Red Lantern Inn Lijiang

... nestling alongside roughly cut French
fries, next to a basketful of crispy thin slices of deep-fried potato
chips liberally sprinkled with salt and chili powder. I didn't realize rural Yunnan is
mushroom country until I discovered how delicious and ubiquitous a wild
mushroom hotpot is in touristy Lijiang. When asked by a waiter which
wild mushrooms I would like in my hotpot stock, I confessed that I had
never seen such a ...

... before them. Because of
climate change, the roughly 1.7-mile-long Baishui Glacier No. 1 could
well be one of the first major glacial systems on the Tibetan Plateau
to disappear after thousands of years. The glacier, situated above the
honky-tonk town of Lijiang in southwest China, has receded 830 feet
over the last two decades and appears to be wasting away at an ever
more rapid rate each year. It is the southernmost glacier on the
plateau ...

Friday, 02 October 2009



Tourists
visiting the ancient city of Lijiang in south-west China were greeted
by an incongruous sight this summer. In the shadow of the Jade Dragon
mountain, an old Carthusian could be seen marching through the streets
alongside a traditional sedan chair carrying a Chinese woman. Jeremy
Hunt, the ...

Lijiang is a bit like Dali. Since Chinese tours found the spot it is packed with tourists.
The city with its paved streets, rickety-looking wooden buildings and little canals attracts 4M tourists a year. There is a reason for that, the old city is really beautiful.

I stopped by at Mama Naxi Guesthouse (main minority people here are Naxi), and highlight of the ...

... they split up. Women inherit all property and a female elder presides over disputes. If female is added to a word it "strengthens" the meaning. Ex: stone + female = boulder; stone + male = pebble. Women wear blue blouses and blue pants with black or blue aprons. They t-shaped cape is light and dark to symbolize night and day, the 7 circles represent stars and the 2 large circles on the shoulders represent frog eyes (used to be an important Naxi god ...

Travelled down from Shangri-la to Qiaotou by bus. Spent the night at Jane's Guest House before starting the two day trek the next day. The first days trek took us about 5 1/2 hours. Wasn't too difficult. 28 bends part was the only real tough part. The thin air and the beers the night before ...

... this time down an alley. again! white people... but this time, they look like backpackers! "excuse me! do you know where Panba Guesthouse is?" "oh sure, we're going there right now. just follow us." and that's how we got to the guesthouse. private room: 100 yuan = approx $13. private bath, free internet, wonderful common area, and great views. awesome. so we unpack our stuff and head out into town for a snack before ...

... conquer it, especially since I was feeling under the weather. We trucked on for another couple of hours and made it to the first guest house after the bends. It was a welcoming sight to say the least. We woke up the next day and blazed to the first pick up point beating the estimate in the guidebooks. I felt redeemed. It was an amazing 24 hours on the mountain. Photos and words can't describe the views. The best part of China is the outdoors.

Tiger Leaping Gorge was without a doubt the unmissable highlight of the trip so far. The photos tell the story which words can't even describe. 1st day's hike took around 6 hours with plentiful stops to admire the beauty from breezy mountain ridges and paddle in waterfalls along the path. The 2nd day, a mere 2 hours thanks partly ...

... hopping over hedgerows we finally made it too the top of the hill, where we found nothing but a fancy Tibetan trig point....buggar! Saw the joke the was the world cup final with most of our hostel but Ben and I had a bus out at 7 so decided to just stay up. I walked around the old town during sun rise. Was totally magical without the hordes of tourists or someone trying to sell you something - totally got a feel for what this city must have been like back in the day.