LiJiang

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We have settled in to this bipolar town, and are loving it. The up side is the ancient architecture, good food, alpine scenery, warm weather,and the glimpses into everyday life of the Naxi. The down side is the daily arrival of the tour buses, from which quite literally thousands of people are disgorged and descend upon town like bees to the hive. EVERY ONE has a camera phone, and photo ops abound. The Chinese seem to like their photos quite formal and posed, so the notion of a "snapshot" is completely unheard of. Amazingly, Caucasians of any sort are still a miniscule part of the tourist crowd here. Most are Chinese or other Asians, so we Americans do stick out. It is both flattering and bit unnerving to be the subject of so many photos while eating in a restaurant or strolling through town. Who knew we were so darn interesting??

The Old Town continues to challenge my sense of direction as we stroll along the hundreds of little cobblestone streets and alleys. There is no structure that I can detect, but there are the ever-present canals, so I can least tell whether we are heading downstream or up. Jim is way better at navigation by "the nose", and he remembers features well, so he has (so far) always managed to guide us to a familiar intersection. Guess I am not really at risk of disappearing into the maze. However, I've see way too many "you are here" signs about town...... makes me wonder if there is a tourist out there still wandering around in circles like the guy on "The MTA". (Wikipedia if you are too young to know this song!)

The canals are really the center of the community life here. You will find gatherings of women doing their laundry in canal, some people even washing their hair, and lots of shop owners cooling their feet at the end of the day. People carry water from the canal in buckets loaded on those poles that rest on their neck and shoulders. Looks very heavy to me! They wash the streets with it, boil their eggs and taters in it, and swab out the store front with it. I hear that the drinking water also comes from the mountain river that has been diverted for these canals.....presumably upriver from the town!

Today is was well over 90 degrees, bright, sunny with few clouds. It has been hot like this all week, and there is usually a very nice breeze taking the edge off. We are being very careful to stay covered, as just a few minutes in the sun can burn our lily white faces. So hats, and long sleeves are the required attire. At night, it gets down to the 60's. Very pleasant. I don't think it ever gets cold here, because the homes are not remotely airtight. Windows and doors leak like a sieve. A tropical paradise. I hear it's been snowing in Seattle this week. Yikes! Glad I am here!

We have been taking a few days respite from tourist activities, and have been sleeping late, having a leisurely breakfast in a cafe, strolling, reading on the veranda, catching up on our communication. It is nice to be off that "get-up-early-so-you-can-be-at-the-bus-station-by-7-to-make-it-to -the-mountain-by-10,-so-you-can-beat-the-crowds" wheel. We decided to skip the mountain.....have a lot of them at home.

We did find our way to the Sunday Market today. This is where the townspeople shop. It is a huge open area with everything imaginable for sale: fresh veggies and fruits, freshly slaughtered meat, huge bags of spices and hot peppers, live chickens and dogs (ooo yuck), jeans , pots and pans, luggage, brooms. It's sort of like Pike Place crossed with Chubby and Tubby. The smells were amazing.....really great in the spice area, not so much in the meat and poultry area. There are not cars in the Old Town, so people come with their baskets hung on their back, or their bicycles. Again, we stuck out like a sore thumb, but we tried to blend in, and take pictures without getting in peoples faces. It was an eye-opener, for sure!

We are getting on a plane tomorrow for our last stop in China...Yangshou...a town further south in the karst mountains. Will keep in touch.

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