Last Day of Melbourne trip at Victoria's Market

Our last day of the Melbourne trip brought us to the Queen Victoria's Market.

We didn't buy much here as it was mostly imported goods from China, Vietnam, etc and the stalls were mostly tended to by Asians...

Nonetheless, these were what I found there.

Isabel and her new hat, in glorious technicolor "Pink"

----- See the rest of the photos here -----

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China Yun Nam trip Day 5 Lijiang 17 Nov 2010

On the 5th day of our trip in Lijiang, we visited a cultural village showcasing the customs and religion of the Nakhi tribe.

The religion the Nakhi tribe practice is the Dongba (东巴)religion, which have its roots from Tibet. According to what the tourguide described, it seemed to be a way of life rather than a religion. It also contains its own set of language (Dongba Script) which has over a thousand glyphs and characters.



After visiting the cultural village, we zoomed to Blue Moon Valley (蓝月谷), it is a water feature and a nice spot to take pictures.. However, the crowd was too much to handle and we didn't get a good picture and worst of all, we had to spend a lot of time queuing for the mini bus ride which had lots of rowdy locals whom had no respect for orderly queuing. We left the valley with a bad aftertaste.

Isabel and Christine at 蓝月谷

Though there were several other places we visited in Lijiang after we left 蓝月谷, they did not leave much impression. The rest of the day was somewhat ruined after our bad experience with the locals at 蓝月谷.. Or perhaps it was due to the tourguide rushing us with the worry of us being late for the cultural show later on.

Our guide practically gave us little time for each tourist attraction on day 5 because we were booked for a 2pm cultural show "IMPRESSION LIJIANG" that was directed by Zhang Yi Mou (张艺谋), aka famous Director of "HERO" and "China Olympics 2008 opening ceremony".

Sitting in the open at high noon was no joke. Lijiang is 2400 meters above sea level and that also means that we are 2400 meters nearer to the sun. The heat was awful due to the strong sun, even in winter. We have to bear the sun to watch the show for about 45mins.

After the show, we can also purchase a copy of the show on DVD.. Fortunately, we did not buy..

I recall visiting the Black Dragon Pool (黑龙潭) after the show. But it's all starting to get hazy now.. I better complete the rest of this travel log asap.

黑龙潭 aka Black Dragon Pool in Lijiang

See the rest of the pics for day 5 here!

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China Yun Nam trip Day 3 Dali 15 Nov 2010

On the 3rd day of our Yun Nam China trip, we were enroute to Dali and we visited a dinosaur remains extraction site where it was converted into a museum.

Once we reached Dali, we were greeted by another warm and friendly tour guide whom belonged to the local tribe aka Bai Tribe (白族). Their tribal dresses reminds us of the HongKong martial arts drama serials we watched many years ago. Most of these dramas were based on works from the author "Jin Yong" (金庸). And it's a fact that most of his literary works are based on the cultures of many lesser tribes of the Yun Nam province. So visiting Dali was like entering the olden towns of the pugilistic world of Jin Yong.

Again, it was advised that we address the local ladies appropriately. And this time, we have to call them "Golden Flower" in Mandarin. (金花)

Here we go again. However, the complications of each and every tribal locals way of addressing their males and females does indeed reflect the complexity of its languages and how their culture is intricate and their customs kept till this day.

I should probably say "our" language since me and my family should be classified under the "Han People" (汉族). Now we know that we, the Han People, are of the largest population/race in the world!. Cheers to that!

Though notably, the Han People had been conquered by the lesser tribes such as the "Man People" (满族) and resulted in the Qing Dynasty.

Enough of China's history and here are some of the pictures!

Click here to see the rest of the pics from day 3!

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China Yun Nam trip Day 2 Kun Ming 14 Nov 2010

On the 2nd day, we visited a local tourist shopping site which retails jade and Chinese medicinal herbs aka "7 colours of Yun Nam". Nothing spectacular there except for.. well.. making you spend the tourist dollars.


After we left the 7 colours of Yun Nam, we were brought to DaGuan Park (大观公园). At this park, there is a stream that leads to Lake Dian (滇池), which is a very large lake and is of strategic battle location during the warring period. The special attraction here was the 2-storeyed pavilion that was built in the 17th century. And on the entrance of the pavilion was a couplet verse written by a famous poet, Sun Rangweng, whom crafted one of the longest couplets ever written. According to our tour guide, the couplet first verse mentions of the nice scenery and magnificent structure of the pavilion and the complimentary second verse speaks of how sorrowful it is to know that many have battled and died here and their names lost in history.

I know I won't be lost in history as long as Google and Blogger continues to host my blogs and pictures for free!!

We had dinner that came with a show.. In my opinion, it sucks and the food is dreadfully minimal in its portions.

See the rest of the pictures of day 2 here!

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China Yun Nam trip Day 1 Kunming 13 Nov 2010

Christine, Isabel and myself went on a trip to the southern part of China in "Yun Nam" for a holiday.

The trip includes the tour of Kunming, Lijiang, Dali and Shangri-La.

These are the pictures from Day 1 in Kunming.

We visited the caves and gorges of Jiuxiang.

Next, the tour guide brought us to the Stone Forest (石林).

It was an geological wonder and it is aptly named. You could literally get lost in the heaps of giant stones. The place owes its creation from the tectonic plates movements which resulted in huge undersea rocks and corals were raised above the sea level and form the "stone forest" of today. Some of the larger and taller rocks have clear horizontal cracks on it which according to the guide, was caused by the erosion of the surface of the sea when it was still submerged.

A wee bit about the local customs and culture..

We learnt that Yun Nam have many tribes, the one most prominent in Kunming is the Yi Tribe ( 彝族 )

In Kunming, it is rude to address the local ladies as "小姐" because the term is commonly used to associate with KTV hostesses and prostitutes in China. To address a young "YI" woman proper in Kunming, we have to call them "Ashima" so as to get their attention.

More ways to address a woman in different parts of Yun Nam later.

Franklin, Christine & Isabel at Shilin, Stone Forest in Kunming, China

Many apologies for pics not well taken due to new camera.
Also, the short timing for each tourist site means I gotta learn the trust the metering instead of taking the time for trial and error.

Click here to see the rest of the album for Day 1.

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