A Package Tour - The Hidden Extras

Kunming, Shilin and more

We did it! We booked a package tour to Kunming, Dali and Lijiang for China’s National Day holiday week thinking this would take the fuss out of traveling during this busy week! We had the brief itinerary translated into English so we knew exactly where we were going and what we would be seeing! We were looking forward to Lijiang as we had heard quite a lot about it.
We were booked on an evening flight to Kunming and at the airport we met a couple of mature students who were going to Kunming with us and spoke good English. On arrival in Kunming we transferred to our hotel and were booked in by about nine o’clock. Our new friends took us to dinner that evening and treated us to some really good food but we would not see them again until were arrived at the airport for our flight home.
Despite having the itinerary in English, our tour was a bit of a mystery most of the time as we seldom had anyone who spoke any more English than what we spoke Chinese. They also ran the itinerary in the opposite direction to what we had had translated before we left. However we were well looked after, perhaps too well looked after, as they certainly did not want to loose either of us.
Our first day was spent at Shilin the most famous ‘Stone Forest’ in China, just outside Kunming, but it took us all morning to make this short trip to Shilin because there are so many hidden extras on a Chinese Package Tour. Tourists beware.
We stopped at two huge jade and jewelry showrooms so we could all spend our money. We were not the only guests who began to wait either on the bus or in the car park rather than go inside unless it was to use the bathroom. We arrived at Shilin around lunchtime, and after eating in one of the many restaurants outside the entrance, we made our way to the gate.
Apart from the spectacular crowd Shilin is an interesting collection of stone pillars and rock formations on a mammoth scale and this, apparently is just the smallest one of a group in the area. Our ‘local’ guide, dressed in national costume gave us a non stop verbal tour of the park, all in Chinese, using a megaphone of course and carrying her coloured flag, often competing with other tour guides and groups as she maneuvered us through the maze of tightly packed pillars of stone. She barely let us move out of her sight for the first two hours. Inside the park we were treated to yet another hidden extra, a tea tasting ceremony where we were once again encouraged to spend our money. We were finally given the last hour as free time to explore on our own but it took nearly all this time to find our way back to the gate.
On the way back into Kunming we stopped at a ‘famous’ tea manufacturer for another tea tasting ceremony, this one being very elaborate in style and the procedure for making each variety of tea was a little different. Each of the teas had a very unique flavour and it was tempting to buy a little. We were offered some ‘too good to refuse’ deals and I eventually succumbed and bought a couple of beautifully packaged teas to take home as gifts.
Again on the way into Kunming we made another stop at a center just on the outskirts of town. I’m still not sure why we stopped here except for tourists to buy locally made foodstuffs. We settled for an ice cream and some bananas for breakfast on the train the next morning and waited for the rest of our group to meet back at the bus. The sooner we all assembled the sooner we could be on our way again.
Our last stop that day was initially the most intriguing. We were ushered off the bus into a building, up the stairs and into one of many large rooms lined with black couches around the walls. There was a little introductory speech by a gentleman in a white laboratory jacket after which the room quickly filled with sixteen young men and women with basins of hot water containing medicinal herbs. One for each member of our group. Everyone took off their shoes and had their feet washed, followed by a one-foot massage. We could then put our shoes back on and were encouraged to do some shopping. Since I was by now enjoying the occasional massage I bought myself a pack of these medicinal herbs so I could soak my feet on cold winter evenings.

Xiaguan to Lijiang and more

The only thing left to do that evening was to have dinner and proceed to the station to wait for our late evening departure. Kunming’s train station like most things in China was undergoing a massive upgrading to accommodate increasing passenger numbers. We found some seats in the now very small waiting room and were given the tickets for our hard sleepers. It was indicated that we would share our compartment with some of the others from our group. Our departure was after ten in the evening but it was not until we arrived in Xiaguan (Dali’s new city) the next morning that we began to understand what had happened to our group during the night.
Although we were a small group of only 16, they had not been able to get us all on the same train and although two trains leave about the same time one arrives quite a lot later than the other. So the first group, including us waited for several hours in Xiaguan for the remainder of our group to arrive before we could go, firstly for breakfast and then begin the bus trip to Lijiang. This is usually a three to four hour ride but…….. we of course had to make several stops at more jade and jewelry showrooms on the way just in case we wanted to buy something we had missed the day before. Most of our group were getting just as tired of these hidden extras as we were but these stops were sometimes a good source of postcards and as always a timely, if not pleasant, toilet stop.
Leaving Xiaguan, we headed west across the plain beside Erhai Hu, through rich farmlands with the distant mountains visible to the north and south. Being harvest time the area was bustling with activity, the edge of the road being used to park horse and carts, threshers, sheaves of rice and anything else used to bring in the harvest. Our progress was much slower than otherwise might be. The architecture of this region is similar to that of other areas but what makes it unique are the white washed walls, trimmed with soft gray, and finely painted frescoes adorning every wall. There is a subtle elegance about these somewhat-stately looking brick and timber courtyard homes with their traditional dark gray tiled roofs.
In the smaller towns and villages almost every house is draped in bright golden chains of corncobs drying in the autumn sunshine. It seems that everyone is in the fields lending a hand, bent double over heavy golden heads of rice, or walking home, stooped over with the weight of sheaves upon their backs. It’s hard to know which way to look as every turn in the road brings a fresh scene - another rustic village, people and vehicles everywhere or rice paddies, now a patch work of texture and colours stretching as far as eye can see.
The constant sound of honking horns and the swerving motion of the bus just adds to the excitement of this fascinating journey back in time, in a place where things have changed little in the way the harvest is brought in. We made one brief but interesting stop on our way across the plain at a village quite a distance off the road, which now houses ancient local craft workshops. We were able to watch many artisans at work on a variety of bronze, silver and timber products.
Eventually the road began to climb above the plain giving us wonderful views back over the way we had come. At first it was rolling hills with villages and terraced hills but this soon gave way to a less fertile alpine terrain, of stunted firs and heath lands, where small herds of cattle grazed upon the sparse grass.

The Yak meadow and more

Lijiang sits in a broad and nondescript valley surrounded by mountains and arriving in the new section of town does not make a great impression. We went straight to our hotel, which is hidden off the street a few hundred yards from the main entrance to the ‘old city’. It was clean and comfortable but lacked any of the character we had come here to enjoy.
Our group assembled for a tour of the ‘old town’ and dutifully followed another ‘local’ flag-wielding guide down the street to join all the other tour groups for an introduction to the city standing by the old water wheel on the river. We were then ushered into one of the two story traditional courtyard homes nearby, only to discover it was yet another tea tasting venue. As if we needed another of these. By the time we finished here it was almost time to return to our hotel for the evening meal. The weather had been cool and partly cloudy all day and up here in the evening it was quite a lot cooler. It was time to put on some more clothes.
We decided to come back after dinner and do some more exploring and a little shopping, a wise move as this was all we were to see of ‘Old Lijiang’. As we were tired from the night train and traveling all day, we did some quick shopping and tried to get an early night to be fresh for our visit to the Jade Snow Mountain’s Yak Meadow.
The next morning dawned cold and overcast and did not bode well for a trip to the mountains to see the renowned ‘Yak Meadow’. The road winds its way ever so gently out of the valley, passing through several small villages where you can hire a pony for the ride to the meadow or perhaps take your photo astride a yak. The road then climbs steeply to a small village, which is now the base of the chair lift to the ‘Yak’ meadow. We were not the only ones - hundreds of other tour groups had also recently arrived so we joined them in the line up (I use this term loosely here) as a considerable queue had already formed. And there we stayed for the next three hours, jostling and pushing in the crush, old and young alike, inching our way up several flights of stairs about ten abreast like sardines in a can, into a double file and eventually into a single file.
After nearly two hours and nearly fainting, I opted to sit out on the sidelines of this crushing activity until our group was in double file where I once again joined them. I might add that this seemed to be enjoyed by almost everyone present as if they had done this many times before and it was the best part of the days outings. Some of our group did very well and where so far ahead of us that they had an extra thirty minutes to enjoy the ‘views’ from the top.
While we waited we were advised to take one of the bright orange foul weather jackets (for a fee of course but worth the expense) that where being passed around. As it was drizzling and cold it seemed like a good idea, and it was. The chair lift took twenty minutes to arrive at the top and several times we passed through misty cloud. A light drizzle and the slight breeze generated by the chair was enough to freeze you to the bone.
What a disappointment when we finally got off the chair. All that waiting and hustling and all we could see where the immediate buildings and a few yaks that we were not allowed to photograph unless we paid to sit on one. On the slope leading down to the meadow, which we could not see for the cloud, enterprising locals have erected stalls selling food, herbs, dried plants and some souvenirs. It was here that we found some of our group who invited us to join them around a small barbeque and partake of some delicious meat and potato skewers while our host in ethnic dress serenaded us as she cooked. A couple of candles provided the only light in what were these folks home by night and restaurant by day. This was one of those special moments as we all sat in our orange jackets warming up around their little fireplace with our traveling companions. Something in our relationship changed that day.
We had just thirty minutes to take it all in and then we had to queue again, although in a much more civilized fashion this time for almost an hour for our turn to take the chair to the bottom. We took turns in stepping out of the line to browse in the kiosk below the chair housing. By this time there was almost no other groups left on the mountain. I wonder if it ever occurs to anyone to have another plan for these sorts of days or just to stagger the arrival times to avoid these horrendous queues.
We stopped for our official lunch at Whitewater village just like most of the other tour buses. You could take a ride on a yak and have your photos taken here as they wade around in the beautiful river. On the way down the valley we stopped at another ‘centre’ in the middle of nowhere near a new golf resort in the middle of nowhere so we could all go shopping yet again.

Dali and so much more

Back in Lijiang we said goodbye to our ‘local’ guide and left town about four in the afternoon having seen more of the new town than of the old town and nothing of the Yak meadow. There was so much more to see in Lijiang as I discovered when I returned over a year later as an independent traveler. And even then we did not explore all the possibilities.
It was dusk as we finally approached Dali, and in the growing darkness we could see the lights of the three pagodas standing silent sentinels beside the old city, above the lake. With several miles still to go our bus driver’s phone never stopped ringing to the tune of Waltzing Matilda. The restaurant in Xiaguan wanted to know when we would arrive for dinner.
As our group consisted of 16 people we were usually seated at two tables at meal times and we usually sat with the same group at each meal. It was always amusing for us to hear them complain and ask for more la jiao (chili sauce). Since they were all from Chongqing, one a teacher, another a policeman, an elderly couple - they were finding the food in Yunnan a little bland and after five days it seemed to all of us that every meal was the same as the last.
Our hotel in Xiaguan was a little tired to say the least and we got a bit lost in a landscaping market while trying to find our way there in the dark. After breakfast we made our way to the cruise boat terminal for a morning cruise on Erhai lake. The boat stops at two islands where we went ashore to look around and while on board guests were treated to a special Dai greeting ceremony. This consists of preparing three different teas for their guests and this is combined with a dance presentation by this local ethnic group.
We came ashore about half way along the lake just in time for lunch. We also got an opportunity to shop some more for souvenirs, clothes and batik made by the locals. Our fellow travelers seemed to take pleasure in the fact that we paid a little more than they did although we still got some good deals. Thanks for the help!!!!! After lunch we seemed to drive around in circles visiting a temple, taking a cable car to see a waterfall tucked into the mouth of a gorge we had no time to explore and finally we were dropped at the south gate Dali’s Old City about four in the afternoon where we were given a cursory tour and told we had barely one hour to take it all in.
This was our only chance to split from the group and enjoy some of the abundant ‘western style’ food. It was Sylvia’s birthday and we wanted to try something different, something familiar, something tasty, so we stood in the street trying to guess which restaurant would offer us the best food. All the while touts harangued us. No one would leave us alone. They come by asking us to come and shop in their store or take a fishing trip or something. All we wanted was to enjoy our Pizza and milkshake in a little peace.
Unfortunately our choice was not the best of pizza but the milk shake was ok. It took so long to get served we eventually had to rush off to our rendezvous. I had asked our guide to draw a map of the place we should meet them and also got her mobile number just in case. Well of course the map was useless. We could see the spot from where we stood, she should have just pointed to the big gate at the end of the street with all the buses parked nearby. Standing on a corner I approached a couple of younger girls who looked like university students in the hope that one would speak enough English to help out. We called our guide, told her where we were and asked her to come get us. Simple.

More of Kunming

Now it was back to Xiaguan to the same restaurant for dinner. Of course we had already eaten so waited while the others complained again about the lack of chili and the boring choice of dishes. We were to catch the night train back to Kunming that evening and I think we all managed to take the same train this time. In Kunming we were taken to a hotel for breakfast, then to another one where we were to leave our bags for the day and meet at 9.00pm to be taken to the airport to catch our flight back to Chongqing.
It was only now that we discovered that we had a whole day free in Kunming!!! What to do and what to see??? We took off walking and eventually made our way to McDonalds where we would have access to the first decent toilet for days, a cup of coffee and a chat with an expat who lived in town. We spent some more time shopping and wandering around the cool tree lined streets dodging all the bikes on both the pavements and the streets. Having spotted Pizza Hut we treated ourselves to a real pizza for lunch. In those days we didn’t have any in Chongqing but now we have three of them.
We had worked out a few buses during the day and finally made our way back to the hotel to rendezvous with the rest of our group. Nine o’clock arrived and we were short by two-the elderly couple that had barely spoken to us, or smiled at us but had taken heaps of photos of us over the past week. What to do if they didn’t show up? Just leave without them. They can find their own way to the airport and we had loads of time to spare. Luckily for them, an eagle eye spotted them a block from the hotel as we drove off so we ended up going back for them.
We often wondered how the Chinese can travel for a week, wearing almost the same clothes each day, dress like they are going to the office, men in suits and ladies in heals and carry such small amounts of luggage? At the airport we meet up with the two young lads who had flown down with us. They had been to Xishuangbana so we traded travel tales and gifts while we waited for our now delayed flight. We learned a little putonghua and generally entertained the other travelers.
This was indeed a tour with many hidden extras - the good, the bad and the unforseen but an experience I am the richer for however I will never take another tour for longer than a days duration.

Footnote

I taught in a significant middle school in Chongqing and one day several weeks after this trip one of my Junior 2 students came up and told me he had some photos for me. I thought that was nice of him. Kids are always giving you things, some odd and some unusual. I said thanks and took a look. Imagine my surprise when I discovered they were photos of Sylvia and myself on holiday in Yunnan!!!!!! Where did he get these? Guess who the elderly couple was?????