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Published: April 29th 2006
Bus Pitstop Somewhere in Yunnan
I don't know what was going on here but our minibus driver stopped for 15 minutes to have some sort of discussion with these fellas - over chickens, I guess?I thought that the hordes of Chinese tourists first in Yangshuo and then Dali could not be surpassed. I was wrong. Lijiang is the ultimate. You have groups of 20 or more all rocking hats of every color of the rainbow, following the umbrella or flag bearing guide. This is worse than Times Square during Christmas season.
On the other hand, putting all the typical tourist shops aside, as well as the singing and dancing restaurant waitstaff, the old town in Lijiang is beautiful. It's big and made up many alleyways (and canals) that make it very easy to get lost while spending a few hours exploring. As well as making it very easy to not know where your guesthouse is located (unless, of course, you have my expert sense of direction). Looking at pictures, I don't have as many as I would have liked to illustrate the alleys and canals but it was extremely hard to this due to the multitudes of tourists everywhere (though, in retrospect, those pictures might have been entertaining). For some reason, the crowds just got to me this time. Too many Chinese tourists!
In Dali, we arranged with a Danish and Israeli couple
Lijiang Canal
One of the many waterways. I'm not sure if these canals were part of the original city (I expect they were not). Another tourist add-on but it is pretty. to meet our first night in Lijiang for dinner. The purpose of the dinner was to plan for our Tiger Leaping Gorge trek which we scheduled to do after two nights. We arranged for our trek to start in the morning after our second night here. And I can't remember the name of the restaurant but it horrible (it was the first Tibetan choice in the Lonely Planet). Of the seven of us, no one had a good meal; for Jill and I particularly, it was so bad that I still remember it a month later. We tried this Tibetan dish called Tsampa which is made from Yak butter, flour and cheese. Bad news.
In the meantime, our first and only full day in Lijiang, we rented bikes and head towards Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. We did not expect a huge snow-capped mountain looming over the city but the scenery was amazing. There is a day-trip option to take a chairlift up the mountain and hike additionally to the top but we decided against. The view from afar was good enough for us. Our bike ride headed towards the mountain and then into several local towns very similar to
Lijiang except they were smaller and authentic. We ended up in a small town called Baisha where an old man came out of his shop to greet us - his name was Dr. Ho. Dr. Ho is a Taoist doctor, who apparently, was made famous by 60 Minutes and has several international articles written about his practice (he is sure to pull out all of his clippings for you perusal). His prescribes herbal tea of every variety of ailments that you may have; one of his famous cures was for a person with Leukemia (from the US) but not sure about the exact details. Anyway, he was a very eccentric man and he succeeded in a donation from myself for some "health" tea. He was very convincing.
I will give him credit though. A few days later, I had some stomach pains which were cured after a few cups of his tea. The rice and toast I ate for a full day might have contributed to my recovery as well.
The following day we (and our trekking crew minus the Israelis due to an injury) met early morning to catch the 3 hour minibus to Quiatiou to commence
Waitstaff Lineup
I think this is some communist form of taking attendence; we've seen throughout the country so far. I really have no idea what they're doing. our trek.
Which reminds me of the smokers of China. They are everywhere and love cigarettes (maybe because packs are so cheap?). It doesn't bother me usually, even in restaurants, but on the buses, it's too confined. There is always a few guys (and the driver is usually one of them) smoking while the bus is moving. It doesn't bother any locals so they keep their windows shut; they prefer the smoke to the cold/wind. Thought that was strange - of course my window is opened and remains open. And, keeping in the subject of smoking, you will rarely see any females smoking because that would be a sign of a prositute.
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Uncle Mark
non-member comment
For the first time...
For the first time I wished I was there. Up until now I was gald to read about it but I did not feel the need to be there! But these pictures and the ease and rythm you guys seem to have achieved in terms of traveling around is really very beguiling..Thanks for the birthday wishes, everyone here is good.