i'm online

Its been almost 3 weeks since i last wrote -thankfully i am still alive, but currently unable to acess hotmail or yahoo email..damn yunnan internet.

There was a week-long conference which went well i think. there was lots of planning and ideas sharing and fun. Conferences are always inspiring and its been a few months since my last one. This one I was really impressed with the level of the delegates; concrete evidence that all the hard work the MC put in last year has paid off with the new EBs at a much higher level than last year's to start their year. At the moment I don't think 'we' feel like a team yet, but soon..., it was great to meet Primrose, who has now arrived to complete the team.

I had to leave 1 day early to sort out my laptop (something meant it wouldn't turn on) -it was a major pain and i had to improvise a lot, but now its in singapore (thanks echo for translating!) being fixed hopefully, to be ready for my return. I then flew (3 hours) to Kunming, the capital of Yunnan (Clouds south) in south-west china brodering, tibet, burma (myanmar), laos etc. its an interesting place. very clean and modern in the centre, and not so in the outskirts!

Lots has happened in the last week of travelling so i will try to summarise and fill in more gaps later. Kunming - showed round the yunnan nationalities museum by a lady who studies chinese minorities (fascinating), got sunburnt in the stone forest (better than expected) and walked up hills. Then a 12 hr bus journey to jinghong to meet Chris and Victoria (BLCU class mates) and a 4 hour, slow, painful, bumpy etc minibus to somewhere else before getting a tractor-taxi thing another hour until we were right on the burma border.

A 3 hour hike led us to crossing a 2 foot deep river in the dark with a village within sight, where we were led to stay with a local family (10 people!) in their house which was a great experience, since it was just as it should be. They had 1 light bulb, eletricitiy for a TV that only showed karaoke (to practice their language abilities? since only 1 of them spoke chinese, everyone else spoke Dai, the minority language), and an open fire where they boiled water for our team and cooked us dinner (eggs, cabbage and rice)..i could go on, and will once i relfect back in beijing.

the next day we hiked 8 hours through more fantastic rainforest and rice fields..the places where there is only 1 foreigner a week on average (how many intrepid backpackers make it this far?); following villagers on short-cuts, through rain, past massive spiders, avoiding falling trees (fromn logging), through endless villages and fields that were just stunning and primitive. I feel i have a much better understanding of how rural people live now (these people are not that poor, since there is plenty of rain to grow crops, and some have motorbikes which is the only form of transportation on some of the footpaths). the 3 of us had a wonderful, muddy, wet time.

then we had to deal with horrible chinese people who kept raising their price after agreement, to take us to the next village (we didnt want to wait for the bus the next morning as it meant we would miss the morning market). we gave up, and were so angry at these strange people refusing our money! China is such a stranghe mix of entrepreurialism and laziness/dependence on the state. anyway we finally left the stupid village (having found 1 restaurant with only 3 dishes) the next morning on the 4 hour bus (even slower than the last one, and with 1 kid, 1 mother and kid between me and chirs, then another mother and kid between chris and victoria making 8 of us on the back row). After keeping a low profile during the fight on the bus (flying kicks and everything), we made it to the finishing market,l and then 2 more minibuses later we got back to jinghong. the next day we hired bikjes and cycled into the middle of nowhere for another exhilerating experience.

so what is the big deal about these 5 days? well it was a chance to meet and (try to, since they do not speak putonghua) talk to several chinese minoroities, people who lived in fields, people who have never seen foreigners, kids whose lives are so happy yet so basic, see stunning scenery, see people in their 70s and 80s working till dark carrying things on their backs, or working in the fields, people whose nearest village is a 3 hour walk away (in good weather). we witnessed the generosity of chinese villagers and workers; we saw people with different customs, beliefs and dresses. i dont think many trips can compare. remember these places were hours and hours of travelling from the nearerst 'city' with 1 bus a day on roads that don't go anywhere....they just go on and on past more and more villages. so the only people on the tracks are those living in those villages. when we cycled off, we knew we would have to come back the same way; and in the meantime saw the role of the male and the female, the role of the young and the old in these different societies...who is working, who is doing what, when?

Saying goodbye to Victoria (london bound, via beijing) i got a 19 hour bus to dali which is an old town now looking the same as Yanshuo (see december trip with family) with old buildings preserved/repainted that are now selling things, from coffess, to food, dresses etc. its nice, very busy with foreigners, and attractive (flowing water and trees etc in the city, like it has been landscaped, whcih i think it has been). upon arrival i hiked up to the temple (past the strange cemetary), skipped it and hiked along the mountain and down again along a river on one of the most overgrown paths ever...i had to cross the river several times, guess and som,etimes walk in the river for lack of a path. eventually, with a permanent smile on my face, i ended up in a small quarry, with each pit being worked by a family, witht he dad holding the pickaxes and the mother and young children helping move the excess mud etc. a truly unbeleivable experience; they were so surprised but so welcoming..i ended up passing through their local village (thousands more 'hellos' from the kids), checking it out, and hitching a ride back to town. then met chris and his parents for dinner (thanks!)

today i cycled along villages by the lake; again no foreigners at all. all the tourists go to one town further along (which i got to eventually) so i had so much fun beign shown around the litle temples, talking (and showing off with wheelies to the kids!) and feeling like a fly on the wall as i cycled every little back lane and rice paddy wall. what i learnt from this trip, is why the lake is so beautiful. Its not because it is so blue reflecting the sun, but because of the life it supports around it. Talking to and sitting with the villagers fishing, i felt like a local chinese villager.

This trip has really shown me the importance of agriculture and of water to the World. The happiness of those with simple lives and the desire to want to spend longer with them. Despite their broked backs, health problems, lack of hygiene, staple diet (i see why they have so many health problems) and so on. At the same time, they are apart of China -they are alive, not starving, and they smoke, have tractors, and within a few years will be within 200m of a main road (we saw roads being built everywhere). they are joining the rest of the world. many villagers take several bags of vegetables on 5 hour buses to market ..they are trading and earning income... I am now even more determined to go into the mountains in northern yunnan where the really poor people are. I was unable to this time, due to the heavy rains, but my contacts are good, and we might try to organise a study tour out there later in the year.

i cant even begin to convey how interesting the trip is, how much fun it is to travel with friends, and alone (i do things that someone else acting as my conscience would remind me is stupid). there is so much more of the world to see. next up is more stunning natural beuaty in lijiang and then onto the tibetan plateau to experience tibetan life. i am not interested in sitting in cafes with the other backpackers (although it is fun and relaxing); not my style. the whole time i am here, i am thinking of my work, inspired to really make it happen, to make a difference...and have also put more ideas into my mind about future careers (been thinking a lot in the last year or so about trying to learn about china and translate it into how to help other countries).

Such an amazing country, and yet my own country is struggling with terrorism, failing manufacturing and a dodgy governemnt who bends statisitics every day. I do wonder why only last week the UK started giving visas to Chinese tourists. well, durrr..about time!

p.s. there are pictures, lots of them, of beautiful places and of beatuful people. cant way to share them with you!