Honeymoon: Yunnan Province

B and I have been in Yunnan province for the last few days, which is in the Southwest of China (but not as far west of Tibet). Going to Tibet proved to be too complicated and expensive, so we went here instead. It's really beautiful and wild. Yunnan has many non-Chinese minorities, like the matriarchical Mosu (according to our guidebook, the world's only currently practicing matriarchy) and the Naxi, who worship the forces of nature and still use pictographs to write their holy books. They are physically different-looking and speak their own languages, although most people also speak Chinese (although no English, B's skills are very useful). Lijiang, where we are now, is mostly Naxi. (There's about 300,000 of them, and they all live here or in the surrounding areas).

B and I went hiking in Tiger Leaping Gorge, which is a very beautiful and remote gorge created by the Yangtze river. A tiny dirt trail leads through the mountains, and the local people (who aren't Chinese but an ethnic minority known as Naxi: they wear indigo pants and caps, if men, and white and indigo dresses with aprons and caps if women, and are darker than Chinese people) have guesthouses you can stay at during the night. It was very fun, but of course there was no internet access. There were also no Chinese people: they hate to walk or exert themselves physically. The local people have ponies which you can ride up and down the cliffs as a result, although I didn't see any Westerners using them. China would be a good place for those who can't walk well, since even national parks have numerous golf carts, mini-trains, rickshaws and sedan chairs for the benefit of the Chinese.

Now we are back in the tourist town of Lijiang, which is very beautiful and charming: cobblestone streets, red lanterns in front of every restaurant and shop at night, curving roofs, low white-washed stone or brick buildings. And all the tourist facilities are present here: an airport, ATMs, and lots and lots of Chinese tourists (although very few Western ones). Lijiang is a very popular place for the wealthy Chinese to visit due to its beauty and exoticness (like Hawaii maybe, but less developed). Tomorrow we will go to southern Yunnan, near the border of Laos and Burma, which has a strong Southeast Asian influence: and wild elephants! which I may possibly see.