New Photos – Southern China

By Steven Shoppman in

We entered China in the Yunan Province of the country and made our way North through the Leaping Tiger Gorge and up to Chengdu. Some of the worst road of the trip made this section very long and difficult, but we were able to see some pretty amazing scenery and history.

Link to Gallery or click the photos below.

Approaching the Chinese border with LaosIt is not a border, it is a Frontier Defense postAfter 30 hours at the border, we were eager to get on the roadImmigration was no problem at allUnlike immigration, customs was expensive and time consumingThe trucks outside the gates to ancient Dali CityAin't no hoppin' this fenceDriving high along side the Yangtze riverTiger Leaping Gorge is a popular spot for locals and foreigners alikeThis is some serious whitewaterThe first of many signs we would see in ChinglishThinking about taking the plunge at Tiger Leaping GorgeIf you do fall in, there is not much hope for youWho would even want to?Shop signals Bouey to that kayaking the gorge is probably a bad idea16 people have died in recent years trying to kayak/raft Tiger Leaping GorgeYao Ming may have been to the temple, but we were the focus of attention that dayOne more for good measureThe Buddhist temple near Lijiang is quite spectacularThe Buddhist prayer rooms overlook the Yangtze valley belowThe Buddhist prayer rooms overlook the Yangtze valley belowThe Buddhist prayer rooms overlook the Yangtze valley belowA local guide gives Jason and Bouey a history lesson about the templeBouey doing a little reflecting at the templeI don't know what is says, but Chinese writing is pretty coolThere are some pretty crazy creatures in Chinese culture and religionOur guide Jason also has a hobby of writting Chinese calligraphyThe Thundra gets an oil change and takes up the entire service bayThe kitchen at one of our guesthouses near Lijiang... glad I got my Hep shotsUnfortunately, this is not fog and represents something we had to deal with for the next three weeksIn addition to McDonald's, you can have you pick of western storesIn China, cornfields seemed to replace the familiar rice fields we were used toOnce the corn is harvested, it is carefully gaurdedDowntown KunmingDowntown Kunming and the first McDonald's we had seen since ThailandLight traffic in KunmingA crowd gathers to inspect the Thunjdra at Tiger Leaping GorgeThe road above the Yangtze got a little narrow and sketchy at timesThe mighty Yangtze flows through a narrow canyon at Tiger Leaping GorgeIf you don't want to take the main road through the gorge, you can take the footpath A Chinese 4x4 club was doing a tour of Southern ChinaWe stopped at a mountaintop temple near Lijiang which draws some famous visitors including Yao MingCrossing the Mekong for about the 10th time... this time iin Southern China

This entry was written by Steven Shoppman, posted on December 4, 2007 at 11:59 am, filed under China, New Photos and tagged , . Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.