Head Out on the Highway
Lijiang, Yunnan, China
May 21, 2009
We were up at 7:15 again. We had to shower and finish packing.
Breakfast was 15 minutes late again today. We had one sunnyside egg, fresh bread/toast and oranges with tea. They were out of jam, so he gave me some peanut butter instead, so I did not have to use my own supply.
I checked us out and we owed an additional 10 yuan (had given 80 yuan for key deposit and breakfast had been 15 each day), since we were jipped on fruit yesterday I asked him if I could get a 10 yuan discount, and we did. It has been a good deal for them because an egg each, bread and a bit of fruit costs a lot less than 30 yuan.
We were picked up at our hotel at 8:45 for our 8:30 bus to Lijiang. We were dropped on the main road with other people and our driver waited until the bus came and pointed it out to us (that was nice). Our bags were tagged and we were on our way.
The seats are comfortable (except Bill's will not stay upright) and we have foot rests. We have been provided with a small bottle of water each and a box has been placed in the aisle for our garbage (and spit).
We saw lots of people in the fields again today ploughing, hoeing and planting rice. We saw a bird that looked like a white stork, but has pink on it's back (like a flamingo). We saw donkeys, horse and carts, pigs on the road and holstein cows!
Our 20 minute break turned into a 40 minute break. We stopped at a place that had 90 50 foot cabinets filled with jade and silver for sale. Holy! We did not look any of the "luxury goods", I just used the facilities and Bill bought a Coke. There was no where to sit, so we stood by the bus. We met one lady from Switzerland. She is traveling in China by herself for 2 1/2 weeks. She is the only other white woman on the bus. The white guy with the Chinese wife that we saw yesterday on the boat is on our bus too.
We had been previously watching Chinese music videos and are now watching Cradle 2 Grave (an American movie dubbed into Chinese with Chinese sub-titles.) Wonderful! The scenery is nice and we are travelling among the lakes and hills. We were able to see a snow-capped mountain in the distance!
We arrived in Lijiang at 12:45 and strapped on our bags. We walked for a while and found Old Lijiang without too much of a problem. We had no clue where we were though and it is very difficult to navigate the old winding roads. It took us 45 minutes to find the hotels we were looking for. We ended up selecting another one nearby for a better room rate.
Our room has a view of the town and the snow-capped mountain - Jade Dragon Snow Mountain aka Yulong Snow Mountain. We have a king size bed, a shower with a door and a hair dryer. Good stuff!
Old Lijiang Old Town has been around since the Nan Song Dynasty, 800 years ago. The ethnic peoples: Naxi, Han and Tibetan have lived in this region. As of, December 1997, it is one of the World Cultural Heritage sites. It is going to be fun exploring this place now that we are not carrying all of our stuff!
We sat down along one of the canals, Shunshuilou, and ordered chicken hot pot, fried blood sausage, yak butter tea, rice, water and Dali Beer. Bill would not have any blood sausage, but it was good and had rice in it. The yak butter is like warm, salty milk. It was OK, but I don't think I will order it again. I can say I had some (Bill can not)! The chicken was not available, so we had yak hot pot instead. It was pretty good!
We walked to the edge of the Old Town and checked out the two water wheels. The bridge is marble, very impressive. Beside them is a spot that is called: Dongba Aspiration Wind Bells. It is described as: a miracle place, you call the heaven, it answers, you call the earth, it responds... Make a wish from your heart. So, we did! We bought two wooden tablets with paintings of a heart on one side and two bells. I wrote: "May we continue to be happy, healthy and in love as our travels continue. Bill and Theresa Against the World May 2009". Awwww!!
We wandered around some more, took some video and pictures. We have crossed through Si Fang Square a few times. It used to be the Old Market Square where Naxi traders used to sell their goods.
The streets and bridges are stone. The roofs are tile, the streets are narrow mazes that are for pedestrians only, there are lots of cafes, restaurants, clothing, jewellery (jade and silver), tea, furry hats and vests, leather shoes, belts and purses, lots of Chinese tourists, red lanterns (they look stunning at night) and wooden shutters and doors. It is so beautiful. We were impressed with Luang Prabang and Dali, but this place is incredible.
Bill is not feeling 100% the last couple of days, so he is resting in the room while I am blogging in the hotel lobby.
We headed out after 7:00 and headed outside of the Old Lijiang. We popped into a couple of tour offices, but they did not speak English or do not have English guides for their tours. We would like to go to Tiger Leaping Gorge one day... We were able to find a pharmacy and although the lady did not speak English, she immediately pulled out some cold medication that had English on it! So, Bill has some medication and hopefully stopped sniffing and sneezing.
We went to Lamu's House of Tibet for dinner. We were seated on the front step with two other tables. Our table blocked the delivery of food and the entrance and exit of people. It was like sitting in the last seat of a row at a ball game.
We were not that hungry and just ordered Momo's pork dumplings. They have curry in them and taste awesome, but Bill is staying away from curry. So, he ordered some Lijiang potatoes - sliced thin with tomatoes and garlic. It was all very good. Bill had 2 Cokes and I had an iced tea with lime and no sugar. I was curious about the Indian Milk Tea and she described it like chai, so I ordered it. It was a huge mug of goodness! I told Bill that it was going to take me a while to finish, so he suggested that we move indoors and he would order a beer and we could play Rummy.
The TsingTao Beer was a bit skunky and Bill lost 2/3 games to me, so it was not a good night for Bill!
We wander through part of the Old Town. Everything looks so beautiful at night. I looked at a few stores, but did not buy anything.
It was after 11 when we headed back to the hotel. I am blogging and then going to bed!