Intrepid Season 2005 - China, Tibet, & Nepal (part II)

Brett Voegele Wyświetlono: 215 razy 2005-11-19 14:33:40

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March-October 2005
May 10, 2005

Well, I've got one under my belt, as I finished up my first trip yesterday. Right now I'm in Kunming, gearing up to start my next trip tonight. This one will be a 21-day affair, spend most of the time in Tibet, and finish up in Kathmandu, Nepal. Looking forward to it, as I only have 3 passengers so we'll be able to do a lot of things that aren't possible with a big group.

As for the first trip, the 12 passengers and I first met in Kunming on April 25th. After a group meeting and a dinner, we set out the next day by bus for Dali. Dali is touristy - mostly for Chinese tourists, but I still like it quite a bit. There's a lot to do around the area, but we opted for a guided tour one day. I'd taken the tour when I passed through on my own a few years back and really enjoyed it. Passengers seemed to agree this time around. The guide talks about things that aren't obvious, but doesn't overwhelm people with information. In the morning we went to a Bai minority market, and then wandered around the small village looking at homes, and visiting a pig temple. Pigs blessed at that temple actually garner a bit higher prices in the market.

We next drove into the hills on another side of the main lake in the region - Erhai Lake. Lunch in a small Muslim restaurant was first, followed by a visit to a corn whiskey 'factory', and then a visit to a small, peaceful temple. We then took a short hike through the rice terraces to see some small villages of the Yi people - another of the 25 minorities here in Yunnan Province. After a 10-hour day we headed back to Dali to dine on a Tibetan feast. Virtually every dish set on the table contained yak meat - beans with yak, noodles with yak, carrots with yak, yak with yak...you get the picture. People probably received their lifetime supply of yak meat in one sitting.

From Dali we took the 8-hour bus north to Zhongdian, which has been deemed Shangrila by the government. It's essentially Tibetan in nature, and cooler at 3200 meters altitude. We spent one day hiking around the area, and visiting the main monastery of the region. Zhongdian is pretty modern, but there are still some fantastic Tibetan enclaves in the old part of town to give you a feel of how things once were in this outpost.

We next headed towards Tiger Leaping Gorge, but first stopped at the limestone terraces of Baishuitai. The stark contrast of the white terraces, blue pools, and green fields in the valley were beautiful. The terraces are sacred for the Naxi, another of Yunnan's minority groups.

A short ride had us in Haba, where we spent a few nights. As it was the May holiday there were many people around, which provided ample entertainment. Many were making an assault on the highest peak in the region - Haba Mountain.