Shuhe Lijiang K2 International Youth Hostel

... that the traditions can benefit from the tourist industry and still remain a fundamental part of everyday life. So many traditional craftsmen/women are at work in the old town: silversmiths, weavers, coppersmiths, leather workers, engravers and painters. And lets not forget the saleswomen quietly getting on with their knitting or embroidery whilst awaiting the next customer.

The Chinese tourist seems to favour the organised tour. The guide carries a ...

... of the canyon, framing the
nine-mile (15 km) trek as amazing scenes of rugged natural beauty
emerge around each of the many switchbacks. The two-day hike isn't
particularly difficult, but ...

... with its sister town Lijiang, it is also part of the UNESCO Heritage site. Shuhe is the earliest settlement of Naxi people in Lijiang when their ancestors first moved to this region. As mentioned, the town is just like a small-sized Lijiang with a similar layout, which boasts a Square Street (Sifangjie) and rivers flowing throughout the town. Compared with Lijiang, the town is less touristy and polished with more original characters. In ...

This was one of the highlights of the trip trekking in this outstanding inspiring scenery of the gorge. It is one of the deepest in the world, is 16 km long & the sides are 4000 metres above the Yangtse River. ( the longest river in China)



We left on a mini bus at 8am from Lijiang for the town of Qiaotou ( Chowtoe in pronounciation!!) which took us 2 1/2 hours. met some great people on ...

Rare documents from around the world have been digitized and are now available for free online viewing/reading. The World Digital Library (WDL) went live this week, making available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world. http://www.wdl.org/en/item/178

... to Baisha village to see the famous Dr Ho, it was absolutley ******* it down so we end up soaked, It eventually stops and the bike rides is beautiful as you see the country side with the mountains behind it. Going to see Dr Ho is interesting as we learn about his different medical techniques through the use of herbs. The questions he asked Beth were particularly funny but that is far as i will go or my life will not be worth living. Oh Yeah i slipped off my bike ...

In the morning, there was a whole group leaving from Mama Naxi's to the gorge but they left early and I didn't want to feel in any hurry so I let them go and I went later on on my own. As my own organisation goes... struggling to find the bus station without admitting to ask where it is (as I wouldn't know how to do so in Chinese) and I end up walking on the road, waiting for a bus to pass by. One finally stops and I make it up to the starting point of the trek. The road was great ...

... seems to have tried so hard to ruin. That, or I just got really, really lost trying to find the exceedingly well hidden Mama Naxi's guesthouse. Lijiang was just a pit stop on my journey further north, an east place to put my feet up for a couple of days and enjoy the good food at the guest house (now expanded - they're obviously doing something right). Of course, a stay in Lijiang wouldn't be complete without a visit to the Sexy Tractor, which is ...

... overhead curious hawks circled us. Eventually the bright red and yellow arrows on the rocks along the path led us down to Tina's Guesthouse close to the river and we decided that was as far as we would go, catching a taxi back along the road to our starting point. Hiking along Tiger Leaping Gorge was beautiful and very rewarding but it was nice to return to the comfort of Carnation hotel where we spent the evening chatting with friends and rewarded ourselves with red wine and chocolate!!!