Dali'ed (English)
Door: Mike
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Mike&Lisanne
20 Februari 2009 | China, Dali
Hi folks back home!
Here's a small beacon in English about our travelling adventures across the Eurasian continent. At this moment we have arrived in the South-Eastern part of China, Yunnan Province to be precise. Arguably, one of the most scenic parts of China, and because of its wide composition of ethnic populations (approximately 30% of China's complete ethnic minorities reside in just this province) Yunnan has a very open and divers dynamic mojo to it.
DALI'ED..
Currently, we are in the small town Dali. Dali used to be the epic centre and capital of the Bai people, a small minority of people who always oppressed against the central rulers of China. You can still see the remainders of the Bai capital's fortress structure, shaped in a rectangular form. Inside this 'old town' of Dali, you can see this part of China preparing itself for the masses of tourism. Streets are newly paved, real-estate properties have been developed and backpackers facilities are found across the old town.
Backpackers are often the frontrunners for mass tourism and it's not so hard to imagine that this part of Yunnan has everything going for it: four major tourist traps are located within three weeks convenient travel time: Kunming, a thriving city of about 1.1 million people – possibly more, Dali, Lijang – with it's famous Tiger Leaping Gorge – and Shangri-La. If you want to see the places before they're completely spoiled – don't wait to long: probably Chinese tourist boards is going to position this area agressively as the next big thing for foreign tourist with Chinese wanderlust after the World Expo of 2010 in Shanghai.
INTO THE HIGHLANDS..
It is always good to have some context around the places that we visit. So, now we are in Dali (probably back in Kunming, or even further, once this text is posted). Rather than staying in Dali's old town, we have stayed at an outback place called the Higherland Inn. A trekking resort in the near mountains some 2600 meters above sealevel. An ideal place to start aclimatizing ourselves for the heights of the roof of the world: Tibet. After a number of days traveling through 1,000,000+ cities it's a breather to spend your time with no-one else but a family who runs the lodge, some three tourist/backpackers, two incredibly playful/adhd dogs and a cat that hangs around with the dogs.. ..or get's hanged around by them..
In order to go to the Higherland Inn you have to take two minor steps: go all the way up with the cable car including your gear. This takes you some 800 meters up and last for about half an hour; the Chinese safety regulations with the cable car gives it another authentic twist to it all: it just takes a simple pull of the safety bar and you can conveniently plummet yourself anywhere along the steep hill beneath your feet..
..at least 30 meters down. Good news for the frantics of height. The second step is that you have to be prepared to go all the way up with your pack (ours weight about 18 kilo's all together), climbing some die-hard stairs. Mind you, this is no place for just visiting, dutch styled bargaining and taking inquiries for vacancies at the spot; the whole experience to get there takes at least two hours. This includes a bumpy ride in a blasting tuc-tuc.
For the sake of information sharing for the one's who don't know, a tuc-tuc is a three wheeled iron box with the occassional suicidal driver who probably doesn't really own a driver's licence, but generally laughs in the face of danger and other trafficers with at least one tooth. A comfortable thought when you closely examine his colleague who is up-one-rank: the taxi driver. In more than one occasion, a relentless presumably blind man who has to tendency to waltz himself left and right through the rush of traffic. Oh, well – experienced drivers come in all sorts and shapes; as too in China.
Of course you can pay the Higherland Inn a virtual visit. It has a website too (www.higherland.com), although frankly speaking I have absolutely no idea how the double-u-world of Higherland Inn world looks like.. Nothing the matter really, almost every self-respecting tourist place has his own dotcom address, and so does the Higherland Inn. Having this dotcom address surely doesn't inhibit the authentic style of a trekking resort in this case; let's just say that having a website has well passed beyond the 'nice-to-have' stage in the tourist industry these days: even my mom has a website for her minicamping site in the Netherlands, so why not a hostel in China?
Clearly, the Higherland in is a great place to stay if you want to escape the rush'n buzz of the overpopulated Chinese cities. The nearest house is over 400 stairscases down and the view up-on-the-hill over old town Dali is spectacular. Btw, economic recession hasn't caught up in the highlands: they're still looking for painting artists or yoga teachers, so feel free to drop them a line via Monster(board).
As mentioned, during our stay we were accompanied by three other tourists. We got to know them more closely thanks to the family dinners organized by the Higherland Inn hosts. During these dinners you sat down on a round table with the family, the rascall dogs and the other travellers whilst several local dishes are being served at once on a turntable. An ideal way to try out local treats that the Bai cuisine has in stall for you.
There was one girl from Shenzhen who was enjoying a three month holiday in the Yunnan highlands by herself, and a German couple couple from the vincinities of Stuttgart and Bonn.
The German couple, named Michael and Melanie, we're on their one month trekking tour through the Yunnan province. Like Lisanne and I they were hiding out in the mountains to escape the crowds, strikingly but not coincidently they also come from the country-side. Country-side people just sometimes want to reload themselves in the peaceful, open surroundings of the landscape; preferably leaving the city behind for what it is.
FINDER'S KEEPERS
Michael and Melanie had travelled across the globe and prefered to go trekking in the woods without guide and just some gear (tent, matrasses, sleeping bag and cooking gear) and have done so in about all continents; you can rightfully regard them as Backpackers++. Every year they try to venture on a three month hiking trip somewhere around the world. Now that Melanie started her new job in gymnastics last September, just this one month trip was in scope. As far as Michael concerned, he just has to be back in the Spring and Summer holidays. He's an medieval music artist in a formation of 'Spectaculatius'. Again they have a website too: www.spectaculatius.de.
I must say Michael was excellent Dali-beerdrinking (yes, Dali beer is a brand) company. They told us they met with a German lady downtown old Dali. The lady emigrated to China in the nineties to work as a chemist in a Chinese medical hospital. It was during this time she decided that she wanted to stay in China with her husband. In doing so, she started a bakery without having a particular baker's background.
Fortunately, Michael and Melanie had agreed to meet the German backing lady at the Higherland Inn when Lisanne and I were enjoying breakfast. The German backing lady (of whom I never got the name from) offered us two delicious cakes and started to tell us that she raised the bakery as an exemplar for young women to start working their lives independently. Apart from one boy, she employs several girls in her bakershop and tries to teach them how to think and act for themselves. To be honest I haven't asked about the histories of these girls, but I have no doubt that they were raised in orphanidge, or under similar circumstances.
It's just amazing to meet these people on a short timeframe somewhere in the mountains of Yunnan. That's what independent travelling is all about. I nearly forgot this ease of coming across people who are still scavenging the Earth (in this context I call them 'finders') and ones who decide to stay in the place they feel comfortable, somewhere thousands of miles from their hometown ('keepers') If you want learn about the bakeryshop 'The Bakery No.88, go to www.bakery88.com.
Here's a small beacon in English about our travelling adventures across the Eurasian continent. At this moment we have arrived in the South-Eastern part of China, Yunnan Province to be precise. Arguably, one of the most scenic parts of China, and because of its wide composition of ethnic populations (approximately 30% of China's complete ethnic minorities reside in just this province) Yunnan has a very open and divers dynamic mojo to it.
DALI'ED..
Currently, we are in the small town Dali. Dali used to be the epic centre and capital of the Bai people, a small minority of people who always oppressed against the central rulers of China. You can still see the remainders of the Bai capital's fortress structure, shaped in a rectangular form. Inside this 'old town' of Dali, you can see this part of China preparing itself for the masses of tourism. Streets are newly paved, real-estate properties have been developed and backpackers facilities are found across the old town.
Backpackers are often the frontrunners for mass tourism and it's not so hard to imagine that this part of Yunnan has everything going for it: four major tourist traps are located within three weeks convenient travel time: Kunming, a thriving city of about 1.1 million people – possibly more, Dali, Lijang – with it's famous Tiger Leaping Gorge – and Shangri-La. If you want to see the places before they're completely spoiled – don't wait to long: probably Chinese tourist boards is going to position this area agressively as the next big thing for foreign tourist with Chinese wanderlust after the World Expo of 2010 in Shanghai.
INTO THE HIGHLANDS..
It is always good to have some context around the places that we visit. So, now we are in Dali (probably back in Kunming, or even further, once this text is posted). Rather than staying in Dali's old town, we have stayed at an outback place called the Higherland Inn. A trekking resort in the near mountains some 2600 meters above sealevel. An ideal place to start aclimatizing ourselves for the heights of the roof of the world: Tibet. After a number of days traveling through 1,000,000+ cities it's a breather to spend your time with no-one else but a family who runs the lodge, some three tourist/backpackers, two incredibly playful/adhd dogs and a cat that hangs around with the dogs.. ..or get's hanged around by them..
In order to go to the Higherland Inn you have to take two minor steps: go all the way up with the cable car including your gear. This takes you some 800 meters up and last for about half an hour; the Chinese safety regulations with the cable car gives it another authentic twist to it all: it just takes a simple pull of the safety bar and you can conveniently plummet yourself anywhere along the steep hill beneath your feet..
..at least 30 meters down. Good news for the frantics of height. The second step is that you have to be prepared to go all the way up with your pack (ours weight about 18 kilo's all together), climbing some die-hard stairs. Mind you, this is no place for just visiting, dutch styled bargaining and taking inquiries for vacancies at the spot; the whole experience to get there takes at least two hours. This includes a bumpy ride in a blasting tuc-tuc.
For the sake of information sharing for the one's who don't know, a tuc-tuc is a three wheeled iron box with the occassional suicidal driver who probably doesn't really own a driver's licence, but generally laughs in the face of danger and other trafficers with at least one tooth. A comfortable thought when you closely examine his colleague who is up-one-rank: the taxi driver. In more than one occasion, a relentless presumably blind man who has to tendency to waltz himself left and right through the rush of traffic. Oh, well – experienced drivers come in all sorts and shapes; as too in China.
Of course you can pay the Higherland Inn a virtual visit. It has a website too (www.higherland.com), although frankly speaking I have absolutely no idea how the double-u-world of Higherland Inn world looks like.. Nothing the matter really, almost every self-respecting tourist place has his own dotcom address, and so does the Higherland Inn. Having this dotcom address surely doesn't inhibit the authentic style of a trekking resort in this case; let's just say that having a website has well passed beyond the 'nice-to-have' stage in the tourist industry these days: even my mom has a website for her minicamping site in the Netherlands, so why not a hostel in China?
Clearly, the Higherland in is a great place to stay if you want to escape the rush'n buzz of the overpopulated Chinese cities. The nearest house is over 400 stairscases down and the view up-on-the-hill over old town Dali is spectacular. Btw, economic recession hasn't caught up in the highlands: they're still looking for painting artists or yoga teachers, so feel free to drop them a line via Monster(board).
As mentioned, during our stay we were accompanied by three other tourists. We got to know them more closely thanks to the family dinners organized by the Higherland Inn hosts. During these dinners you sat down on a round table with the family, the rascall dogs and the other travellers whilst several local dishes are being served at once on a turntable. An ideal way to try out local treats that the Bai cuisine has in stall for you.
There was one girl from Shenzhen who was enjoying a three month holiday in the Yunnan highlands by herself, and a German couple couple from the vincinities of Stuttgart and Bonn.
The German couple, named Michael and Melanie, we're on their one month trekking tour through the Yunnan province. Like Lisanne and I they were hiding out in the mountains to escape the crowds, strikingly but not coincidently they also come from the country-side. Country-side people just sometimes want to reload themselves in the peaceful, open surroundings of the landscape; preferably leaving the city behind for what it is.
FINDER'S KEEPERS
Michael and Melanie had travelled across the globe and prefered to go trekking in the woods without guide and just some gear (tent, matrasses, sleeping bag and cooking gear) and have done so in about all continents; you can rightfully regard them as Backpackers++. Every year they try to venture on a three month hiking trip somewhere around the world. Now that Melanie started her new job in gymnastics last September, just this one month trip was in scope. As far as Michael concerned, he just has to be back in the Spring and Summer holidays. He's an medieval music artist in a formation of 'Spectaculatius'. Again they have a website too: www.spectaculatius.de.
I must say Michael was excellent Dali-beerdrinking (yes, Dali beer is a brand) company. They told us they met with a German lady downtown old Dali. The lady emigrated to China in the nineties to work as a chemist in a Chinese medical hospital. It was during this time she decided that she wanted to stay in China with her husband. In doing so, she started a bakery without having a particular baker's background.
Fortunately, Michael and Melanie had agreed to meet the German backing lady at the Higherland Inn when Lisanne and I were enjoying breakfast. The German backing lady (of whom I never got the name from) offered us two delicious cakes and started to tell us that she raised the bakery as an exemplar for young women to start working their lives independently. Apart from one boy, she employs several girls in her bakershop and tries to teach them how to think and act for themselves. To be honest I haven't asked about the histories of these girls, but I have no doubt that they were raised in orphanidge, or under similar circumstances.
It's just amazing to meet these people on a short timeframe somewhere in the mountains of Yunnan. That's what independent travelling is all about. I nearly forgot this ease of coming across people who are still scavenging the Earth (in this context I call them 'finders') and ones who decide to stay in the place they feel comfortable, somewhere thousands of miles from their hometown ('keepers') If you want learn about the bakeryshop 'The Bakery No.88, go to www.bakery88.com.
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
