Hello everyone!
Sorry for the delay, I am now finally connected to a VPN after traveling to nearly every corner of Yunnan province. After a week in the rural home stay, I traveled to Shangri-la. Shangri-la is a fictional place described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton. It is believed that this place describes northwestern Yunnan and as such in 2001, Zhongdian County in northwestern Yunnan officially renamed itself Shangri-La County. While we were visiting the area, we went to the largest Tibetan Buddhist Monastery in Yunnan. It has over 1,000 monks and we got to speak with the head monk who is considered a Dali Lama or living Buddha, it was really quite fascinating. I also went with a couple of friends to the famous Snow Mountain and took a cable car up to 15,000 ft. It was super hard to breath and extremely windy, but the view was incredible!
After Shangri-la, I went with a few friends to hike Tiger Leaping Gorge. It is a canyon on the Jinsha River, a primary tributary of the upper Yangtze River. It is one of the deepest and most spectacular river canyons in the world and its inhabitants are primarily the indigenous Nakhi people. After hiking the gorge, we took a overnight train back to Kunming. It was a little squishy but definitely an experience to remember!
I am now back in Kunming and starting my last month here in China. I have signed a language pledge so I can only read, write, and speak Chinese with the exception of school commitments and talking to family. It has only been a few days, but I can already tell my speaking skills will increase immensely.
I hope everyone is well and stays safe with all the election commotion!
<3 Elizabeth
Monks at the largest Tibetan Buddhist Monastery
On top of Snow Mountain, at 15,000 ft
Making friends with goats at Tiger Leaping Gorge
Tiger Leaping Gorge
On the top bunk in the overnight train