One night in JianShui

After a short break from updates, due to iffy internet connections and banned websites, I have returned with the sequel to the much anticipated New Year's week away.

Like I said YuanYang is an amazing and beautiful place but there is nothing to do once the sun goes down. A few days in the hostel bar/cafe and I was ready for a change. So I went back to the bus station and jumped on a bus to JianShui. It's a small ancient city about half way between YuanYang and Kunming and the bus was much more comfortable than the direct one.

I arrived into JianShui in the early evening and jumped on a city bus to the old part of the town, turned out it was only 3 stops (about a 10 minute walk). Next stop was finding a place to stay. After being turned away from 3 hotels I was beginning to get a little nervous,  I had forgotten New Year is also a Chinese holiday so things were busier than normal. I ended up walking down a little side street and finding a slightly seedy looking hotel. Alarm bells were ringing when they said they didn't need to see my passport and with my key I could eat and drink for free in the downstairs KTV (karaoke bar). I found my windowless room and cleared out the big bugs who were perfectly comfortable in the bathroom and settled into a noisy night in bed. Regardless, I managed to have a good night in the bar with some Chinese Lady Gaga fans. As it turns out, I am lacking in my Lady Gaga song knowledge.

JianShui is actually a really cool place, its an old city that is actually old! Most in China are built just to look old but few are more than a couple of years old. JianShui has remaining city gates and parts of the wall, cobbled streets and parks. There is a chilled out vibe throughout the whole place and the newer parts just outside the wall are equally as nice. I spent several hours just wandering about perfectly happy and causing chaos. I don't think here had been any foreigners there in a long time.

About an hour outside of the city is one of China's longest underground river. I can't remember the exact record but its about a 3km walk along the river to a wonderful, tasteful restaurant and shopping center, it was similar to trying to sit in a light show. The caves were called Swallow caves as once a year the swallows leave their nests on the cave walls and fly south. So up jump some death defying Chinese guys and they collect up the nests for Birds Nest Soup a local delicacy. There were hundreds of little market stalls selling sugar equivalents which tasted something like how i imagine eating housing insulation to taste.

After a very quick stop in JianShui I jumped back on a 4 hour bus to Kunming and back to work. Only a few weeks to go.