2013 - Dali, Yunnan, China

DAY 11 - September 19,  2013 - Dali

Dali (大理) is a city located in the northwestern of Yunnan province.

House of Bai (白族民居)

According to the guide, the main ethnic minority group in Dali is Bai (白族). The tradition can be illustrated as follows:
1. When receiving guests, the host has to offer them 3 cups of tea. The first cup tastes bitter (苦) reminding the hard working life (回味人生). The second tastes sweet (甜蜜) and the third, spicy (麻辣).
2. Pregnancy comes before the wedding in order to prove fertility. If you do not see a child in a married couple home, it is weird.
3. The bride wears a pair of sunglasses. She receives her blessings by getting her cheeks pinched. The harder the better it is. The pain she cries reminds her how hard her parents raised her.
4. When the daughter gets married, the mother gives her a bowl of rice to bring it to the groom side. This gesture means that the daughter does not married the groom for his rice.
5. White walls in the house represent the cleanliness.
6. Instead of "madam", the woman is called by different names according to their age:
     1. 金花 Golden Flower
     2. 铜花 Silver Flower
     3. 银花 Bronze Flower
     4. 鐵花 Iron Flower
     5. 狗尾巴花 Dog Tail Flower
7. Instead of "sir", the man is called: 阿鹏哥 (a peng ge)
8. Their communication is only through speaking their dialect and no writting. 有语言没有文字
9. There are 2 types of bracelets: silver, worn on the right hand side, is for the humidity and jade, on the left hand side, absorbs bad energy.
10. The Golden Flower has to marry a man. It is the man who chooses the Golden Flower. The Golden Flower has to know how to do cross stitching. The husband does not work; he smokes and plays mahjong. The wife works. The husband has to offer his wife 3 bracelets: the first one at her 16, then at 20 and at 30. In exchange, the wife gives her husband a cross stitching wallet.
11. The months of July & August are the mushrooms picking season.
12. The flavor of the food is sour and spicy.

Celestial Dragon Cave - Tianlongdong (天龍洞)
This cave has a solution channel in which you climb. Then, you descend the exterior stairs, enjoying the landscape. This cave became famous because of the teleseries: Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils (天龍八部), based on the martial hero novel written by Jin Yong.

Old Town (古城)
Built in the Ming Dynasty, the town was settled down in a strategic location, between Cang Mountains (苍山) and Er Lake (洱海). It brought an agricultural abundance. Nowadays, the Old Town is a popular place to hang out at the bars during night time.

Local Food

- Mooncake (月饼)
This was my first Mid-Autumn Festival in China. This is not the traditional mooncake; it is the Dali's style mooncake.

- Rubing (乳饼)
Literally meaning "milk cake", this dish is made out of goat cheese.

Sources: dali.gov.cn, gokunming.com

2013 - Lijiang, Yunnan, China

DAY 09 - September 17, 2013 - Lijiang

Located in the northwest of Yunnan Province, Lijiang (麗江) is a city located 2 418 meters above the sea level.

DAY 10 - September 18, 2013 - Lijiang Impression

Lijiang Impression Show (印象麗江)
This one hour cultural show demonstrates the traditions and the lifestyles of the local ethnic groups (Naxi, Yi and Bai). It includes singing, dancing, horse riding and drumming. Around 500 amateur performers of 10 different minority groups are selected from the nearby 16 towns and villages. The outdoor performance is played in the full daylight using the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain as backdrop.

Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (Yulong Mountain) (玉龍雪山)
I was very disappointed at the guided tour. The journey included going to top of the Snow Mountain. It was a lie. I was prepared and brought my winter jacket. We only stayed at the foot of the mountain.

Yufeng (Jade Peak) Temple (玉峰寺)
Located at the southern foot of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and 13 kilometers northwest of Lijiang Old Town, Yufeng Temple is one of the five major lamaseries of Lijiang. This temple was originally built in 1661.

Dongba Culture Museum (東巴谷)
In the Naxi (納西) ethnic minority, men are called as Pangjinge (胖金哥) and women as Pangjinmei (胖金妹). Local people have a darker skin and are skinny. Their homes are located in a zone where the UV is very strong. Therefore, they considerate fat and dark Chineses are a beauty. In the past, they used pictographic language called "dongba".

Old Town (古城) 
The Old Town of Lijiang is located 2 400 meters (7 874 feet) above the sea level. The area covers 4 square kilometres. This town was built in late Song Dynasty and early Yuan Dynasty. It has no city wall. Lijiang was under the reign of the hereditary "Mu (木)" family, for more than 500 years. This Chinese character "Mu" means wood or tree. If you put "木" into a frame (walls), the character becomes "kun (困)" which signifies siege and/ or predicament. Therefore, building city walls will make the governing Mu family and their descendants always being trapped or in trouble.

The guide explained:
- In a house, the kitchen is located on the lowest floor due to easy access to the water. The shop is on the second floor. The people live on the third floor.
- In a bar, if a single lady lights up a cigarette, a man will approach her and starts a conversation. If the man is into her, then they will have a one night stand. If not, the man will smoke a cigarette.
- In a disco, one woman and one man dance together. If one is interested into the other, he or she will tickle the palm of the other. If the other person is also interested, he or she will confirm by also tickling back the other's palm. If there is no confirmation, it means no interest.

Black Dragon Pool (黑龍潭公園)
This is the major water source of the Old Town. It is subdivided into many streams reaching the families and the streets. 3 mouths were built for each well from the upriver to the downriver. The water in the first mouth was used for edibility, the second, for food cleaning and the third, for laundry. (No water in the pool.)

Sources: en.ynta.gov.cn, hk.apple.nextmedia.com/

2013 - Kunming, Yunnan, China (I)

DAY 07 - September 15, 2013 - Spring All Year Round 四季如春

This morning, I had to wake up early to catch a plane to Kunming (昆明), the capital of Yunnan province (雲南). I took a bus near Changgang metro station (昌岗) at 6:30AM to Baiyun Airport. Once I arrived at Kunming Airport, I had to wait for someone, sent by the travel tour, to pick me up and drop me at the hotel. On my way to the hotel, I noticed people cleaning up the edges of the highway with a broom. This is so dangerous! They are not scared. Drivers are driving at a high speed.

Local People

While chatting with the driver, I learned about the lifestyle of the ordinary people. One quote I remember he said: 不怕穷，只怕病 (Not afraid of poverty, but only of sickness). Although living in poverty, you can still work hard for living. However, living with a sickness, people cannot afford to heal with such expensive medication.

Shengshi Qianhe Hotel (昆明晟世仟和酒店)

Located about 30 minutes from downtown, Shengshi Qianhe Hotel looks modern. Once I entered in it, a statue of Mao was greeting the guests. I checked in. After dropping the luggage in the room, I had lunch in the hotel. The food was delicious. There are some spicy dishes.

In late afternoon, I took a walk in the neighborhood. There is an university campus behind the hotel.

China contains 56 ethnic minority groups. 26 of them are located in the province of Yunnan, southwest of China. I belong to the Han, the largest group.

Also known as the "City of Eternal Spring (春城)", Kunming has a mild climate. The rainy season starting in June and ending in October. The revenue is mainly generated by tourism and tobacco. The red earth is propitious to cultivate herbal medicine (藥材), peanuts, mushrooms and potatoes. The outcome of the rice has a poor quality. The rice is as hard as a stone in Kunming, as a bullet in Lijiang and as an atomic bomb in Dali.

DAY 08 - September 16, 2013 - Stone Forest

Stone Forest (石林)
Located an hour from Kunming, there is a region of karst formation: Stone Forest. Following a vertical erosion by rain water for a long period, the pinnacle karst is produced. Then, the rock pillars were transformed into rock peaks with pointed tops and sharp edges.

Hospital
One of the tourists got injured. We went to the hospital in downtown. I was observing the hospital system. Inside the building, there are many trash baskets in which people spit in them. However, people do not have the concept of lining up and wait. For example, patients were waiting for their X-rays report. When the reports arrived at the desk, they all ran to it instead of lining up. Then, the security guy passed by without saying a word.

Golden Horse & Jade Rooster Square (金馬碧雞坊)
Built in the Ming Dynasty, the Golden Horse and Jade Rooster arches are 12 meters high and 18 meters wide. According to the legend, a golden horse was hidden in the forests in the east of Kunming and a phoenix singing songs lived in the west hills. When the horse appeared, it gave luster the the forests. When the phoenix unfolded its wings, the colourful feathers were dazzling. The local people did not know it was a phoenix so they called it Jade Rooster. Later on, they named the mountains in the east and west Jinma Mountain (Golden Horse Mountain) and Biji Mountain (Jade Rooster Mountain), respectively. These two divine creatures are regarded as protectors to the Kunmingese.

Later, the Loyalty Archway was constructed north of these two arches, in honor of Sayyid All Omer Shams al-Din, the provincial governor nominated by Kublai Khan in the Yuan Dynasty.

The archways depict the symbol of Kunming.

Crazy Taxi
We were 5 in downtown. We wanted to take a taxi to return to the hotel. Taxi drivers do respect the limit of clients per car. Therefore, we had to split. Taxi drivers drive crazily fast.

DAY 09 - September 17, 2013 - Dinosaurs

Lufeng Dinosaurs Valley (世界恐龙谷)
The archaeological site is located in the Lufeng County of Yunnan Province.

Source: chinakunming.travel