hey corax!
i dun noe who u r.
but i'll tell u all i noe.

actually there's this old trade route to Tibet.
its called the Old Route of Horse and Tea
in chinese its cha ma gu dao
named so cuz they use horses to carry the pu-er tea to tibet.
this tea merchant, i only noe his surname is Yan,
controlled almost all the tea trade on this route.
so it means he controlled the tea trade of yunnan cuz the route is most used by yunnan tea traders.

so he had his mansion built near er-hai (er sea. DaLi is famous for Cang mountain and Er sea)
which is near the town of Xi Zhou.
if i remembered correctly,
its about 1.5hrs ride from the train station of Xia Guan in DaLi(taxi)
its quite famous in DaLi so if u ask any taxi driver for Yan Jia Da Yuan
they should noe.

so a few decades ago
they carry tea on donkeys and horses
and walk to tibet
on the way the tea will ferment due to the weather and the horse perspirations
the longer it ferment,
the better it is.

very sorry my blog cannot view chinese
so cannot tell u the exact pronounciations
anyway if u can, can u tell me who r u?

Well!!
I've been back a good couple of days!!
Finally found a time to post!!
Haha.

This trip was grand!!
First we went to LiJiang,
Went horse riding up YuLong snow mountain
Rode up to 4200m above sea level
And ate soup made from the meat of wild 'long haired' cow
which the person hunted himself.
cool right??
Then rode all the way down.
My mum's comment: I've had enough horse rides for a lifetime!!
The way up was easier
The roads are all mountain roads
so coming down was quite scary.
and my horse, ZuoLiu's footing was not very steady
guess the hind legs got injured or someting.

Also went to the old town of SuHe.
there was a sign of this bar
it says: read, chat, sleep, daydream.
that's like O.o
and its so...how do i put it?
Peaceful and quiet.
Then in the afternoon we went horse riding again.
cool...
At first i rode a 'nameless' black horse
(the horse's master dun talk much)
then i switched with my dad and rode the horse AhLiKe
at least that's how to pronounce.
not Ah Li Kexin kay!!
They took us up to half the mountain
and we saw the local ppl
the kids competing tree climbing,
chickens running around...
and there's a BIG rooster with a white head.
Like WOW!!

And i hav to say this.
AhLiKe is very nice and cute.
its all orange/yellow/the color of horse
besides for a little white triangle on its forhead
and it doesnt like to be the 1st
so everytime it lacks behind.
and i held the reins kay!!
so nice~
guiding it left and right~~
~~~Heee~~~~

Then off we go to DaLi
THe DaLi in TIan Long Ba Bu (a drama series with Lin Zhiyin as DuanYu)
Went to taste local dishes!!
the food was SUPER DUPER NICE!!
then we went to this mansion
of this tea merchant which monopolied the Yunnan tea trade a few decades ago.
I bought this rose tea
but it turned out not as fragrant or sweet as the one i tasted...

oh yes forgot to say.
i ate this insect like thingy in LiJiang
THey say its sonething like prawns
that looks a bit like praying mantis
and is called water dragonfly.
they fry it and it taste SOOOO
nice.

After that we went to Kunming
and i got a haircut there.
juz a trim of the front hair.
the last day there i went to stone forest
its a natural geological thingy.
dating back from millions of years ago.
it was so majastic!!
So GRAND
So unforgettable!!

I cant upload the pics cuz my comp v.slow
and there's a LOT of photos to show!!
Show ya'all when i meet ya!!

And yesterday i received my first christmas present
from my first guitar teacher
his first guitar.
cuz he say im one of his best students
originally taught by him.
HEeee
So happy
and the guitar sound is very nice!!
Happy~~~~

yaays!! Lijiang is very nice!!
Yu long mountain also very nice!!
only that im freezing right now.
my hands are getting numb by the min.
oocs.

really i shud ask my mum to bring me a pair of gloves.
think i'll post sometime nex fri
when i get back to singapore
and i try to get little thingys for ya'll
if i can, that is.

kays gotta go!
or else you'll be seeing kexin ice-cream in s'pore.
heez :>