Lackadaisical Lijiang

We arrived in the city of Lijiang very bleary-eyed at about 4:30am. Nowhere except a deserted KFC was open, so we went in and slept at a table until it began getting light. When we went outside,we encountered this hilarious sign on the buisness next door:
 "The Guiyang characteristic skin records the old shop to bake the shop"
Bion read the Mandarin symbols, and it turns out this place sells cookbooks. Lost in translation!

Lijiang's streets were empty, so we wandered around the quaint 'old town' while the city slowly began to stir and come alive.

From where we were in "Old Lijiang", we could just barely see Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, famous throughout China. According to whoever rates these kind of things, on a clear day the view from Lijiang's winding old streets is the most beautiful in China.

A nice garden by the canal.

We decided to stay in the small town of Baisha, just outside of Lijiang. We found a clean and charming guesthouse to stay in.

They had a beautiful garden.

We settled in and soon caught a bus out of town towards the mountains. We set out in search of a trail up the nearest peak. We ended up wandering through a small town for awhile before we found it, but we didn't mind, as there were some interesting sites along the way.

A horse grazing near the trailhead.

Finally we found a path that seemed to be going the right way, so we followed it as it began to climb steadily higher through sun-dappled grassy meadows and pine forest.

At one point we passed above this temple, which Bion suspects was mostly built as a draw for Chinese tourists.

Yunnan's flora didn't disappoint; we saw some lovely flowers, fruits and other plants as we hiked higher above the valley.

It was a beautiful sunny day and the views were magnificent.

Eventually we reached a large reservoir; at this point we decided it was time to turn back and begin our descent.

Rhododendrons!

We soon returned to Baisha for a much needed shower and some dinner. On the way this little old lady tried to apprehend us and take us back to her house for tea, which we politely refused.

We also passed some other ladies who gave us a friendly greeting...except for the one in the middle who was scowling at us.

A popular design for the trucks used by the locals.

Another delicious meal, in a small restaurant run by people from one of the Muslim minority groups in China. We had mushrooms, eggplant, tomatoes with egg, and some of the best stewed beef we've ever had.