TRIP TO CHINA, JULY 2006

In July 2006 I was lucky enough to do a trip to China, to look for product for our website. Like most people, when I hear the word "China" I immediately think of huge factories churning out millions upon millions of mass produced items which are of poor quality and have very little appeal except a low price tag. Which is exactly what we don't want for our website, because we try to sell only hand crafted , hand-woven silk and cotton products , made by hill tribe families and people in small villages, who rely on the income generated from their work. We also like to buy directly from the artisans who create these products, so we know exactly how they are made, and we are sure they are getting a fair price for their efforts.

With this in mind, I set off to China anyway. Because of time restraints, I flew from Chiang Mai to Kunming, in southern China with Thai Airways. They were the only airline servicing that route at the time. Saw some good examples of the rapidly growing Chinese infrastructure on the way to Kunming, including the bridge in the above photo. Kunming is a city of more than 4 million people, a very modern place, but to me lacking in character. After 3 days of walking the streets looking for something to buy for the website, and not finding anything of worth, I jumped on a bus and headed west for Xiaguan, around a 5 hour trip. The roads here are amazing, 6 lanes wide in places and as good as any I drove on back in Australia. Because of the mountainous country, there are some long tunnels on the way, some 3 or 4 km. long!

After arriving in Xiaguan the fun started, namely trying to find the local bus to Dali. After awhile the people I was traveling with sorted it out and we were on another bus to Dali. It took about an hour to reach Dali, then the hunt for a guesthouse begun. We finally settled on the "Tibetan Lodge", and it was a good choice. Nice rooms at a reasonable rate, very friendly lady running the place, and the food was heaven. After being in Kunming the food here was unreal, lots of Tibetan style meals at a fair price. Had a nice dinner, a few cold beers, ( good beer) and a good nights sleep. See next post for more about beautiful Dali town.