They said you need to walk on and swirl the wheels while saying “mami mami Hom” to yourself, then make a wish. So I did. It is not world peace.

Something truthful outside of Baisha town.



The sausages hanging there outside of windows…find their way to my stomach.

I like when there is some realness to it. Yes, no one wants to be fooled emotionally.

Do you see the sunlight?




From here I bought my lovely cushion covers and hand-embroidery table cloth. I have a weakness for such things. My blood runs faster when I see beautiful fabric/accessories/handicrafts…



My drink in winter–hot chocolate. Here they gave me Milo con agua.

Have I mentioned Dali beer is great or have I mentioned it?

This is a sweet dog.

Bar/Restaurant street along the lake.

I hope when I am that age, I would be able to dance and sing like them.

Landscape outside of Baisha town




Dogs are everywhere. They have a life. Saint Bernard. He is huge.

Cacti



Beautiful boy…pity he was not interested in me.

This one is special to me. We had a connection. I stepped on his shit…





Pat every dog…except this one. He looks like a bigger size Xiao Tan, but if there is one dog I wouldn’t get close to, it’s him. Doberman.


Additional:
2 pix taken in 2001. My skin on the face will never improve.
Last time I was so in love, so in love with the place and it took me 7 years to “go back”. Next time, would I “return” as a middle-aged woman?…

Although it’s just 200 kilometers from LiJiang to Shangri-La, the landscape is completely and utterly another. Also, it takes 5-6 hours on the drive. Zhongdian is a Tibetan minority area with its distinctive constructions, customs, and costumes: praying flags on their rooftops, trapeze shape of windows and walls, saffron, black and white colors, leather skin clothes, long boots and knives…etc. It looks to me as if they added a macho touch to everything…

The very good-looking tour guide. I like his clothes, his hair…well almost everything.

We arrived at the hotel room later in that afternoon. On the way I had signed us up to the highly promoted Tibetan family visit that night, with extra cost. I am not proud to say it, but the truth is, I am a big fat living chance to a tourist trap. No need much convincing, our tour guide just told us that it’s not safe to wonder around alone in the night in that area because the minorities, with one drink too much, do not need an excuse to stab you with their knife and India is just a few mountains away from there. That pretty much killed my plan of venturing into Tibetan ancient town alone. Won’t do it! At least wont before I take any Tai Kwon Dou class. What else to do that’s better than go and see a Tibetan family, drink their Barley wine and eat their barbecued yaks?
Luckily, it was not a tourist trap. It could have been cheaper but I did not regret the choice. That was the highlight of the day. Barley wine is home-made wine about 20% alcohol. It tastes slightly sweet, like rice wine but without the smell. The lambs and yaks are yummy and the Tibetan sing and dance well. Someone gave me a local cigar and I was having fun drinking and smoking.
That night as I sank in bed the Barley wine sank in my head. The highland climate is dry and I normally had to wake up a few times to drink water in the night. In the morning my head slightly hurt. It was just a little, but enough for me to feel stupid about myself. It’s one thing to drink and feel good, another to over-drink and ruin the next day’s trip. I drank more water and some hot milk. Miraculously the headache was completely gone even before the day break. (Mm…ok, the day breaks at 8:30 there and I woke up 6am freezing…)

deer in the headlight

That’s the way to eat it.


Tibetan guys

The next day destination was PU Da Cuo National Park. The tour guide failed to hard-sell Tibetan family visit to most of my tour-mates and now he started telling us it was compulsory for each one to have 2 bottles of oxygen. (It’s a new commercial item by the way, I’d never seen or heard of it in 2001 although I did even went up to Yulong Snow Mountain that time). “You’ve just spent a night somewhere over 3000 meters high and your body is lacking oxygen. You may not know it or feel it but your body will definitely need it when you go up to 4200 meters later today…Once …last year…there was this couple…”
All right, I am afraid to die. ..so stab me…4 bottles of oxygen.
Tips: Never, never ever ever buy stupid oxygen. Pu Da Cuo National Park as I see it, is a natural oxygen reservoir. One just need to avoid high-intensity activities like one do on low lands. I was carrying 4 bottles of oxygen until half way of our 4.2km walk around the lake. Then I took them out and ordered myself and Gordo to breathe the hell of it. I need to dump some weight. They say never be too careful but some lessons have to be learned.

It is a beautiful park.

The reflection…

That kind of blue takes your breath away

Yak

Just too happy to see yaks…

Pig roaming around

A baby Tibetan Hound.He will grow into a nice-looking fellow but right now he is just a funny black thing following you around trying to bite your socks off.

Always love other people’s yard…cause I don’t have one.

What people/dogs do in the sun

Drummers at Xiao SiFang Square. Makes me wanna bring a drum home…but a small one will set you back 1000rmb.

Very sweet strawberry. If you buy less than 1 jin, it’s 1 jin. More than 1 jin, she will tell you it’s 2 jins.

These doodling is Dongba characters.


My cowboy hat…No I didn’t buy it.


Gordo wants a hat like this. He wants it in white. I thought he was kidding. Then I asked the guy how much. When I heard the price I thought he was kidding too. No I didn’t let them have their pleasure.

When night falls…


The bar that has a fireplace.

The band


My red leggings are not helping

This place is called Prague Café. Was my favorite in 2001 and still is. Higher price and lower food quality but it’s within excusable range when everything is deteorirating.

Normally we could get a seat besides the door or the window upstairs. This way we could enjoy the sun and watch people outside the café. One could spend hours here reading and writing diaries with a cup of hot chocolate beside. I read some scripts left by travelers. Most diaries in Chinese is so sentimental,about mending a broken heart, missing someone or feeling happy and undisturbed, while most in English is travel tips, routes and suggestions. Mm…Interesting…Of course there is notes of disappointment too. Me, I couldn’t write anything. I am all empty.

Local beer is very good.

The next day I woke up and was overjoyed to see a neat beautiful yard just out of our room. Fresh air, blue sky and sunshine on my shoulders…It was touching. Forget about yesterday…this is where it all starts.
Had breakfast in LaMu’s and strolled down the old town simply enjoying the day. Nothing like waking up to a beautiful day to improve a mood. The snow mountain in the distance, the running creek at my foot, the road of cobblestones, dogs running full of purpose in narrow alleys, and the oldies smoking leisurely on the bench of SiFang Square, all these brought out the joy in my heart. According to Mary’s suggestion we moved to another lodge where we spent the rest of the trip.
As a “second-timer” I couldn’t help but comparing the “past” and the “now”. (This is a bad habit) and to be fair, I’ve got to say that time passed and the human brain works in such a way that we always filter out the bad experiences and leave the good memories. Therefore by comparing, the conclusion is a disappointment more often than not.
However, it’s just more than that. On the 28th after spending enough time in the ancient town, it was enough to judge that this has become more like a theme park to me. Freshly-made cultural relics, new antiques, Alleys swamped with stores selling practically the same minority handicrafts, locals peddling you with their strawberries, and “Hallo, Hallo~~Englishi tour guide?” ”Hallo renta a car?”… Anywhere is potential tourist trap.
The beauty remains, the tranquility is no more.
Food was expensive for its worth. The price of “bathe in sun, lost in thought” is “empty your wallet”. Pardon me for destroying the romance, but you eat and drink to survive. For a real meal we mostly ordered hotpot. It’s shy in quality and quantity but it’s right for the weather and the steam rhymes with the creek. For drinks and cakes we stuck to my old choice—Prague Café. What was a 10rmb drink now cost 28rmb. Still it’s a reasonable menu compared to the rest.
Bars—For a lot of people LiJiang old town is also a place for romance, be it love of your life or lust of the week. If you can’t find it in the day in cafes sun-bathing while ogling and trying to make conversation, your other choice might just as well be night clubs. When night falls, in the bar streets, the lanterns are hung, music on, drinks served, singers brought out their guitars, girls dressed in minority costumes shaking their body shouting “YaSo, Yaso, Yayaso(again, again, once again)”. I picked a quieter bar with a live band and a fireplace. According to Gordo the bass was great. No more 15rmb/drink though. He ordered a citröe and later a Bailey, both 1 ounce worth of 30rmb. Lick it before it evaporates. My 40rmb long island ice-tea was much worthy compared to it. A bottle of 200rmb red wine would not be a bad choice after all.
According to a blog I read about Lijiang once, which I translate and summarize here:”Lijiang old town is like a whore trying to please every one of her customer. She is not old yet but she is over-abused already.” I won’t go to this extremes but I think commercialization has brought improvement on the quality of life, and meanwhile taken away a big part of its charm.

The yard I woke up to…

Our room is way in the back…

Breakfast at LaMu’s.

The hotel we spent one night in. One of the 2 proofs that gordo was with me on the trip, and I insisted. Most of the pictures you’ll see me alone.

Later we moved to this hostel with a smaller yard. room-rate is lower too.

We were talking about how the fruit of every flower taste. As children we’d dig around in the bushes sampling all sorts of nameless seeds and flowers. We still remember their taste, colors and shapes. There was a lot of fun in the world of no-snack.