Em.'s In & Outs

I can't really remember exactly how Chris and I met, but when the two of us (with Vris) started arguing about some graphs the econ profs put on the board during class, I knew we'd be pals! Along with Roland, the three of us would often go for dinner in wet markets or fancy restaurants, and then we had some ''very productive'' study groups at dessert places while drinking chinese coffee (which is made with hemp, hum hum!). One of the highlights of our friendship was that time we went jungle... oh ... sorry... city trekking! There was this hike on Hong Kong Island that was going through reliques of WWII which we were wanting to go to, then we realized that we had very different ways of orienting oneself (he's more rational, using maps and stuff whereas I'm more instinctual), but even together we ended up walking in some very densely vegetated areas on a cliff where we had to put our umbrella open in front of us in order to walk forwards! That's nonwidstanding that it was litterally pouring and we saw two really lovely speciment of tera multicolor spiders. But after finding out that we were able to laugh about this adventure, I think we realized we were ready (and willing to miss the farewell dinner for the occasion) for a bigger adventure: going to Yunnan.

Going to Yunnan was ''the'' thing I wanted to do in China, at least for now and until I come back for a longer time. It's been recommanded to me as a very nice place, and the remnants of the anthropologist in me was very interested in the particular demographics, for Yunnan is the province with the most ethnic minorities in China. It's very close to Laos and Vietnam, so it also has a touch of continental South-East Asia.

So we brought our backpacks to class last Wednesday and then hopped onto the KCR to cross the border to Shenzhen, as it was less expansive (but much more of a challenge) to fly from there. After having the brilliant idea to ask around (p.s. this trip was clearly unplanned), Chris and I found out last minute about the only minibus that would get us to the airport. We somehow managed to get there on time, and then had a night flight into Kunming. I felt very engaging from the beginning of the trip and didn't spare my efforts in trying to communicate around me in mandarin, given that this time Mark was not there to save my ass! The first night in Kunming was very, say, in-our-face. This trip was a big step into our respective backpacker's experiences, and, even if it was all about the regular stuff (bargaining, finding a decent place to stay, trying to take the right cabs), it was agremented by such bewildering things as seeing two men in ties playing badminton on the sidewalk at midnight! And things like that :)

The next day was fheavy in terms of communications, for it took us a while to decide what to do, and how to do it, and when and how we should move on to the next place, and so forth. We finally hopped on a bus to the Minority Villages in Kunming, where we had some quite extensive discussions about the representation of culture, tourism and the like. One thing I like about Chris is that he challenges me, and although we don't always agree and sometimes get frustrated with each other, we're always clear, direct and respectful. An example : While I had a strong feeling that ''something was wrong'' in the way ''traditions'' are put forwards in this place that reminded me of a human zoo, Chris reminded me how little factual information I knew about the topic, then I thought that the process of going through places like that is partly to raise questions, but then he said that I couldn't say anything serious unless I did some research, etc. In the end I think we both grew from these arguments, but we were also smart enough to realize that we should split up and do our things on our own sometimes in order to stay sain, which was an essential initiative indeed!

We found ourselves quite innovative in using transportation; we took a sleeper bus (the ones in which you're 95% sure of having your bags stolen once at destination) , that had three rows of very narrow beds and minuscule alleys, and ended up at the very back, on a bunk with tiny windows, sharing with two men who spent the night coughing and smoking. We got to Dali City in a ''so-so'' shape, at 3 AM, and then made it to a very nice hostel for breakfast. This was a very nice place to walk around in - it reminded me of Québec city in a way! - especially outside of the walls. The best thing we did was renting bikes and then going riding in the ride paddies and corn fields and neighbouring villages, where I met some very adorable kids! We lost our way on the way back and had to keep our balance on a 10-cm wide irrigation wall for about 200 meters, which give us the necessary rush of adrenaline to resist an otherwise inevitable heat stroke!

Then not too long after that we started being involved in a series of badlucks with both Chris and I getting money stolen and him forgetting his camera in a nice pub - an evening which would have otherwise been lovely... But good lessons learned, I get we deserved it in a sense. Watch out next time!

The next day we went to a magical place, Lijiang, a bit north, very close to Tibet. It's a place where time seems to loose it's course. The architecture is soothing, harmonious, and reflects all the influences received by this town who was a cross-roads for trade between Tibet, Sichuan, Yunnan and Guangxi. The roofs are amazing, and there's lots of opportunities for good photo. I climbed up to the top of the villages in order to see them from above, and then I met with a really nice Slovenian girl who was studying inter-EU law and together, we went up the Lijiang tower, in which I was surprised to see the exact same Chinese painting that I hung in my room in Toronto (purchased in Chinatown!)... !! But it was a pleasure for the eyes.

Overall it was a very pleasant trip, and an excellent way of making use of my second entry on my visa, and we got back about 30 min before our econ class on the Tuesday, and I'm glad we did it. I was happy to notice a difference in my spoken Chinese between now and the last trip, it's encouraging, I was even able to book the right bus tickets for us to go back to Kunming. But now I'm in a crazy rush in school with mid-terms and papers, and in four days everything is over and I'm flying to Jakarta again... Ah la la, everything is so fast... (Story of my life)