Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Old Town Lijiang and Black Dragon Pool

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Here is the Old Town view from our room in the daylight.

We decided not to have a plan on our first day. We wondered around the Old Town checking out all of the shops and people and making plans for the rest of our time in Lijiang.

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We were just leaving the hotel and Brian insisted on having a group photo on this rickshaw!

We had breakfast at the little Belgian Cafe Brian and I discovered the night before and then decided we would hit the local wet market. Here are some pictures from our lovely shopping experience.


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Large bags of spices!

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I have actually never seen this in China. It is an actual pig’s leg!

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Stacks of pigs legs!

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The fish part of the market. It was very smelly!

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The vegetable part of the market! My favorite!

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Gemma was fed up after the market and just wanted to rest. Gemma squatting Chinese-style!

After the market we just strolled around old town taking in the beautifully restored old architecture. (There was an earthquake 1996.) Here are some of the snap shots of the Old Town.


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The winner for the best name for an Irish Pub, "Sexy Tractor"! Didn't you know that was my pet name for Jonny!

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One of the minority people in Lijiang are the Naxi and one of the branches of the Naxi are the Mosou Ethnic People. This is a Mosou girl with her loom weaving scarves and shawls. They are absolutely beautiful and I am the proud owner of a turquoise and brown scarf!

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There was a stream that went through the Old Town and it was incredibly clean. Most rivers and streams I have seen in China are extremely dirty.

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Naxi women dancing in the square.

At one end of the Old Town there the popular tourist destination of Black Dragon Pool or Heilongtan. It was quite a beautiful park with a lovely view of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain or Yulong Xue Shan. Here are some pictures from our visit.

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Here we are just as you walk into the park.

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Black Dragon Pool with a view of Jade Dragon Mountain in the background. Unfortunately you cannot see the top due to cloud cover.

Any touristy place in China they have some type of gimmick where you can have your photo taken. It was quite funny there were two peacocks sitting on a chair and Gemma didn't realize they were real. She went up and touched one of their tail feathers and was so frightened when the peacock moved. I think peacocks are one of the most gorgeous birds in the world and I love to stop and look at them when they are about. For 10 rmb I could have my photo with one.

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The kids were very curious!

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Another funny story, Brian didn't realize that if he paid the 10 rmb that he would have to hold the monkey and have his photo taken. I am not sure what he was thinking, but he went with it.

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I just loved this picture of the bridge. I believe it was Brian's photography.

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Angus and Gemma sitting on a couple of lions.

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My favorite picture of the bridge.

After our day of sightseeing and a little shopping we had a nice dinner at the Belgian Cafe and went back to the hotel and put the kids to bed. There were chairs and table outside our room, so we sat outside, drank a few beers and caught up more with Brian.