Lijang

China

October 2005
4 days

Gavin wrote:
We then went to a town 3hrs north called Lijang whcih is unbelievably more beautiful than Dali - lots of cobbled streets and a network of streams running through it. Unfortunately it was also way more touristy than Dali and incredibly busy, especially in the evening with loads of chinese tour groups everywhere (Dali is also quite touristy but not as bad) which makes navigating the cute narrow cobbled streets pretty tricky.

We only spent one evening there, then we tried to go to the Black Dragoon Lagoon nearby but it was a massive 60 Yuan each to get in (which is one nights accomodation) - so we took some pictures from outside and left for Quiotou - which is a further 2 hrs north of Lijang and the starting point for the trek in the Tiger Leaping Gorge.

Oh yeah, in Lijang we decided to do a 2 day trek in the tiger leaping gorge, but lorraine only had flip-flops and we had no warm clothes so we went on a kitting out expidition - lorraine bought a pair of green plimsoles (not sure of the spellng) for 1.50pounds and some insoles and socks. I got a hoody with some ethnic stuff painted on it for 2.50pounds and we were good to go!

Lorraine wrote:
Next day went to a town called Lijiang which is the one of the top tourist attractions in China - its a v. pretty town - a bit like Dali but bigger and prettier. Although it is packed full of Chinese tour groups. We spent a night there but you only really need a couple of hours to explore as there was not too much to do there. Had some chinese food (so far it has all been pretty poor) and listened to the locals singing. There is a stream that runs through the middle of the old town and bars and restaurants are built on either side and the locals compete in singing competitions across the stream so it gets pretty loud. Next day attempted to go to some black dragon lake thingy - they charged a fortune so decided not to bother - we just stood over the fence and took some pictures anyway.