Yunnan: first two days (of 14)

Ok so I’ll try and make this worth your while since I haven’t posted in so long. Honestly though, the two week excursion we went on to the Yunnan Province (in which we didn’t have internet) was a little overwhelming to even think about writing about since it was two of the best weeks I have lived in my short life.

I’ll start you off from the beginning. We left Beijing at 5:30 in the morning on Jan. 19. We took a three-hour flight to Kunming, which is the capital of the Yunnan Province. When we got there we got on our first tour bus and met our first guide, Kenny, a wannabe pop star with a really good voice for singing Mariah Carey and Backstreet Boys (the Chinese live for karaoke, also known in China as KTV).

We got to our first hotel and unpacked and got lunch. Thank goodness for the returners ( the kids that have already been at TBC for a semester) because without them I am not sure I would have ate for two weeks.
After lunch we had our first mandatory lecture because after all this was an academic excursion. Professor Yang Fuquan talked to us about all the different ethnic minorities in Yunnan. In China, the majority of the population is Han, but then there are 56 other minorities in the country, 23 of which live in the Yunnan Province.

Afterwards Sam, Paris, Erin, Cait and I walked around town being touristy (as if being white isn’t touristy enough) and taking pictures. That was the first time I realized that China is not like the U.S. It is common in Southern China for restaurants to hang their slabs of meat in the from the rafters at the front of the store to dry, not to mention they gut their fish on the sides of the street as well as hang the ducks (already skinned) they are going to roast for the night.

At night we went to the Dynamic Yunnan show, a large scale song and dance performance featuring the dance traditions of different ethnic minority groups. Unfortunately, a lot of us were really tired but this time and well I fell asleep. I tried to stay awake, but really all I really remember is Chinese singing, which is in a very high pitch, and colors swirling.

The next day we got on the bus and we stopped in Tonghai for lunch, a random village that was very authentic, but very hard for us to choose which lovely (and I use this term loosely) restaurant to eat in. Wild China (our tour guides) dropped us in many of these random villages for lunch and because of it this is when we all began to resent the company.

From there we went to Mushan Village where the majority of the Yi people (minority group) lived. It was here where we had our first home stay. --I’ll try to post pictures of the village.—When we got off the bus the Yi women were dressed and waiting in their original ethnic dresses with the dragon in the air and a shot of bijou for each of us, the equivalent of taking a shot of rubbing alcohol. Anyways, Paris and I were roommates for the night in one of the houses. The village was like something out of a story that you read about, but never think you will actually witness. Paris and I were talking and it reminded us of what we would have imagined colonial America to have looked like at one time. It was a beautiful village on the side of a hill. They raised all their own food something that I actually found somewhat baffling, even though I know many people actually do. Most of us went on a hike and, get ready because I will be using this phrase a lot, but pictures don’t even do justice.
When we got back to the village we played jiantsa and basketball with the little boys and the women prepared dinner for us. Surprisingly, we didn’t see many little girls, but later found out that they aren’t allowed to play outside during the day. At dinner, the women sang what can only be referred to as a bijou song and then went to all the tables and had us take another shot. At least this killed anything that our stomachs may not have agreed with food wise.

After dinner, the women put on a performance for us for two hours where they showcased their ethnic dances, including the dragon dance. In return though we had to give them a little performance in which Jerome sang TLC Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls (that was put in their for the Eloners).

We then had a huge bonfire where all of us danced around before departing back to our own huts. Luckily our host saw us walking and showed us back to our house (the town was very confusing with narrow passages). As we got further and further away from the glow of the bonfire and Paris and I looked up to see the most beautiful stars I have ever seen in my life (until the next two villages we stayed at). No wonder people made constellations back in the day, you could actually pick them out instead of just guessing like at home.

When we got back to our guestroom, which was attached to the house we washed up (bathroom without a toilet, yeahhh try that) and got ready for bed (big piece of plywood). Paris and I tried to fall asleep quickly in order to not think too much about where we were sleeping. Unfortunately I woke up several times during the night with chickens hopping on and off of our guestroom roof and then of course at the crack of down the roosters started.

Lucky for us after each village stay we could always look forward to a long bus ride to catch up on some sleep. Anyways I’ll leave the next section for later. Hope this satisfies some of your appetite until tomorrow.