Dali to Lijiang, CHINA - 06 may 2002
We went back for more massage and this time, she was vicious. I felt so bruised that I believed I could not sleep on my right side for a couple for days at least.
The road to Lijiang was on a well-paved highway too. We arrived in light drizzle and set about to look for our hostel.
Gosh, we were thoroughly enchanted by Lijiang. There are streams circling around town. The old town is set in a hilly region and has undulating cobbled-stoned streets twisting this way and that, swaying trees lining the streams and charming stone bridges. It made great photos at every nook and cranny. It reminded me a little of an Oriental Venice, with no vehicles and few bicycles.
The locals here are of the Naxi group, which seem to be of matriarchal system. They have their own language too which is an extraordinary system of pictographs.
Their costumes are duller than the Bai group. They wear blue blouses and trousers covered by blue or black aprons. There is a T-shaped cape tied to their back, I guess, for them to carry baskets easily without chafing themselves. Perhaps it symbolises something too.
At the main square, the Naxi group was dancing in circles and inviting tourists to join in. That was their traditional dance - gather in a circle, hold hands and do some arm-raising and nifty foot-works, head anti-clockwise and repeat.
Lijiang, CHINA - 07 may 2002
It was a shame the weather was rainy here in Lijiang as well, and Lijiang was turning out slightly more expensive than Dali. In Dali, we managed to find a local eatery selling rice, five side dishes and tea for Y2.50 [about US$0.30]. It was not really possible in the old town of Lijiang. Lijiang is a lot more touristy.
So, for cheap food, we crossed to the new town across the hill. It was quite a culture shock to step out of the charming streets of the old town into the buzzing traffic of the new town.
In the middle of the afternoon, Carlos arrived. We had left him lazing around in Dali but he arrived to our hostel now. He had tried to hitch a ride to Lijiang in the rain but finally, he still had to fork out something for the ride.
He now switched to European women, just to be safe. He admitted he could make a mistake about Asian women but for European ones, he was sure. In fact, he informed us that he had snogged a Danish woman last night. Very tall, at 1.84m… but w-o-m-a-n!!
‘Bao zi’ [meat buns] and ‘jiao zi’ [dumplings] had been favourites of Carlos and Alex back in Dali because they were usually quite cheap and good. Once in Lijiang new town, we were hunting these down again to fill our stomachs.
Then, Carlos went to look for his Danish woman who had apparently arrived in Lijiang in the morning bus.
Lijiang, CHINA - 08 may 2002
Tomorrow, I will leave Lijiang and today, my last day here, was wonderfully bright and sunny again. Great, just in time.
I shot more photos and headed out to a nearby village Baisha to check it out. It was pretty but not very interesting and soon I caught a mini-truck, packed with villagers, back to Lijiang again.
Apparently, Carlos only managed to track down his Danish woman in Lijiang today. Keita and Ato, my other room-mates from Dali, also arrived in Lijiang today. We had quite a reunion gathering on the bridge outside my hostel in the rain.
That night, at Sakura Café, I caught a glimpse of Carlos’ woman-of-the-moment. Woah, way taller than Carlos and with a very broad face, she too looked like a man to me. Haha…
I shall part ways with Alex who had been a great travel-mate for the past ten days. He would return to Dali and Kunming to go back to where he really loves - Vietnam. Carlos would head up north via an alternative route to Chengdu and I would go straight to Chengdu by bus and train. Long day of travel tomorrow.
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