Yunnan – The Adventure begins

So as written in my last post i finished all my school duties… And so the adventure could finally start!!

Thursday morning (1.12.11) I went to the Airport and everything worked perfectly. I am travelling with one suitcase, one backpack and a handbag… I need to admit that I was a little bit worried about the size of my backpacker, because I wanted to check it in as hand luggage… which obviously wasn’t a problem, when I saw what Chinese people are carrying around as hand luggage… 3 big bags minimum….

After having bought a “Vanilla-Latte-Non-Fat-Milk” at Starbucks I entered the Plane and found myself sitting in between a group of Chinese woman from a retirement home (Ok, they weren’t actually from a retirement home, but it looked and definitely sounded like that…).. Ufaaahh I didn’t get one minute of sleep (and it was still soooo early in the morning!!)

Arrived in Kunming I took the Bus to the Cloudland Youth Hostel (nice, relatively overbooked hostel… slept in a 6 bed dorm... showers and toilets outside – one night CHF 6.-)! Yes I took the Bus! I decided to take the public transportation for everything during my journeys… no more Cab rides!!

Kunming didn’t impress me that much! That’s why I went outside of town on a 6 hours hike tour alone and saw a lot of beautiful places!! Also I went to some Temples (China has a looooot of Temples and I’ve just started my Temple-Collection…)

Some of you might ask yourself if I was scared of getting mugged while walking in the wilderness like a ranger… ;) Well I would be lying if I’d say I haven’t thought about it but it didn’t really scare me… I only remember one moment when I was scared to death… There was this homeless dog baring one’s teeth (Ok, he wasn’t… But otherwise it just doesn’t sound dramatic enough..)… so I saw this biiiiiig dog… and the only thing I could think of was my missing anti-rabies vaccination!! That was far the most fearing moment in my entire China-Life… (As much as I can remember right now… ;))

Anyway, check out the pictures!

 one of the temples

 my little snack... :)

another Temple

Dragon Gate on West Hill

The third night I travelled to Dali by bus. A five hours trip only with Chinese people... It was a good journey disregarding to the girl, sitting behind me, playing Fruit Ninja with sound during at least one hour… (Everyone who knows Fruit Ninja, will be able to understand what I had to undergo…) However I survived and arrived sound and safe in Dali!

In Dali I was staying at the 5 Elements Hostel (6 bed dorm, showers and toilets outside, one night CHF 3.-). Dali is a perfectly lovely city with nice buildings and friendly people! Today I rented a bike and went to see the 3 Pagodas, a small fisher village and then I just drove around for about 4 hours! It’s pretty cold out here, but I enjoy the colours of the trees and the nice lake! 

West Gate to the town of Dali

 my dear friend the Loney Planet and the authentic seaweed-taro soup... yammiiii

 Fisher Village Shuang Luang at the Erhai Lake

 One of the three Pagodas in Dali

 Market

Me enjoying the day ;)

Next stop was Lijiang (very quiet at the end of a small street.. CHF5.- per night… very modern, but two days without electricity during the day…) No comment about Lijiang, just check out the pictures….

  Lijiang Old Town

 Above the Old Town of Lijiang

Lijiang Old Town by night 

 Black Dragon Pool with snowy mountain

Right now I am in Chengdu (Sichuan Province) which is famous for the Big Buddha, the Giant Panda Breeding Research Base and more…

 

Cheers

V