Lovely Lijiang

  Lijiang, Yunnan, China
Saturday, August 16, 2008

Courtyard of Zen Garden Hotel

Tuesday 12th August
 
Alison: It was night and drizzling by the time we arrived in Lijiang, a lovely village nestled in the mountains of northwest China on a plain 2,400 metres high. We collected our luggage, piled it all into a taxi and drove into town. We were staying in the Old Town which did not allow any traffic, so we waited at the corner for an old man who piled it all onto his tricycle and walked the 10 minutes or so to the Zen Garden hotel with the concierge. Our room was very small but had a lovely ambience and we were happy to simply collapse into our beds.

View from the courtyard of our hotel

 
 
Wednesday 13th August

Tom by the stream in Lijiang

 
Alison: We slept in a bit and then had breakfast in the beautiful lobby area facing onto the traditional Chinese courtyard garden. Then we headed off to look around the 750 year old Naxi Old Town called Dayan, a beautiful maze of narrow cobbled streets only open to foot traffic and filled with lovely shops selling all sorts of products, including yummy dried yak meat which we managed to resist.

Yummy dried yak meat for sale

We crossed over many little stone bridges which criss-cross the river and during our wandering met a woman taxi driver who offered to drive us around for a very reasonable sum, so we arranged to meet her back at the hotel at 2.30.
 

Delicious lunch in Old Town

We talked to some very friendly people at the Tourist centre who gave us advice on what was good to see and one of them escorted us to a great restaurant by the river where we had a gorgeous lunch. Then we headed back to meet our driver.
 
We drove up to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain which is 5,596 metres high, but was covered in mist so we couldn't really see how impressive it is.

Riding up into the hills

Still, we managed to negotiate to do some horse riding in its lower parts for just an hour rather than the usual two or three and had a lovely time being led through the stunning scenery. The guides even made some flowery head-wear for us which was rather fun, when we rested the horses in an alpine meadow.

Rachel & Tom in their flowery coronets

 
On our return we went via the village Bai Sha with its 500 year old murals in its temple and nice little markets. Our driver's family are all from this village and belong to the Naxi tribe, so it was nice getting to see how and where the locals live.
 

Dinner in Naxi restaurant

Finally we headed back to the hotel and rested before going to a traditional Naxi restaurant for dinner (some of the dishes were great and others not quite so palatable!) and then home to watch more Olympics and sleep.
 
 
Thursday 14th August
 

View over gorge from restaurant

Alison: We had breakfast and then met our taxi driver at 10.30 for the long drive to Tiger Leaping Gorge. This was about 2 hours drive along a pretty winding road and we stopped briefly at a lookout which showed the river far below. This of course is the same river from our Three Gorges Cruise but further up stream. We decided to eat before we went sightseeing, so we went to the restaurant just before the entrance to the gorge where we had a hilarious time trying to order lunch with a menu and waiters who only communicated in Chinese! Eventually Mike found someone dining in the restaurant who could help us and we ate a pleasant meal before heading off to look at the gorge.

Path recessed into the cliff face

 
It was a 1 hour return walk along the cliff face with the path mostly dug into the side of the cliff with constant warnings to beware of falling rocks, and in some sections the path went through tunnels. The views along the river were very beautiful but the actual Tiger Leaping Gorge was stupendous, with a HUGE amount of water rushing through the 30 metre gap in a mesmerising fashion.

A closer look at the gorge

We stared at it for ages but eventually turned back and retraced our steps back to the entrance and drove the 2 hours back home.
 

Walking home through the old town

That night we decided to go to a little Italian restaurant near the hotel which actually served excellent Italian food - much to the kids' delight who really felt like a pizza. Afterwards we went home and I packed and tried to get everyone to sleep as we had a really early start the next morning.