Steve's sandbox

Tag: Yunnan

  • Trekking the Tiger Leaping Gorge: Oliver Sale, China – December 2018

    ***虎跳峡***

     

    云南的虎跳峡是世界上最深的峡谷之一，再说可能是中国的最有名的峡谷。虎跳峡在丽江和香格里拉的中间，离昆明六七小时。不久前，我在云南旅行的时候，我和一个朋友一起去虎跳峡参观。

     

    晚上七点左右我们到了虎跳峡附近的农村。我们找了一家酒店，然后立刻吃晚饭。因为我们要早起床，所以吃饭以后我们去睡觉了。

    Tiger Leaping Gorge

    第二天，我们六点起床，然后开始在虎跳峡徒步。天气很好，阳光灿烂，就是有点儿冷。我们在河流边徒步，在左边有玉龙雪山，个子是五千六百米左右，在右边有哈巴雪山，个子是五千四百米左右，还有河流在两座山的中间。在峡谷里风景很精彩；蓝蓝的天，白白的云，绿绿的草，黄黄的树叶！两座山很雄伟，在山峰上有雪，非常漂亮。我们照了那么多相片！峡谷里有一些农村和很多的小旅社。在一家小饭馆我们吃午饭，一边吃饭一边跟老板聊天儿。我们品尝地方风味比如说牦牛肉和西藏的饺子，都好吃极了，然后我们继续徒步。

    到了最后的旅社以后，我们特别累。我们走了一共三十一公里，但是真是一天精彩！

    The view from Tiger Leaping Stone

    ***Tiger Leaping Gorge***

    The Tiger Leaping Gorge in Yunnan is one of the deepest gorges in the world, and perhaps the most famous in China. It is situated between the towns of Lijiang and Shangri-La, about six or seven hours from Kunming. Not long ago, when I was travelling in Yunnan, a friend and I went to see it.

    At about 7 o’clock in the evening, we arrived at the village near the gorge. We found a hotel then ate straight away. After dinner we went to sleep as we had to get up early.

    The next day, we got up at 6 o’clock in the morning and started the hike along the gorge. The weather was good and the sun was bright, although it was a little cold. We walked alongside the river, with the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain on the right hand side, at 5600 metres tall, and the Haba Snow Mountain on the left hand side, at 5400 metres tall, with the river in between. The scenery in the gorge was splendid; the sky was blue, the clouds were white, the grass was green and the leaves were yellow! The two mountains were huge, their peaks covered in snow which was very pretty. We took so many photos! Inside the gorge there were a few villages and lots of small guesthouses. We had lunch in a small restaurant, and chatted to the boss as we ate. We tried local delicacies such as Yak meat and Tibetan dumplings, both of which were extremely delicious, before we continued walking.

    The view out of Tiger Leaping Gorge

    When we arrived at the final guesthouse, we were very tired. We had walked 31 kilometres in total, but it had been a splendid day!

     

  • Golden Week in Yunnan: Oliver Sale, China – November 2018

    Dali Old Town

    ***黄金周***

    2018年10月1号是中国的国庆节，又名“十一”。为了欢度国庆节, 一个星期从一号到七号是国定假日，又名“黄金周”。我没有课，所以我跟一个同学去了云南省旅行。 还有是一个好机会练习汉语!

    我们坐了高铁从北京西站到昆明南站，十个小时。这个高铁线路是世界上的最长，二千七百公里！昆明是云南省的首都，是一个大城市，人口是七白万左右。我们在那里两天了。我们去了绿公园，云南大学，还有一些美术馆和博物馆参观。我们也发现了云南菜好吃极了！我们品尝地方风味比如：过桥米线（米线汤），煎乳饼，还很多羊肉。

    然后我们坐了公共汽车从昆明到大理，四个半小时. 大理比昆明小和漂亮多了！大理在一个大湖边的.第一天我们坐了出租车去湖边再游泳。大理也有一个好看的古城。第二天我们骑着了自行车到处转。我们发现了很多好吃的饭店和好玩的酒吧，虽然也有很多游人！大理的周围也有一些山。第三天我们爬最高的山了。从山上的风景很好看！我们可以看全大理和胡。

    Trying “going over the bridge noodles”

    ***Golden Week***

    The 1stOctober 2018 was theChinese National Day holiday, also known as “10/1”. In celebration, there was a week’s holiday from the 1stto the 7th, also known as “Golden Week”. I didn’t have class for the week, so I went travelling with a classmate in Yunnan Province. It was also a good opportunity to practise my Chinese!

    We took the high-speed train from Beijing West to Kunming South, taking 10 hours. At 2700km, it is the longest high-speed railway line in the world! Kunming is the capital city of Yunnan Province, a large city with about 7 million people. We spent 2 days there. We visited the Green park, the University of Yunnan and a few art galleries and museums. We found that Yunnanese food was extremely delicious! We tried local delicacies such as: “going-over the bridge noodles” (rice noodles in soup), pan-fried goat’s cheese and lots of lamb.

    Kunming Green Park

    We then took the bus from Kunming to Dali, which took 4 and a half hours. Dali is much smaller and prettier than Kunming. It sits on the edge of big lake. On the first day we took a taxi to the lakeside and went swimming. Dali also has an old town, so on the second day we rode bicycles around. There were lots of delicious restaurants and fun bars, although there were also lots of tourists! Surrounding Dali there are also several mountains. On the third day we climbed the highest one. The view from the top of the mountain was beautiful. We could see the whole of Dali and the lake.

    Dali Old Town

     

     

     

     

  • Travelling in Southern China: Alexander Johnstone – China, February 2018

    在中国南方旅游

    为了趁着两个月的寒假，并且逃避北京寒冷的冬天，我决定了跟两个同学一起在中国的南方去路行。我们第一站是云南的省会，即昆明。我们一倒昆明的市中心转一转很快就看得出来云南与北京是截然不同的。比如说，云南的生活节奏比北京更慢。我们在云南之行的头两天都在昆明的公园享受着那里的轻松气氛。在北京，过冬时大家都要注意到怎么保暖，可是昆明以”春城”著称，这是因为在昆明任何季节都有很舒服的天气！在昆明呆了两天之后，我们坐了夜车去丽江，到了丽江立即转到去往虎跳峡的公车。我们安排了做两天一晚的步行，但是在虎跳峡步行的难度真的出乎了我们的意料！然而，那边的风景真了不起，天黑了之后欣赏了夜空繁星点点让我感到我们步行之路值得做。我们在云南的最后一站是大理，大理毫无疑问是我在中国去的地方当中最喜欢的地方。大理的魅力是难以言表的，可是我认为大理的特点是那边的自然美，并且我们在哪里认识的当地人都非常体贴。
    我们在中国南方去看的第二个省是四川。我们在成都的时候去了看中国的国宝，那就是熊猫。虽然几乎所有的游客都对熊猫很着迷，可是我个人认为这只动物有点没意思因为他们很懒惰! 我们在四川的最后一站是重庆。我去重庆以前在我的想象中这座城市没有特色，但是其实重庆是个非常繁华的城市。我在重庆的时候我心中想着，很多在中国的第一流城市普通的西方人可能不会认识，就会以为这座城市没有什么特别的。但是，在中国各个城市有各个特点，这样就反应中国是个非常多元化的国家。
    我在中国南方之行圆满结束，我坐火车回北京时感到很幸运有这个千载难逢的机会来体验中国不同的地方和实践我在大学得到的语言知识。

     

    ENGLISH:

    Travelling in Southern China

    To make the most of the two months of winter holiday I had, as well to escape the bitter winter cold of Beijing, I decided to go travelling with two of my classmates to Southern China. Our first stop was the provincial capital of Yunnan, Kunming. As soon as we arrived at the centre of Kunming and went for a walk around we quickly realised that Yunnan and Beijing are completely different. For example, the pace of life in Yunnan is much slower than that of Beijing. We spent our first two days in Yunnan enjoying the relaxing atmosphere of the parks in Kunming. In Beijing, during winter time everyone must pass attention to how to keep warm, but Kunming is known as the ‘City of Spring’. This is because the weather is always comfortable in Kunming, regardless of the season! After spending two days in Kunming, we took a night train to Lijiang. From there, we immediately transferred to a bus going towards Tiger Leaping Gorge. We had arranged to do a two-day, one-night trek, but the difficulty of the trek really exceeded our expectations! However, the scenery there was stunning. Once the sky got dark and we could enjoy the night sky full of stars, I felt that the trek we had taken was worth it. Our last stop in Yunnan was Dali. Without any doubt, amongst all places I have visited in China, Dali is my favourite. Dali’s charm is hard to describe in words, but I think the distinctive features of Dali is its natural beauty. Moreover, all the locals we met there were extremely friendly.
    The second province we visited in Southern China was Sichuan. When we were in Chengdu we went to see China’s national treasure, the panda. Although almost all tourists were fascinated by the tourists, I personally thought they were a bit boring because they are super lazy! Our last stop in Sichuan was Chongqing. Before visiting Chongqing, in my imagination this was a city without any personality. But in fact, Chongqing is an extremely vibrant city. When I was in Chongqing I thought to myself, there are so many first-tier Chinese cities that the average Westerner wouldn’t even recognise and would think that have nothing special about them. However, in China each city has its own distinctive feature, showing how China is an extremely diverse country.

    My trip to Southern China finally came to an end and whilst on the train back to Beijing I felt extremely lucky to have this fantastic opportunity to experience different places in China and put into practise the knowledge I had acquired at university.

  • Travelling in Yunnan: Charlotte McGarry, China – March 2017

    在云南旅游

    中国大学的学期跟在欧美的安排得不一样。在我国学年被分成到两个学期,一月底的时候有最主要的长假期。在北大，我们的假期长达六个星期！我要趁着这个机会离开北京去看看中国的南方云南省。

    云南是中国一些最精彩最美丽的地方比如桂林的喀斯特地貌类型 ,龙脊和元阳的梯田，大理和丽江的古城和常常俗称 ’中国的泰国’ 西双版纳。说到在中国旅游，不少人就会想起来云南风景如画的环境。

    我跟两个同学参观了所有的上述的地方。中国地理的多元化对我产生了深刻印象：山，水，热带雨林中国都有！提到’山’，我们爬过很多！我最喜欢的是兴坪的老寨山。山很陡，攀爬很费力，但山顶上一望无际的风景真是独一无二的。

    幸亏在中国去旅游不贵，尤其饭费和房费。跟欧美比起来中国旅费也相当便宜但是因为我们上了好多火车公共汽车甚至飞机，旅费是花销的大头儿。

    总而言之我们在云南的旅程真是个很宝贵的经验， 但是我要坦白地说：返校的时候到了的那时，我并不难过。这么长时间去旅行很精彩但也会让人精疲力竭!

    ENGLISH:

    In China, the school and university terms are organized differently to in the West. Here, the year are split into two long terms, with the major holiday falling around the end of January. At Beida, the holiday is six weeks long! I wanted to make the most of this opportunity to get out of Beijing and go to Yunnan in the south of China

    Yunnan is home to some of China’s most wonderful and famous places, including the Karst topography of Guilin, the rice terraces of Longji and Yuanyang, the Old Cities of Dali and Lijiang and Xishuangbanna, often referred to as ‘China’s Thailand”. When you talk about traveling in CHina, many people will think of the picturesque Yunnan scenery.

    Along with two classmates， I visited all the places mentioned above. I was really impressed by the diversity of China’s geography – mountains, rivers, tropical rainforests – it’s got it all!

    Speaking of mountains – we climbed a lot of them! My favorite was Laozhai Mountain in Xingping. The slope was steep and the climb was hard, but the views from the top were second to none.

    Fortunately, traveling in China is cheap, particularly the cost of accommodation and food. Compared with the west, transport is relatively cheap too but because we had to take so many different busses, trains and planes, transport cost made up the brunt of our expenses.

    Overall, our journey though Yunnan was a really incredible experience. That said, when the time came to return to school, I was not too sad – being on the road for that long is wonderful, but so tiring!

  • Travelling in Yunnan: Gavin Vine, China – February 2017

    Every time I ask my Chinese friends where I should go travelling in China, they all mention the same place – Yunnan.

    每次我问我的中国朋友我应该去哪儿旅游，他们都说去云南。既然我们因为春节放了几个星期的假，我就决定利用这个千载难逢的机会去看这个很特别的省。我在云南的第一站是昆明，云南的省会。有一句话说昆明是一个‘春城’因为不管是什么时候，温度一直很暖和。 在昆明过了一天后，我们就去大理和丽江，看那边举世闻名的风景，比如丽江的玉龙雪山。这边的美丽和神清气爽比较北京的雾霾让我感到耳目一新。从这儿我们往南边走，去西双版纳，‘中国的泰国’。 丽江的大山给热带雨林让路，天气变得很湿润和棕榈树就到处可见。西双版纳和我认知里的中国有着天然之别 。可是，我们这次旅游的最精彩部分肯定是元阳梯田，我们一看到这些一望无际的梯田就知道做三次汽车来这个地方很值得。

    The magnificent Yuanyang rice terraces

    Every time I ask my Chinese friends where I should go travelling in China, they all mention the same place – Yunnan.

    Since we had a few weeks off class for Chinese New Year, I decided to make the most of the opportunity and go and see for myself this supposedly very special province. My first stop in Yunnan was the provincial capital, Kunming. There is a saying in Chinese that Kunming is the ‘spring city’ because no matter what time of year it is, the temperature is always warm. After spending one day in Kunming we went to Dali and Lijiang to see the world famous scenery, including Lijiang’s Jade Dragon Mountain. The beauty and fresh air of Lijiang compared to Beijing’s smog made for a refreshing change.

    From here we headed south to Xishuangbanna, or ‘China’s Thailand’. The mountains of Lijiang made way for tropical rainforests, the weather became more humid and palm trees could be seen everywhere. This really was a completely different China to the one that I was used to. However, the real highlight of our trip was yet to come. From Xishuangbanna we took a 9 hour bus east towards the Yuanyang rice terraces. As soon as we saw the multicolored terraces, which amazingly stretched out as far as the eye could see, we knew that the three long bus journeys required to get there had been worth it.

    I can honestly say they were amongst the most breathtaking things I have ever seen, made even more incredible by the fact they were a man made creation.

  • Yunnan, province in China – Nadia, February 2015

    Yuanyang – sunrise over the rice terraces

     

    Although I have not been to every province in China, I honestly think Yunnan is one of the best provinces to visit in China. I started my journeyby flying into Kunming from Xiamen and then took a 7 hour sleeper bus to Yuanyang to see sunrise over the rice terraces. The sunrise was very beautiful (photo below). I wish I would’ve been able to see sunset, but due to bus timings this wasn’t possible