Yunnan adventure: DAYS 7 & 8...DALI & EARSHAPED LAKE

Shorty before going to Dali...some unforgettable faces still in Lijiang.



Dali is simply beautiful in its authentic charm! We spent our time wondering around the Old time and also traveling around the Bai minority villages around the Earshaped lake.


Cool fisherman :)

Rice noodles

That`s how the things work for rice noodles :)

Minority villages around the lake. People actually wear traditional clothes there in everyday life! And no tourists in those small villages :)




Shopping in the huge Thursday village market.

Sunset over Dali and the end of this trip :)

Yunnan adventure: DAY 6 when my camera stopped working..

Morning in the village by our hotel :)

On the road again...back to the Yangtze...hoping for boat..



Arrived to the river bank around 9:30 (we were told the first boat would come at that time)...and then we sat by by the bank of the river Yangzte...and sunbathed... for 2,5 - 3 h... Around 12:00 am boat came from the other side & it took us 2 minutes to cross together with a nice horse and a couple of locals..

Btw, my camera crashed sometime during that wait, so from here on - borrowed photos ;)
Still no boat...


3,5 h bus ride to Lijiang with nonstop spitting driver and occasionally vomiting lady... We reached max of 3250 m and saw some snow on the way!

Our plan to take 9:30 bus to Lugu lake had failed ...as we reached Lijiang around 16:00 ... and even though we tried hard to make it to Lugu that night...nobody would drive us during the night. And we simply didn`t have enough time to travel there the next day..

So we had to correct our itinerary...deciding to go to Dali! And it turned out to be a wonderful alternative! Much more laid back and real than Lijiang...real villages...real people (Bai minority) wearing real traditional clothes ...all in all - great choice and definitely cooler than Lijiang :) We stayed in Tibetan lodge in the heart of the old city with all the parties, cafes, restaurants around ... Went to Bad Monkey bar right across our lodge and felt like being in the movie "THE BEACH" :)

And now before we start checking DALI, let`s look at a couple more borrowed photos from the previous days of trip ;))

Tiger Leaping Gorge




Hot pot :)

Yunnan adventure: DAY 1 & 2..the amazing race goes on :)

And here comes my very first real long adventure in China with my first ever real hike!!!

Sooo...
9 days
4 people
Yunnan province in the Southwest of China
Plan:
1) Lijiang old town
2) Tiger Leaping Gorge 2 day hike
3) Lugu lake that had to be replaced by Dali city ;)

Day 1(more like late evening): Shanghai -> Kunming flight

Day 2: Kunming -> Lijiang flight & Lijiang
Flight was real cool giving a short preview of what to expect...quite impressive with occasional smogs above bigger cities :)

Lijiang from the plane window!

Jade Dragon Snow mountain...plane sightseeing :)

Lijiang is a nice city ~ 2480 m above the sea level, blue sky, fresh air, felt very relaxed, and its Old town is a maze of cobbled streets,canals and shopping opportunities! Rather touristic, but still very nice! The 1996 Lijiang earthquake destroyed most of the city, but the city was reconstructed and in the end of 1990-ies was inluded in UNESCO heritage list.

This kind of signs are all around the Old town...free entertainment :)

Definitely a highlight of the day...sitting by the pot on fire..drinking tea offered by the man on the photo...real relaxing and warming :)

Lijiang

Lijiang

Naxi minority hardworking women.
The people of the Naxi ethnic minority mostly live in the Naxi Autonomous County in Lijiang, Yunnan Province, while the rest live in Sichuan and Tibet. There still exist remnants of a matriarchal family structure within Naxi families. We learned and saw that women do all the hard jobs, earn money, do business, work in field, raise children while men can only be seen sitting around, chatting, playing games and relaxing... that`s like the ultimate step of feminism :))) Thanks, but no, thanks ;)


The Naxi language belongs to the Tibetan-Burman group of the Sino-Tibetan phylum. In the past, they used a pictographic language called 'Dongba' and another called 'Geba'. In 1957, they designed characters based on the Latin alphabet and now most can write in Chinese.


Lijiang


Lijiang


Lijiang


Yammy :)

Yunnan adventure: DAY 3 or the day of "WOW" views

Morning in Lijiang. Our Inn.

Perfect morning in Lijiang :)

Naxi women in traditional costumes.

And then the adventure started...we had accepted the offer of Li (local guide who approached us a couple of times while we were strolling the strets of Lijiang) to take us around the area and deliver us by night to the starting point of the Tiger Leaping gorge hike some 70 km from Lijiang :)
We started by monastery..


And then we tried some grey food...:)) with pancake and soya souce was even edible ;))

Plum trees!


and WOW again :)

Next to the Yangzte river first bend! Wow wow wow... :)



Happy to be a part of this landscape ;)

Chilly village :) Tried some marinated chilly - real good!!!

Wondered through a Naxi minority village somewhere on the way...in the middle of nowhere!



Naxi women! (hard work)

Naxi men! (hard work ;)




Organic chicken hotpot :) Our guide Li took us to true local place and it was exactly what I had been dreaming of!

And more terraces!

Getting close up & personal with Jade Dragon Snow mountain.

Something ...

Stopped by the market to get sweet supplies ;)

Naxi woman. Honestly...no idea how 80/90 looking grandmas are capable of all the things they do there...we saw quite some ladies on the way that were going back to their village from market.... several kilometers one way & then back with all the shoped items...maybe I should also try that back basket!!!

And here we are! Basically the whole region is reffered to as Shangrila...but the town that has been given the name of Shangrila is still some kms away and not on our itinerary tis time.

And that`s market in Qiautou in the evening! Work hard, play harder :)


We spent the night at Jane`s Guesthouse in Qiaotou - our starting point for the Tiger Leaping gorge hike. And we discovered real tasty grape sparkling wine that night :) And if you ever pass by the region...Li is definitely a guide/organizer you wanna deal with as she`s working on her own, charges a fair price and takes to places where you wouldn`t get on your own ;) (I got contacts if anyone`s interested)