Back in Seattle

We're back in cold and snowy Seattle. After we we settle in, we'll go through our 4000+ photos and post a more complete travelogue.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Speed-touring Beijing and the Great Wall

We arrived in Beijing after a 3-hour flight from Kunming, and checked into the Park Plaza Wangfujing, the most upscale hotel of our trip. Looking out our hotel window, we saw something we hadn't seen since we'd left Seattle, a Starbucks.

From the hotel, we took the subway to the the Palace Museum, aka the Forbidden City. It was chilly, and the Forbidden City was relatively empty. I'd forgotten how huge it is - it's about 1 km from north to south. We only had about an hour until it closed, so we had to tour it very quickly.

The next morning, we chartered a taxi from our hotel to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, about two hours from the city, and back to the airport for a flight to Seattle. The Great Wall was very cold (but there were plenty of vendors to sell us warm hats) and there were very few tourists. The wall was as impressive as the first time I'd seen it.

Driven to desparation in Kunming

After an early morning flight from Vientiane, Laos, to Kunming, China, we spent the day exploring the city of Kunming on our own. At the beginning of the trip we were with a guide. On our own, the city was a whole different place - lots to explore, but lots of language barriers.

We set out on foot from our hotel on the southeast side of the city, walked through downtown and what's left of the Muslim Quarter, where we bought some kebabs and fresh pita from a street vendor. The kebabs were insanely spicy. I could just tolerate the heat, but Dale just had some pita for lunch.

We wandered through the Bird and Flower Market (and the back-street puppy sellers), and ended up at Green Lake on the northwest side of town. In the winter, Green Lake is the southern home of thousands and thousands of Siberian Gulls. Lots of locals go to the park to feed them. They're small, beautiful birds, quite different from our big seagulls.

At sunset, the birds all disappeared, as did the people. We were about 4 miles from the hotel and very hungry. We wandered a bit more looking for a restaurant, but everything we saw was either dress-code upscale or would require some Mandarin language skills which we lacked. We decided to catch a taxi back to our hotel area.

We showed the taxi driver the card from our hotel and he squinted at it for a while. This was the second time this had happened. Earlier at the airport, the taxi driver also seemed confused about the hotel's location and had to ask others. It was odd; the hotel was on one of the 8 major roads in town, and the address was written clearly in English. It was also written in Chinese characters which we couldn't read.

The driver nodded that he knew where to take us, and off we went. It should have been a 5-10 minute ride. Soon it became clear that the driver did not know where the hotel was. We headed west, then turned around and headed east, then south past the hotel by at least a mile, then north again. We crossed the street that our hotel was on at least twice, and try to gesture that he should turn there. He stopped a few times and used a mapping app on his phone. He tried to drop us off at a middle school on a back street. Eventually he made a phone call, perhaps to the number listed on the hotel's card. We drove some more in what seemed like a big circle, he pulled the taxi to the curb, and pointed at a building a block a way which was not our hotel.

But fortunately, we knew we were only a block or two from our hotel at this point. We hopped out, paid him the $5 fare so as not to delay our dinner any further, and walked back to our hotel. The taxi ride had taken 45-50 minutes.

By now, businesses in our hotel area were starting to close for the night. We wandered around, looking for a restaurant where we could either point at the food or a picture of the food, or with some English on the menu, or with someone who seemed willing to help us. No luck. Finally, we rounded the corner and spotted a familiar sight: the golden arches.

Yes, we had dinner at McDonald's.

The person at the counter pulled out a picture menu, and we pointed at a double cheeseburger and fries. The burgers were just what you'd expect at any McDonald's. The fries were horrid, cold, and flavorless.

We went back to our hotel with full stomachs and a good story to tell, even if it wasn't the wonderful local cuisine we'd hoped for.

Happy 450th, Vientiane; or, Monks With Rifles

After a 35 minute flight, we arrived in the Laotian capital city of Vientiane, on the border with Thailand. For a city of 300,000 it seemed surprisingly mellow.

This evening we took a Tuk Tuk (a 3 wheeled motorcycle taxi) to Pha That Luang, the iconic temple which graces the seal of Laos. The city is celebrating two things at once: the annual That Luang festival, which marks the end of Buddhist "lent"; and Vientiane's 450th anniversary. The celebrations near the temple are going on 24 hours a day.

We knew it would be busy, but nothing could have prepared us for the chaotic intensity. Everyone in the city was at the festival. We couldn't even get close to it in the Tuk Tuk because the traffic was so bad, so we got out and walked. As we waded through a sea of hundreds of thousands of people no taller than our shoulders, we were assaulted by throbbing bass beats, blaring sales pitches, and glossy advertisements. It seemed to go on forever. Deeper into the festival, we found quieter areas where monks were playing carnival games. In the midst of it all, there was the gleaming temple, and architectural masterpiece.

For the first time since China, we were the only Westerners in sight. Several groups of people wanted to get their photos taken with the American giants.

Elephant bathing was not what I'd thought

Today we visited a lodge where elephants retired from the abusive work of the teak logging industry now earn their keep a much easier way, giving rides through the jungle to tourists. Dale and I shared a 50 year old elephant. The bucking, swaying ride on the saddle was giving Dale flashbacks to a childhood incident where he cartwheeled over - and then under - a horse. At the end of the ride, the attendant asked if we wanted to watch an elephant bathing, and offered one of us the chance to participate. I ended up with the job. I was picturing a hose and a scrub brush, Instead, the elephant walked down to the river, waded up to its eyes, and then proceeded to wash itself with river water it sucked into its trunk. I got drenched! I was laughing so hard I nearly coughed up a lung.

Temples and rituals

Luang Prabang is an amazing little town. There are countless magnificent Buddhist temples, some of them 500 years old. Every morning, a few hundred monks walk through the streets to collect alms - balls of sticky rice and a few other edible offerings.

Cruising the Mekong at sunset

We took a 3-hour evening dinner cruise on the Mekong River. After the sun set, we pulled ashore to watch some traditional Lao dancing.

Bicycling around Luang Prabang

Earlier this week, Dale and I rented bicycles and explored some of the area surrounding Luang Prabang.

First impressions of Luang Prabang

After a 55-minute flight from Hanoi, we arrived in Luang Prabang this morning. Our guest house overlooks the shallow Nam Khan river, where fishermen cast their nets from pole boats, young boys float in inner tubes, and Buddhist monks in saffron robes cross a bamboo foot bridge. After the chaos of Hanoi, Luang Prabang is idyllic. The architecture is picturesque, and food so far is excellent.

And then the set began to burn

On the night before we left Hanoi, we went to the famous water puppet theater. The puppetry and musical accompaniment were interesting, but the part we'll remember best is when a flaming hoop got too close to the fringes on the backdrop, and they caught on fire. Someone came running from back stage, through the thigh-deep water, and began splashing water on the backdrop until the fire was out. The performance continued. There were a couple other goofs that had Dale laughing so hard he had to cover his mouth. It would've been fun to witness the backstage antics during the performance.

Halong Bay

On Sunday we took a 3-hour shuttle from Hanoi to Halong Bay, where we began an overnight cruise of this famous Unesco World Heritage Site. We took a short excursion into a cave on one of the islands and kayaked past soaring rock formations and floating villages. When we got back to the boat at sunset, we jumped from the top deck into the warm bay below. This morning we took a leisurely cruise back though more stunning rock formations and the drive back to Hanoi. We have tickets to the Water Puppet Theatre tonight (a 1000 year old tradition), and we leave tomorrow morning for Laos.

Tam Coc

We took a 2-hour bus tour to Tam Coc today. It was one of the highlights of the trip. After touring an old temple in the previous capitol of Vietnam (back around 1000 AD) we rode bicycles amid a spectacular landscape of karst mountains, on narrow lanes through small towns, past flocks of egrets flying low over rice fields, to a town where we boarded small row boats paddled by locals. For the next two hours we glided on a river through the same landscape, passing through three caves along the way.

Hanoi

Now that we finally have a great internet connection, we're just way too busy to (want to) post pictures. Hanoi is a wonderful, intense city. We've spent much of our time wandering around the bustling colorful Old Quarter and vibrant but tranquil Hoan Kiem Lake, watching people and eating great food. Our best meal so far was green papaya and dried beef salad, shrimp wrapped in shredded potatoes, duck cooked with dried fruit, and a sizzling seafood platter. Total cost with four drinks: about $20.

Sapa

From the China-Vietnam border we took a taxi to the hill town of Sspa. It's a huge change from what we saw in China. Lots of women from the Black Hmong, Red Hmong and Red Dhao ethnic minority groups followed us (and the many other western tourists) constantly, offering to sell us their hand-embroidered crafts.

We've had absolutely perfect weather here, which is rare in November. This is the only part of Vietnam where it snows, but instead we have temps in the mid-70's and cloudless skies. We have a perfect view of 10,000+ foot Mount Fanxipan, the highest peak in southeast Asia, across the valley from us. Today we hiked downhill to nearby Cat Cat Village and took a taxi back. In a few moments we board the overnight sleeper train to Hanoi.

At the China-Vietnam border

After a five-hour drive from Yuanyang, we are in the Hekou, a coarse and practical town at the junction of two rivers on the Vietnamese border. Nearly all of the traffic across the border bridge is on foot or bicycle. It's been interesting to watch people haul ridiculously huge loads on modified bikes.

Tomorrow we're in Sapa, Vietnam, where we should have complete (but slow) access to the entire web.

Yuanyang rice terraces

Today we visited the rice terraces which surround Yuanyang. The local Hani people have been cultivating rice this way for over 1300 years. The largest terrace has over 3700 levels and stretches for something like 6000 vertical feet. The rice harvest is done, and many of the paddies have been flooded in preparation for the next planting. This photo shows just a tiny portion of the mind-bogglingly enormous landscape.

Yuanyang old town

After an amazing week in Yunnan province, we are in the village of Yuanyang, situated near the top of a mountain in southern Yunnan. It's the weekend, and local farmers from the Hani ethnic minority have come to the local market. The women dress in intricately embroidered clothing.

Behind the not so great wall of China

In addition to Facebook, China appears to be blocking access to Blogspot. I'm going to try to post a few pictures by email. Hope it works! I won't be able to see the results until we are in Vietnam in 2 days.

Itinerary

Our route. Red = plane. Green = car. Blue = train.

It's going to be a busy - but hopefully not too busy - three weeks.

Tomorrow we fly from Seattle to Beijing non-stop, followed by a flight to Kunming, the capital of China's Yunnan province. In Kunming we begin a week-long tour of Yunnan, taking in spectacular landscapes and minority villages. At the end of the week we'll walk across the border to Vietnam, visit Sapa, a former French hill station, and take an overnight train to Hanoi. We'll spend the rest of the week touring Hanoi and cruising Halong Bay. For the final week we'll fly to Luang Prabang, Laos, a world heritage site on the bank of the Mekong River. We'll end the week in the capital city of Vientiane, which will be celebrating the That Luang Festival and the city's 450th anniversary during our very brief stay. From there it's back to Kunming, and on to Beijing for a quick tour of the must-see sights before we return to Seattle just in time for Thanksgiving.