The past few weeks have been intense - it has been culture and language immersion to the max! Traveling by myself in Kunming and Nu Jiang (Yunnan) has been a challenge, because not only did everyone I had to interact with only communicate in Chinese, but also they all had heavy accents from speaking their local dialect. Often, I felt suffocatingly mute and incredibly dull - my sarcasm and jokes didn't quite fly, and I was like a seven year old when it came to my grasp of vocabulary.
On the other hand, Nu Jiang was absolutely breathtaking!! I don't think I've been more in awe of nature than I was than during our trip to the border between China and the Union of Myanar. Combine the mountains of the Grand canyon, the rushing waters of the Colorado, the dark soil of the Black Hills, the red rock of Sedona and you might come close to picturing the Nu River Valley -- the pictures I'm about to post hardly do the place justice. On top of this sense of majestic grandness is this strange charm: ricefields divide up the mountainside and makes each green hill look like a staircase used by giants; the land is dotted with mud and reed huts; and every now and then there is a dash of color as the road leads you to the middle of a village and to the middle of a ceremony where everyone - dressed in bright pink costumes hemmed with rainbow fabric - dance and sing in a circle.
I'm in love with this place. I'm so scared that it's all going to disappear in a couple of years. The city that I stayed in (Liuku) is growing at an unbelievable rate - in just the past five years, the entire western half of the city (on the west side of the Nu) sprung up. Just imagine - before, the only buildings were farmers' huts, and now: a mini Shanghai lit by so many neon lights at night that the Nu water turns a silvery blue.
I set out for Nu Jiang with the firm opinion that the series of hydropower stations the government had planned on building across the stretch of the river would do nothing but wreck hovoc on the river valley's ecosystem and the vibrant culture of those living on the banks. Now, I'm not so sure... It is a given that damming the river will damage at least part of the natural habitat -- the river level will undoubtedly rise, and this flooding will cause sections of previous old-growth forests to disappear. But, these past few weeks, I've had to opportunity to hike up to the villages nestled high in the mountains. I've gotten to see and understand the poverty these people live in -- village children walk to school barefoot, where many are forced to stand outside of the schoolhouse because they don't have the money to pay tuition (which probably translates to less than thirty US dollars for them to attend a whole year of school). I've heard that in the winter, the situation becomes frightening: barefoot children trudge around with bright red feet with noses of the same shade. The construction of the dams can bring these children stability and hope by supplying the villagers with cheaper electricity, or at the very least, the world will become aware of these hungry children as foreign companies start researching and investing in the region. Is the loss of natural beauty worth the possible gain in standard of living for these villagers and their children? It's a hard question, and one that will not have a single right answer. I'm still comtemplating mine.
Anyways, enough of my musings. Time to properly detail these amazing past three weeks...
Day 1
Bus from Kunming (Yunnan) to Liuku (Nu Jiang)
After arriving at Liuku, my tour guides treated me to lamb fondue... it was delicious despite me tearing up from how spicy it was... they also put opium powder in it... errrr...
On the way Pianma, which lies on the border between China and the Union of Myanar -- Terrace farming
Old-growth forest
Top of mountain - there are signs of British and Japanese occupation everywhere, from signs marking the territory to gun towers and small forts...
1 comment:
opium powder eh? fun fun
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