The last stop was Kunming, China. I arrived at almost midnight and Mr. Song came to pick me up. Instead of the hotel I was supposed to stay, he took me his home for a short night so that we may depart early in time for a long journey. For 4 days, we drove approximately 2,500 km. Along with Mr. Song, Mr. Baik, a dentist, also accompanied us as a back-up driver. He also was interested in serving the Tibet people. I learned that in China my international driver's license cannot be used.
Shangri La was the first stop. We visited the old town briefly and stayed at Elim Guesthouse and Restaurant which a brother is running. Mr. Song has been maintaining the relationship over the past 10 plus years. It was raining but nonetheless it was a cute town.
In Tibet, there are cow-like animals called Yak. They eat its meat like beef. I saw a white Yak. I think someone was collecting money for people to take a photo with the white Yak.
Shangri-La is a fictional place describved in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton. He descrives Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, gently guided from a lamasery, enclosed in the western end of Kunlun Mountains. A few places claimed that they are the very Shangri-La. China was aggressive in making the claim and changed this town's name to Sharingri-La and started attracting tourists. Well... in my humble opinion, the place was not quite that close, but close enough to be like the place in the novel due mainly to the fact in the town you can see the snow-capped mountains.
On the way to Shangri-La, there were numerous signs for the direction to Meri Snow Mountain. It is the holy mountain for the Tibet Buddhists and many circle the mountain wishing for the blessings. Tibet Buddhism is the combination of the South East Asian Buddhism, Hinduism and Sharmanism. It sounds like a religious dictatorship under which the monks rule over and benefit from the believers.
I never saw the mountain, but someone else took this magnificent photo of the Meri Snow Mountain ranges. Fantastic!
Also, we passed the entrance to Hodohyup, a valley and a trail where you could enjoy panoramic view of the mountains. Perhaps some other time.
The second day was to drive to a Tibet Village in the valley of the mountains. We had to zig zag and cross over the mountain (4,200 meter high), drive through a long tunnel (5,180 meter long) to reach the remote place.
We passed through an important commercial town, called De Chin. The town was laid long with a steady slope going down into the valley. The uphill climb would require quite a bit of physical strength, I suppose. From this town, you go to the Meri Snow Mountain.
Mr. Song has been supporting six children with scholarship through a believing college student from the same village. They all were quite pleasant and outgoing. I practiced English and agreed to hold a month-long English class in January 2020 while I will be learning Chinese.
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| De Hanheung, Guochun, De Lisa |
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| Two boys... and Gatsuo |
The host family, the parents of the college student, were very hospitable with foods and lodging.
The only inconvenience was using the open-air toilet in the corn field. Well... they may be right in not collecting the human waste. When money and human waste are collected, they smell. When scattered, they create joy. Here is the view to the open-air toilet. Looks quite green, doesn't it?
Lijang was the next stop for the third night. Lijang was one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It was called the city of lights. The city shined at night. We strolled in the city visiting not well known places, avoiding the crowd. The alleys and the lights were quite impressive.
There was an old trade road from Pu'er to Tibet. The people in Pu'er traded their Pu'er tea with the Tibet people who sold their horses. So the trade road was called Cha Ma Goh Doh meaning Tea Horse Old Road.
Lijang still has picture letters in use. They are called Dong Pa Letters. They are the only picture letters still in use, I was told. They were not that difficult to comprehend. Probably, any written language should be that way.
The next morning, we had simple breakfast and hit the road. It was still a long journey back to Kunming.
We arrived in Kunming early afternoon and visited Open Alley and Mr. Park. Open Alley is a coffee shop also selling roasted coffee beans, about 4 tons a month. Its clients include Zoo Coffee in the same mall. Mr. Park is an interior designer and the interior of the store exhibited his talent. They have two stores now and are now preparing to open the third store. Mr. Park count not join us for dinner, but the meeting was productive.
I checked into the guest house of Boimaru, a Puer Tea wholesaler and retailer. He has been doing this business for the past 14 years. The guesthouse was simple with uncomfortable bed, but very affordable at 50 RMB or $8 per night.
In Kunming, I spent a day with Mr. Yoo of Boimaru, discussing various issues of mutual interest.
For another day, I met several business people including Michelle and Tammy of Hope International and Achim of Passion to Grow, originally from Germany.
I also had a telephone conversation with Tim of Hani Coffee in Pu'er. It was too bad that I could not meet him in person. But I promised to visit him in January 2019.
I had dinner with Mark who teaches English and Family Values at a local university and Dominic who runs Nissi Holiday Hotels in Kunming and Jing Hong. The meeting was productive and I look forward to witnessing what the Lord has in store. I learned that Dominic's wife Angie is from the U.S. and she and her children stayed in Chiang Mai on and off for several weeks for medical treatment. Dominic was considering an expansion by taking over an existing unsuccessful hotel so that he may graduate from running apartment hotel business. We will see how things develop.
There were other places of interest here and there. I found a scenic point of the winding river, but it was not one of the official vista points.
There is a fable story among animals as to who is oldest. Elephant claimed that the peach tree was his height. Monkey claimed that when he was little the tree was at his height. So he claimed to be oldest. A rabbit laughed and explained that he was eating the dew on the leaves of the tree leaves, claiming to be the oldest. The bird laughed at them all and said that he brought the seed and it grew to be the tree, thus claiming that he was the oldest. The end of story.
A monk was walking alone. The scenery looked appropriate to the surrounding.
We saved about 30 minutes because of the 5,180 meter long tunnel built at the height of 4,000 meter.
Throughout our journey, we had to pass through numerous land slides because of heavy rain in the mountains. The Himalayan Mountains were erupted from the ocean and their soils are quite fragile, overall. So they have to face many landslides every year. At some sites, big boulders rolled down onto the roads thus blocking the entire road. We had to pass through the shoulder of the road. I am grateful that we did not have to face the dangerous moments.
Right before we entered into Lijang, we stopped over at a resting place where we could see a lake. The statue of white Yak and the best wish notes written and hung by tourists made a harmony along with the view of the lake in distance.
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