Beautiful morning in LiJiang; we let the students sleep in, packed and made our way along the narrow streets to a café. Breakfasted on potato omelet, Yunnan black coffee, and a puffy-fried Yunnan flat bread with honey.

My shoes are so filthy I have to stop and buy flip-flops.

Here’s guy with his Ram — take a ride or if only a picture it is about 85 cents:

This day we left Woodies making our way down to the river by way of a switch-back gravel path. At the river, a ferry picked us up and we were carried to the other side.We walked through a countryside village stopping at one house to eat before being picked up by the bus.

We arrived at a mountain (sorry, I can’t ever remember the Chinese names), our goal was to go to the peak (10,000 feet above sea level).

A ski-lift carried us two-by-two up above pristine nature: the strong scent of pine scent in the cool air. We see dots of flowering bushes here and there – and to our amazement we spotted a mountain lion.

At the top were sprawling meadows with Yaks grazing at 10,000 feet.

Another 3hrs to a hostel in LiJiang. We had a devotion, movie.  After we got back to the hostel I played Texas Hold’em with the students till we were too tired to hold our heads up …and finally crashed in our bunks.

This Naxi family house where we stayed at had two bathrooms and cold showers which presented a good opportunity for my students to maintain a positive attitude [I didn’t hear any complaints as they knew better than whine around me].  Everyone was on the bus by 7am after breakfast of rice porridge spiced with chili peppers along with mantos (a Chinese bread baked in a steamer) and hot milk.

We were so exhausted, yet our goal today was to complete a 6+ hour hike through the Yunnan nature area near the famed Tiger Leaping Gorge.

The scariest part was the beginning where everyone crossed an area of falling rocks. This was very dangerous, two times falling rocks barely missed hitting us. I’m not sure why the highway department had not built even temporary rock shields for the pass? Like what are they thinking?? Not just hikers pass there, but road workers, food, water, supplies, and even gas for vehicles!

The entire hike was beautiful, but the best part was a half-mile ledge on the edge of a cliff. The path was about 3 feet wide and a beautiful 40-foot waterfall showered down very cold spring water.

I don’t remember being on a more scenic hike: a blue sky, puffy clouds, and snow-capped mountains above us; a raging river below and rock rising on each side.

We finally reached our hostel: Woody’s guesthouse.

Overnight train from Kunming to Lanzhou:  this is a new experience for me, but not bad at all!  Bunks 3 high, narrow aisles, Chinese people everywhere, waking up on arrival.We stayed in a countryside house of a Naxi (minority group) family. They (with neighbors help) cooked a meal of 12 dishes (by Naxi tradition 8 served on plates, 4 in bowls) afterward they put on a show with traditional Naxi costumes and music. They invited our group to join them and learn one of the dances.

While it had only been 72 hours since we left Tianjin, to me it seemed we have been there a week. The bright blue clear morning sky was speaking to us about the day ahead.

Before the Race – Deaf Industries Center 

First we visited a business started to support the skills and industry of deaf-mute people in the area. These people are typically disadvantage as their intelligence and abilities are severely underestimated. A couple of foreigners came here several years ago and have since established a self-supporting business in building furniture, clothing, and other giftware. They are currently challenged by a law that requires their factory’s neighborhood to be demolished. We are pr-ying for the huge expense of moving, not to mention loss of productivity during that transition.

Amazing Race

This Race was so fun!  Reminded me of the television reality show Amazing Race. If only there was a camera man following our conversations and experiences, I’m sure you would find our adventure interesting. Here are all the things we did:

• Asked an old man to teach us a Chinese song
• Attended a class at one of Kunming’s Universities
• Bought flowers and gave them to a Chinese who did us a favor.
• Donated a portion of our spending money to a beggar girl who had no legs.
• At dinner we ate boiled peanuts and street corn (none of us had these before today).
• Found out from a street sweeper how much they made (and gave him a sandwich).
• Got a picture of our group in front of a state church building.
• Gave a snack to a child without schoes
• Got a picture of a trilingual sign.
• Helped an old lady cross the road.
• Stopped at a barber shop an got a Chinese-style hairdo.
• We organized a simple English corner for Chinese students.
• Participted in some old people’s gymnastics in a park
• Taught soem elementry kids an English son.
• Visited a Chinese Kindergarten and took pictures with the children as a group
• Interviewed a minority woman carrying her child to find out how she got to the city and what she was doing.

As a teacher my role was only to chaperon the team’s hunt, however it was difficult for me to stay completely in the background.

Some thoughts about the students in my group…

In my team I was surprised that how well the group worked together. Despite each student being stretched in areas of weakness, they shined in their own way.

Jason kept accounting of the money (we had a budget of only 40 dollars handling translation duties as his Chinese is really good.

 Jinny handled the map and most of the talking. She seems normally shy but came out of her shell today. She is Korean but has a gift for communication. This was proved out time and time again when people would listen and answer without asking for clarification. Especially going from province to province this is a rare thing especially knowing that she is a foreigner.

While Karen is a novice in Chinese, her outgoing personality made up for it. She never hesitated asking questions or directions from Chinese people. She is confident and so easy to work with she fit in quiet well. 

Jed is especially logical quickly assessing alternative paths and talking through the best solution with the team.

Ike gave off energy to the group – sort of a passion for the win – not to mention giving a good dose of humor. He seemed to be the best kind of lookout noticing many items before the rest of us.

Michelle managed the list, providing us continuous updates of what we had completed and what was left. She reminded us of things to look out for and was good at balancing the discussion of “what next” with valuable input and assessments.)

When I looked around my room I was thinking I’d seen cleaner hostels before, but at this point it didn’t matter because I slept like a rock, waking with some muscle soreness, a reminder from the day before.Today started with spicy noodle soup at Brother’s Liang, a famous brand chain in this area serving this traditional staple meal.

Another three hour-long bus ride up through picturesque Chinese terrace farms. At first I wondered why most of the plots were tilled but dry without crops. Then I found out that the area has been struck with a 60-year drought.

The bus deposited at a point 30minutes hike away from our destination. As ascended higher occasionally following the edge of a terraced plot, other local peoples joined us making their way to the Sunday service.

We were late, but that wouldn’t the Miao villagers at worship – they have an extended 3-4 hour service each Sunday, and very flexible. Although the service was well underway, they insisted on giving us a mid-day meal. The foods looked “different,” so students/teachers alike were somewhat hesitant. But as we started tasting we enjoyed every dish, even the black slimy looking chicken. Again we were reminded of the drought and that their garden plots were empty on the way up. It then occurred to us that all this food must have been specially purchased in the city in anticipation of our arrival. We were humbled. The fed us so richly out of their poverty.

After lunch we were ushered to our seats at a break in the service. The large church was packed. At first we didn’t realize our mistakes in choosing seats. After a pause and some hand motion from the usher, we looked around and saw we were breaking the protocol of “men sit on this side, women on the other.” Government-national laws about education and single official language became evident when Men sat on one side and women on the other. There were greetings from the pulpit, a small man (the Miao are all small in stature), having a shirt buttoned to the neck under an old worn black jacket. His face and smile were bright as he introduced us to the congregation.

We enjoyed three different choirs, five songs (one translated hymn that I recognized). The to our surprise ten accordion players came out (spanning a range of ages from teens to very old). We were treated to three pieces, one from Handel’s Messiah!Afterward, two students shared their testimony. Followed by a short messages from two teachers and a sermon. All this was done in Mandarin and I noticed that the people were paying close attention to everything.It was interesting to observe that the church was full, holding about 400 people or more. Just a few years earlier that same congregation was under 100. I was surprised to see so many women, maybe two for every man. (However, I’m thinking that the proportion is similar in America’s churches.) All the men wore jackets, some even to the point of tatters. The women kept the traditional dress with married women having their hair arranged like a crown on their heads.

The love shown in their faces. They sung very well; I noticed harmony which is oft not the case here in China. When it was time to go, it felt as though I was only sitting there 20-30 minutes, but in fact it had been two hours.We exited before their main sermon began as it would be difficult for some of our students sit through an 60+ minute message spoken in a tongue they do not understand (while the people are taught Mandarin in public school, they continue to communicate in their own ancient language).

After making our way down and back to Kunming it was 10;30pm. This time we broke down and ate at KFC (10:30pm) before crashing in our beds.

We woke up early to get started on the 3 hour bus ride to the a remote countryside town. People we know are opening an orphanage there. In this country, is commonplace for mothers to abandon special-needs babies. What makes matters worse, regular orphanages are not equipped — nor have the fortitude — to care for these disadvantaged souls. As a result, most die as babies or toddlers due to neglect.The new orphanage is in its final stages of completion and the government recently approved their application clearing the way for opening day planed this summer.Today’s objective was to make as much progress as possible helping to prepare the facility for move in.We set out at 5:30 am finding a traditional breakfast of rice noodles. Unfortunately, the highway was closed forcing us to follow a winding mountain road which was much slower but scenic with small terraced farms and rice paddies.Our arrival was so late that the orphanage director suggested we eat first serving us spaghetti and popsicles.They asked us to help remove construction trash and debris left in the buildings so my students went to work but it was heavy labor! Cases of 18” tiles, piles of metal debris, broken roof tiles, and all of the rooms had thick layer of dust be swept and widows cleaned. None of these students had mopped a floor much less load a truck with piles of dirty, rusting pipe.I appreciated having this unique context to interact with my students. Laboring together — doing hard things together — forges a special connection that can not be replicated in the classroom. My heart is for His will to be done in their lives; I hope to see it come to fruition.

These guys worked diligently having a great attitude. Throughout the afternoon I was directing and prompting, asking one to go here and start loading, asking others to start stacking discarded pipes. Even at the end of the day when everyone was tired and hungry, they did not quit until the job was done.They made me proud.

Arrived in Kunming – stepping off the plane onto the tarmac feeling the warmer weather, immediately you see more foliage: bushes, trees, vines growing on buildings, and flowers too (it is Spring). Clean[er], fresh[er] air. The airport terminal is the old-style and smallish for this size city ( 5.8 million people). But I don’t mind, I want to see as much of the old China as possible [They’ve torn down and re-built new so rapidly, it ‘s becoming hard to discover even the recent past.

I’m surprised that I’m understanding so many of the bus driver’s words. But Jessica [our Chinese Teaching Assistant] told me that she also hears the driver speak a completely different language to other locals. I’m also noticing that these Kunming people look different from the people in my city Tianjin. (Sure they are distinctly Asian, but I guess I’ve lived here long enough to notice variations among Asians.) That is because this province Yunnan has 50% minorities representing about 25 distinct people groups.

Note: the “majority group” in China is called Han. The Han comprise roughly 80% of the total population of China. (However the country boasts more than 60 distinct indigenous people groups.)