Yi Villager Who Secretly Is World Traveler:

Rabid dogs have been no match for me, nor have the evil serpents of the Yunnanese Jungles. Yes, I emerge victorious and safe after a week of awful battle with Nature.
If this cryptic sort of commentary is not to your liking, I will modify it for a second to explain more clearly just what I have been doing as of lately. For the last week, I have been, with all of my other classmates and teachers from our program, wandering around in the mountains and countryside north of Lijiang (丽江), the tourist capital of northwest Yunnan.
Lijiang city itself is somewhat of a letdown, being a normal city surrounding the baited trap of "old town." This "old town" consists of refurbished old style Chinese houses which now house stores geared entirely toward selling cheap, imitation, and often completely spurious goods to the thousands of naive tourists who traipse around its narrow streets feeling like they've actually been somewhere different from their modern cities. They would most likely have done better to stay where they were and have a good meal.
But one must not get stuck on the grime which lies on the floor, so we look up, up to the horizon. Lijiang, however weak its here-and-now is, is set in one of the most picturesque plains I have ever seen. It rests at the end of the foothills which lead to the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain range in the north. From most places in the city, the peaks of this range loom over you ominously. Unlike the most of the larger mountains in Washington, these peaks are much more sheer and have more exposed rock. They are also a good deal taller, the highest (Yulong Peak) being some 19,200 ft. Lijiang is not a low-lying city either, being somewhere around 10,000 ft. above sea level.
Luckily it was part of our itinerary to venture out of this dismal city into the beautiful countryside. After spending a day in Lijiang we headed towards the mountains. We hiked up and over one of the main ridges to the mountains and into a valley with a small fading lake. Around the lake were dotted several small groupings of houses, constituting the disperse village of Wenhai. Here we stayed at a lodge recently built by the villagers to attract more tourism. I would say without hesitation that this is one of the most beautiful villages I have ever set eyes upon. The fields and terraces that retreated up the ravines of the surrounding villages were all a vibrant green, and the ridges became so steep as they went up as to reveal sheer cliffs on almost every side. And of course there were the Jade Dragon Snow Mountains, closer than ever, hanging over the valley.
I actually had the opportunity to hike up fairly close to these peaks with one of my classmates and a man who writes for National Geographic named Paddy. On our way up we passed through forests like I have never seen before. There were entire glades of azalea trees whose pink and white flowers not only tinted the ground, but perfumed the entire hillside. From this we climbed through a forest of Rhododendron trees which were as big as large apple trees. This was not something I would necessarily have noted, but Paddy, being the fountain of knowledge he proved to be, told us that Rhododendron's do not generally become large trees. So I relate the discovery to you.
Eventually we emerged on the high altitude meadows that covered the shoulders of the ridge. From there, enduring a tearing wind, we could see a panorama not often witnessed. To the north and west we could see down the various valleys into what was the massive gorge of the Yangtze. To the south and east was the vast Lijiang plain with its city sprawling out of it. To the southwest the ridges dropped rapidly into the Wenhai bowl and to our northeast rose the absolutely massive point of Yulong Mountain.
Various villages could be seen perched on the descending ridges with their green fields and the occasional creeks which carved grooves as they slid down the hillsides. I would guess we were at some 12,000 ft. of elevation, and we were pretty much onto the lowest sides of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain range. While the peaks did not actually prove to be made of Jade, I did find several bright green marble-like shards of stone on our way down. Paddy claimed they were not Jade or any valuable stone, but I suspected this was a maneuver on his part to con me into throwing away my fortune. I saw him pack his pockets with the stones as I did. (They are definitely worthless, as I have found out by now, but are still really cool looking and count as a good souvenir, being a legitimate part of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountains.)
On our way down, we came to our first encounter with rabid dogs. Three vile looking beasts tried to venture against us as we were crossing an open field, but we drove them off with a hail of rocks (not our green ones). I was feeling fairly manly about this whole episode until we saw the dogs' owner who was hauling a immensely heavy load up the hillside. After exchanging a few words with him, I came to the conclusion that the dogs were neither rabid nor driven off by us, but obedient and protective to this their master. Oh well, at least I imagined to have an adventure for some moments.
I will conclude with yet one more anecdote. Right before Paddy and I started climbing the mountain we passed through a small Yi minority village which consisted of two houses. We stopped on the larger of the two, and after fending off more raging dogs, conversed with the inhabitants for a bit. It turns out that they were one of the richer families in the area and the Grandma still retained almost all of her old customs. She had strange dot tattoos on her hands which in essence a serial number--she had been sold as a slave when she was a young girl and the tattoos were so that her real parents could recognize her if they ever found her again. Strange custom. However her son, who was already in his thirties and married with a son, was an equally interesting person. While we were talking with him, he suddenly decided to mention that he had recently been gallivanting around New York City.

The conversation went something like this (in Chinese of course):
Us: "Are you a farmer?"
Yi Villager Who Secretly Is World Traveler: "Yes, I've got crops on this side of the valley."
Us: "Is farming difficult here?"
Yi Villager Who Secretly Is World Traveler: "Not really. We have plenty of water and the soil is good."
Us: "How long have the terraced fields been on the hillside?"
Yi Villager Who Secretly Is World Traveler:"Not long."
Us (surprised): "Really? That's odd. We thought they were thousands of years old."
Yi Villager Who Secretly Is World Traveler: "Yeah, that's what most Chinese people want foreigners to believe, but last time I was in New York I visited Central Park and some of the landscaping there inspired me..."

Apparently, this Yi man had recently been taken to New York by the Nature Conservancy, which does work in the area. It turns out that no matter how far you venture into the depths of the wilderness and what is seemingly so disconnected from the world, there are all still connections to all that you might think you have left behind.
Tomorrow I shall regale you with tales of my trek through the shadows of Tiger Leaping Gorge. Have a good night or morning or afternoon depending on when this reaches you, and of course, do not take the wonders of communication for granted.
Phil.