Thought for the day:
"It is good to have an end
to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end. " - Ernest
Hemingway
The trails of our intrepid band of 12 Volunteers separated and converged in several ways for Saturday and Sunday.
Free time destinations
included Tanhua Si Park, Green Lake Park, Yunnan Ethnic Peoples’ Theme Park, a
Yi Stone Village and Shilin Stone Forest, the Provincial Museum, the Kunming
Exposition Hall, the Military Museum and Anning Hot Springs.
Special meals were served
to the Volunteers al fresco at the Inn in the Stone Village, and at a rustic
Dai barbecue restaurant near Anning. Special dishes were enjoyed by some of the
Volunteers at the elegant restaurant of the Green Lake Hotel.
Li Baokun (Chris), our
Host, directs the Continuing Teachers’ Education Program at Yunnan
University. He accompanied the Stone
Village/ Stone Forest Four on Saturday, and the Hot Springs/ Dai Barbecue Six
on Sunday.
Our Country Manager,
Wang Bao Li was our companion to Tanhua Si Park and to Anning.
Tanhua Si Park is reached
by public bus, about 10 minutes’ ride from our Hotel. The grounds of the
7-story Pagoda slope gently up from the Park’s entrance at street level. There are sections of garden, pavilions, fish
ponds, covered passageways, bamboo groves, and a grass-covered open space on a
hill. We saw drawing classes, crafts
stations for young children, fish feeding and fish catching, picnicking, music
rehearsals, and martial arts practice. Inside the pagoda, we ascended 7 levels
and were rewarded with views of the City and of the Western Hills.
The Hot Springs, an hour’s
drive from Kunming, is in a delightful pine forest setting. The dozens of pools come in a variety of
temperatures and colors. One of the
cooler pools was the one with small fish that delicately nibbled the feet of
Lester, Stella, Leon, Nancy and Bao Li. After relaxing in a couple of pools for
almost 3 hours, that group headed to one of the many Dai barbecue places. The meal consisted of grilled chickens, split
and flattened, with heads still on, crispy-skinned whole fish, mushrooms
wrapped in banana leaves, whole eggplants stuffed with green onions ground meat
and chilies, doufu, grilled bread, soup with greens, and pineapple rice served
in a pineapple shell. The seasoning, very spicy, was superb.
All, in all, the weekend
was relaxing and restorative. Now we are energized for
the final 5 intensive days of classes and 2 afternoons of off-campus activities
with our students!
- Dixie
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