Lijiang Things to Do

1 more image

In the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, brothers Yang Zhaolan and Yang Zhaorong resided in this small lane that lies off the western side of the market place. They both passed the imperial examinations at the provincial level along with their son of Yang Zhaorong. For the purpose of encouraging the forthcoming generations, the local officials built the arch above the street. It burnt down in 1944 but was rebuilt by a donation by local wealthy businessman Xin Wenbo.

1 more image

Dongba paper is particularly used by the priest of the Dongba religion of the Naxi people to paint the Dongba scripts and portrait the gods. It was first created in the Tang dynasty (618-907). The skin of the Steuera Chamae Jasme is used as the main raw material and the main features of the paper is its thickness, rough fibres and toughness. If you walk down Xinhua Jie (the street with the river running down it) there is a place you can enter and watch it being made and used for various articles which can be bought.

This unusual looking sight is where you make wishes which are sent to heaven. "You call the heaven, it answers, you call the earth, it responses. Make you wish from your heart" says a board nearby explaining what it's all about.

1 more image

Dong Dajie is the main pedistrain street that runs north-south through the Old Town. This area was largely reconstructed following an earthquake in 1996. The street is lined with tourist shops, a few banks, restaurants and cafes etc and is extremely busy with dozens of walking Chinese tour groups.

The Chieftain Mu in the Ming Dynasty built this bridge that is the biggest in the Old Town. This is the crucial passageway between the east and west parts of the Old Town above the middle river. It is 10.6 meters long, 2.2 meters high and 3.4 meters wide and is made entirely of stone.

the Yulong (jade dragon) snow mountain daytrip we took, albeit mainstream, was overall pleasant.
the stops are the ff:
*YuLong (jade dragon) national park
- Yulong summit (snow capped at 4506 meters above sea level)
- glacier (was not very visible as it was covered by the snowfall the day before)
- Dry sea bed (actually was a lake)
- white water river (turquoise clear blue waters, terraces, pine trees all over, clear blue skies)
* ShuHe old town - see my related trip on tourist trap
* a knife factory which was basically one of those tourist shopping stops
* black dragon pool park (i thought this was a waste of time, but the park is centuries old, and very picturesque. the stroll was very pleasant. observe the bubbles in the lake, like the lake is farting. the bubbles come up because of the vibrations as the park is on a constantly moving fault line, but u cant feel it)

very touristy, but the place is awesome. went there a day after a snowfall, the mountains is washed in white snow. the triplet peak is great for a photo op. we even saw a pre-nup photo shoot on the mountains, all in wedding gown glory! there's also a inflatable snow ride, costs 20rmb per person. pricey, but what the heck, go for the experience.

Bring an oxygen can just in case the altitude sickness sinks in. its 4506meters above sea level.

We agreed to a guided tour with Richard and Li who solicited us off the street. The tour included a visit to a Yi village up on one of the slopes, Bashio (village), Lashio Lake, lunch, viewing the first bend of the Yangtze River and a Mu Village. If we had wanted to they offered a number of other options such as visiting a local market.

Cost 150 Yuan as there were four of us.