Blogs from Lijiang, Yunnan, China, Asia - page 7

The third week traveling with heavy backpack- I hunger for the blind massage who sees all of my bodily pain. Body sore from carrying my American baggage down meandering cobblestone roads. YET, of course, pain and endurance is all relative as I ponder and see high heel ladies walking seemingly effortlessly over uneven crater like surfaces. Beauty pays comfort a user fee at every street corner... Body sore and I seek out blind massage man down unnamed alley next to the unnamed town square. I stumble upon a woman who is carving a Buddha, Manjushri, Buddha of wisdom, from clay. Her name is Lynn and she just moved to Shuhe with a few friends to start a Buddhist temple. We chat and connect and meet up for dinner. An extended family of 5 Buddhist- Lynn and ... read more

I don't know how it happened – well, not strictly true as I was there I just don't want to recollect it – but somehow we ended up back in pointless boring nothing to do Kunming. Still, before we got there we did have a few great days in Lijiang. We woke up slightly sore from our amazing trek in Tiger Leaping Gorge and headed out to have a good explore of Ljiang Old town. First up was a trip up the Lion Hill. So named as it apparently resembles a sleeping lion – personally I think it was at best a running warthog and more likely a triangle that someone sat on but anyhow – this hill has amazing views over the old town and a pagoda to climb up. We had a few problems ... read more

We arrived to the Tea Boutique in Lijiang on Monday around 11am. Driving from the airport the new landscape was nothing like we have ever seen. Mountains, rice fields, people working the land, animal life, and lakes. As we drove to Old Town Lijiang where I'll hotel was located we saw cobble stone streets, ancient chineese rooftops, and water ways flowing throught the street. Cars were not allowed in the area. The ethnic group here are called Naxi people. They look like Native Americans and love singing and dancing. Yak meat is everywhere along with a fresh fruit that is being sold by all the vendors. The local people brought all of their custom made goods to sell in Old Town and the group shopped ALL day and night. Again bargain was a must and it ... read more

Day 7 Today's adventure is Snow Mountain, it's tallest peak is 18,000 feet. It is the furthest southern glacier in the Northern hemisphere. In China many people don't have cars and taking the taxi is a very normal thing. But when you need a taxi for a long day you just hire a car and a driver. It is very cheap, I think we paid 150 yuan which is about 30 bucks. Once we got into the park we had to take a bus up the windy road to the gondola chalet. The ride was about 20 min to get to the point where we got off. We noticed a lot of people were buying little cans of oxygen to help with the high altitude. There were a set of stairs that lead to a higher ... read more

The next day I slept in, handwashed some clothes, and got a western-style breakfast and coffee combo made by Mama who cooked wearing a tall Chef's hat. I thought it would be best to rest my feet for a day, so I rented quite a nice bike from Baba . The going rate in Lijiang was 15 kuai for the whole day. I rode out of the Old Town by way of some areas that actually didn't have tourist shops! I rode a few miles out to the Suhe Ancient Town which was just a giant gift shop, though it did have a lovely Tibetan building. I still had daylight, so I continued down the road that runs from Lijiang to the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. it was quiet and there were foothills, crop fields, and ... read more