Mengqiu Hostel

It's a woman's world over here

by bpacker

Just like the Minangkabau culture in Indonesia, the NAXI culture is matriachal. The women work in the fields all day long while the men take it easy. On top of that, the women are free to take on as many lovers as possible since marriage is an unknown instituition. However, all these free lovin' swingin' habits have since been watered down by communist measures.

Marriage and divorce are now familiar instituitions like anywhere else. Still, some habits die hard and you still see more women entrepreneurs compared to men (just like I observed in Indonesia) over here.

Naxi Food

by srd130

In the old town, there are numerous small restaurants serving simple Naxi and Chinese dishes at bargain prices (backpacker's dream).

One in particular, shown in the picture, is a fried bread. These breads are popular across many minority groups in Yunnan, but I liked the Naxi version the best. The bread is either sweet or is filled with bacon (pork bacon). They only cost about 2 yuan each, so have one of each type.

This photograph shows the cook of my favorite little restaurant, but I must warn you. When eating there once I got a visit from Mr. Rat! This is no big deal to me, but it may be an issue for some people who don't like seeing rodents in their restaurant. So you were warned.

View from the top of the town

by GillianMcLaughlin

Having meandered my way from the early morning buzz of Lijiang, I found myself in a clearing right at the very top ot the town. The view was breathtaking.

I had just wound my way up Shizi Shan, the verdant hill that separates old and new towns, known as Lion Hill. Inthe clearing at the top is a pagoda that is only some 9 years old. While it lacks the charm that comes with age, it has nevertheless been constructed with care, and provides a fantastic panorama right across the plains, taking in snow-capped Jade dragon Snow Mountain as well as the rooftops of the old town.

Tiger Leaping Gorge

by alluringworld

If you enjoy trekking and have sufficient stamina for it... Tiger Leaping Gorge is a place where you can spend 2 - 5 days depending on which trekking route you are taking. For those who just want to enjoy the scenary, a day trip will suffice. I spent 2D1N and did our own mini trek right infront of Sean's Guesthouse, to "somewhere" ... errr... approximately 40m above the river when the thorny plants made the route become "mission impossible"... We later realised that we have probably taken the wrong route as on our way back, we discovered an easier pathway... :(

More on how to get there - pls see Tips on Transportation

It used to be horse, silk and tea.

by melosh

There is probably no greater distinction seen in China between new city and old city then found in Lijiang. The narrow twisting alleys lined by houses with street shops and attractive traditional types of structure contrast sharply with the new city areas of large streets and tall buildings. It is fairly obvious that part of the "old" city has not been simply preserved; there has been some refurbishing and redeveloped for tourism. Not all of this is bad. I really appreciated the wooden signs with maps and historical information. Still, the maze of narrow streets is charming and getting "lost" is part of the fun.

Another thing you will notice are lots of women in regional dress in shops and restaurants. It was fairly common to see a lady dressed up and working at a loom as an attraction in a store. I know that this is not an original touristic sales ploy, but the ladies were so charming it was difficult not to buy one of the products of their labors.

When you start to think that all these shops stink of present day tourism, pick up a copy of the book "The Ancient Kingdom of Yunnan"($3-4 in English) in which you will read about a Lijiang as a caravan spot for trade of horse, tea and silk that sounds a lot like the Lijiang of today only with different things in the stores.

There did seem to be more tourists in Lijiang in the winter around the time of the Chinese new year than I saw Dali. The visitors were almost all Chinese and seemed pretty relaxed --more on vacation than on tour. In both places there was none of the frenzy you often see when large groups of tourists gather, but I fear both places might feel overrun during the summer.