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Janurary 4, 2005 I did not bring my laptop with me on the honeymoon. I am glad, because it involved alot of moving around. Sabrina's Father bought all 5 of us guided tours of Yunnan Province, a rural place with some spectacular scenery that is the home to 26 of China's 54 minority races. The trip included 3 cities/towns and one mountain. The price of the trip was 2000 yuan (about $250 US) per person. It included all transportation via bus, entrance fees for all attractions, hotels, airfare, train tickets, and all meals (although toward the end we did not eat with everyone else b/c Sabrina's parents couldn't stand the non-Hunan food, and they wanted to make sure that I could eat some meat (I went vegetarian for a while following some stomach trouble that will be explained latter. Actually, it started before I left, so now will be a good time to talk about it)). Right after our wedding, I had some bad diarrhea. After that, I had the opposite problem, with only one success in 3 days. Then we left for Yunnan, and it wasn't until the 7th day (4 days after the first success) that I had another... so after like 5 days, I stared eating only fruits and vegetables, tofu, and drinking like a fish. Sabrina kept trying to give me herbal laxatives, but I didn't want to mess around when I was seriously sick. I'll take some acupuncture when I am feeling well anyway, but not to cure an asthma attack. But eventually I gave in, and that night I made one almost as tall as I am. I wanted to take a picture, but it was buried in paper and was hard to see. I started eating peanuts to make sure I was getting enough protein, and during the last few days we ate more meat, b/c we went to places where we could actually order our own food. Anyway, on to the good stuff. Well, the beginning isn't that good. Kunming is south of Changsha, and a little higher in altitude, but it's supposed to be about 5 degrees C (10 degrees F) warmer. It was a nice day in Changsha when we were supposed to leave, but the flight was canceled b/c it was snowing very hard in Kunming, apparently this hadn't happened in Kunming for as long as they had an airport, and they didn't know what to do, so our flight was canceled (it was a very late flight, I think we were leaving at 9 P.M). The airport put us up in their hotel, and we were out the next morning, the snow was almost gone (maybe it didn't snow that much), but it was still very cold, about 2-3 degrees C. Kunming: Sabrina's mom wrapped me up in everything I had brought, then some. I still froze my cashews off. I don't know how I made it 18 years in NY. The picked us up and brought us to a Horticulture park. This was the site of the 1999 horticulture fair, and it was an amazing collection of museums, replicas of famous gardens, huge greenhouses with big trees inside. It was cold! We were late, so it was just the 5 of us. They gave us 2 hours there, then we went to a nice dinner. The food was always pretty good, usually in a nice hotel's restaurant (they must have some deals worked out) but toward the end it did get a little repetitive, and it was not prepared the way Sabrina's family was used to. After that they took us for a free foot massage, where they had some Chinese traditional doctor come in, dressed in a doctor's white coat, look at your hands and feet and tell you that you were at risk for kidney trouble which can lead to sexual dysfunction... That's what he told me anyway, luckily he had a $50 US bag of herbs that could cure it.. no thanks. It didn't take long to figure out that the free foot massage was a sales pitch... and that the travel agency wasn't paying for it.... rather they were paying the travel agency. The massage was excellent though, I didn't buy anything, but Sabrina's father bought almost $100 US worth of dried roots and leaves. That's cool. After that we came to our first of many jade stores. We looked around, lots of pennants, bracelets, statues etc. made from jade. We had fun shopping there this time, Sabrina's mom bought a necklace, but they became very annoying latter. Dali (our second stop) is famous for jade, and during the whole trip we were brought to more than 10 jade stores, marble factories, and tea houses, where we we allowed to shop for an hour each. It became very annoying, they were obviously given commission for bringing us, and it was a major waste of time. Instead of doing that, we could be sleeping past 6:30. They did serve as good bathroom breaks during long bus rides, as I had been drinking like a fish during the trip. Dali: We didn't have all that much time in Kunming, so we went to the bus station and took a 9 hour trip to Dali, where 50% of the population is Dai, a minority race from northern Thailand. They are dark skinned, Buddhists, and live a rural lifestyle. I had never been on a sleeper train before, infact I have never traveled long distance by train. Getting on was fun, it was SO crowded, they had several cars, some with seats, some with beds. The beds were surprisingly comfortable. They were stacked 3 high, forming little suites of 6 (you just walk around the wall to the next suite). Each suite had a little table with a big old thermas filled with hot water, that was refilled every so often. The bedding was very warm and comfortable, and I slept like a rock. We arrived at 5 am. We did alot in our 1 day in Dali. First, breakfast at a hotel, you wouldn't believe the lines at the bathroom, with everyone getting off the train and brushing their teeth... very amusing. Then, we took a boat trip. The tour guide said that the tour package includes outside seats, but it might be cold, and for 280 yuan ($35 US) we could get an 8 person indoor cabin, VIP style. We got one, but turns out, it wasn't cold at all, outside would have been fine, indeed we spent much of the time outside. First, we found our cabin and invited 2 other people to join us, a very nice couple from Beijing. We split the 28 yuan 7 ways (ofcourse her father paid for everything on this trip for the 5 of us, all I bought was a bottle of water at the show in LiJiang, a gift for my mom, and Sabrina bought me 2 bags of peanuts when her parents were not around). We got snacks and hot tea, and excellent, quick service. There was a tea show early on in the trip, while we started out toward our first stop. As I said, the Dai inhabit this area, and Dai culture is a large part of the appeal of this part of the trip. The show included traditional Dai music performances (they played lots of strange instruments), courtship dances, and other celebrations, and after every act we were given a different kind of tea... all available for sale after the show.... Our first stop was an island with a shrine or something, I didn't see much of it. For about $5 you can rent a costume and get your picture taken with Dai girls. Sabrina and I both did it. Then, we got back on board and Sabrina, her mom, brother and the woman who was in our room with us started playing cards, and that's what they did with every second that we were on the boat... they wouldn't leave after the ride was over until after they finished their last game... We did get another stop, at an old mansion island, were there were statues and stuff from long ago, where you could take pictures, plus lots of little street stalls selling corn on the cob, barbecued duck legs, fried minnows, fruits and veggies. We got a bunch of fried baby shrimp and some fruit (I only ate the latter) and took lots of pictures. The view was quite amazing, but we only had 20 minutes at each stop. The boat ride was 5 hours. Lunchtime, we went to a guided tour lunch spot, where they feed you ok but tried to run an auction of local art (which was pretty good) while you ate... I betcha that meal didn't cost the travel agency anything either... Then we went to a bunch of stores, were told that the street vendors have fake jade, so buy it here, it is best quality and best price... After that fun, we went to a butterfly spring, a big park full of bamboo where butterflies like to hang out, but there were no butterflies because of the time of the year. The park was very nice though, very big and pretty, with lots of bamboo and other plants that butterflies like to sleep on. I can imagine this place being beautiful. After that, we went to the old city, kinda quaint, lots of shopping from street stalls. We bought 20 postcards for 0.6 yuan each (7.5 cents. 10 of them were pre-stamped with the .6 yuan local stamp, so they cost 1.2 yuan each, or 15 cents). Next we went and looked at 3 pagodas, we were all pooped and I couldn't poop, so we were not too enthusiastic, so we took some pictures and eagerly went to the hotel at 8 pm. Our room wasn't that good, but I'm not picky. But Sabrina's parents room was missing a window, so they tried to put them in the basement, her father let them know how he felt about that, and they got the VIP suite. Whenever we stayed at a hotel, Sabrina and I got a room, her parents got a room, and her brother Zhangda had to share a room with another one of the members of the group. Now he could sleep on their couch in the VIP suite with all the windows. Life is good for Zhangda. We showered for the first time in 2.5 days and fell asleep fast. (Note: at all of the stops in Dali, we got a ticket, which when torn off, left you with a postage paid (within China) post card. Quite neat. I got all 5 from all 3 places, so expect to see them in the mail. Sorry, I still haven't mailed out those from before the wedding, lazy me. It's time to write a second batch. LiJiang: We got a wakeup call, Sabrina answered, but she didn't hear anyone talking so she hung up. I thought it was our wakeup call but I was too sleepy to do anything about it... I went back asleep and was woken up by a bus horn.... we had 10 minutes to go. We skipped breakfast and packed up, then got on the bus about 10 minutes late. The 130km bus ride to LiJiang took 5 hours, because it included 1 hour stops at a jade shop, a special shopping place for such tour groups (we bought some expensive snacks and souvenirs) and a marble shop. I only got off at the special place for tourists, cause I thought it was an attraction. I slept the rest of the time. LiJiang is a village that has a large population of Naxi, another minority group. This sounds like the place to be. Men in this minority group don't work. Really, they just sit around, smoke, drink and watch tv... it's been that way for hundreds of years. They also don't have marriage. Men and Women meet at dances, the men go home with the women, live there, watch TV and mooches until they get a baby, then he leaves and goes back to his mom's house. He never deals with the rugrat at all, then he goes and finds another woman. If the baby is a boy, it gets to be a couch potato too. The women will go out and get a new boyfriend whenever she wants. All property is inherited by women. Men smoke and drink all the time, so they generally die young, often before their mothers. If the mother dies first, the man, rather than go out on his own, will go live with his sister or another woman until he croaks. Interesting society. Also, they find fat and dark skinned men and women the most sexy (most Chinese prefer fair skin). The first thing we did was go to a tea show, where we got samples of all kinds of teas that are supposed to cure all kinds of wacky imaginary crap. Sabrina's dad bought 5 tubes full of the stuff. He's going to have the best Chi in Changsha. Then we went and spent 2 hours wondering the cobble streets of the village. This was perhaps the deepest moment during the trip. This place is awesome, it's a real maze, with water all over, beaten up old wooden structures hold stores with all kinds of neat stuff. It was an awesome experience, with real character, although I hear many of these old stores are being taken over by rich people... so the character is disappearing. After that we were taken to the hotel, checked in and ate dinner. Those of us who wanted to were taken to a show, we had to pay 100 yuan (12.50 US) each. We parked across the street where they Dai girls were singing and dancing around a fire, we joined in. We went to the show which was amazing. Very artistic, several scenes with different aspects of the culture of the various tribes in the area (about 7 of them). The stage was amazing too, it was much better than any show I had seen in the USA both artistically and technically, although I admit that I don't know crap about any of that stuff. The best thing is, they had a marquee that told what was going on. The had 2 actually, one in English, one in Chinese. So it would say... "Act 3, the courtship dance of the LiJiang of eastern Yunnan. The LiJiang men are fat lazy pigs..." Not exactly like that... but it was really helped you appreciate what was going on. After the show, we should have gone back to the hotel, but I'm glad we didn't. We went back to that cobble street part of the village... bought some junk, and walked around. They had lanterns all along the street, and there were restaurants and pubs on the water, very romantic in some sections, very rowdy in others. The people at an outdoor pub on one side of the water would shout a song at the other side, who would shout another song back... little dogs (like 9 inches tall) ran around freely, begging for leftovers, and LiJiang women sang and played instruments for the customers. Snow Mountain: The last thing we did kicked ass too. We thought it would be really cold (with a name like snow mountain...) so I wore boxers, thermal underpants (Sabrina's babba bought that too), 2 pair of kakis, 2 undershirts, 2 knit sweaters, Zhanda's hooded sweatshirt, my coat, gloves, a scarf, and 3 pair of socks. It wasn't cold at all! I was carrying alot of cloths... actually Zhangda is very nice and did most of the carrying of all of our cloths. We got in line for a lift, that took us to 3400 meters. We got lots of cool pictures, and rented some cloths to pose for more pictures (5 yuan, or about 62 cents US). When we got to the top of the lift, someone took our picture, when we got off, they showed it to us on a computer screen. They were 10 yuan to print and laminate it (1.25 us) so we got one, so did her parents and brother. After the mountain, there was a really cool little trickle effect in a lake, and there were people there with these special cows that only live there. (these cows are famous in China, all of the tourist stores sell beef jerky allegedly made from these cows, as well as chopsticks allegedly made from their horns for a ridiculous amount of money). Their milk is supposed to be all spiritual or something. For 10 yuan ($1.25) you can ride one in the spring and the guy will put on boots and take your picture. You know we both did that, then another guy came in with his own camera and took your pictures. There was a tent set up with a computer and printer, and for another 10 yuan you could buy a print, so we did that too. I got a rowdy cow, he tried to stab me when he saw me, I saw it coming and grabbed his horn and redirected it. When I was getting off, he moved, and I got my foot stuck, and fell flat on my back. It was funny, and Zhangda got a picutre of my wet rear end. On the bus ride back to Dali, we stopped at the same Jade and Marble stores. I went in this time and in the Jade store I got my mom a gift. While shopping, they kept trying to tell me that all the imperfects were signs of good quality jade... I was like, I don't want good quality jade, I want a good quality imitation that looks good (cause I know that's the best I can expect to get anywhere around here). After that, we ate and got an 11 pm train to Kunming. We got in about 7:30 and had breakfast. This is where the most fun part of the trip started. It was our last day, but they had shored us a day because of the weather. It wasn't really their fault, but they need to repay us... they didn't want to, and we argued for several hours. It really was fun, because we held up the tourguide for one of their outgoing tours for 2 hours, while the people got pissed, then they sent an extra tourguide to talk to us. We called the police who told us they couldn't help. We tried to call the US embassy but the phone number was wrong, but I pretended like it did work and I even read them my passport number over the phone... we basically intimidated them as much as we could, and they wanted to give us 225 yuan back each (cause I guess that would be their costs for that day, about $31) but we don't want their costs, we want the cost it would take for us to get a hotel/eat/go to the park etc. We took a letter verifying that they didn't give it to us, they think the value is 225 yuan each and we think it is 400 yuan. We are going to take this to the Changsha agent. I found this really fun, even though it ate up several hours. Sabrina did a great job of arguing. Then we flew back to Changsha, and I started writing this! That is 6 whole days without touching a computer! I loved it! Ofcourse the first thing I did when I got back was start writing this... But the trip was great. I would never use a travel agent again. You save a little money on the flight and hotel, but you don't get to look around, you don't choose your hotel, and they force you to go to a bunch of places to shop. The way I see it, a vacation costs you 2 things, Time and Money. The 10+ hours that we wasted shopping for junk we didn't want cost more value than the hundred bucks or so that we saved each. We did have a ball, but we had no flexibility and were tired most of the trip. We did see alot, fast, but we hardly had time to enjoy it. All we need is a guidebook for $13. |