Tour Summary
by Alison Zhou

7/20/05 Thursday

We met at the front of one of Yale dorms to get on a shuttle to New York for a late night flight to Kunming. The traffic to New York was slow but we got to the airport around 7:00 PM.  Finally, we were in the airplane to China around midnight.

7/22/05 Saturday

It seemed forever to get to Hong Kong after having lots of meals, movies and sleep in the airplane. Via Hong Kong, we got to Kunming in the afternoon.  Eileen, our team leader and Mark, the local tour guide met us in the airport.  We loaded our luggage and then to Kunming Hotel. We were tired.  After checked in, we had dinner at hotel.  We were back to our hotel room to rest after Eileen gave us general introduction and tomorrow itinerary.

7/23/05 Saturday 

We visited Yuantong Temple and Kunming city Museum in the morning.  Afternoon, we met a friend of Eileen’s who has been working as a social worker for minority children in Yunnan providence.  She basically gave us a general picture of social work in China and problems of minority children had. What I learned from her are: 1. Yunnan has 26 minorities and there are notable numbers of minority runaway children aged from 8 to 14, 2. Salaries and benefits of social workers generally are low.
Late afternoon, we went to ‘bird and flower’ market.  I did not enjoy the market much.  It was too crowded. However, I did buy several boxes of incense.  I also tried Yunnan’s sticky rice.  It was not sweet at all (I was expecting a sweet taste.) In the evening, we went to a minority show.  It was ok.

7/24/05 Sunday

In the morning, we had a presentation presented by professor He of Yunnan Academy of Social Science from Yunnan University.  Her presentation had two themes related to Naxi people. One was related to Photovoice project and the other was the topic of Naxi’s gender and development.   Eileen asked me to do the translation. Professor He was very passionate about her work, especially for the ‘photovoice’ project.  The main purpose of the ‘photovoice’ is to give minorities the opportunity to express their voices and opinions though their eyes by taking photographs.  Their voices were expressed clearly and loudly via these photos, though lots of farmers had never used a camera before. The ‘photovoice’ project was a beautiful project.  I was moved, touched and inspired by the voices of these farmers and passion of Professor He.

After the presentation, we went to a minority museum.  I bought a Yi minority embroidery overcoat.  I really like the pattern of the coat.  It was an old-fashioned pattern and was done quite a while ago. The color of fabric was faded.
We had our lunch at a restaurant that was beautiful with an indoor pond. Afternoon, we went to a minority theme park.  The park was not managed well.  Most of theme park looked deserted.  Eileen, Joan, Marty and I visited three minority sites. One of sites had a young Jingpo man singing and playing with a guitar.  The song was a today’s popular love song in China.  I also believed that the guitar was not Jingpo’s traditional musical instrument. I was a bit disappointed. The park was superficial. It was nothing but entertaining.We had our dinner at a Jingpo restaurant.  We had my favorite dish--steamed sweet sticky black rice inside a pineapple. 

7/25/05 Monday

We flew to Lijiang in the morning.  Once we checked in the hotel called YuYeun.  We visited the ‘Black Dragon Park’.  The park was big and beautiful with lots of trees, walkways and ponds.  There was a Naxi cultural center in the park too. We saw a Dong Ba picture graphic writing demonstration.
Dinner was at Lijiang old town.  Right after dinner, we moved to another restaurant near by to have a Naxi culture and history presentation by a Naxi woman (I did not remember her name.)  It was a long day and her speech was dogmatic, boring and long.  I saw almost everyone was nearly falling asleep.
I was relieved when the speech was over.

7/26/05 Tuesday

We went to Lashi Hai Lake. On the way to Lashi Hai Lake, we visited Zhi Yun temple.  At Lashi Hai, we went on a canoe ride in a large swamp/pond.  It was peaceful and beautiful.
We had our lunch at a villager’s house.  It was fun.  Before coming back to Lijiang city, we visited a local elementary school briefly. 
In the afternoon, we went shopping at Lijiang old town and my stomach started feeling sick.
At night, we went to see the DongBa culture show. The show had singing and dancing though the show was a bit ridiculous.

7/27/05 Wednesday

In the morning we visited a private children orphanage/school. The orphanage/school was situated in a beautiful and spacious location. It had large gardens, and playgrounds.  The school had lodging facilities.  The principle was not in. A young teacher was in charge of the school during the absence of the principle. She briefly described the conditions of school and daily living condition of school children.
These were basic themes from her description:

1. The children are orphans.  Though some of them still have their grandparents or relatives; however, they could not support these children at home.  The children from third grade start taking care of themselves—doing laundry, tidying the bedroom, cleaning the school, and gardening.
2. The major task of the principle is to do fund-raising in order to have sufficient funding for the school.
3. All teachers are young and recent graduates. The turnover rate of teachers is high.  The job is demanding for teachers physically and psychologically. They are being a teacher, a nanny, a school gardener, and a psychologist for these children.  However, they are actually inexperienced young adults.  In addition, their salaries in general are lower than public school teacher’s salaries.
4. Lack of funding and lack of counseling resources are the major problems of the orphanage.      

Then, we visited Baisha temple/museum and Joseph Rock residence. After lunch, our group divided into two. One group including Joan, Eileen, Marty, Diane, Sue and Joseph, local guide, was to take gondola ride to the top of Jade Dragon Mountain. Another group including Jeff, Ali, Kate, Jing, Mark, the general guide and I was to hike to the top of Jade Dragon Mountain.  But Mark did not know the area well and we got lost. So, we had to turn around and got a ride from a local bus back to Lijiang. 
Our group instead went hiking to the Snow Mountain top in Lijiang old town. At the top of the monition, there was a temple.  The scenery was beautiful. We could see a bird-eye view of old town Lijiang.  Ali and Kate both bought calligraphy scrolls at the temple shop.  Kate, Ali and I also bought Bai tie-dyed designed pattern fabrics and other trinkets from various shops.
At night, we had dinner at a restaurant by the river at Lijiang old town.  We celebrated Ali’s and Kate’s’ birthday with moutai (a strong alcohol from Guizhou providence).  It was a fun night.

7/28/05 Thursday

I was very sick today.  I was sleeping most of time during the bus ride to Lugu Lake.  We stopped at Ninglang city to have lunch.

After lunch, Najin, a Mosuo minority woman had arranged her uncle, a Yi minority to give us a talk about Yi culture and living custom.  I did the translation.  Basically, Yi minority still had a cast system. Within the cast system, there were slaves, regular citizens and owners. Women in Yi culture were treated as objects. Yi people in Yunnan lived around Dai LiangShan and Shau LiangShan (big and small Cool Mountains).  Most of Yi people around that area were farmers. The crops were potatoes, black wheat, and corn.  A Yi woman played a piece of music using ‘mouth harp’, a musical instrument for us. The same young woman displayed a Yi unmarried woman’s dress for us.  It was a great talk.

Afternoon, we arrived at Lugu Lake and checked in a hotel.  We had a canoe ride to an island in the middle of Lugu Lake. The water in Lugu Lake was beautifully blue. There was a Tibetan Lamasery in the island.  After the canoe ride, the bus took us to the top of the other side to view a gorgeous mountain shaped like a woman leaning against the Lugu Lake.   There was a Mosuo legend about the mountain and lake.

 I did not go the minority show at night because I was very sick.   

7/29/05 Friday

After a bumpy ride, we finally arrived at Yongning and visited an elementary school.  The head master of Yongning elementary schools briefly described the conditions of elementary schools and children.
Total population of Ninglan County was 180,000.  There were approximately 100 elementary teachers and 2194 elementary school children.  Most of these teachers were from local area. The school we visited called Hope school.  Hope school had 514 students, 23 teachers and 112 boarding students since these children were from remote villages.  They lived very far and there was no transportation.  There was $30 renembi (roughly 4.00 us dollars) per month of government assistance for poor students for living cost.  In Hope school, there was 15 mu (Chinese measurement) of farmland. The land was used to produce vegetables and potatoes to supplement insufficient government funding. Five years ago, the head master got funding to buy 13 computers. However, there was no one capable of teaching computers to these school children. So, those computers had been put aside and had no use.
In the afternoon, we went to a hot spring before arriving at the Mosuo village. The village was beautiful.   I met our host family and had dinner with everyone at home of Najin’s parents.  After dinner, almost everyone from the whole village people came. They performed Mosuo’s music and dance. We drank home-made alcohol, danced and sang with them after their performance.
At night, Ali and I went to sleep at our host family. We chatted with the mother Yujing, father Aba, and younger daughter Young Ling for a while before we went to bed.  Before going to bed, YuJing took us outside to the bathroom.  It was truly done outside not in an outhouse.  It was dark at night and YuJing used a flashlight to guide us while we were doing it.  I felt funny that I could not help but giggling. Because I never had any experience that someone was watching me while I was peeing outside. 

7/30/05 Saturday

I slept late because of my sickness. We had breakfast twice at homes of YuJing’s and Najin’s parents.  Before leaving the Mosuo village, we visited a local Tibetan Lamasery.
Young Ling was riding with us to Ninglang to visit her older sister.  Once we got to Lugu area, we learned that the road to Ninglang got washed away because of heavy rainfall.  We stayed having lunch and coffee in Lugu area for 2 hours before the road reopened. While having lunch with Young Ling, she told me about boarding situation in her school.  She had to board because her home was far away from the school.  She said that every student washed their own clothes and cooked their meals. The meals consisted of potatoes, tofu, cabbage and rice without any changes.  The students worked from 6:00 am to 11:00 pm everyday.  She explained that was the reason she had no time to write to me.  I was shocked by what she told me.
I was completely knocked out by my cold.  I slept most of time during the bus ride.
Young Ling left us at Ninglang.  Once we arrived at Lijiang and checked in the hotel.  I was too sick to do anything. I slept through the night.

7/31/05 Sunday

We left to Zhongdian today.  Tenzin was our tour guide. During the bus ride, he told us a lot of Tibetan culture. I was not listening because of my sickness.  We did stop by at Tiger Leaping Gorge.  It was beautiful.  I climbed all the way down to see the gorge. I was huffing and puffing because of my severe cold and sharply decent altitude.
Once we checked into the hotel in Zhongdian, Mark took us walking around in the Zhongdian old town.
At night, Mark took me to buy Chinese cold medicine. I took the medicine and went to bed.

8/1/05 Monday

In the morning, we visited the Songzhalin Lamasery.  I felt sick and sat in the stone stairs while waiting our team.  There was a monk coming out his private living quarter at left wing of the temple.  He waived me to come in his quarter. I hesitated a little and then went in.  He gave me an apple blessed by the Tibetan Gods, and then offered me a cup of tea and blessing.  I felt blessed and thankful for what he did; in particular, I was feeling severely under the weather.
In the afternoon, the team went to visit a family but I went to bed resting in the hotel.

8/2/05 Tuesday

We visited Di Qing elementary school before going back to Lijiang.   The majority of school students were minorities. The students were from 30 townships of local poor area. Most of students got the government and private assistance. They all had heavy course loads.
A long Bus ride to Lijiang airport and then flew to Chengdu.  In the airport, we met with our tour guide, David.

8/3/05 Wednesday

Today was a traveling day.  We flew to Urumqi and met with local tour guide, Dolkun.  Had lunch and looked around Bazaar for a while. I tasted Xinjiang famous melons. They were delicious. Then, we got into another flight to Kashgar.  Dolkun told us lots of facts about Xinjiang.  I did not write down any.
After checked into the hotel and dinner, Ali and I walked around in the neighborhood. We bought fresh bagels in the street. It was delicious.   I like Kashgar. The city was very relaxing and friendly.

8/4/05 Thursday

Today was a long bus ride to Tashkurgan.  The road was pretty bumpy.  On the way to Tashkurgan, the scenery was amazing.  It was a huge desert with magnificent mountain ranges.  We were in the area roughly 11,000 feet above sea level. Dolkun pointed out the K-2 summit from distance. 
We stopped at a local market of a small town during the ride. There were donkeys and vendors.  I bought fresh bagels again. 
Dolkun told us a lot about lives around Kashgar and Tashkurgan in Xinjiang.  Around Xinjiang area, there was only one harvest per year since the winter lasted for six months. Most of farmers did most of their work during these six months and did nothing for another six months during the winter.  Whatever they earned from the only crop had to last for a whole year.  In general, the average annual income for Xinjiang’s farmers was around $3,000 renminbi ($400 us. dollars). It was still more than the average income of Yunnan farmers which was around $1,500 renminbi ($200 us dollars). Dolkun talked about dowry custom in Xinjiang; i.e. how much money and stuff a man have to prepare for the family of a woman whom he planned to get married.  There was a tremendous burden to have a marriage in Xinjiang.  It reminded me the traditional marriage back in Taiwan when I was young.
Tashkurgan was bordering with Afghanistan and Pakistan.  After arrived at Tashkurgan and checked in the hotel, we walked around in downtown area. The whole town was small.  There were lots of strange people. I had found that their sunken eyes and dazed facial expressions reminded me when I was walking around in an American Indian reservation.  All those signs were an indication for me that Tashkurgan was an economically oppressed boarder town.  On the way back to hotel, there was a man who looked drunk and strange that was following us.  I was a bit of scared.
During the dinner, some of our members commented that they took the strange facial expression of those people as a sign of hostile for not welcoming Americans though I was not sure that was the reason.

8/5/05 Friday

Today, we visited an middle school near the hotel. The school composed most of Uyghur, Tajik, Kyrgyz students and teachers. 
This was first time we had experienced dancing after dinner in a Xinjiang family restaurant. The restaurant had tables along four sides with a dance floor in the center.  I took some pictures of a family who were celebrating the grandson’s one year-old birthday. The mother of the child dressed beautifully in Tajik red dress.  Later on, the grandpa came over and invited me dancing with him.  I tried to invite the mother to dance with me but she refused.  Most married women just sat and watched other people danced.

8/6/05 Saturday

Today was driving back to Kashgar.  It was a rough ride.  Had dinner at a restaurant by Karakul Lake.
We had Chinese dinner. After dinner, Dolkun, Eileen, Kate, Ali, Joan and I were walking through downtown Kashgar to a Disco bar. We met with two of Dolkun’s childhood friends. It was very interesting disco bar nothing like American bars.

8/7/05 Sunday

In the morning, we went to the animal market. I did not like it. I saw that all sheep were tied together by the neck.  I felt the pain of animals from the cruel treatment by people.  Besides, the whole market was smelly.  Later, we went to Sunday Bazaar. It was very interesting. I walked around with David. We tasted melons and figs. Later, I bought two Uyghur hats for John, my husband and Leah, my younger daughter.  Also, I bought a kitchen tool locally made for making surface pattern of naan (Xinjiang flat bread) before baking.  The tool was made by tying a bunch of chicken features together shaped like a top.  The bottom of the tool was made the tips of all chicken features.  Once the naan bread or the round flat bread is made, then “the top” stamped on the surface of naan to create the spiral/twirl design before baking. 
Later, I bought a little bag of saffron. It smelled really good.
In the afternoon, we visited Id Kah Mosque. We also went a music shop with lots of unique music instruments. I love the sound of  ‘Ghejeck’. The sound of Ghejeck was the sounds between the sound of Urhu, Chinese two-string and the sound of violin. It was very beautiful.  In the middle of Ghejeck instrument had a potbelly-shaped air wooden box for sound echoing. 
At dinner, we went a restaurant that was converted from a rich private family home. The cleansing procedure for everyone before entering the restaurant was very interesting.    The seating was arranged by age.  The food was quite good.  After dinner, we had a talk. The topic was about ‘Silk Road’.
At night, I called home and talked to John about buying Ghejeck.  Then, I walked around in the street. It was interesting. I liked the street very much. People were very friendly. Lots of people were out in the street just being with their friends and family. The atmosphere was relaxing and friendly. I enjoyed so much just being out there. I went back to hotel late.

8/8/05 Monday

We visited a junior teacher training school. Once the students graduated did get a degree close to an associate degree and they had to take the college examination to go college.  However, the school was in transition.  The school is changing to become a competitive high school. Students had to pay tuition to come to the school now.  The changes of school direction and instructional methods for teachers and administrators have been dramatic.  Lots of them were confused and frightened.
 In the afternoon was free for us to go shopping.
In the evening, we went to a café and had an interactive ‘English corner’ dialogue with Chinese students and Chinese English teachers. It was interesting to see lots of highly motivated students trying to master English language. They were very good.

8/9/05 Tuesday

We flew to Urumqi in the morning.  In the afternoon, we went to a museum with lots mummies and artifacts. The museum was smelly and had too many mummies.  I was tired.
Later, Ali, Kate and I went for a walk in the evening.

8/10/05 Wednesday

The road to the Heavenly Mountain was not accessible. So, instead we went to South Mountain for hiking. It was beautiful. Also, we visited families who lived around there.  The living condition was pretty primitive.
In the afternoon, a staff from Xinjiang institute of social studies gave us a talk about minorities.  The facts she provided were repeats from what we learned before.

8/11/05 Thursday

We went to Turpan. Turpan was a city 300 feet below sea level. The city was irrigated by entire its underground irrigation system. It was very impressive.  It also had delicious grapes.  However, the city was VERY hot and dry.  Then, we went to Buddhist ruin called Jiaohe ruin.  It was impressive. It was hard to believe years ago there were Buddhist temples before Muslim prevailed in the area.

8/12/05 Friday

Drove back to Urumqi and had lunch. In the afternoon, flew to Shanghai. In the airplane, I chatted with a young man around 30 years old. He taught me a lot about policies in China such as minimum legal age for applying a marriage license, one child policy, penalty amount for having second child, prices of buying a house, or a car, or cost for  hiring a housemaid in Shanghai.

8/13/05 Saturday

We visited the Jade Buddha Temple in the morning. In the afternoon, I shopped with Sue, Marty and Joan in the antique market. We bought lots of stuff and we had fun.
After dinner, I decided to take a walk by myself.  I started Packing for leaving China tomorrow after the walk.

8/14/05 Sunday

After breakfast, we flew to Hong Kong.  At Hong Kong, the group flew back home while I flew to Taipei.