When the gnus meet the yacks...

I am more than 1 month late in this english version...things have gone so fast since we arrived in China; some friends from France visited, then we travelled thru internet-free areas, ending up in Chengdu, too busy settling down in our new life to give you updates!!!

But now is the time for me to catch up on the english blog, and spoil you with all the beautiful pictures of south and southe west China (with even a little bit of Tibet in it!!!)!

Ready? Fasten your seatbelts, close your eyes and imagine you are in Yunnan, the southernmost province of China, bordering Laos, Vietnam, Burma and Tibet...home to the most beautiful girls in the world...for those who know her, a good exemple is Weila, who was born in Kunming (and who reads this blog)!!!!

Our friends Pierre and Delphine, nicknamed "the gnus" (hence the somewhat esoteric title of my article), joined us for a 2 weeks holidays. With them we visited the historical cities of Dali and Lijian and did a wonderful hike in Tiger leaping gorge, on the Yangtse River...

The "dream team" in the doorway of a temple in Kunming...so many laughs!!!

The two historic cities of Dali and LIjian are hotspots for chinese tourists, and they love so much to take pictures of/with us, that we feel like Holliwood stars "later for the autographs!!!"

In Dali, they have a 6h walk up in the mountain, wit little pavillions and temples, waterfalls, streams, views over the lake and the village...but the "must see" was the "Nest of the Dragon"...a little balcony high on a cliff, where you can only access through a little bridge without handrail and little path that you have to walk holding the cliff tigh, with the sheer drop just behind you...a thrilling experience, rewarded by the view and the magical thought that a dragon might indeed turn up in such a beautiful and remote nest!!!!

In this area, there is a lot of different ethnic minority...a lot of them from the tebeto-bruman back ground...

They all wear different colorful clothing. Some of them are still hand made. It's fascinating to see those "stopped" in time clothing sharing the streets with mini-skirt-high eels-nike wearing chinese tourists from the big cities!!!

 

Tiger Leaping Gorge; located on the Yangtse river, upstream from the famous "3 gorges dam",

 there is talk to drawn them in a similar project.

Before they disapear for the sake of energy production, we decide to check them out.

This is a 2days hike, that was "bayettised" (any one who ever hiked with Romain knows what this means) to 8h!

The footpath is high on one side of the gorge, offering stunning views of the opposite cliff, the rapids far down below...and crossing some neat little villages nestled amongst their terrassed fields, walnut gardens and hazelneuts bushes...

One of those Naxi mountain houses, and the background...nearly as beautiful as our own "Hautes-Alpes"

 After this amazing hike, we rest for a few days in the charming (albeit touristy) town of Lijiang.

Small paved alleys, canals (clean and not smelly, which is rare enough in Asia to be noted) and little bridges...

Charm of a Unesco Classified town!

04:14 - 16/07/2007 - Ajouter un commentaire