Yunnan

Leaving Hong Kong was not as stress free as hoped. With important last minute things to do (back-ups!) I didn’t get around to meeting or even contacting people, and Facebook is not quite as accessible in the mainland as in Hong Kong. But for all of you who didn’t get the message yet: I arrived safely and the people are very nice here.

So where exactly is ‘here’ you might ask. Well, that’s Shangri-la. It’s a city in the north of Yunnan and many Tibetan people live here. Via a few days in Dali, few hours in Dali, the necessary hours in Lijiang and a night in the Tiger Leaping Gorge, I arrived here yesterday. While the other days had been spend with many locals and figuring out a way to communicate, it’s hard to miss the Western tourists in the old town of Shangri-la. The most shocking part of the day was the Canadian older couple warning me for the hostels crowded with Asians and recommending their own spacious and luxurious one instead. With some effort I managed to find a back alley hostel with no other Westerners. It was a good evening, surrounding a sort of stove with different sorts of Chinese people and a Japanese guy.

Two moments have made me feel a bit home-sick by now. The first was the moment I couldn’t postpone leaving my home in Yau Ma Yei anymore and had to face the reality – all the things I still wanted to do would have to wait till a next occasion. The other moment was earlier today after talking to two Buddhist Tibetans. It was so very interesting how they thought about China, religions in general and about pure happiness. In a strange way, understanding what they meant made me feel at home and home-sick at the same time. It’s as if I’m growing away from the Karin I was when I left the Netherlands, and today that was a bit scary. I’m not complaining though, because it was nice to have a good reason to eat some of my stroopwafels (given to me as comfort food).

Most of the days are more carefree. I wake up, wander around a city and end up meeting nice locals. With or without my magical papers with Chinese, English and pinyin we talk a bit and have fun together. These spontaneous encounters are the best. It makes me very happy I’m traveling on my own and it’s so easy to meet new interesting people.
One of the girls I met in Kunming even wanted to join me in my travels, and some others took me for dinner and dancing on a square. It felt amazing. And just like that, I met some people during lunch today and they invited me to join them for dancing and perhaps a drink later today. I’ll post this message now and try to add some pictures later.

What the plans are for the oncoming days are not even clear to myself, but you’ll hear where I’ve been in my next story. Be sure to check back for pictures, they’re worth it.




Ps. Some pictures are now uploaded. Will arrange them in chronological order and upload more later.