AROUND THE WORLD

AROUNDTHEWORLD.COM/MAGAZINE MAY 2015 ISSUE

A Glimpse Of China

Looking Into The Lives Of Ethnic Minorities

CONTRIBUTORS’ PAGE __________________________________________________

EDITOR’S NOTE BY CHIH-NING TEOH __________________________________________________

MAP OF CHINA __________________________________________________

ALERT! THINGS TO BEWARE TIPS FOR FIRST TIME TRAVELERS TO CHINA

__________________________________________________

LIFE IN TIBET FOR 24 HOURS BY HELENA HUANG __________________________________________________

A CLOSE UP LOOK AT TIBET __________________________________________________

MUSHROOMS ON GRASSLANDS BY SUNMIN YEOU

__________________________________________________

CLIMATE OF MONGOLIA __________________________________________________

A TRIP TO BAI BY CHIH-NING TEOH

__________________________________________________

CLIMATE OF DALI __________________________________________________

SOURCES

SM

Table Of Contents2

3

4

5

6 - 10

11

12 - 18

19

21 - 26

27

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CONTRIBUTORS’ PAGE

CHIH-NING At just thirty-two years old, Chih-Ning is described as an experienced world traveler. She was born and lived her childhood years in Taiwan. She has traveled to many countries in her life so far, including Turkey, South Korea, various places in Canada, Australia, and finally China. She savors new experiences and memories, and enjoys sharing them with other people, resulting in her present career.

SUNMIN Sunmin is currently living in Seoul, Korea. She has just turned 33 this year, and has worked as a travel writer for five years. Previously, she has worked as a business woman. However, after realizing her passion for traveling around the world, she has moved her career to travel writing. She loves to experience and learn new things. She also likes to meet new people while traveling around for her writing.

HELENA Helena is currently 45 years old. She was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. After completing her masters degree in photography at Switzerland, with the highest GPA in the nation, she moved to San Francisco. She has worked for a variety of travel magazines. Her hobbies includes taking photos while she travels and writing short travel essays.

Editor’s Note By Chih-Ning

In this month’s issue of “Around The World”, the readers will experience the life of three distinctively different ethnic minorities of China, and let it be known, that not one of them live a modern life full of technology. From endless stretches of grassland, to snowy peaks of mountains, to fields of rice paddies, there are many wonders in China. People often think of China as a polluted, factory-filled place, but what most don’t know is that these unique ethnic minority cultures still exist. Each of our travel writers have individually spent 24 hours with an ethnic minority of their choice. Sunmin visited the Mongols in Inner Mongolia up north. Meanwhile, leaning towards the west side of China, Helena decided to scale the mountains to stop by the Tibetans. Lastly, as one of the contributor’s for this month’s issue, I decided that I would head for a warmer place down south where the Bai ethnic minority people live. All three of us have learned many new things to share, and we all realized that, surprisingly, each ethnic minority’s lifestyle is based around where they live.

4

Alert! Things To Be Aware Tips For First Time Travelers To China

Break The Language Barrier It's always important to try to learn a few words before you visit far-away lands, but in China it's almost essential. Try to learn some basic Chinese before you go. Also remember to bring a pocket Chinese dictionary or a translator app to your travel.

Learn to haggle and be prepared to walk away In China’s “department stores” haggling is a very natural act. The best way to start off haggling is to be able to walk away. First off, make up your mind that you can live without whatever it is you're haggling for. Ask for the price and then ask for it to be cheaper. The seller will then give you a "discount" price. Take that price and stick to it.

Bring Pollution Masks (Or At Least Any Kind of Masks) Sadly, as grand and amazing as China is, its air quality is terrible. The Forbidden City is in Beijing where the air is terrible. The Shaolin Temple is outside of Zhengzhou in Henan, where the air is also terrible. Pretty much everywhere you'd want to go, you'll end up encountering ridiculous amounts of smog. To enjoy the outdoors, a good face mask is necessary.

Watch Your Belongings And Situations You should put your wallets in their front pocket. Women should hold their bags by the bag and not just by the strap. If you're carrying a backpack, when you get onto any transportation, wear it on the front. Also if you're visiting a tourist trap, do not follow anyone who says they want to take you somewhere, or that they'll help you with your belongings.

Be prepared To Be Gawked At This doesn't really apply to cities like Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Beijing or Shanghai, but it applies to most other cities, villages or towns in China. If you're a foreigner with a blond hair or blue eyes, you will stick out and there will be lots of people looking at you wherever you go—even more so if you're able to speak Chinese. It will also happen with Asians that look Chinese but aren't Chinese, except the shock wears off faster.

SM

THE TIBETAN MINORITY

H.H

Life in Tibet

For 24 Hours

By: Helena

A cold breeze punches me

through the gut, as a thousand

snow fall suddenly like a rainfall of

snow. After an hour of walking

and suffering, I finally reached

the Peak of Duke-

z o n g M o u n t a i n

where the Duke-

z o n g V i l l a g e i s

l o c a t e d . S w e a t

pours from every

pore of my body

and pools uncom-

fortably in my many

layers of shirts and

coats. Up in the mountain, the

heat of physical movement

quickly trifle away by the chilling

winds, leaving only cold damp-

ness that clings to the body. As I

take my final steps towards the

village, I recount my journey.

During the hike, I noticed several

trees with colourful hanging flags

wrapped around the branches.

The village itself looks colourful

from afar. The reason why they

tied the flags up is because they

believed the flags would bring

good fortune to their family and

themselves ; th i s i s another

Buddha custom that many

Tibetans believe.

I came at April so the snow from

the mountains had started to

melt. As the

w e a t h e r

warms up,

t h e s n o w

would melt

w h i c h

cause the

s n o w t o

o p e n u p

the blocked

remote roads allowing travellers

to excess more place including

travellers like me.  As I recount my

journey, I remembered how hard

it is to breathe at the village since

the village is 3,200m above sea

level. As soon as I figured out that

I have difficulty with breathing, I

remembered I opened my oxy-

gen can and ate some pills that I

brought from the airport.

“Up in the mountain, the heat of physical movement quickly

trifle away by the chill-ing winds, leaving only

cold dampness that clings to the body.”

As I recount my journey, I

remembered how long I stood

staring at blank space while I still

have work to do. As I began my

walk towards the house I’m going

to stay, I noticed that the house

from the Dukezong village is

painted white and soon found

out that there were a reason for

the house to be painted white

from a villager on my way from

hiking. I remembered what the

old men told me by memory, he

said that after the town was es-

tablished, craftsmen found white

clay in the region that could be

used as pa int . Th i s i s why

Dukezong is named as the White

Stone City. The White Stone City

had another name and it is

called the Moonlight City. There’s

another reason why the city is

also called The Moonlight City;

legend said that on a clear night

the ancient city would reflect the

sliver sheen. This had cause to

another epithet: Moonlight City.

The city got multiple names since

this town is quite famous. And the

names I mentioned are the most

famous names for this town.

Putt ing the names besides,

I noticed that

there were a

pile of corns

tied together

making a tri-

angle shaped.

I then found out that it is called

Corn Crib. Farmers tie the corn

together and put it in front of the

sun to get rid of the dampness of

the corn. I find it fascinating how

they hang the corn crib up from a

single string. Back in reality, I final-

ly stood in front of the house I’m

going to stay. Exited, I ran inside

the house to check in but I found

nobody so I decided to to take a

walk around the small village. As I

begin my walk, I noticed a huge

crowd of people gathered

around a grassy hill. Curious, I de-

cided to check what’s going on.

To be my surprise, it was the

Chawalong Horse Racing Festival.

Luck had found me since the

Chawalong Horse Racing is only

10 days long and today is the 4th

day. According to my research

before coming to Tibet: Chawa-

long horse racing is a horse riding

competition in northern Tibet.

Thousands of herdmen gather

around the grassland outside of

Dukezong city.

After deciding that I stayed long

enough, I begin to walk towards

the house again to see if they re-

turned. After another tiring jour-

ney towards the house, I found

out the village has very limited re-

sources, with no access to phone

signals, and electricity. I begin to

wonder what the Tibetans do for

their entertainment without any

electricity. For me, I can’t live

without electricity and I just won-

der how they can do it. Speaking

of electricity, I wonder how they

see during the night without any

light. Could they use candles in-

stead of a lamp? Thousand of

questions rush into my mind. I

can’t wait to meet the family and

see what kind of life they have.

And speaking of the family, I was

finally in front of the snow white

building. Suddenly I smell this

delicious aroma of food, while

following the smell I reached

towards the kitchen of the house.

The kitchen itself is plain and

simple but the huge black stove

stood out. The stove is made out

of grey stones but turned black

overtime by the ashes.  I then

reached towards the ruby red

table with sheep patterns on it.

The table itself only reach towards

m y k n e e s w i t h p l a t e s o f

dumplings known as “Momo”

and traditional wines in red cups.

After deciding to eat or not, the

bells of the doors started to ring

and I was greeted by the family.

The male of the family wore a

long yellow skirt with a pair of

white dressy pants ; and heads

wrapped with red and black

scarf,and finally each wore a

long red cowboy boots; they look

like they are ready for a fashion

shoot. The females however, wore

a longer skirt with rainbow strips

around the sides of their skirts and

rainbow coloured beads on their

hair and unlike the men, they

wore a pink scarf. The family then

welcomed me by drinking their

delicious wines and eating the

Momos with them.

We talk until the sky turns dark.

And the most intersting topic we

talk about are the traditions of

the Tibetan marriage. They say

that the parents have the rights to

force an engagement to their

daughter or son when their child

didn’t get married while they are

still young. While talking, we

didn’t notice that it was morning

until a rooster started crowing. It

was sad saying goodbye to the

family even though we only met

for 24 hours. We hug and says

goodbye to each other. The

saddest part is not saying good-

bye to the family but because we

can’t contact each other again

since the village don’t have elec-

tricity which means they don’t

have phone signals.

After saying goodbye to the fami-

ly, I wrote down some notes and

eventually turn out to be the

article you are reading right now.

And this is my journey to Tebet for

24 hours.

A Close Up Look At Tibetan

Plateaus, known variously as tablelands or flat-topped mountains, are regions elevated thousands of feet above their surroundings. Tibet is located on the world’s biggest and highest plateau, Qingzang Plateau. At the average altitude of more than 4,000 meters, it borders on India, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Burma, and other countries on the south. With it, the mountain Himalaya stands as well. The Himalayas have the third largest deposit of ice and snow in the world, after Antarctica and the Arctic. The Himalayan range encompasses about 15,000 glaciers, which store about 12,000 km3 of fresh water.

Himalayas is the place where most travelers go

The Mongol Minority

S.M

Mushrooms

On Grasslands

By Sunmin

It was like I was in a fairytale.

The mix of the beautiful shade of

green and the shade of the blue sky,

with the gold of the

morning sunshine

a lmos t seemed

unreal. I was sure, if

this was a painting,

I would have paid

anything to buy it.

A l t h o u g h t h e

scene was quite

simple; since there was only green

and blue; the unaffected beauty of

the landscape was breathtaking.

“Visiting for a nice time off here

in Inner Mongolia?” The taxi driver

suddenly blurted out, looking back.

“Oh, no,” I said, flustered. “I’m

just a travel writer.”

“Hmm.” He replied, staying

quiet again. I stayed quiet too, feeling

the awkward silence.

Before long, the cab rattled to

a stop. I struggled to pull my bag out

of the car as I looked around. The

rustl ing wind stung my cheeks,

messing with my hair. I thanked the

driver and handed him the money.

Taking a deep breath, I put my bag

firmly on the ground.

I pulled out a note of my

p o c k e t t h a t

had the name

o f m y h o s t

(A l tan) and

the place that

w e w e r e

supposed to

meet, which

w a s h e r e . I

had seen his advertisement on the

internet and contacted him. He was

more than welcome to invite me to

his house, which was very fortunate.

I waited, until I noticed a man

coming up, whose face lit up when

he noticed me. He gestured towards

me delightfully, telling me something

excitedly in English in a clumsy

accent, which, unfortunately, was

impossible to understand. I smiled

“The mix of the beautiful shade of green and the shade of the blue sky, with the gold of the

morning sunshine almost seemed unreal.”

awkwardly, nodding, not wanting to

disappoint my host when we’ve only

just met.

As we walked together to his

house, he told me I should unpack

quickly, because the Aobao festival

was about to start. He explained it

was a festival where people rode their

horses to gather at an appointed

place to hold a sacrificing ceremony.

But before the ceremony, people

held horse races, which, quoted by

him, is “the main reason we go to that

festival”. He also told me Mongolians

used horses a lot, because it was the

main transportation of the region

since they had no cars and buses.

Also the horses could be fed by grass,

which was spread around

all over the place.

Af ter ta lk ing for

awhile, we arrived at his

house, which were two

w h i t e t e n t s ( A l t a n

explained they were called “Yurts”)

sitting next to each other. They were

blossomed in the middle of the

widespread grassland like mushrooms.

They looked very friendly, in contrast

to the high buildings in the city that

always looked like they were trying to

stare me down. Children that seemed

to be Altan’s ran about like a group

of baby chicks, eyeing me curiously.

There was a heard of lambs

and goats were gathered around

Altan’s house like white clouds, eating

the grass lazily, their eyes half closed.

There was also a few horses, their

mane glowing in gold under the

sunshine.

My room was in the women’s

yurt. Putting my bag on a spare bed, I

looked around. It was really simple;

with a few beds in a circle and a bit

of belongings. There also seemed to

be no s ign of technology; no

computers, phones, or TVs.

I n t h e m i d d l e o f

unpacking, Altan’s wife

came in, who introduced

herself as “Borte”.

“It’s very simple, isn’t it?”

She said, gesturing around the yurt.

She explained that it was

because they moved, at least twice a

year, to another location. Since the

landscape that surrounded them

were all flat grasslands and they relied

on the natural resources for food, if

they stayed in one place gathering

food, sooner or later the area would

run out of things to gather.

I fished out a light jacket of my

bag and hurried out, as Altan waved

towards a table. There was a a bowl

of mi lk tea served on i t , and

remembering the information I had

gathered, I took it with my both

hands. And then Borte gave me a

bowl of lamb meat stew, which Altan

explained that it was called a

Khorkhog, a special meal for guests.

It luckily fit my taste well,

although I had never eaten lamb

meat before. I emptied my dish in a

few minutes, which fortunately made

Altan and Borte very pleased.

Not long after the meal, Altan

hurried us to get ready for the Aobao

festival. Since I had absolutely no

experience on riding a horse, I rode

with Borte, who assured me that it was

quite fun. I doubted it at first, but after

awhile, I actually started to enjoy it.

When we arrived, there were

already many people gathered

around. Borte explained to me they

were getting ready for the horse race,

so I watched them cautiously, curious.

After the wild race, which was

filled with enthusiasm, the monks led

us to the sacrifice to God. Altan and

Borte handed them two lambs for the

sacrifice, which the monks took

willingly. Then, the dancing and

singing started. The women and men

gathered together, their voices

spreading across the grasslands, while

the children dressed up in colorful

clothing twirled around, looking like

flowers blooming.

After the festival, we returned

back to the yurts, and while Borte

went into the kitchen to prepare for

dinner, Altan offered to introduce his

children to me. In a small area in front

of the house, where Borte could see

them, the children were gathered

around. Altan called for them, and

they all came running to us, shouting

something excitedly in Mongolian,

waving some small stones. But then as

they came closer I realized it wasn’t

stones; it was bones.

Altan explained that they were

playing the game Shagai (which, I

later found out, meant anklebones),

where they play using the cleaned

and polished anklebones of sheep.

He added they used sheep because

they had lots of sheep around, they

used the leftover bones like a toy.

They played lots of games with these

bones, but their children’s favorite

one was Mongolian Chess, which, I

found out characteristically depict

nobles, horses, camels, oxcarts and

other ident i f iable e lements of

Mongolian life. I sat with them in a

circle, while Altan explained the rules

to me. It was more similar to European

Chess than the Chinese Chess, but

there were still some different rules.

It was a really meaningful

experience; the faces of the children,

concentrating hard not to lose,

added enjoyment to the game.

Borte served lamb meat and

goat milk for dinner, and luckily it fit

my taste quite well. After eating and

resting for awhile, Altan took out an

instrument that looked very similar to

a cello, except its body was a

rectangular shape. There were also

only two strings, and Altan played it

putting on his lap instead of laying it

on the ground. Borte explained that it

was a Morin Khuur (horse head

fiddle).

It seemed like the Mongolians

had a lot to do with animals,

especially lambs, goats, and horses. I

had seen them near Altan’s house,

and also their meals were mostly

meats and dairy products, along with

the sheep bones they used for their

games. But s ince they al l the

landscape around them were flat

grasslands, I could see why. I couldn’t

imagine a better place to grow these

kind of animals. Lambs and goats

were animals that lived in a place

with little water, and this place had

little water and were full full of food

for the animals, it was a perfect

place.

And they also seemed to use all

of the things they had, and didn’t

waste any of it. After eating all the

meat of the animals, they used the

bones for toys or instruments. It

seemed to be their lifestyles. Since

they relied on natural resources, they

used up all of things they have as

much as they can. I thought it would

be a good lifestyle to learn, especially

us living in modern

cities. We are so used

to throwing things

away and getting a

new one, we forget

to thank for all the

things we have.

Altan began to

play a song which one of the children

explained was Mongolian Waltz. The

children gathered in pairs, dancing

faster and faster along with the music.

In the latter part of the song, the

children danced so fast their clothes

looked like a blurry circle. The fire lit by

Altan danced with them, swayed by

the wind. Borte helped me up, and

even though the dance was quite

hard, we followed along with them,

like a bunch of tops.

After dancing, I felt completely

exhausted I couldn’t even dare to

move a muscle. So I hurriedly went

back to the women’s yurt, after

saying good night to Altan and Borte,

and heaved myself up on the bed. I

lied there, staring at my plane tickets,

to check when I had to leave. Time

has passed so quickly, I couldn’t

be l ieve i t was

almost time for

me to go home,

back to Korea. I

put my tickets into

m y b a g a n d

p u l l e d u p t h e

covers.

The excited murmurs being

whispered into my ears forced me to

open my eyes. I heaved myself up,

frowning as at the bright sunshine

coming into the yurt. Shading my eyes

with my hand, I looked down and

noticed Altan’s children crowded

around me. Although I couldn’t

understand, I nodded and smiled as

they kept on shouting something in

Mongolian.

Al tan greeted me, as he

gestured me to sit down. We sat

down and ate, with the children

chattering on excitedly about the

chocolate bar and eventually getting

scolded by Borte. After breakfast, I

“We are so used to throwing things

away and getting a new one, we forget to be thankful for all the things we have.”

went back into my room and packed

my stuff. There wasn’t nothing much

to pack, since I only stayed here for a

night, but I felt like I had spent at least

a week with them.

I came out of the yurt, with all

my things, and the children all

gathered around me, all saying

something in Mongolian.

Altan told me they were upset

that I was going. He said they weren’t

really used to new people, so they

were a bit afraid but they had great

fun. I nodded and kneeled down, to

look at them eye to eye. I held their

hands, all of them, and kissed all of

them on their cheeks. The youngest

one came up to me and kissed my

cheek too, but the others were too

embarrassed to do so and just shook

my hand or hugged me.

Then I said goodbye to Altan

and Borte, who said farewell not with

words but warm, snug hugs. I kept

waving at them until I couldn’t see

them anymore. Taking a deep breath,

I closed my eyes and slowly opened

them, to capture the natural beauty

of the landscape one last time.

I took a look at the vast

grasslands, mushroom-like yurts, bright

sky, feeling the fresh air. I also took

another look at the rolling grass and

the flocks and herds moving like white

clouds on the remote grassland.

The beautiful shade of gold

shone on the blue and the green;

making me remember the scene I first

saw in the taxi. It was still like a scene

in a fairytale; but unfortunately, it was

time for me to close the book.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to see

them again here. They would move

again in a few months to another

place, because of their sheep, goats,

and horses. They would soon run out

of grass for their animals to eat and

move. But I also knew I would find

them and visit them again. It was part

of the beauty of Mongolian culture.

I kept staring at the landscape,

smiling. Then I tightened my grip on

my bag as I kept walking, feeling the

warm wind tickling my cheeks and

ears. It was time to say goodbye.

Farewell, Mongolia.

CLIMATE OF MONGOLIA

The weather in Mongolia is generally cold because not only is it up north, it also has quite a lot of trees and mountain blocking the sun. In January, the coldest month of the year, the temperature sometimes falls to -50˚C. For the warmest month, July, the air temperature should go up to 40˚C.

March is the harshest month out of all the others, because the average wind speed is 10 km/h.

17.4% of the land area has a semi-arid climate, 56.3% has a desert climate. 17% has a continental climate with dry winters, and 9.3% has a highland climateMongolia lies far inside

the continental interior of Asia. Surrounded by high mountains, it has a dry climate. It is very sunny place; having sunshine for about 250 days a year.

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The Bai Minority

C.T

A TRIP TO BAI

By Chih-Ning

The moment I set foot into the

courtyard, I knew that the three-hour

plane ride plus seven hours on the

train was worth it. The plane landed

in Kunming almost around midnight,

and even though I

slept on the train, I

felt as if my energy

was just about spent.

However, as I arrived,

my weariness was

washed away. The

distinct aroma of tea

and freshly smoked meat was al-

ready strong and inviting, and the

Bai family hadn’t even finished in-

troducing themselves yet.

Even though it was around 7

o’clock in the morning, the village

seemed to be buzzing with life. I saw

people already tending the fields

and going on with their daily lives as

I was walked through the village.

Everyone greeted me warmly, and

let me snap some pictures for my

travel magazine. I noted how there

was a sense of respect in the air, not

just towards me, but to everyone.

Liuxi, a farmer, was my unoffi-

cial tour guide. He brought me to

my temporary home, where I will be

able to get a glimpse of a Bai fami-

ly’s life. His wife was waiting for my

arrival, -and after I entered their

house, I knew I was in for an adven-

ture.

It was a U-

shaped, two-story

house built with

mud bricks and a

t i led roof . The

c o u r t y a r d s u r-

rounding it made

the whole place

seem spacious. I’m amazed at how

it much contrasted from modern

apartments and villas.

After spending a few mo-

ments admiring the uniqueness of

their house, I sat down in front of a

dining table. “This is usually called

the Sandao Tea Ceremony,” Liuxi

explained while he set the tea to

brew in a small pottery jar.

Pretty soon, the tealeaves

were yellow and they gave off a

“The distinct aroma of tea and freshly

smoked meat was al-ready strong and

inviting…”

charred smell. He poured me a cup

and motioned me to try it. I sipped,

and almost involuntarily choked. The

amber colored tea gave off a rich

fragrance, but I had not expected it

to be bitter! I realized how I must

have looked, so I tried to ignore the

taste and continued drinking. Liuxi

just laughed at my reaction, and us-

ing the same jar, he added more

water, but with brown sugar and

walnuts this time. I took a sip of the

new tea, and again was surprised.

The brown sugar and walnuts

h a v e a l m o s t

completely wiped

o u t t h e b i t t e r

taste, replacing it

with a pleasant

sweetness. “I see

you like this one,”

Liuxi smiled. He

then poured the boiled tea into a

bowl with some other ingredients. He

offered me the bowl to drink. Again,

not knowing what to expect, I took a

sip at the tea. Instantaneously, the

strong flavors of bitter, sweet, and

spiciness exploded in my mouth all

at once, leaving lingering aftertastes

on the tip of my tongue. Each

mouthful had the same result, and I

was left with an empty bowl in three

seconds flat.

How do they fit the vibrant

variations of tastefulness all in one

drink? As if reading my mind, Liuxi

said, “There was honey and Sichuan

peppers in the last one.” He paused

and then told me that this three-

coursed tea ceremony was often

referred to, “Yi ku, er tian, san hui

wei,” which meant: “first is bitter,

second is sweet, third brings reflec-

tion.”

We talked

some more,

and I also

found out

that this tea

ce remony

w a s f o r

t r e a t i n g

guests or friends. Anyhow, the tea

seemed to have woken me up, and

soon I was ready for more exploring.

The Bai family wasted no time either.

Liuxi asked me if I would like to try

going out to the fields, or staying

with his wife in the house (heavy

work was done by men). I decided

to try some work today. Liuxi ex-

“Instantaneously, the strong flavors of bitter, sweet, and

spiciness exploded in my mouth all at once, leaving lingering aftertastes on the

tip of my tongue.”

plained that Yunnan’s weather is

mostly rainy, resulting to a good

condition for the crops. His family

grew mostly rice, but they also had

other crops such as tea

and sugar cane. Before

I knew it, I was outside,

tending the field with

Liuxi.

K n e e d e e p i n

mud with my back bent

over the rice paddies, I

felt like my energy has

just depleted out of me. It didn’t

help that the sun was glaring down

at us, causing beads of sweat to

t r ickle down my head. When

lunchtime rolled around, I was

thankful when Liuxi called for me to

stop. I cannot imagine living like this

every day. Liuxi chuckled and said

that it was just my luck; it was more

of a sunny day than a rainy one.

We walked back to the house

to find that his wife already pre-

pared lunch for us. I found out that

the Bai people eat pork, which

looked and tasted really good, al-

though I wasn’t too keen on the

smoked pig liver and intestines. We

chatted around the table and I

found out that women usually do a

lot of selling in markets, however Li-

uxi’s wife did not go today.

When I asked them why,

“You’ll see,” was the

only answer I got.

After lunch and

some “relaxing tea”,

Liuxi and his wife was

busy preparing vary-

ing items in these big

baskets, and soon

enough, we were

heading our way to a mountain up

ahead. “We’re going to trade all

these things today,” Liuxi said, point-

ing at the big basket on his back.

“Do you know what time of the year

have you decided to visit us in?”

I nod my head. “I heard

there’s some kind of fair?”

“It’s not some kind of fair,” Liuxi

said, laughing. “It’s the biggest

event of the year. The March Fair!”

I looked at him puzzled. “But

it’s May right now?”

Liuxi and his wife laughed

even harder. “The fair takes place at

March 15th to the 21st, on the lunar

calendar.” I looked at them sheep-

ishly and couldn’t help but join in

laughing.

It didn’t seem like we hiked a

long way, but as soon as we neared

the foot of Mount Zhonghe and

Mount Diancang, we were greeted

by a sea of people. Businessmen

and common people from far and

near flock here to participate in the

festival, and were all milling about.

The place was so full of people,

sometimes I felt like I was being

dragged and pushed along every-

one. Many of them were carrying

large baskets of goods, and others

were there to buy. I watched as Liuxi

and his wife got to work on trading.

Liuxi offered if I wanted to try,

and I did, although I wasn’t very

good at it, and lost many people just

trying to communicate with them, as

they seemly have indecipherable

dialects, because other minorities

have also travelled here to attend

as well. In the end I decided to let

Liuxi take over. He skillfully and suc-

cessfully traded various amounts of

different goods. He sold sugar cane,

colza, and walnuts, and in return, he

gained furniture, some more edible

goods, and even a live pig or two!

I left Liuxi and his wife concen-

trate at their task at hand. Mean-

while, I wandered around to see

what other goods were sold. There

were a variety of different types of

good, but food was definitely the

biggest thing to trade. From rice, to

wheat, to oranges and tangerines,

there were many foods traded at

the place. To my right, some pears

were being traded for some Chinese

chestnuts. To my left, a guy had a

huge basket of buckwheat and was

attempting to sell it to someone else.

It was interesting and fun, and

anyone would be okay with staying

here for a whole time, as it is impos-

sible to become bored. Before I

knew it, the sun was dipping below

the horizon.

Liuxi led me to a place where

there seemed to be a huge gather-

ing. The next hour was a blur of

singing, dancing, and music. I didn’t

know any tunes of the songs they

sang, nor the moves to their tradi-

tional dances, so I mostly just

watched along, but it was still an en-

joyable experience. The three of us

ate at the festival with other people

chatting with us.

Soon, it was getting dark and

Liuxi suggested that we head home.

The walk back felt much more

longer than when we went there,

but I didn’t complain. Even though

I’ve only seen it once, it felt good to

be back at the house.

However, I was surprised to

find two kids at the door to greet us.

The boy, like Liuxi, had a white outer

upper garment and white trousers.

On the other hand, the girl was

wearing an apron of some sort, with

beautiful embroideries on top, just

like her mother.

After a brief introduction and

a few pictures, I washed

up quickly and headed

for the room they pre-

pared for me. It wasn’t

particularly big, but it

was decent-sized. There

were four posts on each

corner of the single-

sized bed, along with colorful flower

bed sheets. There was also a wood-

en “roof” over the top of the bed

(which the posts supported).

I collapsed onto the bed, and

almost immediately fell asleep. I

woke up early next morning and

had “wakening tea” and breakfast

with Liuxi and his wife. It felt like I was

here for less than 24 hours, but we

exchanged goodbyes with each

other. “It was great to be here,” I tell

them as I looked at the house for the

last time.

“It was good to have you here

with us, too,” Liuxi said, while waving

goodbye. Again, even at this time of

the day, the whole village was al-

ready up. I walked through it one

last time, enjoying the sense of peo-

ple and nature interacting. I started

the long ride back to the Kunming

airport after that, my mind filled with

thoughts about the

trip. I learned many

new things I didn’t

know before, like how

much a farmer’s life

differs from life in the

city and being sur-

rounded by technolo-

gy all day. Instead of supermarkets,

there are fields. Instead of the sound

of busy traffic, there’s the voice of

nature. Instead of machines and

technology, there’s life. I would defi-

nitely want to come back here, as a

vacation from the modern world.

As you can tell, the weather in Dali is generally warm, because it is located in the south.

When it comes to winter, the Dali’s air get polluted. That is because people don’t have electricity, so they burn coal to keep warm.

CLIMATE OF DALI

CHINA RAILWAY

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Sources “Map Of China - Blank” dreamstime.com, n.p. n.d. Web. 8. May. 2015

“China Map With Cities Blank Outline” jobspapa.com, n.p. n.d. Web. 8. May. 2015

“18 Ways To Be Positive At Work” pinterest.com, Erika Baum. n.d. Web. 8. May 2015

“Plateau Of Tibet” artofanderson.com, n.p. n.d. Web. 9. May. 2015

“Mountain Icon” psd100.com, n.p 5. Nov. 2013. Web. 9. May. 2015

“Current Weather Condition Of Mongolia” southtravels.com, n.p. n.d. Web. 10. May. 2015

“Nikon D600 VS Canon 6D - Entry Level Full Frame.” photokaz.com, n.p. 20 Sep. 2012. Web. 12. May. 2015

“Dali Weather” travelchinaguide.com, n.p. n.d. 12. May. 2015

“Yunnan Train Tour” tour-yunnan.com, Charlie Lee. n.d. 12. May. 2015

“Gregory Mountain Bag” alliexpress.com, n.p. n.d. 12. May. 2015

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Sunmin “Mushrooms On Grasslands”

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A Close Up Look At Tibet Sources Page

Chih Ning “A Trip To Bai”

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