A long way to Lijiang

Tuesday 5th December 2006

6.30am wake up call in order to get our breakfast which was included, a nice buffet of both western and chinese food, a good selection but not too over the top with plently of tea and proper milk. We all stocked up on breakfast ready for our intrepid 8 hour journey to Lijiang a minority settlement in the mountains of the Yunnan province of South West China. The coach was also a plesent surprise, 2 seats and 1 seat rather than the usual 2 doubles meant more space to spread out and enjoy the journey. However the toilets at the first stop off did not live up to this standard. Not only did we have to pay (about 1p) but they were all asian (not surprising really though and this was fine as I am getting used to Asian toilets) but also no doors so you can see everyone doing their business, and they hadn’t been cleaned. By not being cleaned I don’t mean just dirty, I mean everyone’s excrement piled up in the Asian squat. A very interesting experience for 1p. The toilets were soon a distant memory as we expressed stunning scenary of postcard nature. Mountain forest rose tall, chinese villages supporting dried chillis and sweetcorn after sweetcorn dangling from the rooftops. Farmers bent over in the fields, sweating with their big hats and cyclists whizzing by going about their daily lifes. What a wonderful sight of rural China. Lunch stop at a chinese service station consisted of a concucion of sloppy stuff and rice in little compartments on a metal tray, a bit like school dinners apparently. Luckily I always either went home for lunch as a child or took my own but I was unable to go home and I hadn’t brought enough food to sustain me for the rest of the journey so I had little choice. It is wise in China to go vegetarian (this includes fish and poultry) so that’s what I did. We arrived in Lijiang some 9 hours later, a tiring journey but well worth it. Lijiang has an old town and a new town, the old town is a world heritage site, which looked at first sight like a movie set. Vehicles are prohibited in the old town so we had to walk 10 minutes or so to the hostel up and down and round and round a maze of cobbled streets, supported by rickety old wooden buildings. All we could say was “wow” and “is this real” over and over again, almost like a stuck record. The hostel the “sunshine inn” was “so cute” to quote Emily, we had private rooms with ensuite bathrooms (western toilet) all set around a quaint courtyard. The owners spoke no english however Bora was able to communicate any needs we had. The room even had a TV and….a kettle with english breakfast tea. That was me sorted. In the evening we went for a traditional meal trying out the local dishes whilst studying our maps of the town then explored the town by foot. Down a mad street (wonder if they call this the main drag) were the naxi equilivent of bar after bar with locals dancing and shouting and singing outside each “bar” – an amazing atmosphere in this world heritage site. Our leader found a nice cafe where I took it upon myself to have a lovely strawberry yohurt drink with fresh strawberries to finish off the day – delicous.