After Beijing we flew to Kunming (due to the recommendation of Leah's friend and Mandarin teacher). We had a wonderful time in the city and mostly enjoyed the music at night in the local parks. Story: So we are hanging out with, Paul, a traveler from Holland and he wants to go clubbing. No problem, ( well we are use to going to sleep at 9 PM so it was tough). We start looking around 10. We must have gone into 12 different clubs, pubs, karaoke bars (lots of these), until we hit the gold mine. At around midnight we found a smoky, fun, funky, dance club. There is an active DJ and fog machines/laser lights. We loved it and started dancing. Soon, very soon (within seconds), our 6ft 3 inch, blond Dutchman is surrounded by tons of... you guessed it, topless guys. We had found the best bar in the city and of course it was a gay bar. Leah and I laughed and our buddy tried to get free drinks. Also near Kuming is the stone forest. We spent the day wondering around hugh vertical slabs of stone. (see below)
After Kunming we took an overnight sleeper bus to Lijing. There is a great story that goes with this bus (details must be omitted to keep you all from getting sick ), it involves Leah waking with a return of her Giardia and having to stop the bus on the side of the road or explode. I will leave it to your imagination as to the torture that Leah suffered on this one. Anyway we reached Lijing and enjoyed this magical city for a few days while Leah healed and then we took on the Tiger. Tiger leaping gorge is a nice two day hike through the deepest gorge in the world. Good food and amazing views.
Somewhere in all this madness we heard of a Tai Chi class being taught at a Tao/Buddhist monastery near Dali (Suni if you are reading this, take your son and book tickets to China for a month ). We took a quick bus after the hike and found REAL CHINA!!! Story: we took a taxi and got dropped off at the base of a stand of trees under and arch. The taxi driver pointed up the hill and says "Wu Wei Si ! " That is the name of the monastery. So, we walked. Turn after turn, step after step, pagodas, and painted walls appearing as if by magic from the mist. We had to just stop and laugh since it seemed like the stairs would never end and we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. Then after ~10 minutes, we are there. A real kung fu, Tai chi, monastery, dedicated to an art only taught here. You can't hear the city, and the rain starts to fall. For less then 50 dollars a week, we get housing, food, and training with the monks. The only condition, you must work. Well we have been working, and only came into town to send this blog (and eat meat, there isn't any up there nor is there electricity). Having found this place, we will stay for the remaining days we have on our visa and think about coming back in a few months.
We will have more stories about Wu Wei Si in our next blog since we will be spending the next 7 days there. But here are a few facts to get you thinking about our upcoming week, No electricity, Monks start chanting at 5:30 a.m. we have one small bowl and chopsticks we keep in our room between meals and "wash" (rinse with with water and scrub with our fingers) and 5 hours of practice a day. Lots of stretching, and periodic rainfall several time a day.
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