[This is my Trail] Last Minute Travels
Rachelle
Well, it’s been a while since I left China, but things have been crazy and pictures have been hard to keep track of in the midst of trans-continental moves, so now I'm trying to get all caught up. During my last few months, I quickly planned trips to some places that I'd wanted to visit for a while, but hadn't gotten to yet.
In May, I went to Jinghong, in the south part of Yunnan, to visit friends (including my "roommate") and see a new corner of the province. I had some days off of work for the Dragonboat festival, and added some extra days to have a full trip. Jinghong, also called Xishuangbanna, is 
well-known as a Dai area (a Chinese minority) that is quite similar in culture to parts of Northern Thailand/SE Asia. China doesn’t border Thailand, of course, but Jinghong is near the Lao and Burmese borders. In fact, we ate some delicious Burmese food one night we were there. Unfortunately, it rained and ruined our plans for a boat ride on the Mekong, but I had gotten a full day of swimming in the day before. We also just hung out in coffee shops with friends (many of them!) and ate good food, including a Thai birthday dinner for Megan (complete with a Trader Joe's cake!). On the last day there, we met up with some new friends and had a fun time visiting an Aka (another minority group) village in the 
countryside together. We ate some delicious home cooked food and tried on some Aka clothes. We also met some nice older women who were embroidering on the porch. They were very friendly and made us popcorn and tea. Chinese people are quite hospitable! I ended up sliding down the mountain on my bum, but I still maintain that it was the most efficient way to reach the bottom.
In June, I traveled to Guilin and Yangshuo in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Prefecture (where I lived the first time I went to China in 2002—although I never made it up to Guilin or Yangshuo). There I met up with a couple
of friends, Jared and Stephanie, who used to teach with
me in Kunming. I was a little skeptical about Yangshuo because it is so well-known and touristy, but it really was pretty amazing and I would recommend it to anyone
traveling around China. The scenery is really breathtaking and quite unique. We had a great time on a bike ride
around the area and also took a boat ride and explored another small town. There were plenty of cafes and restaurants to check out and relax in (including a McDonalds in the middle of town--good for cheap ice cream!). It’s kind of similar to Dali, for you Yunnan-ese people, but with better scenery. There’s also Communist Santa (see picture). What China tour could be complete 
without that??
I took the overnight train back from Guilin to Kunming. It’s never as much fun by yourself, but the train was not crowded and you sleep through most of it. Nothing compares to the train from Kunming to Beijing. I won’t consider anyone a true China adventurer until they have tried that. I conquered it for the second time in July. This one was much better than the first, though, because although I was again stuck next to the loudspeaker, I had a friend in the very quiet and comfortable soft sleeper. High class! It also only took about 40 hours, compared to 48 hours last time.
More Xishuanbanna Pics
More Yangshuo Pics
More "Goodbye" Pics - I had many goodbye dinners and such, but I'm not going to post all the pictures on here....take a look for yourself. There were several dinners at my favorite place, Feiyang Teppanyaki. Yum!! I miss that sticky rice stuffed lotus root like crazy!
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Posted By Rachelle to This is my Trail at 8/21/2009 11:59:00 AM