Just a quick note to let y'all know that I hope to revive this blog. We are leaving for France in a few days and will be there for almost three weeks. As before the impetus for this trip is the biannual International Camellia Society convention. We are going to Paris a few days early to see the sights then flying down to Brest to join the pre conference tour. The post conference tour ends in Paris so we will be able to catch our return flight when the tour is done. Hopefully I will have the time and energy to post frequently if not daily. Au revoir.

Chinese Painting Comes Home

Before leaving for China Nancy and I discussed what to look for as a momento. We decided that we had a stretch of wall in the hallway going down to the bottom floor that could use some art. We weren't sure what exactly - painting, wood carving, scroll, something. When we found this painting of camellias and met the artist we knew we had found it. It is now framed and hanging on the wall.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2614224409781.98720.1680191390&type=3&l=daac0e58e8

Shangri-la

Probably the last China post. Shangri-la is located at over 10,000 feet and, as you can see in the photos, it was not exactly tourist season when we were there. Oxygen was available in bottles at stores and there was even an Oxygen Bar in our hotel. It was an interesting visit despite the fact that a lot of the attractions geared to tourists were closed for the winter. As the area is too high for rice the grain staple is barley. You can see how it is stored in the open up off the ground on wooden racks in a couple of the photos. Enjoy.

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Leaping Tiger Gorge

Our next to last day in China we traveled up, up, up into the mountains to Shangri-la at over ten thousand feet. On the way up we stopped for a brief tour and some lunch at Leaping Tiger Gorge, believed to be the deepest gorge in the world.

If you look carefully at the photos both before and after the “Is careful falls the stone” sign you are looking at Leaping Tiger Gorge. In the photo that follows the sign photo you can see the statue of a tiger, which has been erected there.

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http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/yunnan/lijiang/tiger.htm

Into Tibet

February 10 was largely a travel day as we left Dali and moved further up and into the mountains. The bus trip was broken up nicely by a stop at a Buddhist monastery for a tour and lunch then another stop at Lijiang Old Town in the afternoon.

The photos are split with the monastery photos before the shot of Nancy in front of the ancient camellia bush (what else?) and the Old Town photos after.

“Lijiang Old Town, a world cultural heritage, has more than 800 years history with its establishment in the late Southern Song Dynasty. It’s honored as “the Oriental Venice” and “the Plateau Riverside Town” because of its architectural style where “streamlets flow across every family’s doorway and willows droop in every family’s back yard.”

Photos:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2528010174479.96543.1680191390&type=1&l=bb7e95f151

Related links for the curious.

http://www.google.com/search?q=lijiang&hl=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=VftUT56NFsfhiAK4kN20Bg&sqi=2&ved=0CDYQsAQ&biw=1118&bih=952

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/lijiang.htm

http://blog.chinatravel.net/destinations-attractions/lijiang-dali-yunnan-travel.html

lijiang - Google Search
www.google.com

Dali

Following the close of the ICS conference there were two post-conference tours to choose from. Both went to Dali the first day but one went to Lijian and then Shangri-la while the other split off and went to Baoshan and Tengchong. Nancy and I took the Shangri-la option. Everyone went to Dali where this group of photos was taken. We toured an ancient (and, surprisingly to me anyway, privately owned) mansion. The place was incredible with paintings, statues, scrolls, gardens, on and on. Again we took way too many photos and I have imposed a limit on myself. Hopefully these will give you some small taste. We then toured a shopping mall by electric bus (but no shopping allowed). Nightclub hopping was offered after dinner but I passed on that. The photos here start with the ancient mansion, move to the shopping area after the electric car photo and end with some of Nancy’s photos of the nightlife.

“Dali had once been the capital city of two local regimes: the Nanzhao in the Tang Dynasty, and Dali in the Song Dynasty. The existing old town, built in the 15th year of Hongwu Times of the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1382), is one of first batch of national famous historical and cultural cities. The gate towers of Dali Old Town are majestic. In the old town “Streams pass along every family’s doorway and camellias blossom in every family’s yard.”

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Last Day in Chuxiong

Nothing much to write about here. We visited camellia nurseries by day and had a farewell party that night.

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