Shangri-la

According to local bus drivers and the tourism ad we saw being filmed in the new "old" town, Zhongdian is same Tibetan paradise that gave refuge to the characters from Lost Horizon - the mythical, much fantasised over Shangri-la. A bit rich, really, and another slight to Tibet, but still a pretty town, with a small area of authentic old cobblestone alleys, old Tibetan style lodges and a lovely square.

The area around Zhongdian is home to a number of ethnic Chinese minorities, including the Naxi and Mosu. And it's women who run the show in these cultures, from "walking" marriages where women welcome men into their beds then kick them back home in the morning, to even the language, where male is the diminutive (male + stone = pebble, female + stone = boulder). These matriarchies seem to be thriving, with the men left holding the baby, while woman run shops, labour on building sites, and generally get things done. We even caught a fist fight between female store holders while devouring BBQ skewers and beer in the square.


But a note to travellers: if you arrive at a nice old guesthouse, don't attempt to string up your hammock among the beams of the open corridor before checking with the owner, especially if there are lots of tourists taking photos of the building. You might realise too late you're staying at a 300 yr old caravan stop and one of the few original buildings in town...

Tiger Leaping Gorge

Dear friends will know my opinions on excessive amounts of exercise (unless you're running for the bus...), but after a few days on the Chinese Tourist treadmill, 3 days in the wild was sounding pretty appealing. True to form, LP's 11 buses leaving from Lijiang turned out to be 1, and we'd well and truly missed it. So out to negotiate a mini van to take us to Qiaotou... We eventually scored a ride with a Chinese couple, paying 60Y per couple. Of course, 5 minutes out of town we're joined by two more Chinese, and asked to pay 20 more. Nope. Nope. Umm, how else can I say "Mayo"? Eventually, and thanks to Vincent, a Shanghi resident who's missing Newtown, the price goes up to 70, but now includes a transfer across the bridge to enter Qiaotou town proper.(apparently mini vans from Lijiang can't cross). Once all that was sorted, it was a lovely ride up to Qiaotou, including a pass through a cow and pony market - how much for my very own pony? 5000Y, or $AUD900. Bargain.

Qiaotou itself is a pretty shitty town - full of tourist buses and not much else. Still, we said a reluctant goodbye to more friendly Chinese and headed to Margo's cafe, the Gorged Tiger, to dump some luggage and grab some info. Margo seemed a bit frazzled, and on hearing that Aussie accent, I expected to be served Saos and Vegemite for lunch. While running around in super short shorts, she very sensibly told us just to take it easy. No issues there. The length of the trek is dotted with Guesthouses, Inns and little stalls, making it appealing to even the least fit traveller (me). So our route through the Gorge:

Day 1: 2 hours afternoon walk up to Naxi Family Guesthouse (Vincent and his girlfriend just beat us to the best 30Y room).

Day 2: a late start, a migraine and a bit of drizzle sees Ros cop out and take a pony up the "28 bends" - helping local family make ends meet by paying 100Y for this lovely young gentleman to hop skip and jump lead his mum's pony up the steep, slippery track.

We got to Tea Horse Guesthouse for lunch and decide to stay the night (40Y). Again, a tops place, although like everywhere in China they're doing a lot of work on the place (we could have had a shiny new room for 120Y).

Day 3: dawned bright and sunny, a great walk to Tina's for a late lunch of Naxi sandwich (yummy scrambled egg and tomato inside fresh baked flat bread). Then onto Shaun's (50Y for the least nice room we had on the trek), where we drank Gin and Tonics with an Intrepid tour group, lead by Margo herself, and played with possibly the cutest kittens ever cuddled by Ros.

Day 4 was supposed to be a very easy very sneaky lift with Intrepid back to Qiaotou and on to Zhongdian, but some small, pesky landslides and 2 high maintenance tour member meant all bets were off. Eventually we found a couple of other Aussies, Marcus and Dee, to share a convoy of minivans along the new "low" road back to town. A little scary, as we cruised past cleared avalanches, subsiding road and precarious rocks above the road.

Note to travellers (care of Margo): When one is crossing a landslide, one should have a friend to spot for more falling rocks, take it slow and steady up the slope, then employ a "hot coals" treading technique over the top, watching for slipping, unsteady pieces of slipper slate. And don't look down.

These landslides are commonplace, and we regularly heard the sound of dynamite used to clear them. One van had been caught between two slides, ferrying passengers between each crossing. We made the crossing in good weather and had no problems, but I wouldn't want the job of a bus driver round these parts. I make no comment about the wisdom of creating a road into a pristine gorge so tour buses can drive back and forth along a road than can be covered with tonnes of rubble at any point!

So China has a lot of tourists...

Does it still count as cultural if you're in a tourist town with lots of LOCAL tourists, rather than international ones? Posting this from Lijiang, 4 hour mini bus ride north of Dali. They are both delightfully scenic towns - in a Disney kinda way, but I'll take it. What's been amazing is the number of Chinese tourists wondering around, guided by girls in ridiculously kitch "local costume" - flouro embroidery, fake fur and funny hats (the more authentic version of these hill-tribe women are generally middle-aged and grumpy, and wander around the city selling drugs.) In Lijiang, there's even a loosely enforced fee of 80 Yuan to merely wander around the old town, yet the Chinese love it, especially the tacky pubs, faux-tradional dances, photo ops and pony rides. For the first time in months, we went to bed with the town still partying, as Chinese let loose on packed dancefloors pumping out folk tunes to techno beats.

PS - I've promised myself to put more useful info up here for travelling, so in Dali we found a great place above a bookstore - was like staying in a friend's spare room, and we blissed out with a movie from one of the best selections I've ever seen. The place is opposite Jim's Peace Cafe, and a double with bathroom right next door was 50 Yuan. Now as for Lijiang... We'd been recommended the Ban Ba Inn, but while trudging through the streets, met a woman who is managing a new hotel in town, open for a whole 5 days: Dragon Palace, with a rack rate of Y388 for a standard room. We ended up paying Y120 for a modern, international style room that's probably never been slept in. Total luxury, except for the musak that floated under the door till past midnight, but that's a small complaint. Very nice find.

Train feasting..

The overnight train to Dali from Kunming was booked out of a week, so rather than take the expensive new bus, we opted for 7 hours daytime train. This is me relaxing in the spacious top bunk (note the sheepish "i'm going to take a nap now" expression and the new shoes... stylin') - we shared a cabin with a grandma and grandpa with their granddaughter. She made friends and soon we were surrounded by very interested kids and more food than we could refuse - processed pork pieces, miso soup, plum lollies, strips of nori seaweed and other yummies. Each cabin was supplied with an urn of hot water for making up tea nd instant noodles. Made for a great journey and certainly the winner over a bus, at a third the price.

While these girls were super sweet, well behaved, and obviously spoiled a bit by Nan and Pop, I witnessed two parents berating their 11 or 12 yr old boy, both physically and verbally, for at least an hour. The boy was in tears for most of that time - as you'd expect after being slapped in the face by your dad on a public train. While they got a few disapproving stares from other Chinese, generally they were ignored as they yelled and pointed fingers in his face, and it was tough not to intervene.

Little Emperors - the result of the one child policy in China (where there's 12% more boys than girls born, and you know that's not an accident). While this one was obviously under a truckload of pressure, I've also seen elderly women stand for little boys on buses... It's a weird situation and I wonder how these little boys will grow up.

Anyway, once we arrived at New Dali city (still 30 min from the tourist destination), we jumped straight on a #8 bus from the train station - no changing required (Lonley Planet 0, us, 1)

Dumplings

Blankey's been spending too much time in the satchel - he's a hungry little piggy, and one plate of dumplings just ain't enough (at 80c a pot, he can afford it)

Also bought some sneakers and a fleece in Kunming, cause apparently it's gonna get cold. Not excited about this.

Kunming

So, we arrived in Kunming quite glassy eyed and very impressed to be in a big city again. Rumours of stress-y, guidebook confiscating, "mititary state" style welcome at customs were rubbish, everyone was friendly and we were even given the pleasure of rating the serive of the lovely lady who collected set of paperwork #3 (she taught me to say 'thank-you', I pressed the 'very satisfied' button). We met a great Aussie guy at a bus stop, Phil who's been teaching in China for about 6 months, and kindly attempted to teach us a few more common phrases - disaster but still trying. Apparently it's easier to teach 13 yr olds English than the other way around (mind you, his students have 12-13 hour school days)

A very nice bus and brief stroll later, and we were at Camilla Hotel, our first dorm style hostel of the trip. Was clean and sweet smelling (that's what you get for sharing with girls) and resplendant with HOT, strong showers. Two thumbs up. In general, Kunming has been a ripper intro to the country, and while, yes, the Chinese people spit a bit, and getting onto a bus is a bit like a Sass & Bide warehouse sale, so I've seen the opposite of the obtructive, uncouth bunch of folks some travellers had reported.

We spent a day wandering round the city, eating peaches, checking out quiet electric motorbikes, daily newspaper boards, beggars with incredible calligraphy skills, and some lovely parkland. A delicious treat dinner near the lake was awesome, with melt-in-your-mouth cracking pork stirfry, and a yummy king of braised tufu and crab dish, with all the flavour of the crab absorbed into the succulant fried tufu. Yum yum yum and with beer, rice, and steamed veggies, about $15. This made up for the dinner we missed playing cards and drinking beer with a cool American and his Swedish girlfriend. (I finally found a cool American. Seattle.)



Day 2 was a trip out to Xi Shan, a range of hills about 30 minutes out of town. again, great public buses got us there without a problem, and we very quickly managed to find the back route up the moutian, a nice 3 hour up hill hike that almost killed me. Wasn't able to burden one of the many skinny mountain ponies for hire with my weight, though - they all needed a good feed and a run around on the flat. At what we thought was the top (but wasn't), we were adopted by some great friendly Chinese who escorted us through Dragon Gate, the main attraction, actually a long string of grottos, shrines, and corridors carved into the cliff by monks in the late 1700s.



Inscription carved in the day:

Great talent witnessed by arduous work,

At the steep cliff, a divine terrace was chiseled.

Though the Buddhist caves were impossible to be airborne,

Chisel after Chisel will make it to the Dragon Gate.

CHINA!

On a 6.30 flight tomorrow morning to Kunming! Very excited!

Gone tubing

Has Vang Vieng lost it's soul? We'd been warned... But after 4 days I can report that it IS possible find a restuarant in town that's not showing Friends on multiple TVs. Unfortunately a lot of travellers seem to prefer to get stoned, lie on cushions and stare at the screen while they eat hamburgers and get waited on hand and foot. Instead, we did the usual and trapsed through town until we found a big bungalow right on the river, with space for a hammock on the balcony (US$4). And we didn't really stray too far from it, and it's OK view:

The main attraction in Vang Vieng is tubing down the river - once a cheap thrill copied from local kids who use the river like public transport, now the tubing companies run a cartel and the priviledge of floating down the river in a tractor tyre tube with set you back US$3. And worth every penny. there are a bunch of makshift bars set up along the river banks, and tubers are rescued from the fast-flowing current with long lengths of bamboo, water bottles latched to long robes, or the smallest child in a small tethered tube, who throws himslef at passing water traffic and has his brother pull hom back in, along with however many thirsty punters need a Beer Lao.

At the end of the route are a small group of riverside bars, where the sun set is viewed from hammocks strung up in little bungalows... Pretty good view, really, and no Friends.

The great temple cities of Angkor

Angkor Wat is really Cambodia's last laugh at the outside world - yes, the country has had a troubled recent history, but would you take a look at what the Khmer empire once was...

Angkor is displayed on the two most important symbols of nationalism - the Cambodian flag and the national beer. And rightly so - the scope and detail of the temples is incredible, joyful and captivating. Almost every available surface is embellished with detailed bas reliefs, from sexy dancing asparas (that's heavenly lady to you), to mythical creatures from hindu mythology (7 headed horse, anyone), to whimsical leaf patterns. There are a bunch of temples surrounding Angkor itself, some of which have been left semi-restored, and it's here amongst the giant bodhi and fig trees that the ruins come to life - huge sandstone blocks balance precariously on half fallen pillars, soft green moss carpets dim corners, and every maze-like turn is a new surprise.

We took the lazy/civilised option and hired a tuk-tuk to get around the 100 km square Heritage Site, which allowed for easy days and plenty of time for exploring. We'd heard some horror stories about kids selling and begging around the temples (like possessions ransomed and stones hurled at tourists who won't dole out cash), but we didn't have any problems, except fighting my own urges to buy something from every cute 5 yr old on the circuit. These little tikes were hanging out with their big sister who was maybe 10. All of them could count to ten in English, French, German, Japanese, Chinese, and Thai, and I bought postcards from a girl who knew more about Australian geography than me!

We actually spent quite a few days in the town of Siem Reap, as I very generously gave Blake my sickness from Battambang, and with much excitement about getting to China, we decided to fly from Siem Reap to Vientiane in Laos, get our visas, then carry on the Kunming by air as well - so we're officially flashpacking for the next week or so!