tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2227787658022807400.post4117964418044362821..comments2024-03-04T15:06:50.343+08:00Comments on What's Next?: Under my skinNaomihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07570190523277625370noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2227787658022807400.post-62713030163804033632012-06-03T09:30:02.358+08:002012-06-03T09:30:02.358+08:00Michael, you are a true adventurer. China is so mu...Michael, you are a true adventurer. China is so much easier to get around in than in the old days. We did it the easy way back in 1989, on a tour, not like you. My next trip to China will indeed be to Sichuan and the Tibetan areas. Some of the political strife is unfortunately spilling over into this area though and the police have closed the area on and off to tourists in the last few years. Usually only for a few weeks at a time though. I hope they don't make it as draconian as TAR.Naomihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07570190523277625370noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2227787658022807400.post-78085742255212796462012-04-24T02:50:33.663+08:002012-04-24T02:50:33.663+08:00I spent over a month in Yunnan in 1984. Westerners...I spent over a month in Yunnan in 1984. Westerners were a rarity. I was standing between cars on the Guilin Kunming train. A man saw me as the train pulled away. "Foreign fliend!! he cried out, shocked to see a red monkey/white ghost. I know I was the first foreignor many people had seen. Dali opened just as I arrived in Kunming. No. 5 Paying Guesthouse dorm rooms were $0.12. I stayed about a month in the Dali area. Got arrested hitching to Lijiang. Closed city. "Nothing for tourist.", the PSB man told me. The bus from Kunming was every other day & took 10 hours. Now there is a freeway & a train, I read. Black market money exchange in a Kunming restaurant was made under the table after closing. The owners were terrified because the punishment was death. There were about 35 places foreignors were allowed to see in China. And, yes, language was a very difficult. No one understood English. Guide books were not available except for a very basic book you could find in Hong Kong. China was the most difficult place for solo travel I had ever encountered. I returned in 2010. All students were learning English. If you wrote a question, they would write an answer. I returned to Guangzhou. Unrecognizable. Crossing to Shenzen in 1984 & taking a train to Canton was through farms. In 2010, a new city of 12 million & skyscrapers to the horizon. I flew to Chengdu. Again, a new city. I spent about a month in the Tibetan areas of Sichuan. Wonderful. Kangding, Tagong, Ganze, Derge, Palpung, Dzongchen, Katok, Sertar, Baiyu & so many other places. I highly recommend this area if it is open. Yunnan/Sichuan got under my skin, too. Michael tessmike@aol.comAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com