[LAST POST of 2017 Exchange] The Weather in China : From Snow in Beijing to Pineapples in Yuanyang (written Feb 25th)

I would like to express my sincere thanks to everyone who advised that we pack for all sorts of weather while here in China. We’ve experienced virtually every type of weather there is. We started our journey with Spring-like weather in Hong Kong and are currently riding on the train from Beijing to Hangzhou through a snow-dusted landscape.

On our first day in China we needed windbreakers and light sweaters on the ferry from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island and subsequent tram/funicular railway up to Victoria Peak. We shed layers on our hike along the trail which circled the base of Governor’s Hill and we’d stripped down to t-shirts on the virtually vertical hike up Governor’s Walk to the Victoria Peak Garden.

Some of the warmest and coldest locations were in Southwest China in the Yunnan Province near the borders of Vietnam and Laos. We needed warm coats, hats and gloves at our hotel in the former provincial capital, Xiajie, ( 5,000 feet above sea level) but the air was so dry and the sun so bright that laundry hung out by our window dried in a few hours. On the drive from Kunming we dipped into balmy valleys cut by rivers flanked by bamboo and banana trees where freshly cut pineapples were a road-side treat.

We froze our proverbial “derrieres” off waiting for the sun-rise over the “Tiger Mouth” terraced rice fields of Yuanyang and later stuffed those same jackets and sweaters into backpacks as we hiked across similar, but warm, terraced fields to visit an ethnic village of the Hani people. In Dali we were back to light shirts and wind breakers for our tour of the Three Pagodas Temple and in the Old Shaxi Village; but bundled up again for our visit to Yak Meadows (altitude 14,750 feet) on Yulong Xue Shan (Jade Dragon Snow Mountain) outside of Lijiang.

Though we sometimes found ourselves inadequately dressed….. (Click here for a picture of the “crew” outside the 2008 Olympic’s “Bird’s Nest” in Beijing. BTW: Jenny and Charlie are faking it “big-time” for the photo it was bitter cold with gale force winds!)… in general we’ve had what we needed. So, again - thanks Becky, Randy, Veronica, Chris, Allison, Jill and everyone else who prepared us for the trip. Can’t wait to get to Hangzhou and see what we find there. I’ll let you know!