Old Lijiang (December 6 - 8)

From Qiatou after leaving the Tiger Leaping Gorge we chartered a minibus to Lijiang. This city has been kept frozen in time by municipal bylaws and is enjoying the fruits of its labour. This was probably the first stop in our travels where we were almost shocked by the number of foreign tourists. But on the other hand, we were not all that shocked due to the absolute beauty of this ancient city.

One of the numerous beautiful spots in Lijiang

With flowing canals along all of the little winding paths and some of the cutest and most affordable shops in all of China, Lijiang was a highpoint of China. Along with the rest of our posse and a few other people we met, we strolled through the streets for hours and ended up staying two nights at the soon to be famous "Mama Naxi Guesthouse" where we got a great little private room for $5 a night, all you can eat homemade suppers for $1.15 and breakfasts of banana pancakes or egg, tomato and baba bread (fried flatbread) for 30 cents.

Val would make a great national hero!

An interesting point about the Naxi people of this area: they are, and always have been, a matriarchal society. In other words, family clans run along the women's side (children get their mother's last names) and the women basically run the show. They own the property, run the businesses, are the political leaders, etc...

The Naxi matriarchs would dance in the town square everyday to the delight of tourists.

We would also spend our evenings there at the Sexy Tractor, the only Irish pub we had ever seen in China run by an awesome guy named John.

Val and Anne at the Sexy Tractor Pub

Lijiang was a great place to unwind and chill out after a very hard week and a half of traveling.

The whole gang, just hanging around (Bobby, Ofir, Valerie, Anne and Mark on top)