It’s now 6 pm Newark time, a little over 5 hours into the flight. We are now over Greenland, and there has been this orange glow of the sunset for the past hour or so. They do have longer dawns and dusks in these northern latitudes. It’s still winter, so all we see is white. Interestingly, after we crossed the North Pole, East was on our side of the plane, and we get to see the orange glow of the sunset. At first I thought dusk somehow reappeared.
It was like this for several hours outside the plane window as we crossed the North Pole.
We took the airport express and then No. 2 subway to get to the hotel. Even though it was rush hour the trains were not unduly crowded. Met up with David Law who got here a day earlier. Five of us had dinner at a local restaurant (“Little Potato”) in the New World Shopping Mall. Food was only so-so.
3/13 Saturday. Anne, Jamie & David Hsieh went to a training session with an organization helping migrant children. David Law and I took the subway to “Yuan Ming” Garden in the Northwest part of town. This used to be a huge palace complex with many buildings, they were all destroyed and pillaged when the “Eight Countries” invaded China. I wish they would restore some buildings so visitors can have some idea how things looked before, instead you just wander around these grounds you are sure have a lot of history to them. The Chinese government needs to learn how to develop its tourist industry. There are also many signs saying they want the pillaged artifacts to be returned. One would think the proper way is to make the request in international forums. Given today’s climate, things will be returned if the claims are legitimate.
Entrance to Yu Ming Garden.
David and I had a late lunch at Chef Kang’s, well known in the US for its instant noodles. Cheap, and not bad.
Another short subway ride took us to the Olympic Green with the Water Cube (National Aquatics Center) on one side and the Bird’s Nest (stadium) on the other. Quite crowded since this was a Saturday afternoon. Some hawkers were selling these tandem kites that looked quite interesting.
Bird's Nest on the Olympic Green.
Met up with the others and had dinner at the “Cheap Restaurant” which was neither cheap nor very good.
3/14 Sunday. It had snowed quite a bit by the time we woke up. Took a 45-minute taxi ride to BICF-ZGC. Had to teach the driver how to get to the Raychem building using my Blackberry GPS. Long singspiration, interesting sermon by someone who works in Kyrgzstan. Lunch with Sarah H at Grandma’s Restaurant.
Anne bought me a couple of shirts since I didn’t bring enough.
Dinner at a local restaurant before David, Anne and I went to a concert at the new Performing Arts Center.
3/15 Monday. Michael H and Sarah H came to the hotel at 7:45 am. Left for Z in Michael’s rental minivan after breakfast. Trip took over 3 hours. Except for some patches, most of the snow on the road had been cleared. Along the way we saw many disabled cars, and we had to stop for some windshield washer fluid selling at highway-robbery prices. The fresh-covered mountains made for a rather strange landscape. We also passed through the Great Wall.
Mountains we passed by on our way north from Beijing.
Finally, the turn off to the town we visited.
Lunch at Z restaurant with office manager of a charitable organization (H). After an overview of H at their office, David and I visited a small business selling women’s clothing. Anne and Jamie visited a handbag seller. Dinner at a local restaurant. The hotel (Flatroad in English; Transportation in Chinese) we stayed at had shower curtains with mildew on it.
View of city from hotel.
3/16 Tuesday. Left hotel at 7 am to get to XH for office morning devotion. Went to see two customers: a beer delivery person, and a farmer who raises pigs, bakes cakes, and makes powdered hot drinks as a living. Lunch at “Grade A” fancy restaurant. Donkey meat dumplings actually were quite good. The return trip to Beijing went slowly because of the number of trucks on the road. We contacted Franklin to postpone our dinner to 7 pm, which we barely made. The La Paletta in the new financial district served som good food, including a fish head dish (not nearly as weird as it sounds). Franklin’s treat. We checked back into the Courtyard. Who would have thought returning to BJ would feel like going back to civilization? But that’s how we felt.
A residence in the town of XH.
Is this pig cold?
Kitchen where food is prepared.
We encountered many trucks on our way back to Beijing. This stretch of highway later made the news with a 75-mile traffic jam in late August.
3/17 Wednesday. Woke up at 4:45 am to check out at 5:30 am. It seems we have to get up earlier and earlier. 30-minute taxi ride to airport. Check in & security lines were both short and efficient. As Star Gold members, we got to sit in the Air China lounge. Flight CA905 was packed but uneventful (which is good). Kunming landing was a bit rough due to crosswinds. Bought some KFC for our car ride.
Got into Mr. L’s rental car (a moderately beat-up Mitsubishi Pajero); he and Michael H drove the 350 km from Qunming to Dali to get us to the hotel at (Xianghe) about 5:15 pm. Dinner at 6 pm with Michael and his wife Lan, Mr. Li and Joseph C in a Western style restaurant. Good, spicy Nasi Goreng.
Mr. Li has an interesting life story: Born in Inner Mongolia, he came to Yunnan to start his own business. Through contact with other Christians he eventually became one. He started to preach the gospel and joined H through Mr. Joseph’s invitation. They met when Joseph stayed at a hotel Mr. Li was running and noticed a sign saying “Jesus Loves You”.
3/18 Thursday. Went on a field visit with H personnel. The drive out was over two hours, and we had to walk down a steep dirt road to get to a village of about 40 families. These villages look nice from a distance (this is the land of Shangri La, after all), but up close the conditions are quite miserable.
From a distance, one might think this is Shangri La.
Up close, the living conditions are not that good.
We first visited a relief case: the father is blind from a disease he couldn’t afford to treat, the mother is unable to speak, their son is mentally handicapped, and the cooking is done by the 95-year old grandmother. Mr. Li brought some rice for them.
The house we visited belonged to the village elder. The transaction was supposed to be with six families but there was much confusion as to who needed to show up to sign the documents. While the living conditions were wanting, the place was surprising clean, especially considering they were raising chickens, cattle, and a pig with 10 or so piglets in tow in the courtyard. We out-of-towners left at about 4 pm to get back into town.
Inside of Village Elder's home, this is as comfortable as it gets around here.
Yunnan was suffering through a drought when we visited. Parched fields all over.
3/19 Friday. Day in Dali. Went with H and Lan to Old Town, sure enough someone was trying to sell us opium. Visited the church building which was over 100 years old (rebuilt after destruction by an earthquake and the cultural revolution). Took tram to Chang Shan. 1.6 km, elevation rise from 2100 to 2600 m, as indicated by my GPS. Lunch at La Stella Pizza. Dinner at Mr. Li’s, whose wife cooked up quite an elaborate dinner.
Walmarts are quite common in China, including here in Dali. We bought a toy for Sammy which turned out to be of rather shoddy quality.
Picture with Michael & Lan on top of Chang Shan.
View of Old Dali from cable car. Erhai Lake in the background.
Dali Church.
3/20 Saturday. Morning MU flight from Dali to Kunming. David L would wait 5+ hours to get on KA flight to HK. Anne & I couldn't get a hired car at the airport, so we went to the hotel (Grand Park) to check in, and then got a hotel hired car to go to Stone Forest (Shilin) leaving at 11:30 am. Trip took about 90 minutes. Hired a guide for CNY60, an electric cart for CNY200 (a bit of a rip off as it only took us around the outer loop). Toured Shilin for a couple of hours. Interesting, but not as spectacular as I'd expected. Guide took us to tea house where we obligingly bought some tea (CNY150 for 4 small canisters).
Shilin (Stone Forest) scenery.
After dinner at a Yunnan Restaurant we went to the Trinity (3-self) Church. Singspiration typical young worship. Preacher from Hong Kong (Rev. Cheung) talked about attitude towards money. Crowded but not everyone was attentive.
Hotel was the most luxurious yet for this trip. At CNY630 not all that expensive, with free internet and breakfast.
We attended a service at this Kunming Church.
3/21 Sunday. Stayed in hotel room most of the morning. Walked around Cui Hu (Green Lake) Park for an hour or so. Buffet lunch at Palmetto Restaurant in hotel. Off to airport. Anne to BJ, I to HK. Dinner at Tim's, Ling cooked up stewed beef and pasta.
Cui Hu (Green Lake) next to the Kunming Grand Park Hotel.
3/22 Monday. Morning spent visiting the annual flower show in Victoria Park. Lunch at Vicwood Plaza’s Chiu Chow Garden with Ka Shi & David L. Chatted with David in coffee house until after 5 pm. Dinner at Tim's.
3/23 Tuesday. Morning to Tai Po Market/Lai Chi Shan to visit construction site with Ling. Wally joined us for lunch at Tai Wai “Maple Grove Cafe.” Good meal, not inexpensive though. Picked up ticket at Ka Shi's office for tonight's ballet. Took a quick nap. Ballet Don Quixote performed by the Mariinsky Ballet was 2:45 hrs long, with 2 25-minute (closer to 30 minutes) breaks. Had a sandwich at 7-11 during the second intermission, and won-ton noodles at Mak Un Noodle Shop in Causeway Bay. It was about 11:30 pm by the time I got back to Tim’s place.
3/24 Wednesday. Tim dropped me off at the Hong Kong Airport Express Station. Check-in was a breeze. Even though plane was packed and one of the restrooms was out of commission, it was still a relatively painless flight. Took train to South Amboy, and got home at about 3:30 pm. Our house suffered some damage during the storm about 2 weeks ago, fortunately it doesn’t appear to be major.
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