Photo journals: China

After 5 months of blogging I realized, perhaps I won't have the time to write about the previous parts of this trip. So I decided to post a series of photo journals of places I've traveled between May 2007 - June 2008.

When I first arrived in Southeast Asia I didn't have a camera. When I went to China for the Rainbow gathering and met Maya there, we started to travel together and take lots of photos with her camera. So the photo journals start in Dali, China, where we met. I hope you enjoy it. I'll write a little about the places in photo captions.

Dali Old Town, Yunnan Province, Southwest China
Dali is a beautiful historic city at 2.000 meters enclosed in square shaped walls and moats.
It's one of the biggest local tourist attractions but when I was there I didn't feel it as being a negative influence. In fact it was very romantic.



Erhai Lake, near Dali.
This is one of the biggest lakes in China and a sacred one with many monasteries around.
We had the gathering just across the lake on a sacred hilltop.




Temple on the hillside near Dali.
Yunnan is a kind of autonomous region in China and they still have living temples and monasteries, as oppose to fossilized ones in East China. They are also allowed to make more than one kids. The mountains behind are full of rivers, waterfalls, little sacred locations and cable cars.



We saw this map at an entrance to the hills near Dali.
We looked at it some time, tried to figure out, deided to take a photo in case we get lost.
And we got lost anyway.




Shangri-la, Yunnan, Southwest China
I thought Shangri-la was an imaginary place but apparently it's likely that this remote plateau with it's peaceful Tibetan population was the Shangri-la which the early plane crash survivors told us about. Today it is known as Zhong-Dian and is a fast developing tourist spot.



The plateau where Shangri-la is located is a vast flat land surrounded by high mountains.




Streets of Old Shangri-la.
The Town is already around 3.000 meters high.
Everything moves s-l-o-w-l-y.



Old folk on Shangri-la streets.
They don't have much teeth but they have the biggest smiles.



Their corner in Shangri-la.



Turning the big prayer wheel in Shangri-la.
This is the biggest one I've ever seen. Fortunately there is a kind of engine inside so you can make it faster but it never stops. People literally run and fall around it, it's a fun way to pray.



Every evening people gather in the main square of Shangri-la. Music comes from the speakers and hundreds of people do this amazing circular dance. It's not just a simple walk, there are many quite complex moves but people eaither know them or pick them up quite fast. It's great to watch people practice harmony together in this way.



Rock honey in Shangri-la market. It's sweet and medicinal.



The famous Tibetan butter tea. It's literally hot butter, milk and tea, more like soup.
Very suitable for the cold climate and almost a complete food.



The big Tibetan monastery near Shangri-la.
We were very surprised to see this little model of Potala palace in Lhasa. They are continously building and expanding it and there is a little town growing with it.



The big Tibetan monastery near Shangri-la.
We thought religious activities were restricted in China but apparently things are changing fast. That's why they are also uilding very fast. This huge temple-monastery complex looks pretty new with some age old parts.



I love the natural materials they still use today (except for the rain water drain pipes).
And as temples usually do, we felt tiny and surrounded by a greater energy.



Old gate in the modern city Kunming.
The last couple of decades China developed so fast sometimes old structures are almost sandwiched between new ones. But it's still a pleasant surprise when you're walking in busy streets full of shopping malls.