13 days in China

---

Day 8

Today was sort of a relaxing day not a real adventurous day. We started it this morning with breakfast at a 5 star hotel. It was somewhat western food not as ethnic. It was kind of nice to have a hard boiled egg and some Chinese ham and some fried rice. So....I guess the only western part was the hard boiled egg...lol

Then we had an hour reflexology and foot massage that was much needed! I wish I would have brought a pedometer to see how many miles we walked in our China journey.

After that we ate lunch and then shopped for the rest of the day. I have really enjoyed buying gifts for my family!

I wanted to talk a little bit about the Naxi people here in Lijiang, There are about 303,000 since the last census. They are a culture that is fighting to stay in existence. Most of the Naxi people live here in Lijiang and then some in Tibet. Their survival depends on farming and their handcrafts.

The people that live here in Lijiang are really special people! You can tell they love their roots and would live anyway to preserve them. It's really crazy they are somewhat of a modern society in some ways but are very primitive in other ways. I found it fascinating walking around town seeing both the modern and the primitive ways.

There is a well in the center of old town, it has three sections to it the first section is drinking water the second to wash your vegetables and the third is a clothes washing section. This is one of the primitive ways of life I was talking about. The other is they carry buckets of water to their stores and homes for washing but the funny thing is some of them carry in on bicycles with baskets. There are still some that carry their water on their back like an oxen and a yoke.

Their houses are really neat, sort of like the Japanese style homes with courtyard in the middle of them. You first have to walk through a wall/gate and then you are amazed by want you find inside. The hotels are also that way. The people that have shops in the village either live behind the stores or on top on them.

We meet a local artist tonight who was so passionate about his artwork. He had a small shop off the beaten path and would spend his whole day in his shop doing what he loves to do. Each one of his pieces had so much meaning. We ended up buying a few pieces which he inscribed special messages on each one.

He is one of those people you connect with and will always have a part of your heart even though your paths will never meet again.

Until tomorrow...Next stop... XiShuangBanNa, China

---

Photos

13 Days in China
Women wahing vegetables and clothing

13 Days in China
After our massage

13 Days in China
After Massage

13 Days in China
Cute Naxi man

13 Days in China
Snow Mountian in the background

13 Days in China
Garbage pickup