Riding the Rails Down to Yunnan

After a very very long train ride from Xian to Kunming, I found my way through the somewhat small city to my hostel. The train ride was 41 hours long and filled with little Chinese girls calling me jiejie (older sister) and pictures with the conductor. There was an interesting British fellow for the first 15 hours and after that I was left to fumble through Chinese and English with my fellow hard-sleeping-compartment-mates alone. After the 36th hour, I was definitely ready to be off the train.

I decided (sorry Sarah) to skip Chengdu and head directly south, especially since my visa for China is running out. I have to get into Vietnam by August 10th or I run the risk of violating the terms of my visa (not really something I intend on doing).

After a day in Kunming, I met a fellow traveler to accompany me to the Tiger Leaping Gorge, which is about two hours directly north outside Qiaotou. We were told that the hike was very long and managed to finish after 7.5 hours. We found out that most do it spread out over two days. The views were absolutely breath taking and sometimes the trail was a bit rough. This is perhaps a trail that I would avoid in rainy weather, especially since you have to watch out for falling rocks. I will definitely upload pictures soon, so that people can see.

I am currently in Lijiang and will be heading to Dali tomorrow, and once again heading south towards the rice paddies bordering Vietnam. I will not be making it to the Laos border to do some jungle trekking, perhaps I will just have to on the other side.

I have learned a great deal about the minorities in China. Yunnan has a great deal of Naxi people and Hui (Chinese Muslims). You can definitely see the influences in the dress and knick-knacks. The Naxi traditional dress resembles the ones I saw during the Hmong presentations in elementary school. Embroidered clothing and tapestries with brightly colored thread and intricate patterns. The influences of southeast Asia are particularly strong here.

Okay! I should go and catch up on some sleep after a bit of walking the last couple days. Traveling isn't always a vacation, I think often it can be frustrating and tiring planning the logistics, but much much more rewarding and educational than anything else. I have continued to improve my Chinese, and I cannot believe how handy speaking a little actually is. I hope everyone is doing well!