The Stone Forest - 12 April 2009
After a not-so-good breakfast (we were the only 2 white people at breakfast out of 80 !) mainly catered for Chinese people, we swiftly headed to the Black Dragon Pool park.
It was a fairly serene park, famous for its many azalaes and beautiful ponds with countless goldfish. It also had a Tao temple -- though I didn't really investigate about what their religion entail.
Murphy told us that we would be visiting the Yi minority today, who are the largest ethnic group in China (4 million of them). They have their own script and culture, choosing to express their feelings in music when courting. Their hat design also reflected their marital status, i.e. if they were single, engaged or married. They called the Yi minority's culture 'paradise for men' because the women do ALL the work. They have mastered the art of multi-tasking and taking it to extreme. Women wake up before dawn to go and collect grass for the domestic animals, then work so late that it's dark when they get back home (they are the ones earning the living) hence their expression: 'women see the stars twice in one day' and when they get home, they are still expected to do all the cooking, washing and everything else that a woman is 'expected to do' in most cultures !!! Whilst the wife is sweating away, the husband stays at home and just entertains the kids, or writes poetry and plays musical instruments. To qualify for becoming a wife, a woman must be able to embroid her own wedding dress. If she cannot even do that, she's not deemed intelligent enough to get married (i.e. probably not having enough skills to make a living!). The guys, to pass the test, only have to show that they can hold their liquor !!!! How unfair is that ??? They also have a 10 month calendar of 36 days and spend 5 days celebrating the new year. The first month in their year is the 'month of the tiger'. Chinese start their year with the month of the mouse as they think it's the most intelligent animal.
Whilst we were driving we noticed a bloke throw out of his car window a few round yellow pieces of paper. Murphy explained that it must mean he's in mourning and is paying the fee to the Gods so that the dead person can make it to heaven. It seemed so incredibly simplistic and yet the Chinese are utterly supertitious. Everything has a meaning... colours, numbers, shapes... it all matters. Yin and Yan and harmony, etc.
We eventually reached the Stone Forest (about 1h15 away) and hired a little open 'bus' driven by one of the Yi women. 200Y (about $20 equivalent) and it was ours for 90mins. She drove us around the outer circle so that we could see most of the 5km2 (the Stone Forest is much much larger and only 15% is accessible to the public).
There were lots of scenic spots, some with ponds, but we saw very few Westerners. In fact, we were such a rare breed that Nathalie & I ended up posing for a LOT of photos. People were just queuing to have their photos taken with her in particular, being blonde. And though she's shy I told her it was best to enjoy the ride and go with the flow. It made them so happy. And it just gave us a glimpse of what it's like to be famous... just for a week or so. We've been asked the same thing in most places we've visited. It's kind of cute. I've taken some photos of her with tourists and we also did some videos as people queued to sit next to her for a photo... I've already warned her that it will be very odd to go back to Europe and be totally anonymous again!
We really enjoyed it, but I guess I expected it to be a lot more accessible. I can now understand why my travel agency said '2 days will be far too much, half a day is enough'. Considering it takes 90 mins to get there, going back was not an option. Plus, we felt we'd 'been there and done that now'... and I'm not sure I'd want to see it again. It didn't have the X factor for me the way Guilin has. It was very pleasant but wouldn't come in my top 50 'must see' I think.
But our guide kept pointing out various rock shapes to us and said 'can you see Queen Elizabeth there, with her crown? can you see the elephant ? the pig ?' and it's like the Chinese are obsessed with such things.
We did have fun dressing up as Yi women. They all wear beautiful costumes, very colourful - mainly pink or yellow, with a hat full of pearls, and I just love dressing up like locals, given half the chance. So we took some great photos for the record with a basket on our back full of yellow flowers. Very neat indeed.
We then went back to Kunming via one stop at an embroidery factory. Nathalie was keen to see the process and even I was fascinated, though I didn't think I'd be. What an amazing craft again. It totally reinforced to me that we were created by an amazing God, a true artist, who did create us in His image - with countless skills. The guy who owned the shop loved France, had lived there and had learnt French from the age of 7, so he was delighted to be able to practise. It was great for us too as sometimes it's not real easy to understand our guides due to pronounciation being a little bit 'off' at times. He said he used to sell a lot of embroided frames but had to get rid of half his staff due to the world crisis as people can't afford to travel as much, nor buy as much. They start the process with a photo or a painting (say the Mona Lisa) and get it printed on silk. Then they skitch the silk with thousands of thin threats of dozens of colours to find the exact match. Sometimes, to embroid a face they only use 1/16th of a thread so that it'd almost be invisible to the naked eyes, making for a very smooth complexion effect. Just an amazing feat. We were totally mesmerised. It can take up to 8-10 months to create a 60cm x 70cm portrait (and yet they only charge $100 for one month of work !!!). They also had a carpet section, for the finest of them, the girls manage to squeeze 1,200 knots per square centimer. The carpet felt so soft and the design was so intricate and delicate it was UNBELIEVABLE. A 30X50cm piece would take 2.5 YEARS to produce... and yet only cost $3,000 to buy. But such pieces are seen as work of art and meant to be put on a wall to be admired, not to be walked on, needless to say. He told us he pays his employees an average of $20 a month based on 4 hours work a day (at the moment, due to the present financial crisis). He said 4 hours is better to minimise eye strain as you have to be SO precise.
What also amazed us was to learn that with just one cocoon from a silk worm, they manage to extract up to 5KMS of treads !!!! what ??? how ???? totally mind-blowing...
That was mainly it. Then we swang by the flower market, which was also pretty impressive and beautiful done and is one of the most famous in China. They mainly use dry flowers so if you buy bouquet it is expected to last months or even years if it's good quality. Each flower has a meaning (rose for love, carnation for mother's love) as have numbers (1 rose = you're the only one, there is no other... 3 is 'I-love-you' (3 words), 11 is 'I'm in love with you, etc.).
Dinner was McDonald as we had a not-so-good Chinese lunch and Nathalie felt she couldn't face another one tonight - sorry to disappoint !!!!
After a not-so-good breakfast (we were the only 2 white people at breakfast out of 80 !) mainly catered for Chinese people, we swiftly headed to the Black Dragon Pool park.
It was a fairly serene park, famous for its many azalaes and beautiful ponds with countless goldfish. It also had a Tao temple -- though I didn't really investigate about what their religion entail.
Murphy told us that we would be visiting the Yi minority today, who are the largest ethnic group in China (4 million of them). They have their own script and culture, choosing to express their feelings in music when courting. Their hat design also reflected their marital status, i.e. if they were single, engaged or married. They called the Yi minority's culture 'paradise for men' because the women do ALL the work. They have mastered the art of multi-tasking and taking it to extreme. Women wake up before dawn to go and collect grass for the domestic animals, then work so late that it's dark when they get back home (they are the ones earning the living) hence their expression: 'women see the stars twice in one day' and when they get home, they are still expected to do all the cooking, washing and everything else that a woman is 'expected to do' in most cultures !!! Whilst the wife is sweating away, the husband stays at home and just entertains the kids, or writes poetry and plays musical instruments. To qualify for becoming a wife, a woman must be able to embroid her own wedding dress. If she cannot even do that, she's not deemed intelligent enough to get married (i.e. probably not having enough skills to make a living!). The guys, to pass the test, only have to show that they can hold their liquor !!!! How unfair is that ??? They also have a 10 month calendar of 36 days and spend 5 days celebrating the new year. The first month in their year is the 'month of the tiger'. Chinese start their year with the month of the mouse as they think it's the most intelligent animal.
Whilst we were driving we noticed a bloke throw out of his car window a few round yellow pieces of paper. Murphy explained that it must mean he's in mourning and is paying the fee to the Gods so that the dead person can make it to heaven. It seemed so incredibly simplistic and yet the Chinese are utterly supertitious. Everything has a meaning... colours, numbers, shapes... it all matters. Yin and Yan and harmony, etc.
We eventually reached the Stone Forest (about 1h15 away) and hired a little open 'bus' driven by one of the Yi women. 200Y (about $20 equivalent) and it was ours for 90mins. She drove us around the outer circle so that we could see most of the 5km2 (the Stone Forest is much much larger and only 15% is accessible to the public).
There were lots of scenic spots, some with ponds, but we saw very few Westerners. In fact, we were such a rare breed that Nathalie & I ended up posing for a LOT of photos. People were just queuing to have their photos taken with her in particular, being blonde. And though she's shy I told her it was best to enjoy the ride and go with the flow. It made them so happy. And it just gave us a glimpse of what it's like to be famous... just for a week or so. We've been asked the same thing in most places we've visited. It's kind of cute. I've taken some photos of her with tourists and we also did some videos as people queued to sit next to her for a photo... I've already warned her that it will be very odd to go back to Europe and be totally anonymous again!
We really enjoyed it, but I guess I expected it to be a lot more accessible. I can now understand why my travel agency said '2 days will be far too much, half a day is enough'. Considering it takes 90 mins to get there, going back was not an option. Plus, we felt we'd 'been there and done that now'... and I'm not sure I'd want to see it again. It didn't have the X factor for me the way Guilin has. It was very pleasant but wouldn't come in my top 50 'must see' I think.
But our guide kept pointing out various rock shapes to us and said 'can you see Queen Elizabeth there, with her crown? can you see the elephant ? the pig ?' and it's like the Chinese are obsessed with such things.
We did have fun dressing up as Yi women. They all wear beautiful costumes, very colourful - mainly pink or yellow, with a hat full of pearls, and I just love dressing up like locals, given half the chance. So we took some great photos for the record with a basket on our back full of yellow flowers. Very neat indeed.
We then went back to Kunming via one stop at an embroidery factory. Nathalie was keen to see the process and even I was fascinated, though I didn't think I'd be. What an amazing craft again. It totally reinforced to me that we were created by an amazing God, a true artist, who did create us in His image - with countless skills. The guy who owned the shop loved France, had lived there and had learnt French from the age of 7, so he was delighted to be able to practise. It was great for us too as sometimes it's not real easy to understand our guides due to pronounciation being a little bit 'off' at times. He said he used to sell a lot of embroided frames but had to get rid of half his staff due to the world crisis as people can't afford to travel as much, nor buy as much. They start the process with a photo or a painting (say the Mona Lisa) and get it printed on silk. Then they skitch the silk with thousands of thin threats of dozens of colours to find the exact match. Sometimes, to embroid a face they only use 1/16th of a thread so that it'd almost be invisible to the naked eyes, making for a very smooth complexion effect. Just an amazing feat. We were totally mesmerised. It can take up to 8-10 months to create a 60cm x 70cm portrait (and yet they only charge $100 for one month of work !!!). They also had a carpet section, for the finest of them, the girls manage to squeeze 1,200 knots per square centimer. The carpet felt so soft and the design was so intricate and delicate it was UNBELIEVABLE. A 30X50cm piece would take 2.5 YEARS to produce... and yet only cost $3,000 to buy. But such pieces are seen as work of art and meant to be put on a wall to be admired, not to be walked on, needless to say. He told us he pays his employees an average of $20 a month based on 4 hours work a day (at the moment, due to the present financial crisis). He said 4 hours is better to minimise eye strain as you have to be SO precise.
What also amazed us was to learn that with just one cocoon from a silk worm, they manage to extract up to 5KMS of treads !!!! what ??? how ???? totally mind-blowing...
That was mainly it. Then we swang by the flower market, which was also pretty impressive and beautiful done and is one of the most famous in China. They mainly use dry flowers so if you buy bouquet it is expected to last months or even years if it's good quality. Each flower has a meaning (rose for love, carnation for mother's love) as have numbers (1 rose = you're the only one, there is no other... 3 is 'I-love-you' (3 words), 11 is 'I'm in love with you, etc.).
Dinner was McDonald as we had a not-so-good Chinese lunch and Nathalie felt she couldn't face another one tonight - sorry to disappoint !!!!
posted by Sylvie at 1:47 PM
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