The long-awaited conclusion

*This post was originally sent as an email on the 26th September 2011

*Photos will be added soon(ish), I hope

Friends, comrades, etc.

I was approached by my coteacher this morning, who asked me if I minded terribly whether he could take my classes today, since the third graders have midterms this week and he has more material to cover. After going back and forth on the idea, weighing the pros and cons, I finally decided that I would be ok with having a day to relax, but only because I could use it to catch up somewhat on the longest ever to-do list, near the top of which is the necessity of sending a mass email to close out my travelling tales, and catch people up on where I am right now.

In which exhaustion sets in, I drink a good cup of coffee, and the end is nigh

*This post was originally sent as an email on the 5th of August

*Pictures to come- soon

Hey all,

This is gonna be a long one, so buckle in.

 Where did I leave you? I can't even remember- a quick trip to the archives is necessary. Oh my, first night in Yangshuo. Well, here goes.

Yangshuo is without a doubt the most beautiful place I have ever seen. It's karst mountains spring seemingly out of the very streets, and rise vertically hundreds of metres above the town. The Li River alongside slaloms through the karst flags distributing jungle greenery along its banks. We need to do a ski camp here. The place is so beautiful, it is featured on the back of China's 20 yuan note.

A Deep Breath

*This post was originally an email sent on the 19th of July


*Pictures to come


Wee hoo. Just arrived in Yangshuo; it's late but this place is open 24/7 and I don't feel like sleeping. I have four days here, so tomorrow is for sleeping in and resting, and remember when I said the two most beautiful places in the world last time? Yeah, I hadn't seen the view from atop my hostel here by night. I cannot begin to describe it, so I'll just show you this picture by way of explanation: 

Further Adventures in China

*This post was originally sent as an email on the 11th July

Greetings,

 

Things move fast here. Today I reached Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, at the end of a 24-hour bus ride. Sichuan, the home of spicy, flavourful Chinese food. It's good too, but I'll have tasted more tomorrow. Since I last wrote, I left Kunming and travelled to Dali, then Lijiang, and now Chengdu. Dali and Lijiang are both small towns in the same vein. Historically rich, they've been largely rebuilt or repaired throughout the "old" sections of those towns, as a drawcard for domestic tourism, while a new modern town grows and engulfs it. Both were charming: a large portion of Dali's old city wall had been repaired, and for 2Y I was able to walk its length, while Lijiang seemed to have sprung up organically in twists and turns along the many canals and streams flowing in stone watercourses throughout the town.

 

Of the two, I was glad to see Dali first, as it served as a good introduction to Lijiang. Lijiang was far more beautiful. You can (and I did) get lost meandering through its narrow winding streets, up and over small hills. Dali was laid out in a strict grid pattern, lacking the orientalism and exoticness of Lijiang. Wandering Lijiang you could never see more than 50m in any direction, and you were always in danger of coming upon a sudden bridge, or waterwheel, or tree-lined square. In short, it provided all the sudden spaces, beautiful architecture, and greenery that you could ever desire. Both towns were filled with Chinese tourists, yet that didn't bother me too much, since they seemed to belong. Towns such as those you expect to be bustling with life. Only when they broke out the cameras was the illusion temporarily broken. On my last morning in Lijiang, I had some hours to kill before catching the 24-hour bus, and it was raining, so I was able to wander through a relatively deserted town.

 

Also fascinating (though perhaps only to me), was that Lijiang is home to the Naxi people, who have the only pictographic alphabet in the world still in use. The local primary schools had Naxi script painted all around the outside.

 

Back in Dali: I exhausted the town's possibilities for exploring in the early afternoon, and so rented a bike for 20Y, and rode 20km north to the Bai hamlet of Xizhou. An old woman invited me in to look around her home, the lake it borders was beautiful though severe in the late afternoon light, with wind-torn waves and scudding clouds across the sky. I found an ancient temple with a three-story pagoda, that I was allowed to climb.

 

Then it started to rain. I tried to wait out the storm, but it seemed only to be settling in for a longer stay. Eventually I just hopped on my bike and road the 20km, becoming soaked along the way. There is a fearlessness and wild excitement to be covering ground quickly under your own power, ignoring the elements however they beset you. I was in a good mood when I got back to Dali, though it then stopped raining.

 

Anyway, tomorrow I have booked a morning tour to the Giant Panda Breeding Research Centre, after which there is a Taoist temple, and a local museum of archaeology I'd like to check out, perhaps ending the day with a trip to see some Sichuan opera. And of course, there's food to be eaten.

 

Until next time,

 

Anthony

 

Blogspot Unreachable

*This post was originally an email sent on the 6th July

Hey all

 

It seems that as part of the ongoing animosity between Google and the People's Republic, I'm not able to access my blog to update it.

 

I've added to this list the people I suspect might actually be reading my blog, and I'll send out an email on occassion to keep you informed.

 

Basically, I get back from the jungle on Monday, having spent my last day there doing a 20km jungle trek to a remote lodge. Getting out of the jungle to the lodge required crossing a flooded river during a torrential rainstorm, all thunder and lightning, in tiny dugout canoes that could only take us two at a time (I was with four others). It was amazing. I didn't get to see any tigers that day, but I did see fresh(ish) tiger prints, and snuck up on a bathing rhinoceros. Also, the river was full of crocs. Good times, I wish you had been there.

 

I got back to Kathmandu, shaved off my 2-week throatscratcher, and started to set about packing to leave the next morning when I ran into a group I'd met by the jungle, and so we went out for dinner and drinks. Luckily Kathmandu has a military-enforced curfew, otherwise I would have been packing at 3 in the morning.

 

Because of the Tibet closure my trip schedule is all messed up. I flew to Kunming, a fairly uneventful city in SW china, yesterday. It's an absolute pleasure being here. It's a lot like being back in Korea, except quieter(?!), as all the scooters are electric, and hence silent. The cars seem quieter too. And there's all manner of fast food and modern conveniences. I did not buy anything from Starbucks. Food here is super cheap, too. I had a massive meal of noodles and meat broth for 6Y (<1$). At midnight I'm catching an overnight sleeper bus to a more historical town just up the road, a mere 7 hours away.

 

Anyhey, I've always been opposed to people who send out mass emails to everyone they've ever met, keeping them informed of the details of their life. It seem very conceited. But if you're on the list it's because you've shown interest - thanks, you're the people who make it worth while getting home at the end.

 

Anthony

 

p.s I've attached some pics, but the Internet here is so dreadfully slow I don't have time to wait for more than 4 to upload. They're all from Chitwan and Sauraha, the town I stayed in on the borders of Chitwan National Park.