Sun 19 Jul 2015

Historic Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia.

Big Lantern

After several hours on a bus, I arrived in Penang, called “The Pearl of the Orient.” Penang is an island just off the northwest coast of peninsular Malaysia, and historic Georgetown is its major city and the food capital of Malaysia.

Colonial Buildings.

Colonial Buildings

Handyman special.

A center of global trade for hundreds of years, Georgetown is a multicultural city with Malay roots. Over the centuries it has been affected and influenced by traders, colonizers and settlers from Portugal, Holland, Britain, China and India.

Are they from Denmark?!

I wandered around on streets that were lined with colonial buildings, some restored and some dilapidated and crumbling. I enjoyed excellent vegetarian food in Georgetown’s Indian enclave and I found a Chinese tea shop specializing in Pu’er tea.

Sheng Pu’er tea, aged ten years.

Today’s Georgetown is known for its street art. I enjoyed taking photos of the art as well as the many huge hanging Chinese lanterns I saw all over town.

That’s me, blending in.

Wall Mural.

Children on a bicycle!

The Blue Mansion of Georgetown businessman and politician Cheong Fatt Tze (1840 – 1916).

Temple at the top of Penang Hill.

Big Lantern.

Khoo Kongsi Clan House.

Tea

Thu 16 July 2015

Boh Tea Estate.

I stayed five days in Malaysia’s Cameron highlands, originally a hill station in colonial times. Having visited the Jim Thompson House in Bangkok several months ago, I was intrigued to explore the place where the “Thai Silk King” disappeared around 48 years ago, apparently without a trace.

Jim Thompson disappeared in the Cameron Highlands many years ago.

My guest house was in Tanah Rata at an elevation of around 1500 meters, which meant pleasant days and cool nights. On Monday I walked downhill about four kilometers to a nearby tea plantation. Over the last few days I also did some hiking on the many trails near the town. Yesterday I took a day tour which included another tea plantation, a butterfly garden, hydroponic strawberry farm and a visit to a mossy forest.

Mossy Forest.

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Sat 11 Jul 2015

Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi.

Image of an old postcard of Hoan Kiem Lake, from a display of old photographs near the lake.

Phố Mã Mây, Quận Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Nội.

Old post card of Phố Mã Mây, Quận Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Nội.

After completing the four-week CELTA course in Hanoi at the end of May, I spent several days in Cambodia, mostly at the beach in Sihanoukville. Yesterday I arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I spent a few hours at the Hojo tea shop in KL, where I tasted several teas, including a first flush Darjeeling and a Yunnan wild black tea, both of which I purchased. Tomorrow I will go to the Cameron Highlands where much of Malaysia’s tea is grown.

View of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from my hotel room.

Hojo Tea Shop, at The Gardens Mall in Kuala Lumpur.

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Mon 20 Apr 2015

Rice Terraces in Yuanyang, Yunnan, China.

A few days ago I arrived in Duoyishu, Yuanyang, in the midst of the Honghe Hani Rice Terraces in southern Yunnan. The Hani is a minority ethnic group in Yunnan who first settled in the area around 2500 years ago. Over time, in order to subsist on the rugged terrain they learned to work the mountains and hills into terraces on which they grew rice. They now have been farming rice in this way on this beautifully sculpted land for over 1200 years.

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Sat 18 Apr 2015

Classical style roof, Jianshui.

Thankfully the real-life visual images around me were not censored by the Chinese government.

On a lighter note, I was fascinated by the ornamental details of the traditional Chinese roofs. I liked looking at the different designs on the little disks at the ends of the eaves.

I found some interesting examples of these disks in Jianshui.

And, while wandering about the grounds of the Confucian Temple in Jianshui, I found a whole pile of these disks just hanging around in a courtyard, along with some other cool architectural pieces and parts.

I’ve read a lot about the terrible pollution in China. But one of the things I really appreciated throughout my travels in Yunnan was that the two-wheelers were almost all electric scooters of some sort. Because of this, in all the cities and towns I visited, there was much less traffic pollution compared to other places I had visited in Asia.

Electric scooter in Jianshui.

Electric scooter, Jianshui. The Union Jack was by far the most popular color scheme!

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Fri 17 Apr 2015

I had to go through Hong Kong, Singapore or Los Angeles to get around the Great Firewall of China.

After arriving in China I gained internet access through both WiFi and a local SIM card. However, I soon realized that I did not have access to some important information and services. No Google services would work in China, and I was unable to access any social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, and could not update this blog. Neither could I read the New York Times and other news from sources in the USA.

I was aware that China censored internet access but I expected this would be limited to certain sensitive issues such as news about Tibet, Taiwanese politics, the Chinese Army’s killing of nonviolent protesters at Tiananmen Square in 1989, etc. However, I found that the censorship by the Chinese government was massive. Outside China, it is referred to as The Great Firewall of China.

Prior to entering China I was already using a VPN but it did not work in China. After some research I was able to find a VPN that worked in China and regain full access to Google, social media, and all news sources. (See this NY Times article).

In general it seemed that all of the young Chinese people I met who spoke English were aware that the government censored the internet and that they could get around this by using a VPN. However, most people did not use VPNs due to the relatively high cost. Also, since few had ever had access to the uncensored internet, they did not have an awareness of how much they were missing.

I did not initiate any political discussions with the Chinese citizens I met during my travels in China, but many of them voluntarily offered their opinions and ideas. A young man who went by the English name of Johnny said “I love my country but I hate my government” and he had a few colorful words to further describe his feelings. Like me he had studied social work but was not working as a social worker because, “the government only hires social workers to monitor and control people they think might cause problems, not to actually help them.” Interestingly, he said he was a member of the Communist Party.

One young woman named Jo An referred to the 1989 Tiananmen killings as an “accident,” in comparison to the western media’s description of it as a “massacre.” Sadly, Jo An said “I think we have had many accidents in the past,” but she said she did not really know for sure, due to the lack of a free press. She spoke about her admiration for Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. She said, “I think he really loves his country.” Going through the VPN on my smartphone I found some news about Liu but we decided it would not be a good idea for me to send her the link or a copy of the article. However from our discussion it was obvious that she was really starving for more information about Liu and other Chinese dissidents.

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Thu 16 Apr 2015

At Zhu Family Garden, Jianshui, Yunnan.

En route from Xishuangbanna to the Yuangyang rice terraces, I stopped for a few days in Jianshui (建水), more out of logistical necessity rather than a strong desire to see the place.

Only a few hours from Kunming, Jianshui would probably be crowded on weekends with an influx of visitors from that city. However, I was there during the week and found relatively few tourists around, including only a handful of other foreigners. It was a pleasant enough place, with a tidy old town of cobbled streets flanked with interesting architecture and a few historical sights worth seeing.

Facade in Janshui.

I spent yesterday exploring the Zhu Family Garden (and home) built by that family in the 19th century during the latter part of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911).

Zhu Family Garden

Today I went to see Jianshui’s famous Confucian Temple, completed in 1285 and one of the largest Confucian temples in China.

Statue of Confucius at entrance to grounds of Confucius Temple, Jianshui.

One of the gates to the temple.

The lake on the grounds of the Confucius Temple.

Detail of carved door panel, Confucius Temple.

Stone tablet, Confucius Temple.

Good vegetarian food was hard to find in Yunnan, but in Jianshui it was a bit easier since tofu seemed to be a local staple. I enjoyed trying a very spicy stewed hotpot tofu, as well as barbecued “stinky” tofu grilled up on outdoor braziers.

Lunch.

Several panels of cartoonish artwork were on display at the temple. Here’s one example. Does anyone know what it could mean…

Tea

Mon 13 Apr 2015

Xishuangbanna, Yunnan.

In a patch of cultivated tea bushes, Xishuangbanna.

From Lijiang I decided to venture to the southern reaches of Yunnan near the Burmese border. I was interested in seeing an area of southern Yunnan called Xishuangbanna, the center of tea production in Yunnan and the origin of the unusual Pu’er tea. Also, according to historians, Xishuangbanna is probably the place where tea was first cultivated thousands of years ago.

500 year old wild tea tree.

To get to Xishuangbanna, I had to suffer though two miserably long bus rides, broken by an overnight stop in Kunming. About four days ago I finally arrived in Jinghong, the major city in Xishuangbanna.

After a bit of investigation I connected with Sara, owner of the Forest Cafe trekking outfit in Jinghong. I told Sara I had heard about some ancient tea trees in Xishuangbanna and that I wanted to see some of these trees. She arranged a two-day trek in which we walked through some ancient tea forests, stopped at a tea processing plant, and passed through some of the local villages.

A whole forest of ancient tea trees! (Sara, our guide, is in the photo too).

One of the tea pickers let us take her photo.

Usually two leaves and a bud are plucked together.

After they are picked, the tea leaves are left to wither a bit.

Then they are fried in big woks to stop the oxidation process.

Leaf rolling machines.

Finally the leaves are dried.

Yesterday we set out in the morning and were joined by a Swedish woman, Lena, who was taking a break from her studies in Kunming. The mountain weather was very pleasant and as we walked along Sara made sure to point out some of the interesting flora and fauna in this area of tremendous biodiversity.

I thought this white thing was a flower, but it's not!

I thought this white thing was a flower, but it wasn’t!

The “white flower” was actually a string of these tiny white insects!

Sara managed to pull down one of these fruits. Tasted a bit like a mango, but very tart. Probably not ripe enough.

Growing orchids on the roof of this village home.

Yunnan also has an amazing amount of cultural diversity and is home to many of China’s ethnic minorities. Xishuangbanna in particular has populations of Dai, Hani (and the subgroup Aini), Lisu, Yao, Jinuo, Bulang, Lahu and Wa, among others. We stayed the night in a Bulang village, in the home of a local family. This morning we resumed our trek through fields and forests, and walked for about five hours prior to returning to Jinghong in the evening.

Village residents.

Tea

Fri 3 Apr 2015

The Old Town of Lijiang, Yunnan, China.

Rooftops of Lijiang.

Further north of Shaxi, higher in altitude and closer to Tibet, the old town of Lijiang was the next stop on the Yunnan tourist trail. In ancient times Lijiang also happened to be the next stop on the historic Tea Horse road.

A cake of Yunnan Pu’er tea. In ancient times, tea was compressed into cakes or bricks for easier transport over the long journey to Tibet. Just break off a piece, brew and drink!

Like Dali, regrettably, Lijiang had also undergone a certain Disneyfication and was full of the same types of restaurants, street food stalls and souvenir shops. As I walked around the “old” town I passed by open air nightclubs with young women in pseudo-traditional dress performing to a sort of generic “traditional” music that blended a Chinese style with African drums. Watching for a few minutes from the sidelines, I found the shows were reminiscent of the same laissez-faire creative license as in a Bollywood production, and clearly had no authenticity in representing any of the minority ethnic groups present in Yunnan.

Lijiang.

For me the only redeeming factors that Lijiang could boast over Dali were its location on a hillside that lent itself to more interesting photo opportunities; and its larger size which made it easier to get away from the hordes of Chinese holiday makers. In fact, one Chinese native told me Lijiang was so popular as a Chinese tourist destination that the city kept expanding and adding on new, but old-looking, sections of the “old” town, conjured right out of the thin mountain air.

After spending a few days exploring and taking photos, I confirmed my initial reaction to Lijiang, which was: get me outta here ASAP!

These days Pu’er tea is often pressed into fancy shapes. I think people buy these shapes to display as artwork rather than to actually break off pieces to brew tea.

Another variation of the tea disk.

Tea…made into elephant shapes!

Tea

Tue 31 Mar 2015

My horse needed a rest, so I stopped at the post in Shaxi.

Met these guys on the trail.

Many centuries ago, the Chinese wanted horses, which the Tibetans had; and the Tibetans wanted tea, which was grown in China; so over time a trade route was developed to rival the more northern route now referred to as the Silk Road.

Shaxi is a fine place to hang your hat for a few days.

Shaxi (沙溪) is a tiny hamlet that was once a caravan stop on what some historians call the Tea-Horse trading route leading from China through Tibet and on into Burma and India. It began as a trading point for tea and horses during the Tang Dynasty (7th to 10th centuries). Today it is a historic market town that still has a vibrant Friday market and is considered to be the most intact of the old caravan towns.

Shaxi was a breath of fresh air after Dali! Not only was it much smaller but also it was without the throngs of tourists found in Dali. In fact, it had a sleepy, anachronistic feel, with few motor vehicles, several tea shops, and even a number of horses.

I found the sky in my Yunnan tea.

My hostel, Horsepen 46, is on the left.

My hostel, Horsepen 46, was indeed a converted horse stable! I enjoyed its peaceful courtyard and the nightly communal dinners for 20 元 – the young chef even cooked up some vegetarian fare for me.