Change of Plans

Chase called me at work on Friday, (well several times) and finally when we talked he told me that Yangshuo was going to be cold and rainy the entire time we planned to be there. So that would mean no hiking, climbing, and spending time outdoors in the sunshine and enjoying fresh mountain air, etc. So we decided to change our plans last minute and have chosen to go to Kunming, which is the capital of Yunnan province.

It's a city of about 8 million people on the Yunnan-Guizhou plateau. So that means the elevation is around 6,000 feet. It's the high-altitude training center for most athletes in China and many from around the world. And therefore, it has plenty of sunshine and because of it being so far south enjoys a tropical climate. Basically, it's very lush. It's the city from where you can take side-trips to see China's ethnic minorities up close. Hopefully we won't get sucked into some tour or destination where it's a Chinese ethnic minorities "themepark" but we hope to get off the beaten path and see the diversity in culture.

In southwestern Yunnan, there's a lot of Burmese influence since it shares a large border. This is evident in food as well. There are lots of places down there where you can get a glimpse of the different kinds of peoples.

In northwestern Yunnan lies Dali, Lijiang, Tiger Leaping Gorge, and the "Shangri-la" of China. All of these are supposed to be beautiful cities and the gorge of course is the deepest one in the world. So we are going that route and will worry about booking train tickets to Dali and Lijiang once we get to Kunming on Sunday. Hopefully it's not sold out and mayhem at the train ticket office because everyone's trying to get home for the holiday.

We also chose to go to Kunming because there's supposed to be some climbing outside of the city and Chase is definitely excited about that.

Finally, I am excited because Yunnan cuisine is fresh, earthy, and they use a lot of various kinds of mushrooms in their diets. You haven't eaten mushrooms unless you have come to China to taste their cuisine. It's amazing how many different kinds of fungi and mushroom grow here and the different preparations of them. In fact, Chase and I were at an early dinner tonight and I had wood ear mushrooms. YUM.

Yunnan cuisine also includes a fair amount of bamboo, pineapple, and banana, which I love to eat as well.

So I hope to take some pics with our lovely new camera and post them.... speaking of.... we went to the electronics market today to crack my Iphone to use in China, bought a case for my phone, a case for our new camera, and 8 DVDs, and the total cost - $25 USD. That's all. In America, you can't even buy the case for the Iphone for less than $20.

Then our dinner: 2 cold appetizers, 1 vegetarian entree, 2 meat entrees for Chase with a coupon for $10 brought our meal to $10. That was 50% off our meal.

Man, I love China right now.