Maji House Shangri-La

... Budhist thing. Great view over the city &amp; surrounding hills where the autumn leaves are turning red &amp; yellow. We wondered why we couldn't see any high mouintain peaks around us &amp; realised that we were now on the mountain top!! We were at 3200 metres elevation now. The bigger mountains of 6000 metres were a couple of hours away.<br><br> <br ...

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... la (in a western cafe), and a homeless man asleep on a bench at 8am in Lijiang, we really haven't seen much in the places we have been so far. Where we have ventured out of the towns - either to smaller villages, or for walks into the surrounding countryside - we have seen 'poorer' families, living very basically, but you don't get the impression that they are desperate. There is a strong sense of family and community in China and speaking to locals and watching them ...

... But most people earn a living the way their parents and grandparents did: herding yak for their milk, meat, coats and horns, and growing barley and root vegetables on postage-stamp-size farms plied by hand, or, for the lucky few, with an ox or two. Without tractors, let alone pickup trucks, farmers pluck their vegetables from the soil, pile them high on the side of the road and wait for big blue trucks to come around and take the produce to market ...

*This entry is mostly for the pictures* We started our hike in a small Tibetian village an hour drive from the Shangri-La airport. The first days hike was pretty hard for a lot of the members of our group since we were making a steep incline for about four hours. I was very thankful for my experience in Alaska this summer, since we were all battling against altitude as well. Our packs and other ...

... the road to Fei Lei Si. The views were nice despite the grey and about 45 minutes later we arrived at the town where we met up with the South African couple from the hostel who had hiked down to the river that morning (they did bring their rain gear). We checked out the stumpas and paryer flags on the hill and went into the Migratory Bird bar/hostel for tea. Then we walked back to Tashi's. That evening we had another communal feast dinner with this terrific spicy tofu ...

... to be corrected). The people smile warmly when you pass and appear genuinely pleased to see you (as opposed to your wallet). It's a welcome change from some of the cities we have been to in China. A few Chinese tourists join Virg and me as we wander the streets giving us a (slightly skewed version of the Tibetan world). I paraphrase but generally along the lines of: "this place is Tibetan and these people are ...

... This actually worked in our favour, as we managed to convince the man trying to block our way up the Raibow Path that we had already paid. If they don't want people to get past without paying, they shouldn't try to rip you off at every turn! We finally arrived at the beautiful Walnut Grove at about 1, and sank into some chairs for lunch. We all decided that was enough for the day, booked our beds and got some food. Shortly after, it ...

... evening. The orchestra is made up of 12-15 people who play traditional Naxi instruments. Apparently during the Cultural Revolution some of the members had to bury their instruments to prevent them from being destroyed. Some of the musicians in the orchestra were very old, and had to be led out onto the stage - one of them kept falling asleep when he wasn't required to do anything, which was very cute. For me the highlights of the orchestra were the female singers, who ...