Yunnan Travels - Part 1
Hi folks, it's been one week since we returned from our Yunnan travel adventures, and I finally managed to finish going through the first batch of images from the first leg of our trip. We were invited by a family friend, Mei, to go visit her family in a small village or shire, called Qina. It's located just outside the town of Lijiang. Kunming is just under 2 hours flight from Shenzhen, or 1.5 hour from Guangzhou. Lijiang is 8-10 hours bus ride from Kunming, or 45 min flight. Qina is 3-4 hour drive from Lijiang. Just so you have a loose idea of travel times ;)
Part 1
We left from Zhuhai by bus to Shenzhen, in order to take a flight out to Kunming city, the capital of Yunnan. We stayed in Kunming for 3 days and nights, in order to explore a few places.
Day 1: Bus ride, good. Uneventful, I actually fell asleep. Jas got to check out the geographical details en route to Shenzhen. Checked-in for flight and boarded flight. Pretty routine. Arrival in Kunming, it's looks so dusty and hazy from the air, it's even more so when we step out of the airport. Go directly to hotel, via cab. Cabbie tries to get extra dollars for our shortened ride due to traffic. Man this is not a good omen for the beginning of a trip. Tipping is not allowed in China either. Check into hotel, that was booked for us. Wait, turns out it was a Chinese branch of Super8, and it wasn't that 'super', in fact it was pretty darn unspetacular, unless you count the moulding walls and flooding shower and winged bugs and ticks that came from some unknown somewhere within the bathroom. We decide we will figure what to do later. We spend the evening in Kunming, where we went to a traditional ethnic Yunnan restaurant where you sit on grass stools at a less than knee high table, and eat great fresh and spicy food. It was really good, along with the local beer, Dali Beer, though we were in warm beer land here. They keep it barely cool, so it takes getting used to. Then we met up with some of Mei's friends and went to the Cuihu Gongyuan (Green Lake Park) for a walk around. Then back to the 'hmotel' for a very disturbed sleep with construction noises that went on 24/7.
Day 2: Day trip to Shilin. Woke up, wait, does it count as waking up if you never really slept? Anyways, I booked another hotel on our own by search on line and calling direct. We packed our bags, checked out, and placed them in Mei's room and cancelled our remaining reservations and asked for a refund. We will check into new hotel upon return. Went to a local eatery for fresh steamed Xiao Long Bao, little dragon bun = steamed pork buns. I was so tired and out of it, I forgot to take pictures. After the great buns, and grabbing the only coffee we could find (2 cans of nestle coffee, *dooooh!* I believe we now can confirm having consumed melamine without a doubt) we met up with the driver/car and headed out for Shilin/Stone Forest, which is outside of Kunming, approx 2 hours by car if not taking the proper toll highways... which is the route our driver took. It could have been 1.5 hours or less had he and our guide not try to take shortcuts with costs I think. Another lesson to be had in China, there's alwalys a better way, but which way, you have to dictate. Note, no problems with cab rides tonight. all is good.
Shilin is amazing, quite the sight of Karst/Limestone landscapes. Lots of walking, climbing, descending and manuvering around Chinese tourists. Nearly got pushed off a stairway, by another loud tourist, was astounded. I guess, wait, what I meant was, I 'knew' right after that I obviously wasn't pushy enough to hold my own ground... I hadn't acclimatized to the pushy non-conscientious 'me-me-me' type of Chinese behaviour that exists in parts of this country. It was a quick learning lesson for me again. Both Jason and I took lots of photos, but most photos simply can't do justice to the actual sights and size of the stones. It was our first time seeing native groups in traditional garments in China too. Yunnan is home to more than 20 ethnic minorities. China has about 56 ethnic minority groups (outside of Manchu the largest ethnic 'minority', for which I belong to in parts, as Han is the ethnic 'majority' and main population). In Shilin, it is home to the Yi and sub tribes, such as the Sanyi group.
We return around 4pm. to get our bags and a refund for our prepaid accomodation, and only get one night's worth back, whatever is the though by this point. We eagerly go check into our new hotel. PHEW! it is nice and though I had to book it on a whim with less regards for costs, it was pretty nice for 350rmb/night... compared to the 150(reg price 200) rmb/night at 'super'8. Just for reference 200RMB = approx $30CDN. In Shenzhen you get a lovely boutique hotel room for 220Rmb/night, so we were surprised to find the extreme difference in quality and prices within large cities in China.
Afterwards, we take a quick spin to the Golden Horse Gate to visit the landmark and grab a snack at it's many small eateries. It wasn't so good. By this time J wasn't feeling so 'hot', and Mei was headachy, so we all went back to rest. Jas shows signs of sunburn and a bit of heat fatigue.
Day 3. Got up at 8 so we can go have our complimentary breakfast. What a mistake that was, being that both of us were still sleep deprived and grumpy. Worst breakfast buffet ever. So many staff, no service. Used settings everywhere, staff taking their time. Total chaos. Almost all foreigners that were eating standing or sitting on shelves of the rotating restaurant, which did not rotate. I finally found a spot that they were clearing, then some Chinese man steals Jason's seat. I tell him it's taken, he replies " I'm sitting here". I was too tired to do much except walk away saying aloud in English and Chinse, 'no manners' 'caveman'. Found another spot that was mid clearing, but they cleared all the dishes except for those right in front of us, while we watched them. ?!@?#! What gives. Jas doesn't want to get irritated, so he goes in search of coffee, finds none. so I tell him to go get food. I'll figure something out. I go and make a staff come by to clear our spots and give us a setting, semi cleared and only got partial cutlery no placemat and serviette. It will do. I had also asked for coffee, it never comes. Jas is back, I'm fed up yet again, so I ask a male busser instead, he doesn't have a clue, but says he will try. He comes back with a 1/2 cups coffee, but still I could hug him! Food was soso. I've had better in smaller towns in China. Met at 10am to head out to Daguan Park/Dianchi Lake. both J & M look a little worse for wear. En route to the park, yet another altracation with another Cab driver wanting to rip us off, with going the long route and also wanting an extra dollar at the end. Almost entire 20 min cab ride was Mei and cab driving bantering/arguing back and forth, likes it's a game he can get away with. I finally was so irritated, I told them both to can it and told the driver that he was unethical. I shocked myself, I don't often speak out as I decide in most cases it isn't worth the hassle. He was shocked and shut-it for the rest of the trip and didn't push for the extra dollar. Fairly nice walking grounds. It was hot and sunny out again. We finished around noon, and decided to drop by the Bird & Flower market. Again, Mei gets into another situation with this cabbie, he actually gets out of the car and has a shouting match with her. I get the feeling she attracts these people, as she's always suspicious of them or has it in for them, and it shows. I never let it esculate to more than firm but calm words. By then all our moods are dismal. Mei complains of further headaches and now nausea, and Jas is headachy too. I diagnose both with heat or sun stroke and give orders for rest, advil with lots of water for both. Back to the hotel we go. Yet another cabbie who wants extra dollar, I tell Mei I will deal with it. I ask for proof legitimacy for this request, he can't produce any. I tell him I will only pay for what is on the meter as per government standard. He argues it's because we are going to tourist location, so I state back, well I don't see a sticker that says it's a law, like they have in Guangzhou, but since you seem so desperate to suck this one dollar off of us, here it is, it's not worth my time or energy to talk sense to someone who obviously is so desperate and needy, oh and it better not because it's prejudice over foreigners, even though one of us is from Yunnan. I shoved the dollar bill at him, and he was silent and took the dollar looking unhappy.
Ate at the hotel restaurant this evening, to take it easy. Decent Japanese restaurant, had ramen and tempura, pretty authentic. Nice light dinner. Then foot massage that included a good 5 mins neck/head massage, yay!! Felt so good. Sleep.
Day 4: Woke up at 4:30am to catch our 7am flight, oh yeah, 'discounted' flight... that's why it was so early. Note to self, from now on we will always book our own flights too. No altracations with cabbie to airport, did not ask for extra dollar. Only redeeming person. Flight was nice, coming in at morning over the beautiful dark lush mountains and blanketing clouds of Yunnan into Lijiang airport.
click on image to see images from Part 1 of this trip. All images © Kaishin Chu 2008
Part 1
We left from Zhuhai by bus to Shenzhen, in order to take a flight out to Kunming city, the capital of Yunnan. We stayed in Kunming for 3 days and nights, in order to explore a few places.
Day 1: Bus ride, good. Uneventful, I actually fell asleep. Jas got to check out the geographical details en route to Shenzhen. Checked-in for flight and boarded flight. Pretty routine. Arrival in Kunming, it's looks so dusty and hazy from the air, it's even more so when we step out of the airport. Go directly to hotel, via cab. Cabbie tries to get extra dollars for our shortened ride due to traffic. Man this is not a good omen for the beginning of a trip. Tipping is not allowed in China either. Check into hotel, that was booked for us. Wait, turns out it was a Chinese branch of Super8, and it wasn't that 'super', in fact it was pretty darn unspetacular, unless you count the moulding walls and flooding shower and winged bugs and ticks that came from some unknown somewhere within the bathroom. We decide we will figure what to do later. We spend the evening in Kunming, where we went to a traditional ethnic Yunnan restaurant where you sit on grass stools at a less than knee high table, and eat great fresh and spicy food. It was really good, along with the local beer, Dali Beer, though we were in warm beer land here. They keep it barely cool, so it takes getting used to. Then we met up with some of Mei's friends and went to the Cuihu Gongyuan (Green Lake Park) for a walk around. Then back to the 'hmotel' for a very disturbed sleep with construction noises that went on 24/7.
Day 2: Day trip to Shilin. Woke up, wait, does it count as waking up if you never really slept? Anyways, I booked another hotel on our own by search on line and calling direct. We packed our bags, checked out, and placed them in Mei's room and cancelled our remaining reservations and asked for a refund. We will check into new hotel upon return. Went to a local eatery for fresh steamed Xiao Long Bao, little dragon bun = steamed pork buns. I was so tired and out of it, I forgot to take pictures. After the great buns, and grabbing the only coffee we could find (2 cans of nestle coffee, *dooooh!* I believe we now can confirm having consumed melamine without a doubt) we met up with the driver/car and headed out for Shilin/Stone Forest, which is outside of Kunming, approx 2 hours by car if not taking the proper toll highways... which is the route our driver took. It could have been 1.5 hours or less had he and our guide not try to take shortcuts with costs I think. Another lesson to be had in China, there's alwalys a better way, but which way, you have to dictate. Note, no problems with cab rides tonight. all is good.
Shilin is amazing, quite the sight of Karst/Limestone landscapes. Lots of walking, climbing, descending and manuvering around Chinese tourists. Nearly got pushed off a stairway, by another loud tourist, was astounded. I guess, wait, what I meant was, I 'knew' right after that I obviously wasn't pushy enough to hold my own ground... I hadn't acclimatized to the pushy non-conscientious 'me-me-me' type of Chinese behaviour that exists in parts of this country. It was a quick learning lesson for me again. Both Jason and I took lots of photos, but most photos simply can't do justice to the actual sights and size of the stones. It was our first time seeing native groups in traditional garments in China too. Yunnan is home to more than 20 ethnic minorities. China has about 56 ethnic minority groups (outside of Manchu the largest ethnic 'minority', for which I belong to in parts, as Han is the ethnic 'majority' and main population). In Shilin, it is home to the Yi and sub tribes, such as the Sanyi group.
We return around 4pm. to get our bags and a refund for our prepaid accomodation, and only get one night's worth back, whatever is the though by this point. We eagerly go check into our new hotel. PHEW! it is nice and though I had to book it on a whim with less regards for costs, it was pretty nice for 350rmb/night... compared to the 150(reg price 200) rmb/night at 'super'8. Just for reference 200RMB = approx $30CDN. In Shenzhen you get a lovely boutique hotel room for 220Rmb/night, so we were surprised to find the extreme difference in quality and prices within large cities in China.
Afterwards, we take a quick spin to the Golden Horse Gate to visit the landmark and grab a snack at it's many small eateries. It wasn't so good. By this time J wasn't feeling so 'hot', and Mei was headachy, so we all went back to rest. Jas shows signs of sunburn and a bit of heat fatigue.
Day 3. Got up at 8 so we can go have our complimentary breakfast. What a mistake that was, being that both of us were still sleep deprived and grumpy. Worst breakfast buffet ever. So many staff, no service. Used settings everywhere, staff taking their time. Total chaos. Almost all foreigners that were eating standing or sitting on shelves of the rotating restaurant, which did not rotate. I finally found a spot that they were clearing, then some Chinese man steals Jason's seat. I tell him it's taken, he replies " I'm sitting here". I was too tired to do much except walk away saying aloud in English and Chinse, 'no manners' 'caveman'. Found another spot that was mid clearing, but they cleared all the dishes except for those right in front of us, while we watched them. ?!@?#! What gives. Jas doesn't want to get irritated, so he goes in search of coffee, finds none. so I tell him to go get food. I'll figure something out. I go and make a staff come by to clear our spots and give us a setting, semi cleared and only got partial cutlery no placemat and serviette. It will do. I had also asked for coffee, it never comes. Jas is back, I'm fed up yet again, so I ask a male busser instead, he doesn't have a clue, but says he will try. He comes back with a 1/2 cups coffee, but still I could hug him! Food was soso. I've had better in smaller towns in China. Met at 10am to head out to Daguan Park/Dianchi Lake. both J & M look a little worse for wear. En route to the park, yet another altracation with another Cab driver wanting to rip us off, with going the long route and also wanting an extra dollar at the end. Almost entire 20 min cab ride was Mei and cab driving bantering/arguing back and forth, likes it's a game he can get away with. I finally was so irritated, I told them both to can it and told the driver that he was unethical. I shocked myself, I don't often speak out as I decide in most cases it isn't worth the hassle. He was shocked and shut-it for the rest of the trip and didn't push for the extra dollar. Fairly nice walking grounds. It was hot and sunny out again. We finished around noon, and decided to drop by the Bird & Flower market. Again, Mei gets into another situation with this cabbie, he actually gets out of the car and has a shouting match with her. I get the feeling she attracts these people, as she's always suspicious of them or has it in for them, and it shows. I never let it esculate to more than firm but calm words. By then all our moods are dismal. Mei complains of further headaches and now nausea, and Jas is headachy too. I diagnose both with heat or sun stroke and give orders for rest, advil with lots of water for both. Back to the hotel we go. Yet another cabbie who wants extra dollar, I tell Mei I will deal with it. I ask for proof legitimacy for this request, he can't produce any. I tell him I will only pay for what is on the meter as per government standard. He argues it's because we are going to tourist location, so I state back, well I don't see a sticker that says it's a law, like they have in Guangzhou, but since you seem so desperate to suck this one dollar off of us, here it is, it's not worth my time or energy to talk sense to someone who obviously is so desperate and needy, oh and it better not because it's prejudice over foreigners, even though one of us is from Yunnan. I shoved the dollar bill at him, and he was silent and took the dollar looking unhappy.
Ate at the hotel restaurant this evening, to take it easy. Decent Japanese restaurant, had ramen and tempura, pretty authentic. Nice light dinner. Then foot massage that included a good 5 mins neck/head massage, yay!! Felt so good. Sleep.
Day 4: Woke up at 4:30am to catch our 7am flight, oh yeah, 'discounted' flight... that's why it was so early. Note to self, from now on we will always book our own flights too. No altracations with cabbie to airport, did not ask for extra dollar. Only redeeming person. Flight was nice, coming in at morning over the beautiful dark lush mountains and blanketing clouds of Yunnan into Lijiang airport.
Comments
Hope you have a great time there.
You can find more info on the area at www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/happysheep/shangri-la-la/tpod.html
What I don't understand about China is why the private sector isn't trying to maximise it's profits by hiring less people - do the government force companies to hire lots of people?
If a hotel breakfast room requires 5 people to run it efficiently, in China it will have 50 people and in the UK it will have 1 person. The UK hotel makes lots more money but the service is shocking and the single person doing the job needs lots of time off for stress. In China the hotel makes less money and still manages to have bad service because non of the 50 people can actally be bothered working.
I'm not sure which is worse.
I don't know if there is governmental influence, other than that human labour force is cheap, cheap, cheap... for the business the hire, and the business can make lots of money with low overhead, esp. when catering to foreigners with foreigner prices. A local cafe/eatery catered to expats by our development here, that has maybe seating for about 20, has a staff of 5-7 in there at times, the kitchen is no bigger than a large closet. go figure. Japan is similar in that labour is cheap, the difference being that service is impeccable and efficient. A small sized 7-Eleven or AmPm will have min. of 4 staff, with not much to do... at least they greet you on your way in and out, sometimes even with the bowing.
Qina is Southeast of Lijiang
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=qina,+china&sll=22.226511,113.517759&sspn=0.010369,0.016973&ie=UTF8&ll=26.527108,100.706177&spn=1.282759,2.172546&t=h&z=9&iwloc=addr
Julian:
You said it perfect, "illogical" is a lot of what is here to us in the Western world. I'm going to ask the one cafe owner sometime soon as to why, I think..