Monday, August 31, 2009

Off to Yunnan

Hello Suzhou and goodbye Suzhou! I'm off to Yunnan for 6 days of leisure and fun. We'll fly to Kunming and from there somehow make our way to Dali... they we'll hand in Dali until we get bored and head off to the Tiger Leaping Gorge and Lijiang. Eventually we'll fly back to Shanghai (via Kunming) from Lijiang, although I hope this goes well because the flight we were supposed to be on has already been cancelled.. Oh well, I am still so excited! I've already been to Yunnan once but that was a completely different kind of a trip, so this time I am looking forward to just relaxing, enjoying the food and not necessarily think about work.

We spent today, our "stopover" day, in Suzhou at the "wedding street," (this has become the new "tailor market" to bring visitors too! Much more fun here: you get your own catwalk and tiara!) making a wedding dress to my friend Caroline who's getting married this upcoming winter (And Caroline, if you are reading this: you're going to look gorgeous in this one, darling!). We also made a dress for mom and one for my sister... I'm a little bit nervous about how they are going to turn out, but let's hope for the best! At least it was a good way to get straight back into speaking Chinese again. Oh god! After chatting with numerous sales girls and tailors I felt completely exhausted when we eventually jumped into a taxi back. In fact, I almost fell asleep in the backseat!! Haha! My Chinese held up but it didn't feel as smooth as "back in the days" (ehhh) and I was sometimes lost for words. Oh well, I have an excellent opportunity to rely on it now during our stay in Yunnan.

After the dress making we went to a Korean restaurant (mom was in LOVE. She's a health bug and hit it off totally with the kimchi) and ate some much missed bibimbap (my oh my... so GOOD!) and then we went to have a massage... And now I have to say it: it's d*** good to be back in China!!! How I've missed this place!!

Anyways, now I better get back to packing and sorting out my clothes (I am determined that for once in my life I am going to travel light!)

Unless I find a computer in Yunnan, blogging will return to its normal, every-day-update kind sometime after September 5. Have a great week everybody, I am pretty sure I will.

17 comments:

TG said...

Wow! I really envy you! Dali is a wonderful town! I want to see it, too!!! :P

******************** Shanghai MiFeng said...

Jonna , while your in Kunming and happen to run into my Sister
" LILY " please say Hi for me . Thanks .
Have a nice Trip .

Unknown said...

I look forward to your updates. At least your blog isn't blocked in China. Please tell how your new Chinese classes at your new university go!!!

Pete In Syracuse said...

Sounds like a GOOD time!!! Enjoy!!

Anonymous said...

No blogging in next 5 days? How we going to live? Please try to find a local cafe in Yunnan and post something.

Brad Farless said...

I'm glad to hear you made it back to China safely and are having fun touring your folks around. Have fun in Yunnan, and be safe! Looking forward to hearing from you again soon. ^_^

Carl said...

Sounds like you are enjoying your vacation, Jonna! Thanks for keeping us posted. Have fun! :D

Anonymous said...

I sure am reading it:)

Thanks a bunch sweetie!

Carro

Anonymous said...

Jag blir nervös om du är det....wiiiiihhhh...:S Hoppas på det bästa dock. /KRAMS Lottan

bARE-eYED sUN said...

kudos! you're having fun! :-)

luv your enthusiasm.

see ya when ya return.

..
.ero

Brad Farless said...

Hey Jonna, have you seen this video about lead poisoning affecting villages and children in Yunnan?

(The link is to an Al Jazeera news article hosted on YouTube.)

Jonna Wibelius said...

Mkl -u should. It was amazing :)

Shanghai Mifeng -sorry, I didn't bump into any Lily in Kunming...

Joanna -my blog isn't blocked in China?? It was when I tried blogging from Yunnan... arrrhgg!Anyways, f course I will tell about my new uni once I start!

Pete -I sure did :)

Anonymous -I tried but I couldn't access my blog from there wihtout my VPN connection... :(

Brad -thanks! It is so good to b back in china! :)

Carl -thanks!!

Carro -anytime ;)

Lotta -det gick jäääääättebra! :) du får höra mer från mamma när hon kommer hem!

.ero -thanks! :)

Brad -oh no, more lead poisoning?! Well, it is everywhere in China I believe.

Anna Davidson said...

Hey Jonna, your trip sounds fabulous! I have a technical question for you - how do you access your blog in China? How do you get pictures up? I am using Tor but still can't get pictures up! Advice needed!!!

Jonna Wibelius said...

Anna -I use a VPN server. Don't ask me how to go about it though, my bf set it all up, so I think google is better off when it comes to explaining how it works to you. ;)

Maybe you can try a proxy of you cannot get a VPN server? I haven't used any for ages though so I cannot really recommend one. But I think that's what most people use nowadays when a lot of pages are blocked here in China. Good luck!

Phoenixkidd said...

Oh I would love to go Yunnan, Jonna you are a lucky girl, all that Chinese learning has finally paid off.

Michelle said...

Hey, you never mentioned how your dresses from the wedding dress street in Suzhou turned out! :) I'm taking my mother to Suzhou for a night or two and wondering if it'd be worth ordering something and then come back to Suzhou (from SH) to pick up.
I'm pretty sure my mom wouldn't be up for all the adventures you two are off on - kudos to both of you! Sounds like your having such a wonderful time together.

Jonna Wibelius said...

Michelle -u r right. I am bad at following up, thanks for reminding me!! Are u getting married soon, or are you going to a wedding and are in the need of a new, fancy dress?? Then GO to the streets!! The dresses we made turned out excellent. Mom loved hers, my sister loved hers!! It's really a place worth going to, and some shops have fun catwalks and tiaras, so I bet u 2 are going to have a blast!! :) Goodluck!!