"Yi"pee amusement park

In the fast-paced world of the the United States, adventure and amusement (at least for me) include some rather daring activities. I mountain bike (and road bike), ski, play soccer, and hike in the woods with the wild animals. If those are not enough, I can travel to amusment parks where rollercoasters and other thrill rides await anyone with a strong stomach. If an American wants to be scared, many different types of thrills abound. However, here in China, simple adventures are the rule of the day. As I mountain bike in the Xi Shan, I roll past people hiking up the trails toward the cemetaries. An afternoon by the pond or the lake satisfies the desire to "get back to nature." And the Chinese "amusement" park I went to during the Chun Jie break epitomizes the simple fun the Chinese seek out.West of Kunming, in the Western Hills, a small Yi (pronounced "ee", with a relatively silent "y")minority village has built a type of water amusement park. Built along a small creek running through the rugged hills, the majority of this recreation area's attractions involve water in some way. The above photo shows Emily (6th grade) and me trying our agility and balance on the swinging bridge. The goal is to successfully cross the pond by stepping from one swing to the next. I know, it seems like a tame attraction. I was also surprised at how uncertain many of the Chinese were in attempting this little obstacle. However, to attest to how fun it really is, I crossed the bridge twice, and my Chinese teacher's son swung from step-to-step three times.
As I said, the majority of the attractions involved water, and this merry-go-round is no exception. A smaller creek, running down the hillside and feeding into the larger creek in the valley, powers this carousel. The creek is channeled into a chute about a foot wide, causing the water to build pressure. When released, the rushing water pushes against a set of paddles on the underside of the carousel. While this ride gains its momentum slowly, it eventually travels as quickly as any merry-go-round on which I have ever been (and it can make you just as sick to your stomach).
In the coastal Northwest region of the United States, the Native Americans display large wood totems as monuments of their tribes history and beliefs. In the Yi village, the totems are made of stone, but play a similar role. The very top of this monument displays three panthers. Many Yi minority monuments show some type of large cat--panther, leapord, tiger, etc.. I never learned why the cats are revered so much, but suffice it to say that one can tell when he is in a Yi village, because pictures and statues of cats abound. Also, for those of you who have looked at the posting on the Minority Village, you may recognize this type of totem from one of the pictures displayed in that story.
Oh! Candy! Look out! There is a large snake behind. . . ! Oops, too late. One of the more involved attractions at this park is a hike along a primitively paved trail that follows the creek into the hills. We saw how the Yi people channeld the water into their villages (hollowed out log pipelines), and we saw concrete likenesses of the animals that used to live in the area. Candy, one of our elementary ELD teachers, has been snuck up on by the Chinese version of Ka from The Jungle Book. Happily, this snake's bite is a bit petrified. However, the Chinese people watching got a nice laugh out of the entire photo option.

Along with the water-driven merry-go-round, the big attraction had to have been the two-person zipline. An out-and-back design sends one or two people across a dirty pond where they hike up to the next line that sends them back. In this photo, I am riding the line with Ding Ding, my Chinese teacher's son. He loved it so much that he convinced his father to buy another ticket and take the ride with him. Once again, a very simple thrill compared to what I have grown up with, but a thrill the Chinese people seemed to love and be fearful of all at the same time.

I suppose we all have our own thrill levels, and we also each have our own simple pleasures. On this day, our group relaxed, laughed and screamed as we enjoyed this simple amusement park provided by one of Kunming's closest minority groups.