Greetings all from the South of China,
28 Oct 2014
This update is back to the 'normal' China updates...more China experiences as Rod and I signed up to run an adventure race here in Quibei, Yunnan province in the South west of China. For those of you who have followed along on our journey, you know that Rod is in the middle of the 2nd phase of cancer treatment and this race is already a victory! We are enjoying the tours and scenery and getting to see a completely different part of China..but most of all, we are enjoying the time together and thanking God and our friends and family all over the world for healing and prayers. Thank you!
China has 57 or 58 Ethnic groups and 26 of them are here in Yunnan. It's much different than Liaoning province (where we live in Shenyang) where most all is the Han people and in Shenyang it is a mix of agriculature and heavy manufacturing. Here in Yunnan, it is mostly all an agricultural based economy and there are 26 different ethnic groups represented. So far, in Kunming and Qiubei and puzhehei, we have interacted with the Yi people and the Mao people...don't ask me to tell you the difference except to say that when they dress up in their traditional dress, the Yi people wear maroon and the Mao people wear green!
We started our introduction to Yunnan in Kunming. Kunming is called the city of eternal Spring..it's about the temperature of Spring all year around. It rarely snows and doesn't get too hot either. Seems to be very lush and green! As I mentioned before, this trip all started out as way to have an exercise goal and see a different part of China...it has been all of that and more so far as I type this! We were met at the airport by the race organizer and they took care of us from then on! More about the race itself in another blog post.
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| Jenny, the co-organizer for the race, met us at the airport and give us a traditional Yunnan necklace as a nice welcome gift! |
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| Rod and Sarah arriving at the Kunming Airport with our Yunnan necklaces on! |
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| Jenny (Race director), Rod , Sarah, and Oscar, (local logistics guy) |
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| Sarah in front of the poster for "Dynamic Yunnan"..the lady in front of the moon is one of the scenes in the show..it really is spectacular to see her dancing siloutted in front of a moon..her movements were so fluid! |
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| The starting stage scene from "Dynamic yunnan"..no photos allowed during the show |
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| The Cast of "Dynamic Yunnan" at the end of the show...some really talented dancers! |
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| One of the many beautiful flowers in the city of eternal spring in Kunming |
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| Rod with the Dancers of Dynamic Yunnan" |
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| Sarah with the "Dynamic Yunnan" Dancers before the show...what a great spectacle! |
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After a nice night out on the town, we met up with the other runners the next day and took the bus to Qiubei. It was about a 5 hour bus ride through the mountains and hills. We stopped at a restaurant along the way for lunch and were treated to a little serenade by several of the locals before hitting the road again.
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| The courtyard at our lunch break stop between Kunming and Qiubei in Yunnan Province. |
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| Rod and Sarah at the lunch stop |
If it comes through, I've tried to post a short video of the singers at the lunch stop restaurant
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| The international runners of the Inaugural running of the Yunnan Marathon, 2014 |
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| Some of the local architecture...a blurry picture from the bus..notice the horse and wagon along side the road. |
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| Rodney with one of the ethnic groups (Miao) people at the entrance to the hotel. |
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| The view from our hotel room in Qiubei. A big lotus circle. The town has lots of lakes and all have lotus flowers (lilly pads) growing in the lakes..they harvest the roots, but probably just as importantly, host a big tourist trade of taking people on boat rides when the flowers are blooming in July/August. |
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| Time to get something to eat before the big race the next day..lots of street food choices (and no, so far, we havn't gotten sick!) |
After eating, Rod was pooped out, so he went back to the hotel (and supervised the maintenance people attempting to fix the toilet in the room!), and I went with our group to a local show put on by two of the ethnic groups..the Yi people and the Miao People. This was a wonderful show of dancing and signing around a bonfire in the small village of Pu Zhe Hei.
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| Of course, the visitors became part of the show..Sarah dancing with the Yi people |
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| The lighting of the bonfire to start the show |
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| Sarah with one of the Yi People |
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| Sarah with some of the local audience after the show...I feel really tall among these people..and I'm only 5'7" |
After a good night's rest, we got up and had our race meeting, got our race stuff, toured around the town of Qiubei and then we went out on a tour of the race area including exploring 2 caves and then taking a boat ride around part of the course. This is the same lakes that they harvest the lotus from. This was an exciting day..full of anticipation about the race and enjoying the clean, fresh air of Yunnan.
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| Inside one of the caves we explored...lighting is everything! |
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| Rod and I walking around one of the paths around the lake in Puzhehai |
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| Sarah and her stalageite in the cave |
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| More cave pictures...they were amazing! |
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| clear, still water in the cave |
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| Foot bridge in the cave |
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| Reflections and lighting in the cave |
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| Rod getting on the boat ready for a ride around the lake |
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| Rod and Sarah with crew on our boat ride around the lake |
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| One of the many bridges on the lakes |
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| The view from the front of the boat on the lake |
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| The floating restaurant lady on the lake |
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| Fruit, BBQ, what's your fancy...she could provide it! |
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| A stunning late afternoon on the lake |
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| The panarama of Rod on the lake |
So that about does it for our Pre-race activities in Yunnan. I'll make another post for the actual race it self! Giving Thanks to God for Rod being able to make this trip..just to think 10 days ago, he was in the hospital bed in Beijing getting immunotherapy cancer treatment..and he'll have to return after this trip to finish it up...but for now, we are enjoying our time together here in clean, fresh-air, Yunnan, China!
Sarah
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