| Peter the tourist |
Added Feb 6, 2004 |
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I finally got out to see
some things just for the sake of seeing them. Rachel took me to Songyuen,
the village Wang grew up in. My friend Li Bing took me to Heshun,
a very prosperous village, very intent on preserving it's authentic
architecture. I made a few friends in Tengchong. I visited some
temples. I ate delicious food. Li
Bing took me to Dali with him -- I'm starting to head home
now... Dali is beautiful -- it's easy to get by in English here, it has a stunning
himalayan backdrop, and there's a lot of people walking around in
traditional "minorities" style dress.
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| Three Testicles in Guyong |
Added Jan 26, 2004 |
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I'm not sure you can find
Guyong on a map, but it's the last town west of Tengchong before
Myanmar... about 40 miles down a cobblestone road. Wang went here to
look at the possibility of buying land with a hot spring. Guyong is
a logging town, and the seller was a local logging magnate who dined and
wined us
(this is where the testicles come in) for 2 hours
before we could look at the spot, which turned out to be an
abandoned shack across a river. |
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| Spring Festival Break |
Added Jan 26, 2004 |
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| VIEW |
Tea Tree flowers |
| VIEW |
Hot springs |
| VIEW |
Tengchong views |
| VIEW |
The writer's studio |
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The whole family is together
for over a week. I went for a walk with Wang's three sisters and
Anoah to pick Tea Tree flowers.We all went up to some hot
springs, and I got a glimpse of the China that's as far off
the tourist trail as you can get. Wang's nephew Hai Feng took me on
a walk through Tengchong. And finally -- a portrait of the writer's
studio, where I "blog" away |
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| Lunar New Year/Spring
Festival |
Added Jan 22, 2004 |
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Wow... they taking the feast
seriously -- food prep all day... prayers, fireworks, and eat! I ate
so much that I got sick, and couldn't eat for three days -- the
official diagnosis was "too much eating". Probably
combined with too much Mah Jong. |
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| Welcome to Tengchong |
Added Jan 18, 2004 |
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Initial impressions. Wang
and Rachel's house, is huge -- 14 rooms, plus over an
acre of gardens around the house. The house is surrounded by fields
tended by peasants from surrounding villages. The school
is in a new part of town that has been built up around new
boulevards leading into the city. The house is on a narrow country
lane not far from the bridge, where there's a
daoist temple, a water fall, and one of the best vegan restaurants
in town. |
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| Kunming |
Added Jan 18, 2004 |
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Big city of 5 million, the capital of
Yunnan province. Yunnan is bordered to the west by Myanmar, and to the south
by Vietnam and Laos. |
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