I figured it must have been my intonation which caused me trouble, so I tried again: “miniye baa”. The staff of my hostel in Jianshui looked at me with a look as if they thought I had cuckoo. OK, so far for my pronunciation in Standard Chinese, I thought, and showed them my smartphone where the word for “toilet” was written in chinese script. “Miniye baa”, the staff member repeated, still with a look of disbelief on his face. I realised Google Translate must have been a bit off with their translation, so I took out my notebook and showed off my drawing skills. It still took me about 5 minutes before they figured out I wanted to go to the toilet and refused to express it with obscene gestures… I was gradually getting used to having communication problems in China and took it good humouredly. All the easier in this laid back town, with an ancient feel to it and some nice - but to my feeling overpriced - cultural attractions.
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How to get to the Redlands?
Since the Redlands have not (yet, I am sure) made it into some guidebooks, I thought I would share how I got there. It may not be the only way, and maybe there are more efficient ways; see for example this post, which gives more options. This is how I got there: Where to take the bus to Dongchuan Redlands? Kunming North Coach Station (58 RMB to Dongchuan). Where to stay in Dongchuan? I arrived in Dongchuan at 930pm and had to stay overnight. Apparently, not all hotels in Dongchuan accept foreigners. I ended up in this hotel: 云鑫楼旅社 (pinyin: yǔn xīn lóu lǚ shè). I paid 50 RMB for a decent basic room with ensuite bathroom (asian toilet); the hotel is about 600m from the bus station. How to get to the Red Lands from Dongchuan? I searched “Dongchuan Busterminal” on my maps.me app - navigation from the hotel is very simple, basically following one main road. At the bus station, I asked for the bus to Fahze (this town can also be found on maps.me, which gives both the English and the Chinese name). I was then referred to the other counter. The lady at the counter had a paper with some English sentences: “Do you want to go to the Red Lands?” I nodded yes, she indicated the bus would leave at 9am. 19 RMB. I hopped off the bus in Huashitou. There are at least 3 hotels there. I stayed in 红土人家酒店 (pinyin: hóng tǔ rén jiā jiǔ diàn). Nice room and bathroom for 80 RMB (2nd night I negotiated for 60 RMB), but problems with the shower (it was so scorching hot that I could not use it, for 2 nights in a row). There were plenty of hotels being built when I visited, and there were some finished ones walking distance from mine. Do you have to visit the Red Lands with a driver? If you want to see all the sites (10) in one day, probably yes. But you can see nice views by just walking also. In particular, the (splendid) site called “Beautiful Garden” is only 30 min walking from Huashitou. If you ask in your hotel about the viewpoints, they should be able to provide you with a map that indicates them. Viewpoint 1 is the most spectacular that I have seen and is quite far from Huashitou (about 30 min by car). The Red Lands are being developed for car tourism rather than pedestrian tourism: if you want to walk to the sites, you will need to walk on the side of the road (no sidewalk). Also, some of the dogs are rather vicious (I didn’t get bitten though; just some growling and barking). I took a half day with a driver, to 5 sites, for 100 RMB (10 sites was 200 RMB). I personally prefer walking so I have time to take pictures and venture a bit further if I want to. For more pics and a short description of my journey, see my post: “An experience not quite like the others - Dongchuan Redlands (Yunnan, China)”. My Dutch friends Jandaan and Marleen, whom I met on the Annapurna Circuit, had recommended me to go to the red lands in Yunnan. Curious: these were nowhere to be found in my guidebook. The internet taught me these lands were so far “undiscovered” by tourism - sounded like a winner to me! After a short stopover in Lijang to say goodbye to the Rice Slurp crew, I headed back to Kunming, to go find the red lands. After some Babylonic difficulties, I somehow, with a lot of luck and once again help of a friendly Chinese guy, ended up on the right bus, in the direction of Dongchuan. I arrived there at 930pm without a hotel reservation… A local Dongchuan girl I had met on the bus, brought me to some cheap hotels, but they did not want to take a foreigner… I finally ended up at the local police station, where a friendly officer escorted me to a suitable hotel. Next day, I took a local bus that drove through the spectacular Dongchuan Redlands, and hopped of midway. My picnic lunch with a view on the “Beautiful Garden” was memorable! The second day was a rainy one unfortunately, but I still managed to see some extraordinary sights. For the adventurous, a trip to the Dongchuan Redlands comes highly recommended!
The minute I set eyes on Lugu Lake, I was happy I had decided to come there. The big dark blue lake lay sparkling in the crisp winter sun, surrounded by beautiful green hills, quite a sight! I was very disappointed however, when the lady from my hostel informed me there were no walking trails around the lake. It seemed that the only way to soak in the lake vistas, was by renting another scooter… Mindful of my Dali experience, I stayed away from the scooters and settled for some short walks and some lazing around the lake - an enjoyable but slightly too cold experience!
No-one seemed to know where the bus station was, except the taxi driver, whose services I, in line with my backpacker lifestyle, stubbornly did not want to use. So I set off on a long walk, asking people on the way wherever possible. I did find the bus station eventually, but was not so pleased to hear that the next bus to Tiger Leaping Gorge was one and a half hours later. Not that one and a half hour mattered so much in the scheme of my one year holiday, but I was very keen to do a fair bit of hiking in the Gorge today, since they predicted rain for the next day. Eventually, I got to the Gorge by 4pm, did a strenuous 2-hour walk and ended up having a great evening talking to an interesting guy from Singapore. Next day, the weather gods were sending some clouds but spared me in the end: no rain while I was hiking! Tiger Leaping Gorge was undoubtedly beautiful, but no comparison to my previous hiking adventure in Nepal. On the upside, it was great being able to stay in a mountain guesthouse with delicious food and electrical blankets on the beds - a luxury unknown in Nepal!
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