Fire At Will: YUNAN HOLIDAYS

We took a short trip to Yunnan, China last May and came back with memories of a pleasant trip and a most congenial group of travelling companions. Despite our local Chinese tour guide's promotion of the local culinary fare, I think Yunnan food is not bad but nowhere near our Malaysian standard. Yunnan is truly a photographer's dream offering a myriad of colourful ethnic cultures and contrasting landscapes. My only gripe is that there are perhaps a million local tourists for every foreign one, fighting to attend the cultural shows, tea ceremonies, rushing for the cable cars and buses, the queues in front of the toilet stalls ....

Yunnan's farmers going home. Free road tax and vehicle registration.Driver do not need licence but lots of skill and experience

Inside Alu ancient caves

Overly coloured.

Boats used to transport tourists on the underground lake.

Alu Caves car park

Man made lake at entrance to Stone Forest

This limestone outcrop fell over during the last earthquake.

Idle guides. Stone Forest.

Malaysian tourist.

Kunming Gates

Gate detail.

Er Hai Lake

Modern Bai house.

Tianlongbabu film city.

Bai Nationals

Ancient Bai General and troop

General moves aside.

Maidens lead in the Emperor.

Maidens move aside.

Emperor and consort arrive,

The mangoes were tasteless.

Dali old town city wall entrance. The buildings are around 500years old and are still inhabited.

Silversmiths at work in the open.

Welcome, sucker tourists.

Authentic silversmiths?

Bai Nationals

Peddling local candy

Dali old town gate

Waterlily

Old town street scene

Some kind of tuber, wonder how the flowers look like.

Young entrepreneur

Good buy but no takers.

Wearing school uniform her way.

Eating on the go.

Dali old city shops around 500 years old.

Lijiang Shuhe Ancient city

All streets have original water supply. Shuhe

Hunchback peasant after years of work in the field, (sad common sight)

Lady collecting free water.

Locals enjoying a game of chess

Master seal maker in Shuhe Ancient city

Chinese are now very much into pets like this Siberian Husky.

Anyone for a plate of Yunnan ham, reputed to be the best in China.

Shuhe ancient city square and hall.

Line Dancing. The locals joined in and there was 3 concentric layer of dancers.

The Mighty Yangtze, shot from an ancient bridge near Tiger Leaping Gorge.

Food vendors near the car park at TL Gorge.

The start of a 2.5 km walk.

Notices for your safety. Just don't mind the bad English.

The raging water of the upper Yangtze.

Water cascading down the sides of the TL Gorge is sparkling pure.

Destination reached and the beginning of the return journey of
another 2.5 km to the car park.

Shangri-la/Zhongdian. Songzanlin temple and monastery complex.

Novice monks.

Entrance/exit gateway Songzanlin temple

Walkway to the cable car station to ascent Shika Snow Mountain.

Tibetan Buddhist prayer wheels.

View from the summit of Shika mountain 4459m

Wall mural depicting Tea Horse Trail from Kunming to Lhasa.

Dukezong Ancient Town.

The real Chow chow?

Our fellow tourists joined in to turn the world's largest prayer wheel.

Dukezong ancient town with mountains in background

Famous waterwheel at Dayan Ancient town (750 years old)

The stream running through the old town provide fresh clean water to the inhabitants. The water is melted snow from the nearby mountains. Usage is strictly regulated since ancient times.

The premise on the left is reputedly rented for 1 million yuan a year, one of the several watering joints popular with the locals and tourists in the evening.

Yican well, Kublai Khan and his horde purportedly drank from this well in 1253 on the way to conquer Dali.

Lijiang(Dayang) Ancient Town in the evening.

Zhangximou show.

White river silica terrace

Wild crocus found o the bank of Baishu(white river).

Yunnan ham, well cured can last ages and sometimes double as bed.

Main door entrance of house in the Dongba valley village

Store of preserved meat in Dongba kitchen

Typical Dongba stove over open fire resulting in blackened kitchen.

Dongba home centre courtyard.

The performance that didn't happen because there was no audience in the rain.

Shop and enjoy the wonderful scenery yonder.

Buddhist scriptures blowing in the wind.

Dongba valley village.

Albino rainbow trout. Jade water village.

Unbelievable, thousand of them in terraced pools.

Add caption

Wish for .....?

Trout at the spring which feeds water to all the pools.

Terraced pools, note the normal rainbow trout among the albinos.

Maybe the world's oldest Camellia tree?

Yufengsi Lama Buddhist temple.

Guardian of the camellia tree. During the cultural revolution he singlehandedly saved the tree from a mob, had one of his hands broken before putting the villains to flight.