Back from Yunnan!

Yunnan province, in the south-west of China, is one of my new favorite places to visit. My friend Megan and I just spent a fantastic nine days there, and I have pictures and stories to share. Before I get into all of that, I need to also give a big CONGRATULATIONS to my cousin Aaron, who just graduated from Navy boot camp. He's done so well, and everyone is extremely proud of him, including myself! I know that this is only a sign that he is going to go on to better and brighter things, and I am way impressed with him. Our grandpa was in the Navy, and my older brother is a Marine, so we've got quite a tradition going on in our family, and I'm proud of all of them.

So, nine days in Yunnan has been one of my favorite trips so far- big blue skies, nights full of stars, minority groups, dancing, and great food. I spent a few days prior to the trip in Beijing, where Megan lives, to get settled and also see some of the sights that I missed during my last visit. I got to walk around several parks, including Jingshan park, where you can look down on the whole of the Forbidden City. One of my favorite moments was the day I spent at the Olympic facilities, where you can now go into the National Stadium, also known as the Birds nest, and walk around on the playing field and sit in the stands. It was an overwhelming moment walking into that stadium and seeing how truly massive the space is, but I think that's the goal of the architect. Everywhere you walked on the Green, you head the "Beijing Welcomes You" song, or the "One World, One Dream" song over and over again until they were both burned into your brain. The first song seems to contain every Chinese star possible, and I've found a subtitled version for the rest of you to enjoy!

I also paid a visit to the Temple of Heaven and surrounding park, which you might recognize as one of the symbols of Beijing. The temple itself is typical imperial architecture, but the park surrounding it is magical, with endless acres of cypress trees and carefully plotted flower gardens. The roses were just starting to bloom, and for being in the center of the city, the park was magically quiet. Lots of azaleas around as well, and people taking leisurely strolls. Nearer the temple, there is a place called the Long Walkway, which is part of the temple complex. There, locals gather to play cards, sing karaoke, gossip, dance, and watch foreigners like me gawk at the sights. I hope that I entertained some people while I was there. I also managed to make it to the Lama Temple, which was a little bit of a let-down, but still on the list of things to do.

In addition to seeing the sights in Beijing, it was great to spend time with Megan, who I haven't seen since last November. She and I always have a great time together, and we became known as "the girls who laugh" at a point during our trip. She is a part-time food critic, and took me out for some spectacular meals in Beijing, including a style of BBQ meat from Western China, donkey meat sandwiches, local cuisine, Peking duck, and Sichuan noodles. I can't illustrate enough how much I love the food in Beijing, and yes folks, donkey is delicious as well. I also got to see Danielle briefly, since her folks where in town, which was wonderful too. They were going off to Sichuan province to hug the pandas.

Megan and I flew from Beijing into Kunming, a trip of about 3 hours, and managed to find our way around the city quite easily. I would be lost without her, because she is really great with directions, planning, and reading/speaking Mandarin. She is really a great travel buddy! We spent our first day at Greenlake Park in Kunming, which is the most thoroughly used park that I have seen. Tons of different groups were dancing, singing, and having a great time. Normally I just observe, but the people here were very interested in getting us to join in, which they succeeded in quite a few times. In one group I was "adopted" by an elderly man who took a lot of pains to teach me the dance. We were just going around in a circle doing a simple step, and he counted out everything for me, convince that I spoke fluent Mandarin. He is the one to the left of me in this photo, in the yellow shirt. They are big on dancing in a circle in Greenlake park, and through out a lot of Yunnan. Halfway through this dance, I did manage to run into a tree, which amused the general population. Once the dance was finished, we thanked the kindly grandpa and continued on our merry way. Later on in the park, both of us were recruited to join in on another group's dance party, and stayed there for about 20 minutes. The ladies that pulled us in took extra time to teach us the dance step by step, and went over it until we had it down for sure. We repeated it a few times, and when I glanced up after one of the repetitions, I noticed that we had gathered quite a sizable crowd, and they all were greatly amused and intrigued. Apparently foreigners don't come to the park often, and when they do, they absolutely never dance with the locals. This seemed to be a huge event in the park, and everyone needed to come and see, take pictures, and possibly even video-tape it. Megan and I make a great TV show for Kunming! We had dinner in some local hole-in-the-wall, which was delicious, and tried local beer, also delicious. All in all, a promising start to a great vacation! Up next the Stone Forest in Shilin and on to Shangri-La!