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Hiding from the snow storm atop Yulong Mountain (4500 above sea level) on New years Day!

Huddling around our appualing attempt to get coal going...oh so cold but the atmosphere...well!

New Years wine taost in a glass....so classy...When in rural traditional China we do what we can!

Getting down with a local on a stage in Sakura - Lijiang Old Town on New Years!

Trekking through a tiny settlement amongst the hills!

Bouncy along behind...the man so does not care and 'Bu yao' does not seem to work!

Gripping on for dear life! Very slippery mud!

Trying to work the camera, ontop of a horse, ontop of a steep hill, above Lashi Village

Talk about drive me insane! I am only trying to get some more photos up and they are amazing! I think it may be because of the size of the photos thou....These were from Davids camera, not my big mamma jamma!

Enjoy my perils ontop of a horse trekking through the hills and forests, dancing on new years with the locals and News Years Day in the snow storm!

xxoo

Please, please, please work!

So human like! The world famous Giant Panda

Sim's Cozy Backpackers - our digs in Chengdu

David relaxing at the Chengdu bookworm

I am sorry that I have not been able to put up my photos from my trip, however for some reason this website hates any photo that I want to put up...wierdly it will only let me put up this one of David...I think that that is a compliment!

I am trying everything that I can think of but for the last week it keeps timing out and will not let me edit my posts or add photos!

Faithfully I will keep trying and trying!

Only 5 sleeps until I am home in the big NZ! YAY!

Cross your fingers for me,

Arohanui,

Love Amy xo

P.S - I tried a few more times after I wrote this and succeeded with 2 more!

The last week..a quick catch up!

We spent David's last day lunching at Provence, setting off fireworks and having a very long foot massage with Anna and Gunnar. Later I was banished to the kitchen to make Lasagna (seriously...when I have I ever really minded cooking!) We spent a quiet evening drinking NZ sparkling and eating lasagna before he left at 4am to catch his plane back to Germany and then England! The time went amazingly quick and it doesn't feel like a week since he left, it feels like ages!

The first week back at school was crazy and continues to be as we try to finish up units, write new ones for next term, start and finish reports and turn classrooms around for the new term. I also have a lot more students coming into my Art class so I need to be prepared and planned for that entirely also. I am trying to get a lot done so i have nothing to do when I go home and can just relax! I am so looking forward to getting home and seeing my family,catching up with friends and soaking up some rays....I am such a whitey at the moment!

I managed to finally pry myself away from school and the couch on Friday night and venture out with Anna and new found friends Kiki and Justyna to the Paulaner Bar in the Kempinski Hotel. It was great...fabulous food, great wine, good company and live music to go with it! We even had control of the request book and managed to fit in a few sneaky (or not so sneaky) dances in front of the old Laowai's and Chinese businessmen there...not quite the highlight of my night but we enjoyed ourselves!

Next it was off for some serious dancing at Soho, a favourite night spot of mine......it was so good to be out dancing again and I am going to make a serious effort to brave the cold and do it more often! We met some more fellow Laowai's...around our age.....which is not really heard of in Wuxi and managed to dance, talk and drink the night away! A few dramas entailed but that just made the night a great one!

It was nice to finish the weekend off with a long leisurely walk to busy, busy Auchan to pick up some supplies...the TP was getting extremely low!

Tonight brings more planning, hopefully the finish of some reports and a dinner at Uberfoods! Oh yeah...4 courses of heavenly good food! I can't wait!

Hope you are all well,
Can't wait to be home, only 10 more sleeps!

Arohanui,
Love Amy xxoo

Naxi

The Naxi are a main group of the Minority tribes in the Yunnan Province down the bottom west of China.

The people came across as very calm and interesting people. They had a very beautiful temperament and kept to their traditions staunchly.They mostly lived in the traditional villages and even in 'touristy' old town they lived on the outskirts going about their daily lives as normal, not phased by the white faces or the masses of Chinese tourists. Their houses were made of mud bricks and very old and simple, usually enclosed with several buildings, which they used to dry corn or for various other work.

Cattle is attached to the side of their houses and small enclosures for their chickens and a few livestock are evident in most front yards. The areas they live in remain mainly untouched by tourists and remain placid and astounding sights. The woman are sent to work the fiends carrying heavy and big loads on their backs while the man are supposed to bring 'Mana' to the house by reading, writing, learning Marjong and beating his friends.

No....I'm not going to leave...you can't make me!!!

I am so missing the food that we had at the guesthouse.......the 2nd bought yummy pancakes (Naxi style of course), hot soup and some more of my favourite flat pancake bread (so light and fluffy and with this yummy bean/tofu chili spread) it was a taste sensation!

It was so sunny (but still freezing) so we were off to Tiger Leaping Gorge! This was the main sight that I wanted to see and originally I wanted to walk it however we didn't have enough time, so it was a 2 hour car ride to the sight.

I was so excited to go venturing and walking to get to the sight, to feel like a real person doing a normal walk through the bush/forest. Man was I bitterly disappointed (poor David can attest to that) when I found a thick, wide, paved unnatural path all around the cliff face to the sight....it even had tunnels.......never in NZ!!!!!! So annoying...there went my adventurous spirit! You really don't know how spoilt you are growing up in natural NZ until you see how everyone else does it!

We arrived at Tiger Leaping Gorge and it all melted away......it was so nice. The story about Tiger Leaping Gorge is that there is a massive rock in the middle of the gorge, with raging waters surrounding it, and legend says that a tiger being chased jumped from one side of the Gorge to the other, using the rock in between! Hence the name....I must say that would be a huge jump! We had some fun posing for pictures, enjoying the sight of lovely uninterrupted views, fresh air and clear water!

I will definitely try to be back to walk it - as long as the paths are NOT paved! Haha!

We arrived back late afternoon and was greeted with another array of local dishes including my fav of thinly sliced potatoes and egg and tomatoes! The father of the manager bought out a massive jar filled with discoloured water like substance with a whole lots of plums in it - local home made plum wine! It looked hideous but tasted along the lines of Port...and was it ever strong...my lord! I loved it!

The 3rd was our last day and I was not looking forward to it. However we ventured back to Lijiang old town and after talking to numerous tourists who all thought that Lijiang was 'so touristy' I was thankful that we had stayed where we did....not touristy at all!

We went in search of spiralina, a local specialty, some 'wish catchers' as David calls them and some other wee souvenirs including a dictionary of the Dongpu script....what the Naxi speak, only made up of pictures and that is what they read off, write and speak! Amazing! I am getting my MYP Art students to do some work with it next term. After a very hard Chinese massage it was off to the airport to have our 3 flights to make it home!

I WILL NOT LEAVE!!!! Oh man....back to the smog filled cities, undrinkable and murky water and rude Chinese people! Yay...Wuxi!

What a start to the New Year!

January 1st 2009, bought with it a beautiful day and two very slow moving Laowais!

However after a big breakfast nothing could stop us as we ventured up to Yulong Snow Mountain! The mountain has a massive long cable car and we are allowed to go up to 4506m above sea level...feeling very heady anyway we bought some oxygen and were glad we did! Lijiang is 2500m above sea level.

As the cable car got further and further up the mountain the visibility was nil! There was very bad weather up the mountain but armed with my camera I was determined to take pictures of snow on New Years Day!! It was extremely cold up there and after frolicking with all of the other Chinese tourists in the snow we emerged to suck in some oxygen and trying to defrost my frozen hair! - HILARIOUS!

The views coming down were amazing as we emerged from the oncoming snow storm, you could see for miles and it felt a lot like clean, fresh aired countries.....we were feeling good (well after some greasy food...much better!)

In Yangzhou in July, with Mum and Dad, we went to see Impressions, a show on water by a famous Chinese director. Lijiang had it's own show by the same director, with a background of snow mountain and it was sensational! It had all of the minority cultures and told stories about the caravans of warriors that used to go through the mountains and lovers who would jump off so they could be together forever. The music was amazing and with the back drop of the snow mountains, it was so lovely to watch! I love listening to stories and legends about different cultures so I was in my element. Afterwards you were able to write down your wish and walk up the old weathered stone stairs to the burning cauldron and have it granted by the Dragon of the mountain, we were even taught how to pray Naxi style.....it was very humbling!

We spent the rest of the day relaxing, reading books and enjoying the Gluehwein (Mulled Wine) that David had bought all the way from Germany! He even heated it in the wok and it was delicious!

Seeing out the Old Year Naxi Style!

Finally, instead of doing reports and planning and evaluating I have decided at the many requests of others to procrastinate and get up my photos and holiday details from Lijiang.....AKA Heaven in China!

We arrived in Lijiang to the smell of urine wafting freely and strongly from the toilets in the airport and I was praying that this would not set the bar for our Lijiang experiences. After collecting out luggage from the world's smallest luggage belt we met Alex our English speaking guide and the managers husband (our driver) and started the 1 and a half hour journey to Lashi Lake.

We arrived at the 'Villa' and I got the suprise of my life...it was a 100 year old, traditional Chinese house, situated miles from other tourists and in a tiny minority Naxi town! I was so excited, I have always wanted to do traditional China! Even the lack of heating and a cold shower the first night would not put me off...not to mention I COULD SEE ALL THE STARS!!!!!! No smog in sight! The manager and her family were there huddled around a coal bucket waiting for us with food galore and stories to tell - they even remembered my friends who had recommended the place to me!

After spending a night clinging to our electric blankets (the only heating) we awoke to an amazing view over Lashi Lake and a traditional breakfast cooked by the managers parents in an old open kitchen......the food was phenominal......real Chinese cooking! We even got to try Yak Butter Tea (very rich, not quite my cup of tea!)

After the HUGE breakfast, we ventured off around the lake and through farm land - my skirt and boots wern't really up for the task, especially when I had to jump numerous ditches, holding the camera! It was so peaceful and the views were astonishing.

We decided to get a little bit adventurous and take a boat ride and go horse riding with the locals. The boat ride was a huge dissapointment, however it started to snow (with clear skies) so that made it worth our while! The horse riding we thought would just be along the road and then back, however 2 hours and many muffled screams later (I am not afraid to admit I was scared!), we emerged from the hills and forests - relieved to have survived the muddy, narrow and steep paths that we went on! What an adventure! After all my fuss, they gave us an amazing lunch from an old bubbling pot of tofu, potatoes and greens....YUM!

We finally made it to the old town and froze our butts off as our guide lead us around....secretly we had a plan to try and stay there for dinner as it was New Years Eve, so we put up with it. The old town was very well preserved and I was so amazed to see clear, clean water....the Naxi people obviously know how to respect the environment! Black Mooon Pool was another tourist destination but I would not rate it, however there was a part of the lake which your could make heaps of noise and more bubbles would rise to the surface...a good activity for the everyday Chinese...and they were having a blast!

Lonely Planet redeemed itself from their Chengdu recommendations by recommeneding Sakura in Lijiang Old town, a favourite of our giudes too! We had a lovely dinner (NZ lamb chops...oh so good) and toasted the New Zealand New Year with Margaritas and beer. When we broke out the dancing our guide even lost track of time joined in and we were allowed to stay out until 11pm (SCORE!!haha) We even taught him the Macarena which was hilarious......he was trying to do all the moves the rest of the time we were there!

The locals are all into dancing and singing so I had a great time involved in some dance off's with the most amazing movers, expecially an older gentlemen who could move like anything! We arrived back at the guest house, popped some Champagne and bought in the China New Year looking over the lake and huddling around our warm coal bucket!