Lijiang

(Ms. Arkin)

Today was a better day. I had a restful night’s sleep and the hard beds in China are actually quite comfy. Perhaps I am experiencing the benefits of Feng Shui, as all of the buildings and furnishings here are designed using these principles.

After breakfast we met Danny and he walked us around the old city of Lijiang while giving us all sorts of information and history as we walked. Lijiang is where the Naxi (pronounce na – shee) people live and Dongba is their religion. The Naxi people are minorities in China, but they have a very rich and colorful culture. There are approximately 300,000 Naxi people in the world and they are very proud of the heritage. They have their own dialect and they write using pictographs which were really fun to look at and try to guess what they meant! The most interesting thing to me about their culture is that the women do all of the work! The Naxi women are very hard workers and the Naxi men are very lazy and sit around barking orders at the women. The history of the Naxi people is even more interesting, but you will have to do some research if you want to know more. It is too much to write and I don’t want to make a mistake.

When we went to the Naxi culture museum, a Naxi girl gave us our tour. She spoke very good English which is rare as not many Naxi people speak Mandarin, let alone English. She is studying English in college and was eager to practice by giving us the tour. It is hard to imagine such a different lifestyle.

We also walked around the Dragon Pool in Lijiang which was particularly enjoyable on such a sunny day. The sky was blue with white puffy clouds and we could see the snow capped mountains in the background. I think some of my pictures came out really well. It would be hard to get a bad photograph as the natural scenery is beautiful from every angle. After the Dragon Pool we went back to the hotel for a few hours. I went out to buy a watch (since my cell phone that I was using no longer gets service to tell time). I walked in the direction that seemed the least touristy in hopes that I wouldn’t have to bargain. I am not a fan of bargaining. I also am aware to use small bills after Candice got the counterfeit money as change. Anyhow, I found a watch for 18yuan (a little more than two dollars) so I didn’t feel that warranted any bargaining. It is blue and plastic and very unfashionable, but it works and even has a light up button.

In the evening we went to a Naxi performance at the Dongba Cultural Center right up the street from our hotel. There was dancing, singing, instrument playing and storytelling which incorporated many costume changes. The costumes were colorful, flowy and very extravagant. In some of the dances, the girls wore large ornaments (dragon boats or fruit baskets) on their heads. It kind of reminded me of the costumes they wear in the Miss Universe pageants to represent their countries.

Oh and there are also little girls that do street performances for money. They seem to be only about 5 years old and they contort their bodies into the shape of a circle using their mouths to balance. Hopefully I can get a picture tomorrow since I know that description doesn’t really make sense!

After the show we went for a traditional “hot pot” dinner. It was very complicated and perhaps involved more work that eating a lobster. Basically, there is a large pot of boiling water in the middle and all sorts of meats and vegetables around the table. You pick what you want to eat and put it in the hot pot and wait for it to cook. Once again, there was so much food it appeared that we barely made a dent in it, although we left very full.

Speaking of food, worms are a local specialty in Lijiang. I was too shocked to think to take out my camera and photograph the bowls of worms, but Molly wasn’t! She has a picture from one of the street vendors which I will try to post later.

Tomorrow we are taking a cable car up the Jade Mountain and then we have a flight at 9:35 pm to Chengdu where we will go to the Panda Breeding Center. All four of us have been looking forward to seeing the giant pandas!