LeahAndMark.com

A quick post of street food photos before we get on the bus to Shangri-La.

Food on a stick is generally a good choice.

The bus is arriving soon.

Yunnan province has many different minority groups, and Lijiang is home to several, but primarily to the Naxi people. The Naxis are ethnically Tibetan, speak their own Naxi language and use a pictograph writing system- the oldest still in use, in fact. They are a matriarchal society, whereby the women inherit all property, can have multiple lovers, and are responsible for supporting their children, moreso than the fathers.

We’re at Mama Naxi’s guesthouse and have been lucky to experience Naxi hospitality and nurturing. Mama, who fills the main building (Bldg 3) with her loud voice and great food, has been awesome at scoring us the cheapest plane tickets ever, as well as arranging our transport to Shangri-la/Zhongdian today. She cooked a 7-course meal last night and we all sat around stuffing ourselves silly. And it only cost 10 yuan- that same meal would have cost over 100 at a restaurant! And it was so great. Picture!!

That was taken before the last dish came out. It was broccoli, wok-fried and flavorful.

Baba lives at the the building we’re staying in. He’s a much quieter, meeker, but just as hospitable, version of Mama. So, if you ever come to Lijiang, Mark and I absolutely recommend this guesthouse. But do try to get a private bathroom- the shared bathrooms aren’t very nice. That’s really my only complaint. Everything else has been wonderful here- great food, our laundry was done super-fast and cheap, all our travel arrangements were made in like 10 seconds and for a much cheaper price than I had budgeted, our room was even way cheaper than we had anticipated. It’s just been a great experience here!

First. Mama Naxi is a real person. Grandmotherly but super energetic, she seems to always have a cell phone to hear ear and in the middle of one transaction or another. But she also wants to feed every traveler some home cooked food the moment they arrive and she’ll randomly handout bananas and tea to anyone sitting in the hostel common area - as she did for us just a second ago.

Get Ready, this is a big post with lots of Photos:

First, this is the gentleman who appeared out of the darkness just as we were getting out of our taxi. He guided us to a courtyard and up some stairs to a room. No reception desk and no one else who spoke English. Fortunately, we then followed him to the main site and saw everything else and Mama Naxi.

After a good breakfast, we went off to get lost through the town. The streets are narrow and we were walking just as the hordes of asian tourists were only beginning to make their own journey through town. Fortunately we’re staying in an area with only residences and not the souvenir shops that line most of the heart of old town. But the buildings, and streets are still nice. It’s an interesting mix of a quaint little town turning into a tourists destination - without turning negative like Yangshuo. Of course, we’re here in the middle of April and not at the height of the tourist season - where the streets are literally clogged with people. That would be hell.

Coming from the States, you might not have a true idea of how awesomely impressive the tourism industry is here in China. When I say hordes of people, what I mean to say is an army of tourists. This was a procession walking through town - they always use flags so that the group can identify their tour leader.

But the town is more beautiful than the tourists can harm so right now, with the moderate number of visitors, it’s not so bad, there are still great views of the streets and the river that runs throughout the town. The sky is clear, the sun is out and you don’t hear a single horn coming from the onslaught of traffic you find in every other city. The silence is amazing in comparison.

We walked all the way northward to the Black Dragon Lake Park. It’s a nice spot if not a little fake like Disneyland. Still, it gives a nice open view of the sky, and snow mountain. Again, after Bei Hei Park in Beijing, being in a park that’s quiet and peaceful is very welcome.

After the lake, we decided to just wander around town and get lost - looking for spots empty of the visitors and areas that others won’t find. We succeeded quite well and everything was really enjoyable.

I suppose I could space these entries out and stretch these entries into 2 or 3 entries sometimes, but I’m just posting as I can, when I can. So while I can’t post every photo, I do seem to post a lot. Plus… we always have the flickr account.

We’ve been quite fortunate and have stayed at some awesome hostels in this country. Mama Naxi’s wasn’t our first choice - but we’re glad that the first option fell through and didn’t work out. Because once again, it did work out and it really was for the best.

You probably won’t reach the guesthouse by email - so just give them a call.

0888-5185930 / 5100700
zhao_gang1982@yahoo.com.

Click here for a map and directions to the guesthouse.