March 18, 2007
China Glimpses - Quick Summary
Having a little trouble settling back down into the old blog. God knows there are enough vacation pictures dangling in cyberspace already.
It has been suggested that I do a little precis of my trip to China, as an orientation.
Hong Kong (15 hours over the North Pole, which was hard to check in the dark) was first on the agenda in order to rendezvous with some dear and close personal relatives who had already spent time in China, and spoke rudimentary Mandarin. This probably made the trip much more comfortable, since they provided a ready introduction to the culture in general, and the toilets, and other important differences, in particular. They could carry on sufficiently in Chinese to order dinner, ask directions, bargain and discourage overenthusiastic entrepreneurs when necessary. It's hard to tell how much of a difference this made. Of course, I'd like to think that I just nestled right into the Chinese bosom all on my own, but I doubt this is the case
Hong Kong was fabulous, but not inexpensive, though bargains could certainly be found -- the nightly laser show over the harbor as seen from Kowloon is oft photographed and absolutely free
as was the the daytime panorama from the same location -- behind the Renaissance Kowloon.
Flew from Hong Kong to Guilin, home of rock formations extraordinaire, in and out of the ground, and the lovely Li River -- made famous by Chinese painters.
And onto Yunnan Province via Kunming to Dali, and, by bus to Lijaing -- both home to unspoiled "old cities" (adjoining larger, new cities, which went virtually unvisited) and a number of China's ethnic minorities, with scenes such as this.
In between were miles of mountains and farms, resplendent with blooming golden rapeseed (used to make canola oil)
and terraced fields
Then back to Hong Kong for a night, just long enough to hit the Night Markets for Mao watches
or have a fortune told. You will be surprised that I skipped that, but I could already predict that I'd be jet lagged.
