It’s Yunnan (photoblog) redux time!!!!

Perhaps one of the nicest things about being a photographer is that once a trip is over, it’s really only just begun. Then comes the massive download (nearly 20GB worth in my case) of images, the processing and tweeking, and generally reliving the experience over and over again.

So part one of my trip. We begin with the train.

Now for a few hundred kuai more, I could have spared myself a 45 hour train ride from Beijing (in the north) aaaaaall the way to Kunming, Yunnan (in the south). But there’s really something rather magical about trains and watching the scenery go by your window. Concrete jungles soon melted into picturesque countryside from the comfort of my berth

I should probably not mention that our trip began with us actually MISSING our original train. By a measly 5 minutes. Seriously. We were schedules for the fast train which would have been around 36 hours, so we lost about an additional half a day in transit. But maybe that was a good thing. Because we wound up getting a soft sleeper… which was really, really cushy.

but first, our cast of characters! The band of rabble that I was privileged to travel with for two weeks.

From left to right: Alex, Mona, Scott, Florien (aka “cacahouette”, aka TGV), yours truly, Justin.
Missing: Richard and Sofiya (aka, the Valkyrie)

Scott was a random (but awesome) American we some how picked up just before getting off our bus in Dali. We initially meant to share a cab but we all got along so well we wound up traveling together for several days.

With exception to Justin and myself (once we lost Scott that is) – everyone else is French. Which mean Justin and I spent a lot of time mucking around in really really bad French accents. Who says Frenchies don’t have a sense of humor?? Speaking of which, Alex has a wicked sense of humor. Let’s get a close-up of our fearless leader:

Alex and Richard (still missing..) did awesome job(s) of keeping us all together and in the black. MAN. Those two know how to bargain.

First stop on our trip: Dali! THE original hippy town in Yunnan, now designated too “touristy” by the Lonely Planet. Oddly enough, I found it a lot more authentic than Lijiang – which was way too shiny and clean for an 800 year old town. Seriously.

We saw some of the Bai, a Chinese ethnic minority famed for their matriarchal culture. The girls are referred to as “jin hua” or golden flower. Isn’t that SO much nicer than getting whistled at on the streets of NYC? I think so. Here’s a Bai minority dance performed by a jin hua

There’s something to be said about the level of savvy you need when traveling in China. I speak specifically of bargaining. We initially were quoted 100 RMB for a taxi ride, which wound up costing ups 10 RMB in the end. Our driver took a shining to us and offered to take us around for a flat fee the entire day. I guess he thought he’d make a quick buck off of us and take us to the paid attractions so he could get a cut. Thanks to him, we nearly missed the main attraction in Dali, one of the most sacred Buddhist temples in all of China. Props to Richard for insisting we take a look at least.

After meandering in Dali for a day, we got on a bus and headed north for Lijiang.

There are a few things really worth seeing in Lijiang. One of them in particular is the Black Dragon Pool. A stunning lake/park that costs a whopping 90 kuai to go in. Convert that into US currency and it’s not much.. but consider that to get into the Temple of Heaven or even the Forbidden City costs only around 40 kuai.

… but where there’s a will, there’s a way!

On principle, we (cheap) students refused to shell out that many kuai for a park. Instead we encountered these little old ladies (all knitting furiously) that essentially smuggled us in via a back entrance for 10 kuai each. Where there is market inefficiencies, there will always be black markets. Thanks Econ 101.

Back to Lijiang city. Now in my travels, I’ve come across some pretty interesting Chinglish signs. But I was actually more surprised by how gramatically correct the signs were. If only with a Chinese twist in the syntax or wording.

… oddly shiny for 800 years old, no? I call this Venice meets Disneyland.

More to come. Hop on over to the FB page if you haven’t already seen some of my more “serious” portraits: here

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Tags: friends, photo blogging, Travel, Yunnan