Chongqing, Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, and (not) Tiger Leaping Gorge

Well I've procrastinated putting this post together for far too long, but perhaps I will make it worth the wait with the epic amount on content! I'll try to quickly show you what southwest China is all about! This trip spanned several weeks and over 4,000 km (mainly because Harbin is to Kunming what New York is to L.A.) and was one of the best parts of my year in China for sure.

And Off We Go

But first I had to say goodbye to Daqing, my home for the past year and a strange and not-quite-lovable-but-shucks-I'll-miss-it type of place. In fact, here's a photo of one of it's more scenic sunsets.

Scenic Daqing Sunset, Outside King's

And I had to say goodbye to these kooks, it was a pleasure being part of the "wolfpack" and a shame to say zaijian, but one day our paths will cross again.

The Wolfpack

And of course we had to do some quick curbside dice gambling before parting ways.

Can Never Seem To Get Enough

And it was off to Chongqing! One of the three huge municipalities in China (Beijing and Shanghai being the other two) and the starting point for anyone interested in taking a cruise down the Yangtze to see the epic Three Gorges. Unfortunately, the "epicness" of the famed Three Gorges took a huge hit after the completion of the Three Gorges Dam which just recently became fully functional in July 2012.

So I took a little cruise on the river, using my meager Mandarin skills to introduce myself to another gentleman such as myself and we cruised around Chongqing on a warm summer night. Here's the photographic evidence.

Looking Out At The Yangtze River

Chongqing At Night

Did I forget to mention Hotpot? Chongqing is famous for having the spiciest Hotpot in China, a blistering mix of "mala" or numbingly spicy oil, and sichuan peppercorns and a variety of other interesting peppers and goodies. You simply dump in whatever food you order, and pull it out when it is cooked to your liking and there you have it. Some of the highlights of our sweat-inducing, super spicy hotpot were: lamb, quail eggs, potatoes, cabbage, mushrooms, tofu, and of course my favorite: duck intestine MmmmMmmm!

Hot Pot With The Homies

And from there I headed on a hellish 19 hour train ride to Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province where I would spend most of my trip traveling around hiking and checking out the sights. Why do people take trains in China? They are cheap, and if you can get a sleeper car you can save yourself a nights stay at a hotel or hostel so what's not to like? Two words: hard seat. It seems a crime that you can buy it, but why not? For less than $10 you can sit in the "hard seat" class all the way to Kunming and that's exactly what I did.
Was it a long train ride? Yes. Was I crammed between two Chinese girls? Yes. Was the family across from us eating instant noodles with chicken feet dunked in them for added flavor. You bet.
But I survived and made it one way or another to Kunming, which is nicknamed the "Spring City" because in winter it's fairly mild, and while the rest of China roasts in the summer it is comfortably warm up in the hills and mountains.

I arrived and chilled out my first day to recuperate from my train ride nightmare, and the next day I rented a bike and cruised 12ish miles down to Xi Shan or Kunming's "Western Hills" which was quite an adventure.
The saying goes a little something like "if you haven't seen Xi Shan, you haven't seen Kunming" and if I had to chose between hiking mountains or wandering museums, you can guess why I made the trip.

Kunming From The Top Of Xi Shan

I parked my bike inconspicuously in some woods and hiked up the north side of the hill, and after working up a decent sweat I emerged to a huge concrete car park, roads with buses of tourists, shops with knick-knacks, and a line for the ticket booth. My spirits plummeted.
I met a very nice English fellow during my stay in Kunming, we later met up unexpectedly in Dali, and he joked that for some Chinese doing things "outdoors" and "climbing mountains" meant this: waiting in lines, taking the bus to the mountain, and taking the chairlift or gondola to the top, smoking a few cigarettes, and heading home.
This is a gross generalization, but not untrue for some of tourists I saw on this and subsequent trips. Nevertheless I pushed on, bought my ticket and headed up the winding stone pathways to the complex of temples and sights on the mountain. Here's a look from below what I was heading into.

Xi Shan, Western Hills

While I am all for ancient history, temples, sightseeing, and whatnot, my time travelling Europe has somewhat worn out my tourist spirit. Not to say I didn't enjoy Xi Shan's amazingly crafted temples, perched up on a beautiful mountainside...but I wasn't about to buy the audio tour guide. I made my way through many of the sights, but I was really working towards finding Dragon Gate which was apparently carved out of the mountainside by a rather devoted monk. Because "if you haven't seen Dragon Gate, you haven't seen Xi Shan" and so on. Here's the overly-crowded photo evidence.

Dragon Gate, And Plenty Of Tourists

After that I headed back to the hostel and met some chill university students from Qingdao (home of the famous Tsingtao beer) who showed me around and invited me to dine with them at a famous restaurant that served Kunming's specialty, "over the bridge noodles" which is similar to Pho where you let the broth cook whatever meet and veggies you ordered with it. The girls of the group were lukewarm towards me, but the homie Yang really showed my around town which was awesome.

Over The Bridge Noodles MmmMmm

Then it was off to Dali, a very laid back city sandwiched in between Cang Shan Mountains and Erhai Lake which makes for stunning scenery. I joked that it was like the Boulder of China, and perhaps that isn't too much of a stretch, because it is seriously laid back here. After spending a night with the locals at a popular bar, I was up and at 'em at the crack of 11 am and hiking up the mountain. Many of my guidebooks and resources talked about a "chairlift" or "cable car" to the top...and while I would have loved to indulge in that luxury on this particular morning, the chairlift was out of service and the cable car was ridiculously priced at over $35, no thanks. I'll take the stairs...

Stairs Don't Make It Any Easier...

There were a lot of stairs, and not a lot of other hikers unless you count a group of younger Chinese couples steadily making their way up the mountainside on horses and donkeys. It wasn't always easy to spot them right away, but you knew they were there due to the constant worry of dodging horse poop and the screams of horror coming from the girls who were a little out of their element. After a couple of hours of hiking I finally made my way to a clearing with a path that traversed the mountains horizontally.
I was drenched in sweat, breathing heavily, and feeling how most visitors to Colorado must feel...utterly exhausted and gasping to take in some of that high altitude air. I wasn't really looking too good. Luckily for me I was sort of adopted by a small family of Chinese hikers, and we walked along the path and conversed back and forth to the extent that a few months studying Mandarin will let you. We checked out the main temple, and hiked along an absolutely picturesque path going over streams and meandering along the rugged mountains. I was perfectly content.

Always Fun When Some Locals Adopt You

Dali And Cang Shan Are So Sick!

During the hike I ran into my English friend and we chatted for a bit, he was staying at a hostel on top of the trail which was amazing. I had stopped in to check it out, but I already had booked my room for several nights down in town so we were forced to say our goodbyes and I briskly marched down the mountain with the last rays on sunlight at my back.
Incidentally I ran into my other Chinese friends from Kunming in town, and got some epic dinner with Yang and then I had to retire. Exhausted, I woke the next morning and rented a bike with a fellow backpacker and we cruised down to Erhai lake which boasted some amazing views.  Just watch out for the spiders...

Erhai Lake, Dali

SPIDERS EVERYWHERE RUN

Also I can't forget to mention Dali's famous "Three Pagodas" which were pretty cool, but with a fairly steep admission price (you can't go up in the towers) I settled for taking a few pictures from a distance. And there you have it, that was Dali, probably my favorite moment of travelling southwest China...that is, except for Tiger Leaping Gorge.

Three Pagodas, Dali

I could go on and on about this amazing hike, and I've got a whole memory card full of pictures and a few fun stories as well. But I've decided to put that info in my new blog:
(Funny story...I haven't made it yet...buuuuut when I do I'll edit this post and update it with the blog name and address etc.)
So please check it out! I'll be putting more content on that blog, and I will also revisit some of the past adventures from this blog and my AHOJ PRAHA blog as well. I hope to see you there!

But that was about it, I cruised back to Kunming after Tiger Leaping Gorge and then booked a flight to Shanghai in order to buy all my souvenirs and gifts for friends and family, and finally to catch my flight back to the good old U.S.A.

Shanghai was the same as I left it a year before; a huge international city, tourist prices, bustling traffic, and a world famous skyline. Who knows, maybe I'll be back someday, but for now my adventures in China are over. It was a wonderful trip. Once again, don't forget to check out the new blog coming soon!
Zaijian Friends!

Cruising On Shanghai's Maglev Train, @ 300km/h

Shanghai At Dusk...

...And At Night