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Published: June 16th 2008
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Got up today around 10 or 10:30am (and ps im sorry for publishing so many blogs at once but i have better internet connection here so i thought i would update as much as i can today).
As i mentioned in previous entry it was one of the best sleeps ever. Had some Naxi baba - this pancake like food and also porride for breakfast from a food stall (about 7 RMB??). This is kinda like a local breakfast food in a lot of the towns in Yunnan.
With it's well preserved architecture with unique Chinese style, LIjiang old town was recognised on the UNESCO world hertitage list in Dec 4, 1997. A chinese film director (Zhang Yimou) made a movie (Riding alone for thousands of miles) with the background set in Lijiang and an outdoor production (impression Lijiang) dedicated to promoting Lijiang. As a result local tourism has boomed in the old town. This has let to the town been quite commerical - lots of souvenior shops, hotels and resturants. But its still great to do sight seeing and the architecture here is definately neet and amazing - even if it is touristy. And its even better when it
Lijiang old town
The view from the temple rains (which it did for us one of the days) - beacuse most of the Chinese toursits stay indoors.
We stopped at another tibetian cafe for lunch and I had a delicious fried rice with pork and vege. Me and Kathy continued to tour the old town whilst Mikk and Jian went back to the hostel. The old town was the first place i had encountered paid toilets - although they were only 0.5RMB or 5 Mao which was nothing. They were pretty worth it though they were the most modern i had seen in China yet, with automatic flushing toilets, automatic taps, TV's and music ( which me and Kathy were dancing to to the toilet managers amusement).
Around 4pm we met with the boys. We decided to go up toi the gardens. It was 60RMB to get in - but we heard it was free after 5:30/6pm. We got there but it was not free anytime - according to the lady - but i doubt she would have told us anyways. We decided to see if we could jump the fence (me, Mikk, Kathy and Jian). It was not possible but we saw some nice views
LIjiang old Town
The view from the temple from the top (some other chinese boyus tried to follow our sneaky ways also).
The old town is actually the only old city built without a city wall and there is an interesting story why:
Lijiang had been under the reign of the hereditary Mu family for more than 500 years. If the Chinese character 'Mu' (represents the governor of Lijiang) is put into a frame (represents city wall), you have the character 'kun' which means "seige" or predicament". This means the governing Mu family and thier decendants would always be trapped like a rat in a hole. Because of this symbolism, old town LIjiang was never given a city wall.
Anyway from the top of the mountain we saw a temple far in the distance. We hoped to get there for sunset (forgetting about the garden). The view was nice from the temple and we could even see some of our washing hanging infront of our hostel from here. The priest in the temple invited to read our fortune for 10RMB. Jian and Mikk weren't interested, because they did not believe in this. Me and Kathy did not want to know our future - so unfortunately the
LIjiang old town
The view from the temple priest did not get our business. Insde there was alot of prayers and symbols of the hitler sign back to front (which symbolised peace in buddism). We left and had dinner in another Tibetian resturant the LP recommended and I had a Tibetian soup (yum). After dinner i really felt like corn (smelling it from the street vendors so I got one for 2RMB. It wasn't as great as it smelt (unfortunately). Then Mikk saw 2 of his friends from uni (that he went to for 6 months in Hong Kong) so we went in for a chat. The girl was from Hong Kong and her name was Lindsey and the guy was from Slovakia and his name was Peter. They said they had gone to the 3 pagodas in Dali (as students for 100RMB) and said it was worth it. They also had thier fortunes told which wasnt worth it ( i think she paid 300RMB and he paid 100RMB). It was all wishy washy like everything will be perfect. Then Mikk went to have a beer with them and me Kathy and Jian went back to the hostel as me and Kathy need to repack for Tiger Leaping
Lijiang old town
This cute little dog I found and was playing with for about 20 mins. gorge (a 23km hike). Went to bed around 11pm. Jian said he probably wouldn't go - because he hated hikes.
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ak
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exellent!
pls keep posting -- cheers