Eye of the Tiger
Lijiang, Yunnan, China
May 24, 2009
During the night Bill woke up sneezing at one point and earlier we had both heard our neighbour crying. So, not the most restful sleep, but we were up and going before 7. We could hear the rooster and birds. The yapping, whining dog is not awake yet.
I ate some plums, had a shower and used the internet to blog while Bill was on the toilet AGAIN. Bill dropped off some more laundry at the front desk. Bill used the computer to book a room for us in Chengdu and then we headed out.
We had the flat bread and egg again from our older couple around the corner. Bill said the old guy called it Naxi pizza. Whatever it is called, it is good!
Bill bought some water from the mini mart and we met Mr Guo by the water wheel at 8:30. He was not able to get a car for us, but a minivan instead. Our driver is Huer. It is 100 km from Lijiang and will take 2 hours along the winding mountain roads. The first part of the road was perfect. It was built to carry the torch from Lijiang to Shangri-la to Chengdu for the Beijing Olympics. The last part of the road was not quite as smooth.
Along the way to Tiger Leaping Gorge we saw villages, fields, a brick factory, people harvesting wheat and potatoes, black goats, oxen ploughing, roadside stands with strawberries, mulberries, plums, watermelon and nectarines. One of the main crops in this province is tobacco. We saw several smoke houses.
We passed one village that had a market. The traffic was very busy here and we were in a traffic jam for a bit. One of the main sources of income here is horseback riding. We stopped and were given a spot to take pictures. The real reason for our stop was to allow the driver a smoke break.
The origin of the Yangtze River is Tibet. It is 6830 kms in length and is the 3rd longest river in the world. It is called Yangtze because it means crocodile river (some crocs live in the lower part). The Gorge is over 20 kms long and Stone Drum town (stone drum monument was built at that town to honour the defeat of the Tibetans over 450 years ago) is where the river bends (1st bend) 130 degrees.
It was 52 yuan each to enter the park. We walked along a very nice path all the way to the Tiger Rock. The path was renovated 2 years ago and they created 4 tunnels because there is often rock slides. We were constantly reminded to stay close to the mountain and not walk along the river side of the path. We saw one slide from 4 years ago and another slide on near Tiger Rock that occurred last year. It took out part of the road and stairwell. Many people were injured and one person was killed.
The wildlife in the area is black bears, brown bears, wolves and monkeys.
The Yangtze (sounded like Youngs when Mr Guo pronounced it) River was very calm near the parking lot. It began to move faster as we walked along and was very rapid at the rock. It was a 15 - 20 foot drop near Tiger Rock. It is a beautiful spot and we were able to see the narrowest part of the Yangtze. They even have a sculpture of a Tiger on the side of the gorge that we were walking on.
It took us an hour and 45 minutes to walk round trip and look around for a bit.
After leaving the park we stopped 10 minutes later for lunch. We had a high priced meal with below average quality. We sat along the water front at a wooden table and had wooden stumps for chairs. Bill enjoyed the fried pork though (it was thick bacon). I did not enjoy the mixed greens, they tasted like beet leaves and had dirt and bugs in them. They did not bring the rice to our table until we were done our meal, so I sent it back. Bill had a Dali Beer and I had the tea. It was 100 yuan for our meal. I refused to pay for the rice, so they took 1 yuan off. I thought it should have been more and said something to Mr Guo, but that is all we were going to get.
We learned some more about Naxi from Mr Guo. "Ah La La Lay" means "hello" in Naxi. "La La" means "How are you?" in Naxi. THere are 1,300 characters in their written language. People have a fish on their roof because it means that you will have "more than enough". The dragon door handle keeps away bad spirits. The dragon symbolizes the Emperor, good fortune and highest power. The phoenix symbolizes beauty and the Emperor's wife.
We stopped at a village market to buy fruit, but they were out for the day. We explored a bit and I sampled a bar that had wheat flour, sugar, peanuts and sesame seeds. I ended up buying a strawberry jam filled jelly roll instead for 4 yuan. It was very yummy!
We later stopped at a roadside stand and bought some mulberries for 5 yuan (no 6, Mr Guo was arguing so, I just gave her the extra 1 yuan). I also bought some strawberries for 5 yuan. This province is not cheap for fruit. Huer gave us each a nectarine to try. They were very good. He loaded up on lots of fruit for his family.
We stopped at a small village called what sounded like Wong Tempole meaning "watch the town village". This village has a nice view of Stone Drum Town. Along the paved path to the village there were rice fields and lots of fruit trees. We stopped at one house and the older couple lived their with their daughter and granddaughter (likely son too, but he was probably working). The homes are like courtyards. Along the road there are some living quarters, the middle is open and there are living quarters at the back. This inner courtyard had a fig tree, a peach tree and a loquat tree. The couple gave us some peaches and loquats to eat and take with us. The fruit was very good! It was very kind and generous of them. They also had orchids, veggies and other flowers growing. They had bee hives in one of the courtyard walls, so there were bees all over the place. We thanked them by giving them a Canadian pin.
We stopped at another home where three men and two women were playing mahjong (tiles like dominos, but much more complex). The eldest man offered us a cigarette. Guo explained that this is a sign of respect and an offer of friendship. At another home we met an older man and his daughter. This home was the largest, but there was just concrete in the middle of his courtyard, no trees or plants.
On our walk back to the van we saw some birds. One was small and had some green on the back. The other was dark and had redish tail feathers.
We drove down to Stone Drum Town and walked up by some homes and the school to get a great view of the 1st bend. We walked down through the Red Army monument for 10 yuan each. The Red Army crossed here in 1935 with the aide of the townspeople. At the bottom of the path there was an old wooden bridge. This bridge is over 120 years old. There were lots of boys swimming in the river and 2 old men playing Naxi music.
We walked through the market and over to the river bank. Bill was yelled at for wanting to walk down to the water. We had to stay up on the paved path behind the railing!
We got back into the van and stopped along the way back at a monastery. Guo told us not to go in because the monks are fortune tellers (they are the new taxi drivers aka scammers). The spot was a great place to view the river and some fields.
The rest of the drive back was uneventful...
Back at the hotel I have been having the opposite problem from Bill and still do...
We changed for dinner and went to buy a new hair pin in order to have another demo. We taped this demo, but I am still not doing it correctly. Bill bought a Dongba dictionary and some Dongba tags that will be good for scrap booking. We went to Susan's Naxi Restaurant. I had fried goat cheese which was very good with salt and pepper. bill had fried goat on a skewer that was good too. We had some rice, Dali Beer and water too for 65 yuan. It was a good meal.
We went to a cafe to play cards. Bill had a beer and I had tea. Bill managed a narrow victory.
We headed back to the hotel. I showered and we started packing for tomorrow.