Dabbling in Dali

After spending a few days in Yangshuo, Gene and I hopped on a plane from Guilin over to Kunming, where we officially began our Yunnan tour. We stayed in Kunming only for a night to catch an early bus to Dali the next day. I found Kunming to be pleasant compared to Nanjing, but perhaps this is a limited point of view since we were there for half a day. All we managed to do was eat hotpot and watch a silly Hong Kong chick flick (單身男女)... which added up to a very nice dinner-date. :)

The next morning we took a 4-5 hour bus over to Dali. We got ripped off at the ticket station (to be expected but it makes me SO mad!). Chinese bus rides are never very pleasant, but we then kicked off our ride with THIS ridiculousness below:

Let me explain. So our bus drives up the highway ramp and we get stuck at the merging section for about 20 minutes. Why? Because some retards ahead wanted to avoid the "traffic jam" ahead (circled in blue) and started U-turning back down the ONE-WAY highway ramp, log jamming all incoming traffic. It was amusing, but the novelty wore off very quickly. U-turning on the highway, really? And this "traffic jam" only lasted maybe 1km at most. I am seriously getting so sick of the many instances of Darwinistic anti-public-good behavior that I see everywhere in China.

Outside Kunming there are huge lots filled with construction vehicles of every size and color.

Finally after an arduous bus ride, we get to Dali! We stayed at The Lily Pad Inn, which was quite reasonable (at $20 USD/night) for a room with a private bath. It was also located right outside the old town, which made for more peaceful nights. The old town of Dali is mostly comprised of the Bai minority, as well as a fair number of Hui (Chinese Muslims). Bai architecture is quite beautiful and distinct... as you can see below. :)

In our hostel's very cute courtyard, a wonderful place to enjoy breakfast and catch up on some reading!

Old Town Dali was very quaint and pleasant to walk through, with clean and wide cobblestone streets that seemed very recently renovated. There were no shortage of tourists here, especially since this place is known as a Westerner's backpacker town (there's even a road called Foreigner's Street, 洋人街). Supposedly it's really easy to get weed here if you look like a 外國人 backpacker. I didn't get approached though. You can also buy a lot of random knick-knacks such as silver bracelets, pillowcases, jade pendants, minority costumes, embroidered earrings, etc... lots of really cute souvenirs that I wanted to bring back so badly!!! Just remember that if you do decide to purchase something, the most reasonable price for both you and the shopkeeper is 1/3 of the original quotation. And if you like something enough then don't feel bad that you "overpaid" by a couple RMB... that's the unspoken market rule! :)

Lots of different kinds of skewers 串 (chuan4) at the Hui-style cart. No pork though, because Hui = Chinese Muslims.

We had to toss out our skewers because we couldn't handle the thick layer of paprika/pepper/mystery-spices! It was super gross, but if you get it sans spices it is actually quite tasty.

So pretty. :)

We met up with some fellow HNCers at a open-air bar street - Gene taught us how to eat 瓜子 (gua1zi, dried watermelon seeds). I always end up using too much brute force and shatter the whole thing into tiny shards. I guess I'll just have to be fed. :)

The next day we went up to Cang Mountains (蒼山), which overlooks many of the little towns in Dali County and beyond into Erhai Lake (洱海胡). The walk was extremely peaceful and relaxing, with the trail completely paved by smooth stones. The mountain is covered with fresh-smelling pine trees and is very quiet, with surprisingly very few tourists. It's definitely a good place if you need some time to yourself and contemplate the meaning of life, haha.

Did I mention that I was kind of afraid of heights?

Gene's favorite part of Cang Mountain was this giant Chinese chessboard. We spent a fair amount of time pretending to be in Alice in Wonderland, haha.

All in all, Old Town Dali felt slow and nice... it had crisp fresh air that reminded me of California, beautiful Bai-style architecture, and a relaxed atmosphere. I do have to say that the food majorly blowed and I had probably the worst curry in my entire life there. My friend Lulu warned me that that'd be the case, and I can confirm that it is indeed true.

And now introducing THE PUPPIES OF DALI! (awwwwwww~~! ^_^)

Next stop, Lijiang (Shuhe).

Yangshuo = Paradise

Back from blogging hiatus -- Gene and I just got back from whirlwind Spring Break trip to Southern China! We spent most of our time in Yunnan Province, but made a stop in Yangshuo, Guangxi (陽朔，廣西) for the first few days... an excellent start to an epic journey!

A breathtaking yet common rustic scene in Yangshuo.

Don't you just want to roll around in the fields? Getting lost while riding a bike is the biggest favor you can do for yourself here!

Yangshuo is simply amazing. I can't emphasize that enough. If you're looking for that special mythical China experience where fog rolls in and out of towering limestone hills set in lush green fields, this is it. "Yangshuo the Town" is mobbed with Chinese tourists and turns into a tacky neon bar street at night (West Street = yuck), so most Westerners/Chinese-who-like-peace-and-quiet prefer to live a bit outside in the small villages just 15 minutes away. We stayed at the Yangshuo Village Inn, which is the #1 B&B on Tripadvisor for that area and situated in Moon Hill Village (月亮村). The price was definitely palatable at 400RMB (~$65 USD) per night for an adorable room with a balcony. I recommend its sister hotel (Yangshuo Retreat) if you can book it, otherwise go with Yangshuo Village Inn.

These beautiful pillows are EVERYWHERE in Southern China.

I bought two of these pillowcases as souvenirs. So pretty!

The B&B's rooftop restaurant, serving excellent Italian food and imported wine.

We ate here almost every meal, so delish. You're probably thinking that I should have gone out to try "Yangshuo" food. Well I did, and it's gross!!! Baked ziti FTW.

A lovely bright afternoon, relaxing with fine wine. See the little crescent in the hill?

But of course right outside there were stands for tourists to dress up in ethnic minority costumes so they could pretend to "hold up the moon". I much prefer the "Hadouken-ing the sun" trick. :)

Freshly picked strawberries straight from the nearby fields. Very sweet!

We also went rock climbing, which was the first time I've done it in an outdoor setting with natural rock features!!! Man, it was so so so much fun and I highly recommend everyone who comes to Yangshuo to give it a try. We were able to achieve a height of around 7 stories, well above the treeline, which gave you a spectacular and thrilling view (if you were brave enough to turn around and soak it in 70 feet above ground). I wasn't particularly afraid while climbing the rock face, but there were a few times where I had to let go and pray that the climbing company knew what the hell it was doing. All in all, I give it a challenge factor of 7/10 and awesome factor of 10/10!!! :D

This particular rock face was called "Swiss Cheese" (瑞士奶酪).

I went up 4 lines in total that afternoon. The key to not exhaust yourself is to rely more on your legs to push your body up instead of using your arms to pull. Logically sound but your forget that rule when your body is plastered on the cliff and you're hanging on for dear life, haha!

Rock climbing requires high physical exertion!

Eww... sweaty! :p

We also went to see Zhang Yimou's lightshow, Impression: Liu Sanjie (印象：劉三姐), which was set in an outdoor natural valley. Being that Zhang Yimou is only THE most famous Chinese director of all time (To Live, House of Flying Daggers, Hero, Beijing 2008 Olympics Opening Ceremony), I just had to give this a shot!

I consider my 190RMB ($25 USD) ticket the same as buying a pass to see the Elephant Man at travelling circus. You go in because you're curious what the dude really looks like, but you realize that he's actually just an obese American... one that you can see in any Midwest state. It's the price you pay to satisfy your curiosity. Truth revealed, I will never spend another dime on a Zhang Yimou outdoor show because if I wanted to see a lightshow with ethnic minorities again I'll just go to a rave party in New York City.

Of course, there are people who think that the show was good, but it's nothing worth spending 2 hours for when you have a billion better things to enjoy in Yangshuo. I felt rather disappointed with the whole plot (What plot? Is the plot that you have ethnic minorities waving at the audience at the same beat?) and the simple synchronized paddling from ~100 rafts wasn't impressive enough to make up for the fact that it was just a meaningless show.

Oh, and don't forget the usual Chinese mad rush to get up and leave before the show is even over. Because they don't give a shit that you're still watching the show (and the performers are still singing), they just want to hustle you out of a cab. Because that gives them greater utility.

And of course, Yangshuo's main attraction is the Li River (灕江), which is so incredibly beautiful. The landscape is featured on the 20 RMB bill. Even though you have other noisy tourist boats sputtering by you at all times, you won't even really care because this place is simply legendary.

我是個烏龜!

This leg of the trip went by way too fast... Gene and I were truly sad to leave (I practically had to drag his sorry ass to the airport). Yangshuo deserves at least 4-5 days for people to fully appreciate all that it has to offer, and even after that you'll want to just sit there, relax, and soak in its natural beauty. There are many places in China where all I'm interested in doing is taking a quick peek and move on, but I can say with 100% certainty that I WILL come back to Yangshuo, again and again and again!

The Great Wall Half-Marathon (eep...)

If I post this up then I have to do it.

Ugh... here goes.

A team of HNCers are signing up to run the Great Wall Marathon on May 21st. At first I was like HELL NO, I've never run more than 5K and that was a run-WALK! But after thinking about it more I realized that it's a challenge worth going up against. There's no reason why I can't finish it... aside from the fact that I'm basically a Big Fat Blob these days. Well guess what, B.F.B. is going to train herself into Rocky Balboa, starting Monday!

YES -- I'm going to do The Great Wall (Half) Marathon! O_O

I really can't bring myself to exercise unless I have a hard goal... like blowing off steam, winning a competition, or learning a new skill/trade (pole dancing, anyone?). I just don't find pleasure in feeling my muscles cramp and burn, in accidentally ingesting small insects, in stinky armpits. But these days I'm feeling quite smushy and I'm going to throughly defeat this smushiness by destroying myself on the Great Wall. I have the best logic ever. :)

I'll probably be swearing under my breath (and audibly) the whole race, especially on those horrible parts of the wall where you basically have to scamper on your hands and knees... but at the end of the day I think it'll be a nice check in the box for "Awesome Shit I Did". And a great conversation starter to pick up some hotties at the bar. :)

Sun-stroke

Why is it that I can never get myself to do what I'm supposed to do... especially when the weather's so nice outside?

Instead of working on the billion urgent items on my to-do list, I play with Photoshop and think about napping. You go, Miffy.

Too Many Boiled Balls.

I just read a really cute blog post by my dad (yes he has his own blog too!) that I'd like to share. ^_^ Here is his story with my translation:

元宵節囉 吃湯圓

It's the Lantern Festival, so we have to eat tang yuan

(tang yuan = boiled balls of glutinous rice flour)

奶奶出去買了幾包湯圓

沒說

Grandmother went to buy a couple packets of tang yuan

But she didn't tell us

爺爺擔心奶奶忘了買湯圓

出去也買了幾包湯圓

Grandfather was worried that grandmother forgot to buy tang yuan

He also went out to buy a few packets of tang yuan

我從外頭回來 擔心家裡沒湯圓

因此我也買了幾包湯圓

I came back from running errands, was worried that we didn't have any tang yuan at home

Therefore I also went out to buy some tang yuan

這下好了

凍箱裡滿滿的

都是湯圓

Well now

Our fridge is totally packed...

with tang yuan

早上的街尾免費小報

居然出現訪問奶奶的照片和新聞

主題是湯圓

The free daily morning paper

Has an article interviewing grandmother along with her picture

And the subject is... tang yuan.

Translation of the blurb:

Mrs. Ji (my grandmother's maiden name) who lives in Flushing, said that her old husband and son both love to eat sesame tang yuan, which is why she wanted to take advantage of the [supermarket] promotion sale and stock up. Mrs. Ji recalled her childhood at her old home in Jiangxi Province, when her entire family would work together to make homemade tang yuan. They would buy glutinous rice and various stuffings, and then all the roles would be tasked out so that it was clear what everyone had to do. It very lively that time of the year. Now, there's less people at home [in Flushing] and she doesn't make homemade tang yuan anymore because the supermarket has a large selection of tasty and cheap tang yuan that's available whenever she feels like having some.

Firefight in Nanjing

FINALLY I CAN SLEEP. The Lantern Festival is OVER.

I can't tell you just how annoyed I was when fireworks started going off [literally] right next to my window at 6:00am. BOOM (x100). Rays of light piercing my eyeballs. It was like flash bangs being repeatedly thrown into my room. I understand that in China I should be culturally sensitive, but just what is the point of setting off fireworks that early in the morning? It's too bright to see jack shit, people (me) are getting much needed beauty-sleep, and HELLO... don't you have anything better to do, loser?!!! Where's my flower pot.

Well anyway, the fireworks/firecrackers went off through out the day. They're much prettier and tolerable at night (see video below) and it was really cool to see fireworks exploding in the sky right above your head. If you can't beat em, might as well join em! I wanted to buy some off the street too but considered the fact that I like having all 10 of my fingers. :)

Here's what it was like from my apartment on the 17th floor. Looks like a war zone!

Yuan Xiao Jie 元宵節, aka Lantern Festival, aka 15th day of the Lunar New Year, aka the last day that people are allowed to set off fireworks in the city. Boy, are they taking advantage of it.... (Nanjing, Jiangsu, PRC)

CNY in TPE

If you didn't know, Chinese (Lunar) New Year is NUTS!!!

It's this weird paradox, most stuff is shut down for a week (or more) while people are on holiday, yet there's this frenzied preparation that cumulates in this annual celebration. I was in Taipei from 1/31 until 2/7, right in the mix of things. It was so much fun to observe and partake in this tradition... ABCs have a totally diluted version what goes down in the R.O.C. (or P.R.C. for that matter... wouldn't be surprised if every 1 out 8 children get their fingers blown off by firecrackers in the month of February).

My dad and I checked out this alley in Wanhua District (萬華) that specialized in selling all things Chinese New Year-y. We went the CNY Eve, so things had calmed down significantly by then, but supposedly it was packed like the 6 Train Subway at 8:30am for days straight! Elbows out.

I was nearly blinded walking through this all this prismatic candy wrappers. I was even almost convinced that these candy MUST be delicious because they were so gosh darn pretty. I bet they taste like chalk though, haha. (Sour grapes?)

There were rows of shops selling XXXXXL bags of nuts, seeds, candy. The bags were literally 2 meters high. I guess people like to fill their homes with a whole array of snacks during the holidays. This vendor was doing particularly well... I wonder why. :)

My birthday falls on Chinese New Year, and coincidentally my cousin Sunny's birthday is the day after CNY too. We celebrated together with a Qiao Hu (巧虎) cartoon character cake. Animal cakes are NEVER faux pas! Oh and if you didn't figure it out, I turned 27. :(

Me and my dad. :)

After having dinner with our family, my dad and I went back to Wanhua District to visit Long Shan Temple (龍山寺, aka Dragon Mountain Temple). Many people go to the temple on the first day of the year to pray for a fresh start. Literally thousands. Also, supposedly the first incense lit on the new year will be the most potent? I don't know, Chinese believe in many strange things... but although I'm the natural skeptic, it was hard not to get swept up by the whole scene. I found myself feeling very moved by the collective hope and ended up making my own little prayer to the gods for some well-needed direction for the future too.

This is how it basically works -- each temple has about 8-10 "stations" for gods. There's a certain path that you're supposed to walk around the temple. When you reach a station, you make your prayer (holding the incense around head-level and bowing several times), and then throw it into the cauldron. The smoke from the incense symbolizes your prayer reaching up into the skies to the gods. There are gods for wealth (obviously!), for childbirth, for love, for test-taking (obviously!!!), for peace, etc. Around each station there are also tables where people place their offerings. On these offerings people also write down their thanks (if their prayers were answered) or their wishes. Quite interesting... nothing is more telling of societies' aspirations than a religious ceremony/structure!

This is called "ba-bui" in Taiwanese. Not sure what it is in Mandarin.

Now "ba-bui" is what I think the most fun part of going to temple! They're wooden (or lacquer) crescent shaped thingamabobs that come in a pair. You ask a question and then throw them on the floor. If both smooth sides or curved sides face up, that means "NO", if it's one up one down, then it means "YES".

In a temple you can get your fortune! Yes, it's like picking straws, except there's a certain way to go about doing this. First you take a pair of ba-bui and ask them a question about life or whatever. My question was, "Can I go get my fortune this year?". Hahhahaha I don't know, I thought that the ba-bui was the gatekeeper or something, but afterwards my dad told me that I did it wrong. Whatever! After getting like 5 "NO's" in a row, the ba-bui finally told me it was okay to get my fortune. So then you go to this canister where there's a whole big batch of sticks with numbers on the end. You pick a stick and match the number on a whole series of drawers nearby. Pull out the right drawer, take your fortune, and voila! Your fortune.

Now I was pretty nervous even though I tell people I don't believe in this silly mumbo-jumbo, but when it's the beginning of the year and you do all this voodoo stuff to get a fortune, I would have been pretty crushed if I got a fortune that told me to go SUCK IT. I pulled out a "13" out of the batch of sticks, thinking "Shit! That's why the ba-bui said NO NO NO NO NO!" but then my fortune ended up being a 上上 (literally "up up"), the best possible! Whew. Dodged a bullet, found a pot of gold. WOOT!

My takeaways?

When you get a bad fortune, it's just superstition and only dumb people believe in that crap anyway.

When you get an awesome fortune, woohoooo~!!! Do a jig.

Long Shan Temple, I will come back armed with uber offerings if I end up having a ridiculously awesome year. I promise!