standing southwestern cliffs

i practiced standing poses from Primary this morning. next week is a national holiday. i plan to travel through southwestern China. my friends Tangliang and his wife XuYe, whose trip to Tibet by bycicle is chronicled here and here, helped me figure out a trip. they shared these photos of things to see.

caves

waterfalls

agricultural terraces

parks

ancient villages

cliffs where1000 years ago people buried the dead on coffins attached to the side of precipices

unusual rock formations

this trip is a challenge because i am doing it by myself, so i will need to be very sharp in speaking and comprehending mandarin. on my last trip to those areas i joined tour buses and felt exhausted. bus trips make arrangements for you. but they hurry the process and take you to more things than are on the schedule, and to places sponsored by vendors. i wrote a lot about those experiences, but here is one link.

another challenge is that i will need to negotiate for everything. anyone traveling, not just foreigners, are subject to this. i will need to ask for the price of everything before i eat, buy or stay somewhere, and negotiate down. otherwise i could be surprised as i was in Laoshan, near Qingdao two weeks ago. i reached the top of a hill by cable car and was hungry. i did not ask the cost of what i ordered beforehand at a teahouse and there was no menu. i ordered a tofu dish, ate some peanuts and drank fresh green tea. that should have cost about 50rmb, but i was asked to pay 160rmb. that amount can buy a meal in a fancy western restaurant or a sumptuous buffet in my city. it was a lesson for next time asking what is the price of a meal. if it sounds too high, ask how it is being calculated. one could decide not to eat there.