2010 - China (9) Yunnan: Lijiang - Old Town

Lijiang - Old Town

We walked to the "old town" center in Lijiang after dinner.

The "Old Town" greeted us with a big clay-color wall and mural carvings depicting the history of the Bai people.

The carvings on the wall went around it. Many of the symbols I don't comprehend, but it was done beautifully.

Next to the wall is a creek pushing twin waterwheels. The place is like a park and an open-mall combined.

Stores selling from food to trinkets and many other tourist treasures lined the cobbled-stone walkway. It was dusk when we arrived, and the sunlight was replaced by artificial ones slowly. It was quite a sight.

We came upon a long roof with hundreds of bells and wind-chimes. These were offered by people who were making wishes, giving thanks for wishes fulfilled, and poems with exquisite calligraphy.

Above is a closer look at the bells and wind-chimes. They have different sizes, different decorations and writings. All are beautiful.

The creek that flows from the water-wheels separates the bars from the stores selling merchandise.

This is the "bar" side with lots of bright lights and loud music.

While this is the more tranquil merchandise side.

After nearly an hour of easy stroll, the tourists arrived at the "center" where four streets meet. This is called the "Four Square Street" (or a quadrangle).

The above photo shows the "impromptu" bridges.

We continued to venture on another alley. I think all the stones are from a marble quarry.

All the stores have a half-second story for the storekeepers to sleep and for goods to store.

Another view of the store fronts and second story.

The beautiful building at the back of the wall must be the residences of rich and powerful people.

The Old Town and New Town is separated by the street shown above. The tour guide left us at the "Square Street" and told us how to walk back to the hotel or take a taxi. After walking two blocks the sign post marker that the guide told us was nowhere in sight. I flagged down a taxi and arrived at the hotel for RMB 7.00 (about $1.00). Taxis are cheap and reliable so far for the few that I ventured to try.

2010 - China (8) Yunnan: Lijiang

Lijiang

After lunch the waitresses helped the tourists don their costumes.

"Lijiang" means Beautiful River. Just outside of town, there was a toll booth entering the highway (see below).

One of the most curious things that I saw was an all-purpose truck widely used around this area.

The truck has no hood for the engine, and the engine's flywheel is mounted perpendicular to the direction of travel. It hauls dirt, farm produce, people, and almost everything, and it is not fast but can manage the hills and curvy roads. It is quite versatile and made in China, and I am sure it is made affordable for the local farmers.

I took a closer shot at a new one being washed at a "water station". It looked so simple without a catalytic converter that even I could probably work on it. The "water station" is an area next to the gas station for cars and truck to fill up with, what else, water! Due to the terrain. the brakes are used frequently when going down hill thus overheating the braking system. The drivers use water to cool it off. They don't use low-gear braking, perhaps to reduce the wear and tear on the engine.

Our tour bus was also being serviced and washed. I was wondering how much did the washers make.

.The distant hill was a victim to deforestation, or mining operation. It left a scar in the otherwise pristine environment.

As we were approaching Lijiang, the distant snowy mountain beckoned.

This city also has traffic circle. At the middle of which is a metallic molding of a prancing horse atop a globe. The icon is from the Terra Cotta Museum in Xian. I think it is now used as symbol for tourism. It invites people to ride a "horse" and see the world; be it a classical horse, iron horse, horse with rubber tires, or flying horse, or even swimming one.

Dali is very close to the mountains and has a new "city" and old "town", with a combined population of over half a million. The Bai people is the prominent minority group here.

We had a nice dinner after a 5-hour trip. We were delayed due to an accident on the highway, luckily nobody got hurt. The meals in our tour were balanced with soup, rice, fresh vegetables, tufo, and roasted duck for the most honorable tourists.

The American "icon" is easily recognizable in any language. Such is the power of branding. It is pronounced as "Ko Kuo Ko Lok", meaning "Pleasant to the mouth with happiness" (loosely translated). Beside it is a popular local beer "Shan Sui" (Mountain Water). Notice the NBA symbol on the beer neck label.

We stayed at an elegant hotel with hundred of years of history but renovated.

It looked like a previous house of a noble family. Dali is windy, but the rooms were not drafty. We had a pleasant stay; cold, yes, but not drafty.

2010 - China (7) Yunnan: Dali (d) House

Dali

Later we visited a house opened to tourists, where we were treated with three cups of tea and performance. The “Bai” minority young ladies prefer to be called, not as “Siao Jie” (Miss in Mandarin), but “Jin Hua” (Golden Flower) instead.

The house was decorated for a wedding. The two pillows before the table with candles and flowers were for the bride and groom to kneel and pay respect to their parents.

Inside the house was a bridal sedan-chair covered with red silk and embroidery to be carried by four runners. Similar sedan-chair precursor of rickshaw for brides have been have been used for wedding for hundreds of years. It is a perfect vehicle to transport brides from her village to the groom's over hilly paths or rice paddy dikes.

The room or office at the left was for the scholar of the family ("book reader"). Except for the chairs, the other furniture seemed authentic.

A typical Chinese house is built as a "compound" having four perpendicular two-story rows with the ends abutting each other. The building forms a wall with a central open air court. This stronghold style is to protect the inhabitants from thieves and robbers. The second story has a walkway around the outside of the rooms, and the central court is for family members to meet and chat or play games.

The photo above shows a court for family activities. It usually has a pool or fish pond to store water in case of fire. Several families and maybe three generations can live in the "compound". Such a house can be seen at the Peabody Museum in Salem, MA.

The dancers (above) had fancy moves and the ladies (below) had a more traditional performance.

The bride and groom were greeted by friends and dancers. Red is a happy color for Chinese. It has nothing to do with party affiliation.

2010 - China (6) Yunnan: Dali (c) Shops

Dali

A little distance from the temple park is a town with crenelated walls.

A gate leads the tourists into town through a thick wall. The town inside has many shops.

The shops were owned by Bai and Yi minorities. The second floor are storage area and also for living accommodation.

The above photo shows a silversmith working on ornaments sold in the store.

Above is another craftsman in action.

I was more interested in local fruits. I bought some mandarin oranges and green-color but ripe plums. It was wonderful that I could communicate with a vendor halfway around the world in the middle of China.

2010 - China (5) Yunnan; Dali (b) Temples

Dali

We arrived at this beautiful hotel with trappings of house of a noble in ancient China. We were late in our schedule because of a highway accident that delayed us for an hour. A late-model sporty car all smashed up with a truck with a full load of gravel that was on its side. It looked like the truck was trying to avoid the accident. There didn't seem to be any fatality or anybody seriously hurt.

The next morning we visited the Buddhist temples and pagodas in windy Dali. It is actually a big park that has small shuttles that bring tourists up the hill to the various temples.

In front of a temple was a large bin for incense. There were also smaller round pots for the same purpose.

Another type of burner was an incense smoker like the one shown above.

This is one of the many temples we were going to visit; we did not know there were so many temples in this park. The courtyard is filled with local marble squares meticulously aligned.

Another compound of temples we visited. We walked up and down the marble steps, gawking at Buddhist statues of gods and goddesses, and common people who had dedicated their lives of helping others and did good deeds and became "Buddha".

The photo above shows three pagodas in which two of them are leaning a little. They were the victims of an earthquake not too long ago. The little rectangles on each of the floor are doors and windows. They gives the relative size of the pagodas.

The above photo shows the Buddhist chant "Nan Mu Au Mi Tou Fur" written on the walls with 6 characters (I meant tourists) below the characters.

This was a view from one of the temples overlooking the courtyard and the lake and hills on the horizon. The sky was clear blue with no pollution.