Following the clouds

MANILA, Philippines - Legend has it that an emperor one day espied an auspicious cloud formation and ordered his general to follow the cloud. It moved southward with the wind, and settled over what is now the province of Yunnan, which literally means “south of the clouds.”

Historically, in 221 BC, Qin Shi Huang unified China and extended his authority south. In 109 BC, Emperor Wu Ti sent General Guo Chang south to Yunnan, to set up the Yizhou commandery and 24 other counties.

Although lagging behind the boom cities in the eastern part of China in terms of economic and industrial development, Yunnan has its share of advantages. For one thing, its location gives it an edge in trade with Southeast Asian countries. It is also about the most biologically diverse province of China, host to about 17,000 of China’s 30,000 plants species. Yunnan’s reserves of aluminum, lead, zinc and tin are the largest – and locals also say the best in quality – in China, and there are also major reserves of copper and nickel.

Over 95 percent of China’s cut flowers come from Yunnan, specifically Zhengong county southeast of the capital city of Kunming. With its claim as the city of constant spring, Kunming is ideal for the cut flower industry; recognizing this, the Chinese government mandated it to be the flower growing region about two decades ago, supplying seeds and other horticultural inputs to farmers in the region.

Cultivating flowers – chrysanthemums, carnations, roses, lilies, sunflowers, heliconias, among others – has served the farmers of the area well; mud houses have by and large given way to brick houses, and many of them have even moved up to multi-storey concrete structures. A number of farmers have done so well they’ve left the cultivation to others and have become traders and brokers, sending their blooms all over the country for those spectacular floral displays that are a hallmark of the Chinese landscape.

With the increased demand for flowers as China celebrated her 60th founding anniversary on Oct. 1, the price of roses had quadrupled in Kunming, from RMB2 to RMB8 for 20 blooms. Carnations, on the other hand, can be had for RMB30 – for all of 700 blooms! In fact, the carnation is considered such a commonplace flower that it is often used to feed the pigs. Sunflowers, on the other hand, can grow to as large as a foot in diameter. One can buy dried whole flowers and pick at the seeds for a healthy snack.

About 90 kilometers south of Kunming is the county of Jiuxiang; literally, it means nine villages, although no one could tell me what or where these nine villages are, or were. In Jiuxiang county is the largest cave cluster in China, covering 172 square kilometers, with over 100 karst caves divided into five areas, only one of which has been developed and opened to the public.

Because of the long National Day holiday (locals get a full week off), it was especially crowded – which, in a way, was good because it slowed down our pace. And that is good because it is a long way – about two hours on average, although we took longer because of the queues. The short of breath and the weak of knees can opt to be carried on a sedan chair for RMB200, which is a bargain considering how long the distance is and how steep and slippery it is at some points.

Pride did not allow me to even consider taking the chair, especially after seeing quite a few elderly people – a couple of them even bent over with osteoporosis – embarking on foot. Besides, seeing how the tandem of men were sweating and panting as they carried the bamboo poles supporting the chair, each with a strap of cloth slung across his shoulder, it seemed to be bordering on slavery and thus very politically incorrect.

Opened to the public in 1989, what is known as the Rainbow Bridge includes a gorge (aptly named the Soul-Stirring Gorge) and three caves. A walk along a path with stone railings lets one look down onto the gorge and leads into the first cave, called the White Elephant, so named because the cavern is – with a little imagination – shaped like a elephant’s trunk. Rushing waters hundreds of feet below provide wonderful music to walk by.

The Sleeping Dragon cave is much more scenic, with amazing stalactites and stalagmites lighted sometimes too colorfully. The main attraction of this cave is the Twin Waterfalls, which cascade into a deep dark pool that is also fed by water flowing down a series of terraced pools – called the Fairy’s Paddy Fields – very much like our rice terraces. The sight and sound of the thundering and flowing waters are awesome, but movie buffs will get an added thrill knowing that Jackie Chan shot a scene from the movie “Myth” here – he jumped down the bigger of the twin falls, and then ran up the terraced pools. But as they say on television, don’t try that at home.

There are several stops along the way, even a picnic area with stone tables and stools where families were resting and snacking, many of them on the sunflower seeds earlier mentioned.

As we neared the third and last cave – the Bat Cave, so named because hordes of them used to populate the caverns but mercifully (for me at least) have relocated – our guide warned us that there are 336 steps, most of them quite steep. This cave used to be known as the Upside Down Underground Stone Forest, which is really a better description of the cave as it is more appropriately descriptive, but the name is not really very tourist-friendly.

From here, a sedan chair can be hired for RMB50, and several of our group did take the chair. Again, pride kept me from doing so, but as they say, pride always comes before a fall. In this case it was not so much a fall as seriously wobbling knees, dripping sweat even in the rather cool temperature of the cave, severe shortness of breath – and there was no more pride in having to rest at every opportunity that presented itself in the form of stools and benches placed there, I am sure, for people such as I.

When we finally got back out into the sunshine at the end of the climb, there were no words left to speak – especially when we saw the aforementioned very senior citizens hardly even panting or sweating. We didn’t even have enough energy to promise to start exercising when we got home.  

But if the scenery in the 600 million years old caves was not enough reward, there was a treat waiting for us at the end of the cave, just before we took the cable car – more like a cable chair – ride up the last slope to the waiting bus. At the series of stalls selling all kinds of souvenirs and food and drink was one grilling skewers of goat meat marinated in a spicy mixture. At RMB5 a stick, it was a delicious bargain… but I’m still trying to decide if it was worth the arduous climb.

There is a tourism exchange package between Manila and Kunming arranged by GoldMines Tours. For this and other tour packages around China, such as one to the magnificent snow festival in Harbin in December, contact GoldMines Tours at [email protected] or call 252-3452.