Lijiang Part 2

If we rewind the story briefly and revisit Thursday, we'll find a bit i left out from part 1. The bit in question is a rather quick exchange of text messages between esther and i, discussing how awesome Lijiang was, and how she should just ask her boss for the next 7 days off work to join us. She replied with something like, "I have a meeting with my boss this afternoon, I'll ask him."

Esther, i learned from our thunderstorm experience in Hangzhou, is someone to be taken seriously.

Later that day, she bought a plane ticket. She flew 3 hours to Kunming on Friday, took the 10 hour sleeper bus to Lijiang, and caught up to us about 40 hours after making the decision... and 15 of those hours were spent traveling by one medium or another. Esther wins the award for Most Spontaneous.

While sleeping late was not one of them, meeting esther at the gate to Lijiang's old city at 6am had its benefits, most notably, another chance to tour the city before the tourists arrive. Esther and i made a lap of the whole city in about 2 hours, snapping hundreds of pictures in the process.

For the first two nights in Lijiang, i had been sleeping on the couch in my parents room at the Lijiang International Youth Hostel. It was a nice room, private terrace, western bathroom, second floor with a decent view. It was one of the nicer rooms they had, and it suited three people fine, as long as one of them didn't mind the couch. But the whole time, i longed to check out their "Mountain View" suite, on the third floor. In our minds, it loomed above our terrace like a mansion eclipsing the villa next door.

It was only about $10 more, but it was also booked every night. When i learned esther was definitely coming, i inquired again about the room. While it was still occupied at the time, i learned the tenants had shortened their stay and were leaving Saturday, and therefore available for one night... the only night i would need it.

The stars aligned and with luck on my side, esther and i moved into the penthouse suite for her one night in Lijiang. It was beautiful, with an outdoor patio, a tea room, one of those futuristic shower capsules, and an amazing bed. 

The view down to the rents' place shows their terrace doubling as a drying rack for the hostel.

Lijiang by day is a wonder, but it turns into a fairyland at night. Lanterns fill the alley's, gates and towers are illuminated, the city is afire with life. And tourists, of course.

We enjoyed a relaxing dinner next to a river, and tried to stealthily observe the passing mob. However, being the gloriously attractive and interesting foreigners that we are, we inevitably became the focus of tourist cameras. 

Also: i made a cat friend, fed him chicken, and named him Little Yellow Tiger.

One tradition in Lijiang is to float these flower-shaped candle rafts down the river along with your wish. I bought a pair for esther and mom, so they could wish for each other's wishes to come true. Both wishes came true infinite times.

Another tradition is to sit in your amazing penthouse suite and gaze upon the city below.

~Kev

Lijiang Part 1

Our flight arrived in Kunming around 4pm on Weds, August 3rd, and we promptly learned all the trains to Lijiang (pronounced "lee jee-ahng") were sold out for the week. Using adventure and magic, I was able to secure us three beds on an overnight sleeper bus to Lijiang. These buses are pretty impressive: three rows of bunk beds, sleeping about 40 people per bus. There's barely enough room to stretch out your legs completely and no room to move around, but it's comfortable enough for one night. Papa Reitz might say it's almost comfortable enough for one night. Once was enough for him, but we all managed to get a full night of sleep anyway.

We arrived in Lijiang at 5:45 am on Thursday the 4th. I dropped the rents off at the 24hr KFC and left in search of a hotel. I found one relatively quickly and returned to escort them down the deserted cobblestone streets.

Lijiang, a UNESCO Heritage Site, is a beautiful city. Breathtaking, one might say. It is utterly fantastic at every corner. Clean, meandering alleys, countless rivers, rich with history and local culture, packed with shops and restaurants, Lijiang embodies the beauty of China's ancient cities. It is blessed, like most of Yunnan, with mild weather year-round. However, it is also plagued with tourists. At 9 am, the tour buses roll in and the streets, calm only an hour before, become overwhelmed, and remain that way past midnight.

But at 7am, after moving into our hotel, we had a wonderful opportunity to explore the city's many streams, bridges, and markets before the mob arrived.

We wandered off the normal tourist path and found Lijiang's open-air market, where the locals go to buy food and goods for their own use. Here we spent an hour or so watching and interacting with the Naxi ethnic group (one of 56 officially recognized by China), native to this area.

These first four pictures below are: on the left, a picture of me, and on the right, the picture i was taking. Thanks mom for the two on the left!

We found the Naxi written language fascinating. The tourist literature i read said it was last culture in the world to still use a pictographic language, and although i haven't been able to confirm that, it's still cool. Below is an advertisement for restaurant, can you match the Naxi on the top to the English on the bottom? (hint: JianShui is a city in Yunnan, whose name means something like Constructed by Water.)

We were lucky enough to only encounter two days of rain, the first was in Hangzhou, which isn't even in Yunnan, and the second was in Lijiang. We were already out walking around Black Dragon Pool when the rain came, but we had umbrellas and it was a calm, gentle rain. We just kept on walking. Some of the Chinese tourists braved it like us and enjoyed the small crowds, others sought shelter.

And a quick check on Dad... day nine of the beardpocalypse.

That takes us through two days of Lijiang. Next up... Lijiang Part 2: Lijiang by Night and The Return of Esther.

~Kev

Hangzhou

Last time i rapped at ya, i was preparing for the arrival of my parents. They did so safely and after a few days of relaxing and acclimation, we took the high speed train to Hangzhou for three days with esther.

The train itself was a nice and interesting experience. For about $100 each, we traveled 1000 miles in about 5 1/2 hours, with a maximum speed of 215 mph, and an average speed maybe 175 mph. It's amazing for a few reasons. 1) You can't feel the speed at all. It's smooth and frictionless. You can barely even feel the acceleration. 2) It's really comfortable and has nice bathrooms. Seats recline further than in an airplane and there's much more legroom. 3) It's so convenient. You just get to the station 10 minutes before it leaves. Security is fast and easy, and there are no restrictions on baggage.

Esther picked us up at the train station in her company car, which is basically just her car. It's a pretty good deal having a local tour guide/driver/awesome girl to show you around.

Hangzhou's main attraction is the famous West Lake. It's big enough where you could walk the whole thing in a day if you really wanted to. It's packed with beautiful gardens, peaceful tree-lined paths, birds, animals, stone bridges that reach across small estuaries, and historic sights like pagodas, temples and turtle-packed ponds. We spent many a comfortable afternoon walking and enjoying.

Our hotel was located right at the lake, so we checked in and went for a walk on the lake the first evening. It had rained hard earlier that day, and although the forecast called for rain everyday (of every city on our two week journey) we actually only encountered rain twice the whole trip. This evening was one of those two times, and we had forgotten our umbrellas. We were strolling, marveling at the beautiful views, enjoying the calm breeze, and snapping pictures.

We were blissfully unaware that the looming premature darkness foretold another major thunderstorm. I mean, we could see it coming, but looking around at all the locals, unconcerned and equally un-umbrella'd, we figured they knew what they were doing. Turns out they did know, and when it started pouring, they produced umbrellas by using magic. We sought cover at the entrance of a nearby temple with the 20-some other umbrella-less unfortunate.

Out of boredom, or possibly elation, esther suggested we go out into the rain and play. To her surprise, i accepted her invitation. Moments later we were standing on the threshold, pockets emptied of valuables, hand in hand, waiting for the other to back down. Neither did, and we ran out into the torrential downpour, soaking us within moments. The damage done, we walked all the way out to the lake, sloshing through inches of accumulated water. We danced, we kissed, we stared off into the lightning filled darkness, with the falling rain creating our sensory-deprived solitude. Mom snapped a sweet picture with my camera.

Esther took us to a number of sights throughout our three days. We hiked 310 steps to the base of the 9th century Baochu Pagoda, passing bamboo groves and rock outcroppings along the way. The destination itself wasn't so spectacular, but the journey was nice, and the Rents became pretty popular with the local kids at the top.

We also explored Leifeng Pagoda, one of the most striking sights on the West Lake. This one actually has an elevator, so unlike Baochu, you can ascend to the top for views of all Hangzhou. At the top, i practiced my nature photography on thousands of dragonflies.

Otherwise, we spent our time wandering around and joking. It was a really easy and fun visit. We ate well too. We went to Grandma's Kitchen twice for dinner and had probably the best chicken ever. We learned how to eat lotus seeds. It's also worth noting at this point that, while in Beijing, i challenged Dad to a beard-off, and he accepted. For the first time in his life, he is unshaven of his own willpower. Updates on that alone should be enough to keep you checking back!

Six days: Beardpocalypse

After three wonderful days, we left Hangzhou and esther for Kunming, our gateway to exploring the mountainous western province of Yunnan for the next 10 days.

~Kev