June 13th, 2006. Long time coming

We've been in the saddle riding through the Himalaya for over a week now, and decent internet connections have been hard to come by.

City's tend to temporarily suck the life out of me if I'm not careful, and getting a bit sick in Kunming didn't help much. But that's all over now! Mountains have the opposite effect on me.

Since KunMing, we have spent time the backpacker center of DaLi, the Chinese tourist Mecca LiJiang, Tiger Leaping Gorge, and a backroad over a 3800 meter pass to get here.

Now we are in ZhongDian, a.k.a. Xiang Ge Li La, a.k.a. Shangri-La. Shangri-La is a bit of a stretch - a ploy to bring in tourists no doubt - but it's a beautiful area none the less. On the edge of the Tibetan plateau, this has apparently been a centre where Tibetans met with YunNanese and others to trade for the last thousand years.

I don't really have anything good to say about DaLi and LiJiang, so I won't. Onto Tiger Leaping Gorge. Located about ten kilometers after the "first bend" of the Yangtze River (where the Yangtze essentially turns back on it's self, therefore flowing out into central China rather than Southeast Asia - you understand the significance), the gorge is flanked by 4000 meter peaks on both sides, while the Yangtze flows at 1900 meters. It's big. It's so big that it was really difficult to take a decent picture of it. You had to be there.

Roadside house.

There's even farming in a few more open spots along the gorge.

We waited here for a couple of hours after we came upon a little landslide that injured three road workers. It seems that while they were clearing the rocks from an earlier landslide, more rocks came down and broke a few arms. It was a little scary for a while, as those with the "authoritah" were panicking. Eventually a van was commandeered to shuttle these boys to the hospital. After the authoritah left, some locals took to clearing the rocks that blocked the road themselves. They would sprint into the red zone, grab or push a rock of the edge and sprint out. Then another guy would take his turn. I can attest that at least two more fair sized rocks fell during this operation. After it was suitably clear, a truck approached the slide area and everyone but the driver got out. They ran across one by one, and finally the truck sped through. About twenty vehicles proceeded in this manner. It had been about an hour since the last rocks had fallen, so last of all Brett and I also made our way through. hmmm maybe I shouldn't tell this story.

We stayed at a nice guest house in the gorge for the night. There, this little girl taught me the correct way to beckon "BaoZi" the dog. She also laughed to herself every time she saw me walking (I developed a limp, not from bicycling, but after walking my knee into a fire hydrant placed in the middle of the sidewalk in LiJiang).

The little farmstead above was around 3400 meters. They raise pigs, horses and a few cattle, and farm wheat and vegetables.

After the gorge, we continued on a backroad towards ZhongDian and eventually over a huge pass. We must have done about 1700 meters of climbing over two days. It was slow going, but the views were great. There were four distinct valleys, scenically and culturally. In one valley an older women dressed in full traditional wear stuck her tongue out at me (this is a greeting I understand?). I stuck my tongue out at her in return and she laughed.

One valley I have named "Friendly Valley" and the next I named "Crazy Valley". In "Crazy Valley" I was accosted by a marauding group of ten year olds. They grabbed onto my panniers and stopped me dead in my tracks. They demanded chocolate. They attempted to open my bags, and then tried to take them off my bike. I humored them for a while and then said my farewell. They immediately gave chase and managed to stop me again. In the end I had to employ a technique that I use on mountain dogs. I pretended that I was going to kick them with one foot as I rode away. It worked.

A man also hissed at Brett in Crazy Valley.

We came over the pass and dropped down a few hundred meters, but everything was different. The houses, the people, the livestock. Yaks everywhere. Monstrous houses. I guess this was the cultural border of Tibet. 30 km later we arrived here in ZhongDian...

June 1st, 2006 More Kunming

This road was as dangerous as it looks.

Taking down old buildings the quick and easy way. I'd like to point out that these guys are hammering on the very brick walls that they are standing on.

Downtown Kunming.

More of downtown. Kunming is way out in the boonies, far from ShenZhen and the factories that produce most of the goods in the world. And yet, the economy is booming and the city is in some ways more developed and progressive than most North American cities. In addition to dedicated bus and bicycle lanes, wide sidewalks, solar heated water, and plenty of public green space, almost all of the scooters are electric. All this in a city of 5 million people that succeeds in feeling like a city of about 500,000.

Today we are off to DaLi and the Himalaya. Better pictures are sure to follow.

May 28th, 2006. The Spring City

Oh KunMing. Here we are. This city is a big one... apparently bigger than Taipei. It is impossible to compare though, as this city is newly developed - there are brand new skyscrapers everywhere - and Taipei was largely built way back in the day.

For some reason, I have a strong urge to participate in the economy. That's right kids, I'm really considering buying something not directly related to my daily survival. Something like.... well, something anyway. I haven't pinpointed it any further than that initial feeling.

Go Consumerism! You truly work in mysterious ways.

On a related note, some of you may have heard about the upcoming IPO of the Bank of China. I heard that they are set to raise over $11 Billion US from investors. As someone who recently visited a branch of this fine organization, I feel more than qualified to confirm for you that the Bank of China is, in fact, a bank. This isn't a communist plot folks. Indeed, I was successful in withdrawing my weekly living expenses, $50 US, in RenMinBi (almost 400 Yuan) earlier today. They had no problem in providing me with this amount of hard currency on the spot. Even more amazing was the 35 cent commission I was charged for the transaction.

I implore all the brave free market capitalists out there with liquid assets to take this opportunity by the horns. With your billions, our Bank of China can model itself on the fine banks in North America. After all, what are banks for: to provide a place for people to keep money and maybe make a little extra from the interest? HA. That was so 1980's. The Bank of China needs to get to doing what banks are supposed to do...

Providing returns for investors.

Yes sir, if I was a man of means, the first thing I would do was demand that the Bank of China raise the commission for changing traveler’s cheques to at least $1. I've also noticed that the Chinese are not buying on credit as much as they should be. We need to change that. We should also spring inflated ATM fees on these fools.

Ahem.

Following are a hodgepodge of photos totally unrelated to KunMing.

Does this farmer have the kind of access to credit that he needs? What about his water buffalo? Could this be another emerging market?

Nice light here.

A-ma has been working in these fields for generations.

This was a quiet little town, and the guesthouse we stayed in had an amazing rooftop garden.

And here it is, as well as confirmation for the skeptics out there.

We are in fact working hard. It's not all "fun and games".

Well, mostly it is.

May 20th, 2006. it's like this

Just ONE more picture of tea, ok? DaDuGuan grows a lot of tea... this view well made up for rough day of climbing.

This storm had us spend about half an hour under a nervous woman's shop awning. She didn't know what to make of us. After the third cookie purchase though, the ice was broken. Score one more for successful cultural exchanges!

Pictures... pictures of people taking pictures... are the most wonderful pictures in the world.

Definitive proof that I am in China. This is DongMen (the eastern gate) in JianShui. Even the locals are impressed. The apprentice of the designer of this gate is said to have designed and built TainAnMen in BeiJing 20 years after DongMen was built. As not to surpass this teacher, TianAnMen is one floor shorter. Take that BeiJing!

Looking down from the gate. Local folks relaxing over the sweet sounds of the ErHu.

Backroads in ShiPing. All of these southern cities still have raucous old districts full of markets and mayhem.

Local cruisers. Cushy. No wonder the old men aren't jealous of our rides.

May 18th, 2006. Pu'er Pilgrimage

With directions from a tea store owner in MengHai, we headed into the hills to find the old tea fields. The directions were sketchy not only because they involved unmarked mountain roads that began 20 km out of town, but also because they were described in Chinese sometime past midnight over our fifth pot of pu'er tea.

We did not set off early the next morning. Those lacking experience be warned: a pu'er hangover can be tough to deal with. It's is best cured with a lot of water and another strong cup of tea.

After climbing to an elevation of around 1700 meters on a rough road, getting lost in an old village, avoiding a local guide, and finally getting more much needed directions, we finally got onto some nice dirt tracks that lead into the fields. That's a stunted tea tree on the left side of the road.

A look back at the hills and some smaller tea trees on the left.

This is one of the oldest tea farmers in the area. Note the look of concentration as he busily tends to his trees.

This tree is said to be 700 or 800 years old.

As I understand it, tea actually originated in this area. Probably not in this field or anything, but this county has apparently been producing tea for thousands of years.

Old trees = big tea leaves.

We bought some "big tree tea" in town that we occasionally mix in with the morning pot of Pu'er.

Tea in the initial stages of fermentation.

That's about all I've got concerning tea.

Now we are in JianShui, a city with a great old section of town. Tonight we are heading to a local tea house we scoped out last night for some song and dance, and probably some gong fu, all of course over tea.

I like tea.