Lijiang, China
After the quickest security screening ever, we boarded our 45 minute flight for Lijiang. We were surprised to see that they actually provided a snack – rather interesting tasting olive candy and water with a special mystery flavour.
Our new guide “Jack” met us at the airport. Jack decided on his new name after seeing the Titanic with Leonardo DiCaprio. He suggested changing our planned itinerary to visit a pond. We went along with that suggestion and it was a very good decision.
The Black Dragon Pond Park is absolutely beautiful. It is on the cover of several guidebooks of this area. It is so beautiful and serene that you can’t help feeling at peace (unless you work there I guess). We took the obligatory group picture and, thanks to Photoshop, the Snow Mountain in the background magically appeared. While wandering through the park Andre and Mark chatted up the locals and we fed some fish. Someone should have told me to break the crackers up first though.
After exiting the park, we visited the Dongba Cultural Museum. Dongba is the religion of the Naxi people. After exiting through the gift shop, we hopped on the bus and went for lunch to an Italian restaurant for Chinese food – lazy Susan time once again.
After lunch, we climbed Lion Hill for an overview of Lijiang meeting a group of ethnic dancers along the way. Lijiang ancient town is absolutely gorgeous. It became a world heritage site after being partially destroyed in an earthquake in 1997. It looks exactly the way that I always pictured China in my imagination. Beautiful streams wind through a hillside village with picturesque buildings at every turn. The buildings are decorated with hanging red lanterns, flowers, vines and even a waterfall!
After eating regional cuisine served at riverside tables, we walked through the night version of this gorgeous town complete with glowing lanterns and candles floating down the rivers.
This really was everything we imaged China to be.
2GuysTravel 