My Yunnan trip (Part 2): Hiking along the Ancient Tea Horse Road

September 26, 2010

Not as popularly travelled by tourists as the Silk Road, the Ancient Tea Horse Road preserves much tranquility and peace.

Dating back to the Han Dynasty and maturely developed in the Tang Dynasty, the passage was a major way for the old Middle Kingdom to trade tea, salt, sugar and other daily consumables for horses and herbs with its western neighbour Tibet, and extended further to Southeast Asian countries like Nepal and Burma.

We hiked for 10km along the Lameipo (臘梅坡) trail, which is reportedly one of the best conserved sections of the Ancient Tea Horse Road. A large stone craved with the words “Tea Horse Post” greeted us as we arrived at the starting point of the trail. Several nicely decorated houses juxtaposed at the foot of the hill, with maize hung outside the outer walls and laid on the terraces for drying under the sun, making colourful sights.

The upward slope was rather steep. But overall speaking the trail was manageable for an unskilled hiker like me. One of the oldest participants, the 70-year-old Mr. Cheung, was asked whether he really wanted to go with us. Unlike on the previous two days when we hiked on concrete lanes and when a van was available to pick up participants who lagged behind the team or needed some rest, the hill was not accessible by vehicles. The elder, however, insisted in walking for at least a while with the team. So he did it! After hiking up for some time, two members of our escort fire services team accompanied him going down the slope to the starting point. We are proud of Mr. Cheung’s effort!

The uphill section at the beginning was perhaps the most demanding part of the hike. But after taking a rest at the first pavilion we encountered, the way ahead was much flatter. We could see tea trees planted on terraces as we looked around. And as we approached the peak, we entered a big tea tree field! Blooming white flowers of tea trees greeted us with pleasant smell from both sides as we walked along the narrow path in the middle. A clear sky right above us brought us some more cheers.

Later we entered a forest. In contrast with the open space of the tea tree field, it was much dimmer as sunlight was blocked by tall trees. The ground was wet and slippery, apparently because rainwater which dropped on the day before had not yet dried up. I tripped while stepping onto a flat rock, so did some others. More participants tripped when we hiked downhill – it was really not that easy to balance there!

Mrs. Lam had an injury in her leg and was walking with noticeable difficulty. Hand in hand with her husband, who joined this trip to accompany her, she finally completed the whole route. We all gave her a round of applause at our subsequent sharing session at night.

After five hours of hike, I was excited to see a milestone with the number 1 painted on it – which indicated there was only one kilometer left before reaching the end of the trail. Despite my tired legs and the steep downward slope, I accelerated forward because… I was really hungry! We finally reached a village on the other side of the hill. Congratulations! Everyone made it!

(Photos by courtesy of my group-mate Mr. Tony Ho)

My Yunnan trip (Part 1): Visit to Da Zhai Primary School

September 24, 2010

We arrived in the town of Yixiang (倚像鎮) in two coaches, bringing schoolbags and stationery in a van. The road was narrow but the school was not too difficult to access. As our vehicles could not drive through the path leading to the campus, we got off somewhere in the village, walked for about 10 minutes and relayed the schoolbag and stationery packs to Da Zhai Xiao Xue (Da Zhai primary school 大寨小學) .

The 60-odd of us, in “uniform” T-shirts, queued up outside the school entrance, just like pupils waiting to enter their classroom. Children, all wearing red ties and some in colourful ethnic costumes, lined up along both sides of the path clapping their hands and welcoming us. But don’t expect to walk straight through! Despite greeting us with sincere smiles, the adult villagers blocked the school entrance with a long metal rod – one which looked like a gate arm which you would see at a toll station or a car park entrance. It’s the locals’ tradition to let visitors in only after drinking the wine they give. Well, I was told of this tradition beforehand, but could not imagine that the villagers would seriously set up a road block to make us drink! Two girls stood at the school entrance and handed each of us a fully filled, goat horn-shaped container. As a non-drinker I managed to escape it by pretending to sip a bit and then passing the horn to the participant behind me. My fellow hikers later told me that it was REALLY strong wine. A member of my group indeed fell a little unwell after the treat…

The school had about 200 pupils, from primary one to six. But we only had the chance to meet 30 of them who lived nearby because most others had gone home to reunite with their families for mid-Autumn holidays. With about 20 participants, I walked into one of the classrooms to visit 10 kids – They just looked at us quietly. My fellow hikers and I waved and said hello to the children but they didn’t seem very responsive. That made me a bit nervous. As a first-timer to take part in such a school visit, the quietness in the classroom suddenly made me feel I was an intruder. I greeted the class teacher Mr Wen and hoped he would give us some hints on what the pupils liked to play. There was some dead air at the beginning, as we were not well prepared beforehand. Luckily a cheerful hiker broke the ice by teaching the kids an Indonesian folk song. Then we continued with playing games.

Some of the children in the school were of the Han ethnic group (漢族) like us, some were of Miao (苗族) and others of Hani (哈尼族). The Miao girls, in bright pink dresses, were all talented dancers. Unlike the relatively shy or less warmed-up class we first visited, the second classroom was full of cheers and laughter. After brief greetings, the Miao girls quickly agreed to perform their ethnic dance to us. Later the Han pupils also sang together.

Wang Mei (王梅), 11, a Miao girl of primary five, told me she was a member of the Long Tan Fourth Team (龍潭四隊) in her village. Like her, several of the kids cited their residential affiliations when giving their self-introduction. Mei’s 17-year-old elder brother worked on a tea farm but she wanted to become a teacher after growing up. Huang Chen (黃晨), the only boy in the second classroom, was in primary one and did not have any idea of a career yet.

I don’t know how high the chance is for Mei to realize her dream. Yixiang’s party secretary Mr Tao Xiaoyue told us that the town had 14 primary schools but just one secondary school. There were 4173 primary school pupils and 1097 secondary school students, meaning only fewer than one received secondary education in the town they lived.

The teaching facilities in the school were better than what I had expected. The first classroom we visited was equipped with a desktop computer. But accommodation was far from satisfactory. There were six bunk beds in one of the classrooms we visited, placed behind pupils’ desks. This is where the kids lived - we could see their towels and toothbrushes on the beds. At night, more than 20 of them would sleep in the six bunk beds. The school used to have a dormitory, but it was found to be a dangerous building and was therefore demolished. It is applying for funding from Sowers Action to rebuild a safe new one.

Despite the cramped living condition, the children didn’t have a single word of complaint during my interactions with them. All seen on their faces were smiles and cheerfulness, and shyness on some of them. After some games and chats, the local government and the school treated us with a supper and a barbeque. The villagers set a big fire and danced around it, and later invited us to join. I am not a dancer but managed to enjoy the fun by following their steps and running with the little kids.

An observant participant among us, Mr Poon, ditched the barbeque and shared with us what he had found in the school tuck shop in a later sharing session. In a visited to the shop, he noticed that the bottled water sold there contained a high degree of additives. He told the boss of the shop that the materials would harm children’s health. She responded in her local dialect, which Mr Poon did not understand, and so we do not know whether she was aware of the harm at all.

The pupils may not understand what they were drinking every day. But they do know the fun of dancing and playing with their schoolmates and they know the happiness of being at school. Perhaps those at Da Zhai Primary School were already much better off than many others in remote hill areas. Perhaps there are still a lot more to do for the children in China. We moved on to hike on the Ancient Tea Horse Road the following day and the children moved on with their lives.

(Photos by courtesy of my fellow hikers Mr. Yiu-ming Lee and Mr. Tony Ho)