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Published: April 28th 2007
The old town
Cobbled stoned streets galore With smiles on our faces after an amusing tour of the lake, we left with new pals Amanda and her Mum and headed north to Lijiang.
Lijiang, like Dali, also has an 'old town', but instead of being built inside four walls, it has been built on a series of canals. The canals are only tiny (2-3 metres max) but combined with the cobble stone streets, friendly locals, interesting art scene and cheap beer, give the old part of the city a cool vibe.
So like Dali the first couple of days were spent checking out the town. Daytime was cool for people watching (see pics) but night time is when we had the most fun. The city completely changes after the sun goes down and the lights, lanterns and drunk locals come out to play. One night we experienced what I guess you would call a 'mating' practice. This involved young single gals dressed in their traditional best standing outside restaurants and bars singing to various groups of men seated inside. Once the gals had finished, the men (in various stages of intoxication) would then stand up and reply with their own song or dance routine in
Lijiang @ dusk
Yulong Xueshan (Jade mountain) in the distance the hope of impressing them and netting an eventual wife. Don't know about the success rate, but fun to watch! Wonder how it would work in the west...?
Another night we attended a Naxi concert. The Naxi, like the Bai people in Dali, are one of the many colourful minority groups that make up Yunnan province. Seeing their traditional costumes and hearing them play centuries old instruments and music special to the Lijiang area was pretty cool, but not half as cool as learning the average age of the guys performing was 80! 'Rocking' octogenarians playing the old Naxi classics (with the occasional mid-concert snooze thrown in) is definitely worth checking out once, but an 90 minutes was enough.
Around Lijiang there are some cool missions to do too, so one day we hired bikes and cycled north a good 20km to check out 5600m Yulong Xueshan (aka Jade snow mountain). This was an awesome ride, not just because the mountain dominates the entire landscape once you get close, but also because the surrounding fields are filled we traditional rural villages and chilled, friendly locals. Good cheap fun and definitely recommended!
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Adrian Hall
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Night Time Fun!
Cool lil town seems to really kick off at night time!