Pictured: romantic hue of Chinese lanterns decorating old cobblestone alleys. FEELS and HEART EMOJIS x INFINITY. 

Not pictured: the 6 a.m. overnight train arrival and the 2.5 hour "self-tour" we gave ourselves with our (heavy) backpacks trying to find our hostel in the dark and freezing cold OHMYGOSH. 

 

Such is the nature of adventuring.

Our backpacks were heavy because Emma & I were in 3 drastically different climates in a span of 40 days. Our bad sense of direction was due to the fact that not one Chinese person knew the location of our hostel, despite the directions we had were IN CHINESE ohmygosh. My phone died, so that meant no Baidu Map searching. The Hostel also wasn't answering the phone.

It was a pretty miserable 2.5 hours. Just a little while into it, I was praying prayers in all caps like: DEAR LORD PLEASE HELP US FIND OUR HOSTEL BEFORE MY BACK BREAKS IN HALF OR JESUS COMES BACK. 

At one point, we were standing in an alley, out of ideas and energy, and Dan said, "We just need to find someone who speaks English." And literally two seconds later, a 20-something Chinese guy walked past us and said, "Good morning!" 

We all but tackled him. 

He used his phone to help us find our hostel. Which, of course, we had been walking circles around #becausemylife. 

We stayed in Lijiang because it is the nearest/most convenient place to stay if you want to hike the Tiger Leaping Gorge. Even though the hostel managers couldn't speak English, they were really kind and helped us reserve bus tickets to & from the TLG. This hostel also had the best heating blankets EVER. Which, after our stay in Kunming, I WAS ALL ABOUT. It was a thousand degrees colder than I thought it would be in Yunnan, so those electric blankets were straight gold. 

 

 

We ventured out to the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (玉龙雪山) with a nice taxi lady who took us to a random village at the base of the mountain. When I travel, I really prefer non-tourist things/trails, so I really enjoyed this. It was really peaceful and clear.

Our hostel was literally a 3 minute walk away from the famous Old Town area of Lijiang. The commercialization of the area and touristy shops were really overwhelming. I felt like I was in this weird lego-land construction of sorts. I didn't like this so much, but they had a McDonalds, so I can't complain too much!

We spent one night in Lijiang and then left early the next morning for the TLG!


BBAB Traveling Tips:
North Garden International Youth Hostel: http://www.yhachina.com/ls.php?id=334
Managers don't speak English and it's hard to find. Directions aren't very clear, so I would suggest if you have a funky arrival time, call them the day before.

After almost a full month in India (and months of smoggy Gongyi), I was ready for some blue skies and fresh air (understatement OF.THE.YEAR.) A flight from Kolkata to Yunnan, China was just a quick 2 hours, so Emma and I hopped on a red eye and met Dan in Kunming. 

Our first stop in Yunnan was 石林 - the Stone Forest. The Lord blessed us with great weather and the area was big enough that we could get away from all the Chinese tour groups and explore on our own a bit. The peace and quiet and sunshine and blue skies and white cotton candy clouds DESERVE ALL THE PRAISE HANDS. The sky and the nothingness of the Kansas horizon are two things I miss the most about the good 'ole US of A. 

 You could easily spend an entire day at the Stone Forest - there are a million places you could spread out a blanket and take a nap and have a picnic. 

The reason the rocks are shaped the way they are is supposed to be entirely natural, but take that with a grain of salt, #becausechina. But regardless, one of my favorite rocks was the one shaped like an elephant!

Chinese/English translations slay me. So much funny. And so accurate. I sent this picture to my Dad and said, "Relatable"   

After spending most of the day at the Stone Forest, we grabbed an overnight train to Lijiang.