LiJiang, Shangrila, Lugu Lake

After Xian it was off to Kunming, the starting point for trips in the Yunnan province. Kunming is nothing special, a provincial capital, but nonetheless the hub of most of the travel links. Jen and I met up with Eric and we had to go to LiJiang and the cheapest way to do that was taking sleeper busses. For 105 rmb, we get to take a 10 hour overnight trip on a bus full of characters, no aircon and no bathrooms. Not the most comfortable experience but really, this is exactly when we need to throw our western level of comforts away. People smoking on a sleeper bus isn't necessarily the smartest thing, but hey, if one guy wants to smoke, everyone else might as well 2nd hand smoke with him. That's the thing about China. Everyone smokes up a storm. Even women smokes. Everyone smokes and everyone spits...but my uncle from HK reminds me, they grew up in HK like that too, and in one generation that changed, so let's see if this changes in 30 years. Until then, I'll just 2nd smoke away...

Despite a disgruntled smoker, a flat tire at 3am in the morning, it was great waking up to a sunrise with beautiful rice paddied fields in LiJiang. LiJiang is an old city and home to the Naxi culture, which has their own script, the DongBa script, and an old city center with cobblestone streets, small water canals, and sights of the majestic jade dragon snow mountain in the background. We were able to get a room at a guesthouse at pretty much 20 yuan per person, so yep, like 2.50 usd a night. Can't beat it. Apparently this place is very popular for the Chinese tourist and backpackers alike. Nighttime there are loud parties (chinese style) along the canals. Tables singing and chanting to another table across the canal. People enjoying beers, small snacks at lantern lit cafes. At the city square, tourists and locals sing and dance in a circle underneath nicely lit houses on the hill above. Picturesque scenes at every corner. It's definitely festival like. Very cool.

It's nice to stay in the old quarter, but LiJiang is only a taking off point for trips further up north in the Yunnan province such as Lugu Lake, Shangrila, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, and Tiger Leaping Gorge. The three of us joined a 2 day chinese tour up to Shangrila and both the driver and the tour guide are tibetian. Carryaways from the trip: 1) Throw your comfort level out the window. So needless to say, the toilets were subpar to say the least, Furniture in 'new' hotels can break down real fast, wash your own bowl before eating, and get used to either inhaling black exhaust fumes on the outside or driver's smoke on the inside. 2) Don't piss off the driver when he can end your life at any time. :) He was a good guy, I talked to him and he was pretty much the same age as I, but he takes a liberal use of the horn, plays chicken with opposing traffic, and smokes up a storm. Somehow, despite all this, it's not as bad as it sounds and the trip was definitely worth it. Up near Shangrila, at 3700m above sea level, the scenery was georgeous. You can see fields of green, yaks roaming around, Tibetian prayer flags, small villages resting underneath mountains. Lakes are glasslike and the sky is bluer. Not my imagination. It's really blue. Crazy memories like dodging yak cow pies in the field, getting so close to a yak, karaokeing in the tourbus while dodging traffic on a mountain side road under construction, getting stuck in the bathroom cuz the door knob in the 'new' hotel came off, but seeing the songninglin monastery, the rapids at tiger leaping gorge, the lakes and the meadows near Shangrila was worth it. My writing sucks so you'll have to see the pix.

I have more stories but not enough time. Gotta go. Guilin tomorrow.