June 21, 2006

I apologize for the delays, but our hotel in Wenshan has no Internet connections in the rooms. I have to go to a local "Internet Cafe" to be able to get online. Some don't allow access to certain sites. The first one I tried on our first night here would let me check email, but not post to the blog. This one lets me get to the blog, but I'm having a hard time getting to my eamil. It costs only two yuan, or quai an hour. That is about 24 cents! Also, because I can't connect my computer at the "Cafe," I won't be able to post pictures yet. We will be back in Kunming and then Beijing next week. While there I hope to update the blog with pictures.

Anyway, today we traveled from Kunming to Wenshan. We had two vehicles. A bus and Steven's car. The trip took about eight hours. On the way we passed by part of the "Stone Forest," an area of unusual limestone outcroppings that look like weathered tree trunks. About half-way we stopped for lunch in a small restaurant. It wasn't much to look at from the outside, but inside there was a small courtyard surrounded by individual dining rooms. Again, we had a traditional Chinese meal. All of the food is placed "family style" on a large turntable in the middle of the table. Always there is rice. With that you can eat the other items. My favorite for that meal was the bamboo shoots in garlic! Yum!

From that point until reaching the Wenshan area the road was narrow, few guardrails, lots of hairpin turns, and "bold" drivers who use their horns as much as their brakes! Along the way we passed by farm area after farm area. Depending on the elevation you would see rice paddies, corn, tobacco, gensing (sp?), pomegranets (sp?), and sugar cane. Of course there were the people working in the fields using water buffalo (cows) to pull wagons. Many people would be out selling their vegetables or fruits along the road. We saw beautiful red and green grapes, mushrooms, peaches, plums, and watermelon. And of course there were various unknown "foods" along the way too! :)

We arrived in Wenshan around 4:30 PM in the midst of a torrential downpour. Our hosts said that they had never see this kind of rain before. By the time we got into the city proper, there was 12 - 18" of water in the streets, manhole covers being pushed up, and people huddled under awnings and inside buildings. We saw several cars become stranded or stalled. But it did help the humidity drop and the temperature cool.

It is very humid here in Wenshan, but that makes it so green in the surrounding hills. The mountains are so beautiful. There are limestone outcroppings and shear cliffs (pictures to follow). Our hotel is in the downtown area and within walking distance to the very nice shopping and nightlife, but make a quick turn down an alley and you expect Indiana Jones to come around the corner and fight off some bad guys with his whip!

The people are very curious about us. This area is not a foreign tourist destination, so it is very unusual for non-Chinese to be here. The people stare at us as we walk down the street. They are, however, very excited to have their pictures taken. Thank goodness for digital cameras. I probably take a hundred pictures each day!!!

Our group had dinner together in the hotel dining room. It seems like we are eating every moment. And when we eat you want to try a little of everything. But with twelve dishes on the table, that ends up being a LOT of food. I haven't felt hungry yet! Then you turn around and its more food!!!! Yes, Don, some things are a bit odd, but ya gotta try!

Bedtime was welcome and we all slept like babies. There is air conditioning in the rooms, so sleep comes easy. Nitey night!