YUAN YANG (YUNNAN) - SAPA (VIETNAM)
(Edited from an email to M from Vietnam Lao Cai Railway Station on 7th Mar 2006)
Hi !
i'm in an internet station outside LaoCai Railway stn right now, 3 hrs more before my train departs for Hanoi n nothing to do, it's only 20c per hr for internet access, so let me update my last few episodes.....
UPDATE ON YUANYANG :
When i called from Kunming to try to book a room in Yuan Yang, i was told the weather was sunny with some fog and clouds, and i smiled to myself, thinking- "perfect for picture taking". Sigh, weather turned drastic when i arrived. The vis overall was less than 10m.
The first 2days in Yuan Yang was really depressing due to heavy fog that covered almost everything from roads to houses, let alone see any rice terrace fields. i caught only glimpses of the famouse rice terraces here and there and was not at all satisfied. It was like the day we were trekking in Sapa in '04, the day after the Tsunami.....
(Edited from an email to M from Vietnam Lao Cai Railway Station on 7th Mar 2006)
Hi !
i'm in an internet station outside LaoCai Railway stn right now, 3 hrs more before my train departs for Hanoi n nothing to do, it's only 20c per hr for internet access, so let me update my last few episodes.....
UPDATE ON YUANYANG :
When i called from Kunming to try to book a room in Yuan Yang, i was told the weather was sunny with some fog and clouds, and i smiled to myself, thinking- "perfect for picture taking". Sigh, weather turned drastic when i arrived. The vis overall was less than 10m.
The first 2days in Yuan Yang was really depressing due to heavy fog that covered almost everything from roads to houses, let alone see any rice terrace fields. i caught only glimpses of the famouse rice terraces here and there and was not at all satisfied. It was like the day we were trekking in Sapa in '04, the day after the Tsunami.....
Actually, i thank God our bus managed to arrive safely from Kunming, after a window pane behind me shattered to pieces due to the extreme change in temperature , miraculously without injury to anyone, after winding round and round the hills with the driver constantly sounding his horn cos the vis was so bad i could hardly see anything more than 2m ahead of the bus and i was sitting right behind the bus driver. i thank God he was a safe driver and didn't attempt to speed or cut lanes despite the fact we were getting quite late; there were a few occasions when a vehicle suddenly loomed into sight from the reciprocal direction just when we thought there was nothing ahead.
Yuan Yang town is very very like Sapa, with gentle slopes all over, and the hill tribe people (mostly Hani and Yi) still dressed in traditional garb except they don't harass travellers like in Sapa. Food is dirt cheap here, a bowl of noodles 1.5yuan, internet access 2yuan per hr with good speed n software, but transport n accomodation is relatively more expensive and standards relatively lower.
i had a room which had a door that couldn't close properly and a heater that runs only for 2 hours in the evening and if u miss the bathing hours, that's it....
There were a lot of photo enthusiasts here waiting for the fog to clear, they were always in a ever-ready mode with tripods all on standby already cos one never gonna know when the fog will move away and even then u might only have a few moments of glimpses of the beautiful rice terraces, so cannot afford to miss it :)
i saw from the news that the bad weather is all over China,Hong Kong n i believe it's raining also in S'pore. It's apparently due to a cold front, shifting southwards, n some areas even unexpectedly snowed.
i had to postpone a trip out to the terraces with a beijing lady and a 70++yr old Shanghainese man residing in HK 'cos of the poor vis. I was afraid i might hv to extend my stay here n might have to skip the Saturday Can Cau mkt or even the Bac Ha mkt in Sapa but......
thank God the last day at YuanYang was quite fruitful for the Good Lord kindly blessed the land with sunshine and markedly improved vis though fog was still prevalent. Took quite a number of shots because the rice terraces were really impressive: great works of sculpted land by man's labour made possible by the elements of nature provided by God; the mushroom huts of the Hani people also made picturesque spots on the beautifully scultped terraces and the markets were also colourful with the Hani and Yi people. Regretfully though, i did not hv enough faith to wake up for the spectacular sunrise that morning over one of the most captivating rice terraces, could hv kicked myself when i saw the pics of the other photographers.
Sunset, however was a disappointment to all who hv patiently waited for hrs at their 'choped' spots, the fog came in to mask the sun at the very last crucial moment!
Yuan Yang is really very similar to Sapa but i think i like it better here. u must really come n take a look if you had liked Sapa. Firstly, it's easier to get here from Kunming than to Sapa from Hanoi. Most of all, trekking is free and language is not so much a barrier. Throughout the places we've seen in YuanYang, the hill tribe pple r mostly kind, honest,helpful and r much less mercenary than those in Sapa. Nobody pesters you here, except at that sunset spot(Laohu Zhui), where i think tourism had spoiled the locals. The children had been taught to sing jingles that 'suan' tourists for not giving them money or buying anything from them and the local adults had stationed themselves at the most strategic spots to demand unofficial payment from pple taking photos of the rice terraces. Else, it's truly a beautiful place worth coming back to.
The World Vision has just started a project here this month to help the hill tribe pple by training them to be guides n they r also promoting responsible tourism here. They hv been v helpful in providing info even tho we didn't give them any business. Hopefully, they remain as helpful always.
On the last night before i left, i shared my room with a nice Taiwanese girl also travelling on her own. We had a good time watching and discussing the characters and plot of yr favourite show "金枝欲孽" ( which is a rage right now in China ) till late night... looks like me hooked onto it liao :) We r at the part where the emperor had just slept with Yuying n An Qian is planning to leave the palace.
Yuan Yang town is very very like Sapa, with gentle slopes all over, and the hill tribe people (mostly Hani and Yi) still dressed in traditional garb except they don't harass travellers like in Sapa. Food is dirt cheap here, a bowl of noodles 1.5yuan, internet access 2yuan per hr with good speed n software, but transport n accomodation is relatively more expensive and standards relatively lower.
i had a room which had a door that couldn't close properly and a heater that runs only for 2 hours in the evening and if u miss the bathing hours, that's it....
There were a lot of photo enthusiasts here waiting for the fog to clear, they were always in a ever-ready mode with tripods all on standby already cos one never gonna know when the fog will move away and even then u might only have a few moments of glimpses of the beautiful rice terraces, so cannot afford to miss it :)
i saw from the news that the bad weather is all over China,Hong Kong n i believe it's raining also in S'pore. It's apparently due to a cold front, shifting southwards, n some areas even unexpectedly snowed.
i had to postpone a trip out to the terraces with a beijing lady and a 70++yr old Shanghainese man residing in HK 'cos of the poor vis. I was afraid i might hv to extend my stay here n might have to skip the Saturday Can Cau mkt or even the Bac Ha mkt in Sapa but......
thank God the last day at YuanYang was quite fruitful for the Good Lord kindly blessed the land with sunshine and markedly improved vis though fog was still prevalent. Took quite a number of shots because the rice terraces were really impressive: great works of sculpted land by man's labour made possible by the elements of nature provided by God; the mushroom huts of the Hani people also made picturesque spots on the beautifully scultped terraces and the markets were also colourful with the Hani and Yi people. Regretfully though, i did not hv enough faith to wake up for the spectacular sunrise that morning over one of the most captivating rice terraces, could hv kicked myself when i saw the pics of the other photographers.
Sunset, however was a disappointment to all who hv patiently waited for hrs at their 'choped' spots, the fog came in to mask the sun at the very last crucial moment!
Yuan Yang is really very similar to Sapa but i think i like it better here. u must really come n take a look if you had liked Sapa. Firstly, it's easier to get here from Kunming than to Sapa from Hanoi. Most of all, trekking is free and language is not so much a barrier. Throughout the places we've seen in YuanYang, the hill tribe pple r mostly kind, honest,helpful and r much less mercenary than those in Sapa. Nobody pesters you here, except at that sunset spot(Laohu Zhui), where i think tourism had spoiled the locals. The children had been taught to sing jingles that 'suan' tourists for not giving them money or buying anything from them and the local adults had stationed themselves at the most strategic spots to demand unofficial payment from pple taking photos of the rice terraces. Else, it's truly a beautiful place worth coming back to.
The World Vision has just started a project here this month to help the hill tribe pple by training them to be guides n they r also promoting responsible tourism here. They hv been v helpful in providing info even tho we didn't give them any business. Hopefully, they remain as helpful always.
On the last night before i left, i shared my room with a nice Taiwanese girl also travelling on her own. We had a good time watching and discussing the characters and plot of yr favourite show "金枝欲孽" ( which is a rage right now in China ) till late night... looks like me hooked onto it liao :) We r at the part where the emperor had just slept with Yuying n An Qian is planning to leave the palace.
Can u tell me what happened in the end huh? Did the 3 girls (an qian, er chun, yuying) reconcile with each other? Did the two men (bai yang n kong wu) turn evil? Did anybody die ?
i probably will not get to watch anymore once i leave YuanYang, so pls pls pls, tell me ! tks :) hmmm, must see if i can get the pirated version b4 i come back....hee hee.
Oh..i must tell u abt the inspiring pple i met the last few days here. 3 Guangzhou young nurses, a 75++ old gentleman with his 50++yr old employee and i got together while having dinner at the famous "小余饭店" where we had a sumptuous dinner. The next morning, we went by foot to look for this rice terrace field (龙树坝）despite the fog. Well, all would hv been less adventurous if we didn't take the wrong advice from a local and ended up on a v tough 3hr trek on a path into a village with dogs barking at us; climbing n descending thru muddy,steep & narrow paths like those we walked thru in Sapa with Zi on that raining day; worst, we ended up treading on the thin steps of the rice terraces that were already filled with water. All these, thru the fog was already a little difficult for me with my bag n cameras, imagine the 75++ old gentleman, carrying his Canon EOS 1, with 3 long n short lenses plus lens hood n what not, plus he's quite big size and has Parkinson's disease.
i take my hat off to him and also to the 3 Guangzhou girls who, though on a very tight schedule (they had a bus to catch to return to Kunming just after noon), slowed down their pace, took turns to patiently hold onto the old gentleman and literally moved step by step with him across the rice terraces. It was a tedious n'precarious' task 'cos all might end up falling into the water-filled muddy fields if one slipped but thank God we all made it thru. Even though we didn't get to see the beauty of that place that morning, i saw beauty that really inspired me: the old gentleman who did not at all complain, who showed me if u have to n really want to do something, u will be able to do it regardless of age, disease or size. i was even more inspired by the 3 girls ' selflessness. Even as they rushed off to catch their bus, they did not forget to call the old gentleman on the handphone to check if he had reached the main road and they even gave him a driver's number to call in case he needed transport back to town due to exhaustion.
i thank God for all the kind pple i've met on my trips, incl. this round. The encounters alone r worth the journey already even tho this time round, weather
has not been as fantastic as the Meili Snow Mountain trip.
i probably will not get to watch anymore once i leave YuanYang, so pls pls pls, tell me ! tks :) hmmm, must see if i can get the pirated version b4 i come back....hee hee.
Oh..i must tell u abt the inspiring pple i met the last few days here. 3 Guangzhou young nurses, a 75++ old gentleman with his 50++yr old employee and i got together while having dinner at the famous "小余饭店" where we had a sumptuous dinner. The next morning, we went by foot to look for this rice terrace field (龙树坝）despite the fog. Well, all would hv been less adventurous if we didn't take the wrong advice from a local and ended up on a v tough 3hr trek on a path into a village with dogs barking at us; climbing n descending thru muddy,steep & narrow paths like those we walked thru in Sapa with Zi on that raining day; worst, we ended up treading on the thin steps of the rice terraces that were already filled with water. All these, thru the fog was already a little difficult for me with my bag n cameras, imagine the 75++ old gentleman, carrying his Canon EOS 1, with 3 long n short lenses plus lens hood n what not, plus he's quite big size and has Parkinson's disease.
i take my hat off to him and also to the 3 Guangzhou girls who, though on a very tight schedule (they had a bus to catch to return to Kunming just after noon), slowed down their pace, took turns to patiently hold onto the old gentleman and literally moved step by step with him across the rice terraces. It was a tedious n'precarious' task 'cos all might end up falling into the water-filled muddy fields if one slipped but thank God we all made it thru. Even though we didn't get to see the beauty of that place that morning, i saw beauty that really inspired me: the old gentleman who did not at all complain, who showed me if u have to n really want to do something, u will be able to do it regardless of age, disease or size. i was even more inspired by the 3 girls ' selflessness. Even as they rushed off to catch their bus, they did not forget to call the old gentleman on the handphone to check if he had reached the main road and they even gave him a driver's number to call in case he needed transport back to town due to exhaustion.
i thank God for all the kind pple i've met on my trips, incl. this round. The encounters alone r worth the journey already even tho this time round, weather
has not been as fantastic as the Meili Snow Mountain trip.
YUAN YANG TO HEKOU
The bus from Yuan Yang to the China-Vietnam border Hekou, was supposed to take only 4hrs so i didn't pack any food but i started off at 7a.m and ended in Hekou at 3.30pm Chinese time.(8 & half hrs!) China is in the process of building the highway from YuanYang to Hekou * and there r a lot of road works and road blocks along the way. It was a torturous journey with many hours stalled at road blocks and jams, didn't help with all the unavoidable inhalation of second hand smoke in the bus coupled with a madly impatient driver using all sorts of unscrupulous ways to cut queue. At one point he detoured to the works area by the river in an attempt to cut ahead of the queue that was stalled by the road block ahead and ended up with the bus unable to move up the slope back onto the road even after several 'bull run' attempts due to the steep angle. Finally, we all had to get down the bus to help push it up....'gey kiang'!
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The whole journey was along the road just beside the scenic Red River (红河) n i believe it will be a v pleasant ride once the highway is completed, but till then, no way i want to do that again.
* update : as of 28th Feb 2008, the highway from Yuanyang to Hekou is officially opened
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Hekou is , surprisingly a very modern, thriving town, with good wide n clean roads, modern buildings, expensive looking hotels. The crossing of the border was relatively fast n uneventful though i did notice the customs officer at the vietnamese side trying to 'eat' the 'tofu' of the groups of Chinese girls crossing over. Thank God me no tofu :)
The Border at Hekou(China) /Lao Cai (Vietnam)
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