Blogs from Lijiang, Yunnan, China, Asia - page 5

Skip it unless you want to do laundry or buy some souveniers: you're ten years too late. This is especially the case if you are going to Dali or Shangri-La (aka Zhongdian), both of which are similar, but better. I first entered the old town at night and felt like some naive boy from the provences. Literally tens of thousands of Chinese tourists go from one contrived cultural experience to the next -- like photos with llamas, cowboy hat stands, store after store selling yak meat. Every restaurant is about the same, serving western meals to tourists tapping the table in rhythm to cheesy music performances. We thought for sure that we'd never find a hotel, as we could barely even walk through the streets, but most of the Chinese tourists seem to stay outside the ... read more

So I have discovered that I do not like overnight train rides. I rode a train from Kunming to Lijiang on the top bunk in the cart. There were 3 beds on each side. I liked that I was on the most top because Kelly gets motion sickeness and she was below me so I knew that she wouldn't throw up on me. But the train left the station at 10:30, lights were out at 11:30 and the first time I woke up was at 1:10am with motin sickness. I had rolled over onto my stomach that caused me to feel sick. So I flipped over, drank some water, and fell back to sleep. I didn't have any problems after that but I kept waking up because the train kept stopping at various stations because the ... read more

These photos are from an epic hike through The Tiger Leaping Gorge (TLG), Yunnan. That was definately one of the best hikes I did. I have thousands of photos just from those few days. Along the route are hostels that cost less than $2. The later part of this set is from BaiShuiTai. These are natural terraces just a few hours by bus from TLG.... read more

Our flight to Chengdu was an assault on the senses. We were packed in with nearly 400 over-excited Chinese pensioners all jabbering away and constantly moving from their allocated seats. As the plane landed on the runway the chaos continued with people up and collecting their bags before we had even taxied to the stand! A most entertaining experience. Chengdu is a city of over 9 million people, and many of them were in People’s Park on Sunday morning. It was great just wandering around watching people practising Tai Chi, badminton (including one old dear in red high-heel boots), martial arts and even ballroom dancing (…cha-cha-cha). A particular favourite of ours was the older group of people and their rousing renditions of traditional Chinese songs. These were punctuated by the screeching sounds of karaoke, courtesy of ... read more

We had a bit of a hassle getting to Lijiang from Kunming, but with some help from our new international friend- Berry- we made our way to a hotel right outside the old city (aka the shopping). We explored the views surrounding the old city and then had at it and shopped our heads off. It was probably the most beautiful place I have ever shopped, and I will admit, I transformed into a shopper for the first time in my life. :) Then we went back to the hotel with our ridiculously full bags and slept blissfully.... read more