's sudden decision to close Tibet and the addition of Yunnan to our travel itinerary to fill that void, we were informed that Yunnan was the home of China's cannabis industry. So Stoned Forest seemed like  the logical place to go and explore. The forest is the "#1, must go to" place if you are visiting Kunming.








As reported by the International Hemp Association of Amsterdam, Netherlands, "Yunnan Province, in the southwest of the People's Republic of China, bordering Myanmar (Burma), Laos and Vietnam, is home to many of China's minority nationalities. Although the Han majority have largely given up hemp usage in daily life, several of Yunnan's minority ethnic groups continue to use hemp for both fiber and food. However, there is very little consumption of Cannabis products for recreational purposes by either resident Chinese or visitors.Despite these facts, the Yunnan provincial government has instigated policies that confuse drug Cannabis ("marijuana") with industrial hemp. Since the spring of 1998, the growing of Cannabis for any reason has been prohibited, although Cannabis still flourishes in most parts of Yunnan. Confusion continues." 
 
What we found at the Stone Forest was a beautiful park filled with the coolest limestone karst formations that we will remember for the rest or our lives and the munchies. Did I mention the munchies? Maybe flashbacks again, but I couldn't stop thinking of food while we spent hours wandering, climbing and admiring Mother Nature's own creations. One karst looked like a ice cream cone, another a carrot while several looked like medium rare t-bone steaks smothered in mushrooms and fried onions, with a baked potato and vegetable de jour on the side.  Did I mention we had the munchies?

Our next stop was Dragon Gate, a Buddhist site that clings to the side of a 2,000 foot cliff. Built in 1781, it has successfully withstood wind, rain and the odd earthquake. Anyone with acrophobia, claustrophobia, bathmophobia, cremnophobia, iconophobia, seismophobia, agoraphobia and sinophobia should think twice before visiting this very high (not to be confused with "a high") scenic spot.







Our trip to Dragon Gate involved a 10 minute chairlift ride to the start of the 700 feet climb on skinny little trails, carved out of the cliff. Along the way, were areas to stop and commune with your god or Buddha or just to enjoy the view of Kunming and Dian Lake. If a trail wasn't possible then a tunnel was cut through the cliff.  At the top, was a cool and quiet grotto which we did not see as the lines were too long. There were lots of tourists that day. We made the mistake of sitting down at one of the benches carved out of the cliff. As we sat, we were approached by a young Chinese girl asking to have our picture taken with her. Within a minute we had a lineup of Chinese families wanting to take a picture with us. We had to cut them off after 20 minutes as we still had one more stop before our day was over.



Our last stop was a seudo minority village containing examples of the village housing and living conditions of the 25 minorities currently listed in Yunan. We were outta there in under 30 minutes. Nuff said.

This is our last stop before we leave China for the second time and we are safe to say, not the last time.

Shangri La Since 2001

Shangri La, a mythical place first described in the novel Lost Horizons. To quote Wikipedia, Shangri La is " a mystical, harmonious valley, gently guided from a lamasery". Our Shangri La is formally known as "The Shangri La Ecological Tourism Zone" and was created and renamed Shangri La in 2002 by the central government in hopes of spurring tourism to the area. It seems this clever marketing ploy has worked as Chinese tourism has increased a bazillion times since 2002. Even a few foreigners (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) are attracted. It does sort of meet the qualifications as it is located in a "mystical valley". (Their words, not mine)


It has the requisite lamasery. The Gedan Songzanlin Monastery (Guihua Monastery) is a centuries old monastery located on the outskirts of town. An operating Tibetan monastery, it has been basically rebuilt in the last two decades although the knickknacks have been around for four or five hundred years. They estimate about 700 monks live on the premises. It is claimed that at one time there were over 3,000 monks living in residence. If it is any consolation , at least the monks living accommodations look to be around 300 or 400 years old. The monks were very busy marketing Buddha the day of our visit, with visitors streaming through the place buying charms, prayer beads, images, incense as well as filling the donation boxes. Buddhism seems to be a growth industry in Shangri La. But with a name like that, how can it not do well?


Meet some of the harmonious inhabitants of Shangri La. These folks are Tibetan but there are over 25 ethnic minorities in Yunnan. To qualify as an ethnic minority, there must be at least 50,000 people registered and claiming that particular ethnicity. The big five are the Bai, Dai, Yi, Hani, Tibetan, and Naxi minorities, all with populations in the millions. There are no real perks being a minority other than you can ignore the one child rule so it not uncommon to see large family units. Not sure if this can be called a perk. It is said that there are dozens more minorities around but they are not formally registered as their numbers do not qualify them to be a minority. Its funny but I thought that it would be inherent based on the definition of minority. What do I know? We will be visiting a model minority village in Kunming where they have recreated typical examples of how each of the 25 minorities (registered) live. Keep you posted on that visit.


The valley is also home to a large national park with two large and pristine glacier fed lakes. There are over 8 kilometres of wooden walkways that allow you access to the park and the lakes or you could opt to take a bus from scenic spot to scenic spot, saving you all that legwork. You can see in the picture what most of the tourists chose to do. Even our guide, frowned when we opted for the walk but Nonie just kept herding her along ignoring her grumbling. Poor girl didn't know what hit her. No buses for the Cornell's.



Saw two more minority groups as we left the park. The one on the left looks especially tasty as I would kill for a big juicy medium rare steak right now.


Next stop Kunming, the last stop on our Chinese adventure.

Are We There Yet.

Today is a travel day with a number of stops along the way before the promised Shangri La . All the stops involve the Yangste, Yangze, Chang Jiang, all names for the longest river in Asia, third largest river in the world. With a length of over 6,400 kilometres, it begins its life as run off from glaciers of the Tibetan Plateau before exiting 6,400 kilometres later into the East China Sea near Shanghai.

Our first stop is the first bend in the Yangste. As with all Chinese tourists sites, a back story is included with the view. It seems that three sister rivers (Nu River, Lancang River, Jinsha River) met here and had a disagreement. The Nu and Lancang Rivers decided to go south while their sister Jinsha River decided to seek her love and fame going to the east. This persistent (their words, not mine) little river transformed itself into the first bend of the Yangtse. Basically, a million years ago the river went left instead of right. Right would have seen it flow through Vietnam or Laos before exiting into the ocean. Going left, it became the mighty Yangste River.

The Yangste is home to over 1/3 of China's 1,300,000,000 people and provides water, food, electricity, transportation and sadly sanitary disposal to all.





Our final stop of the day was the Leaping Tiger Gorge. Here the river narrows to less than 25 metres. (79 feet for you Americans) The gorge is a must see for Chinese tourists and it was a busy place that day. For those of you BC readers, think Hells Gate. It is not a place for the mobility impaired as it involved going down then back up about 500 steps. Though if you didn't feel like walking back up, you could rent a sedan chair and two burly porters to carry you back up the 500 steps. Pretty impressive to watch these guys in action.

And of course, there is a back story. Legend has it that a tiger was being hunted and he leaped to safety by first leaping to a rock (see background of picture) located in the middle of the gorge before leaping to the opposite bank. Hence the name, Leaping Tiger Gorge. Very impressive as well as noisy, watching all the water roar through that little gap. The stairs were a nice workout but I must admit to being tempted to ride back up to the top in a sedan chair. Costs was 100 RMB or about 13 bucks. OOOH, so tempting but too embarrassing to consider. . Shangri La here we come.

Snowy Mountains and Yak Pooh

Billed as a trip to see Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, a snow capped mountain and the southern most glacier in the northern hemisphere. A 90 minute bus ride that was a thrill in it self, then a transfer to a chair lift for a 20 minute ride. Sadly, the heavy cloud cover did not make it promising that we would see anything.







Arriving at the top we were pleasantly surprised to find a small Tibetan monastery that was not mentioned in the itinerary. We are deep into the TAR, the Tibet Autonomous Region so it should not have been a surprise. They like to locate the temples as high as possible to be closer to heaven. It was a slow climb up to the monastery only to find it guarded by a very surly Tibetan chicken.







Saved by a friendly monk, we were given a personal tour of the monastery. Not sure of his language but it was definitely not Chinese. He kept up an on going monologue on all the monastery's features. Tibetan monasteries are always covered in prayer flags. The flags are never removed except by nature (wind, rain) and can be often found littering the landscape.






Saw our very first Yaks. The monastery had quite a herd. The candles in the monastery are made with yak butter. To be honest, not sure if I would ever consider trying to milk one of these brutes.







At around around 4000 metres, we were not moving or thinking as fast as we should have due to the low oxygen content. Had to be constantly vigilant to avoid stepping in Yak pooh.

Heading back to the Yangste River and onwards to Shangri La tomorrow.

800 Years of History, One Earthquake

Lijiang is actually two places but the tourists come for only one place, the old city of Lijiang. It's history goes back over 800 years. The area experiences earthquakes on a regular basis, five severe ones in the 20th century alone. The latest one in 1996, took out much of the new city and severely damaged the old city. The new city was rebuilt and extensive repairs were carried out to the old city.













The old city has a bit of a Disneyesque feel about it. It is too perfect. But if you look closely you can still see some of the 800 year old City. The old city is filled with souvenir shops and way too many tourists. The streets are narrow and so full of tourists that at times, we felt like salmon clawing our way up stream, sometimes the wrong way.














The old city is crisscrossed by small canals and waterways with the shops and restaurants built right up to and in some cases over the water. This closeness to water is considered very feng shui.









No one actually lives in the old city except for tourists who inhabit the quaint little hotels and guest houses.

But even so, one should always take the chance to do a little laundry if the opportunity arises.






But despite the crowds and the Made in China feel of the old city, we had a very nice and restful stay here. If you were not afraid to explore, you could always find a quiet and beautiful place to sit and reflect. The weather was cloudy and cool, a perfect respite from Chengdu.

Pandaring to Pandas

Do a google search for Chengdu and you will find panda mentioned somewhere in the text. That's because Chengdu, in the province of Szechuan, is home to the panda breeding centre. But Chengdu is more than pandas.










The first Buddhist temple was built in the 1st Century in Mount Emei, just a few kilometres from Chengdu. In the 8th Century, someone had the great idea to carve this giant stone Buddha. At 71 metres high, it is the biggest, baddest Buddha in the world or so claimed by Wikipedia.










Ranked #1 Thing To Do by Lonely Planet reader, a trek to the Golden Summit Temple is an all day affair. One of the holiest temples in China, the trip starts with a 90 minute bus ride to the mid way point. From there it is 900 steps to a gondola. A one hour wait to access the gondola and a 8 minute ride to the Temple in the Clouds. Just you and 10,000 Chinese tourists. It is a very busy place.







Worth every minute.












But lets face it, the pandas are the star attraction. The day we went for a visit, the temperature was in the high 30's with a humidex that was off the chart. Not a panda to be found outside that day. Their inside accommodations are air conditioned, so forced to wear fur coats year round, we found them all blissful, chilling inside. Can you say adorable?








Say hello to a red panda. On closer observation, it looks more like a punk raccoon. I think the name is more a publicity pitch than anything else.
















It was a short stay in Chengdu but a hot one. We are off to Shangri La next. At 3,200 metres, it hopefully will be a bit cooler.

A Three Hour Cruise

YANGTSE RIVER













Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
a tale of a fateful trip.
That started from a Chinese port,
aboard a tiny ship.





Brett was a queasy sailing man,
Nonie brave but not so sure.
205 passengers set sail that day,
for an eighty- three hour tour.
An eighty- three hour tour.

The weather started getting hot,
the tiny ship was roasty.
If not for the expensive lounge beer ,
the Cornell’s would be toasty,
the Cornell’s would be toasty.





The ship took ground on the edge of this
large and massive dam,
with Chinese, and some Danes too,
A German, and his frau,
Two German babes,
Whose names we can’t remember,
here at the Three Gorges Dam.









So this is the tale of our cruise,
we're here for a long, long time.
We'll have to make the best of things;
the five locks are an uphill climb.











The first excursion was a temple
but so unlike the rest.
It was dedicated to ghosts and devils
but the statues were the best.








Excursion 2 left us up a creek,
each Chinese had an oar.
Watching them paddle
made our muscles sore.





So join us here each week, my friend,
and read about our trip.
There will be more adventures,
once we get off this DAM ship