China Travel: May 2009

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Yangshuo - Shangrila (4)

Some of the activities inside the buildings
Girls weaving colourful bags

Some of the activities as seen from the water.
Boys dressed in little skirts and girls with long hair do a little 1 minute dance to amuse the tourists.
There are many cow skulls displayed along the riverside.
Girls dressed in minority clothing sing and dance for the visitors.

Yangshuo - Shangrila (2)

The scenery at Shangrila is really stunning and couples arrive daily to have their wedding pictures taken with the Shangrila scenery in the background.

Yangshuo - Shangrila (1)

Shangrila is a man made tourist attraction that works very well as a money making machine.
I was very surprised that there weren't any foreign visitors at all at the time I visited. It was very busy but only with Chinese tourists.
The setting is nice. When you enter there are a group of girls playing old Chinese instruments, accompanied by singing. As soon as you pass this you'll get ushered onto a boat that is already filled with people. There is a 30 minute boat ride passing by the villages surrounding the area. One can see old women washing their clothes in the river and men fishing for their lunch or fishing to make a living. On the way there are small houses with pretty girls in minority style clothing, greeting, waving and singing for every boat that passes. All pretty fake but the tourists love it.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Saving a life

Did a good deed for a change. As I came out of a bookshop I saw a minivan reverse right into a little old man who was begging by playing an old Chinese instrument. As the old chap was seated low in a buggy-like chair he was not seen by the driver of the van. I got the vehicle to stop as it had already touched the chair and was about to mow the poor person down. Both the driver and myself felt great relief. However the old man did not even seem aware of what was about to happen to him as he calmly continued to play his sad sounding music. He didn't thank me for saving his life but the next day when I saw him again and I put some change into his collection hat he had a big smile and said: xie xie (Thank you)

The life saving continues....
was walking with my good friend Cherrie pie down a road in Yangshuo last week as we (no - I) mistakenly took the wrong bus. It meant having to walk quite a distance to where we had planned to go. I guess I should start to study a bit more Chinese in order to at least read the buses and know where I am going. Anyway, our mistake turned out very well for a family of three who were on their motorbike and stopping for a moment. The driver who had a toddler in front of him stopped the bike to hand the girl to her mother. Just at the moment when we passed by he lost control of the bike and it fell over with all the passengers. Luckily we were there to catch the little girl and mother who surely would have been squashed and badly hurt underneath the heavy motorbike.
Maybe all things do happen for a reason - even small things like taking a wrong bus

A Chinese love story

When this couple got married their combined ages were 172. He was 96 and she was 76 years old. I guess there is hope for anybody to find love.
Both of them were teachers before they retired and as they had both lost their spouses there were single at the time they met.
They found out that they had many things in common and slowly they started to fall in love with each other.
They met at a Calligraphy Association meeting, where the man is a member and she joined the discussions they had at the meetings. She asked him for advise when she was doing a particular drawing. He liked her very much but was afraid to approach her as she was after all 20 years younger than him.
He didn't know what to do and he started to write a diary. They became friends and advised each other on their drawings. One day the lady visited him at his house and she found the diary. When he wasn't looking she read it and was surprised to find out how much he liked her and that he was afraid to tell her as he felt that she might be offended because of the great age difference. He also was afraid that she would not accept him because he was poor.He didn't dare to ask her hand in marriage. She felt so sad after reading the diary entry and she wished she had been born 20 years earlier. She really wanted to be his wife but didn't know how to tell him. She didn't tell him that she had read his diary.
One day the man had the courage to write a letter to her and told her everything he was thinking and feeling. When the lady received the letter she got all fluttered in her heart and felt like a young girl again. Her heart beat very fast as she couldn't believe that at her age she could receive a love letter like that. He was so afraid to give her the letter in case she turned him down or that she might think him to be shameless for believing in love at his age. However, to his great surprise she accepted his marriage proposal and they got wed.
She is hoping that when she is celebrating her 100th birthday, that her husband will still be with her. And he probably will.....

hard to post from China

For hours, trying to use firefox gladder, trying to get the original codes to figure out how to put the pictures on...still no luck

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Blocked from blogging

I just had a little time after a busy week and I wanted to update the blog with some of the new photos when I found out that I am being blocked from blogging. I can write but I cannot attach any photos.
If anybody knows what I can do to overcome this inconvenience please email me.
email address: andrea.leng@yahoo.com
Thank you

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Li jiang 丽江

Yu mountain. Not far from Li jiang. It is one of the most beautiful places that I have visited in China. The area is quite stunning. There is a lake in front of the mountain and some yaks. The lake has some kind of a terraces inside the water. Just beautiful!!!

Dali 大理 to Li jiang 丽江

On the way from Dali to Lijiang. The scenery is very beautiful.

There are many mountains and small villages. The scenery is quite different to any other place in China. Yunnan is a very fascinating place to visit.

Dai homes

Inside a Dai home. The homes are very primitive but comfortable.

The Dai people are very warm and friendly.

They love singing and dancing.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Dai village near Kunming

The Dai are a minority group in China. There are 56 minorities in China, a large number of them live in Yunnan Province. They can be easyly disdinguished by their clothing.

Kunming (outside) teahouse

This teahouse is just outside Kunming. They mainly sell very expensive tea to tourists. There are lots of different types of tea in China and Yunnan has their own variety.