Chongqing and Lijiang

We left Fengjie to spend a couple nights in Chongqing, mainly to see Pan-Pan's grandmother and cousin. Chongqing is known to have the most beautiful girls in China, and is also called the city of fire because of its scorching temperatures (we got lucky with overcast skies and light rain). Pan-Pan's family is really nice, and fun. Pan-Pan's grandmother made some of the most delicious Chinese food I've ever had. She is a very vivacious woman! And we had a lot of fun with her cousin who is 16. We mostly used these two days to relax, but also to get our Tibet entry permits arranged. We were originally very worried that we'd have to go with a tour group, since they say that getting individual travel permits to Tibet now is exceedingly difficult ever since a demonstration last year. We really didn't want to spend our entire week there being sheperded around with a group of old Chinese business men, having meals with them and not even having an English tour guide! So we were very happy when we found a way to get independent entry permits. We went to a travel forum and got the contact from other travellers for someone who can arrange independent permits. We called her up and she was very helpful, and we were able to get the permits, in addition to the flight from Chengdu to Lhasa, for 2000 yuan each. So we're very pleased with this.

Pan-Pan's aunt and cousin took us to the airport and saw us to the security gate. It was sad saying goodbye to them. We took the 9:30 flight to Lijiang, but our plane was two hours delayed. It was a short trip though, only two hours. It would have taken a couple days travel by train and bus otherwise.

Here is a picture of us and Pan-Pan's family on the Peng side: her aunt, her grandmother, and her cousin.

I think that Lijiang has been my favourite city so far. It's beautiful and a lot of fun. The ancient part of the city has been preserved and restored and is very touristy. The narrow cobbled streets (the stones are called "Lijiang five coloured granite") are packed with people. The bustle just adds to the charm, in a way. It still manages to retain the feel of an ancient Chinese city, with traditional Chinese architexture, even though it's packed with interesting shops and hostels and yes, even internet cafes. Everything is done to make this city look ancient, from the Chinese lanterns that hang everywhere to the old buildings. Two small rivers run through the old town and there are many smaller tributaries with ancient stone or wooden bridges crossing them.

Our hostel is decent and we found a really cool English bar across the street. It's tiny, but it has free pool, great Western music (a nice change from the same Chinese flute song that the shops here repeat ad nauseum) and a cool bartender/owner who is from England and may have played for Manchester United.

There are beautiful restaurants and bars built beside them. I'm not good enough with words to do justice to the scenes here, so here are some pictures.

We've spent plenty of time just strolling the labyrinth of alleyways and, of course, eating, but Lijiang has some interesting sites as well. Our favourite was horseback riding out near Jade Mountain (the city is situated high up with mountains surrounding on every side). PP had never riden a horse before so she had a really great time. Our horses had a lot of personality. Mine was really struggling. At one point it tripped on a steep path through the woods and I thought it was the end of me. At another point it turned suddenly and started running in the wrong direction. Our guide said it was because he was spooked by a bag of somesort that was on the path and he hadn't seen before. And Pan-Pan's horse, Sesame, was a little skittish. Here's a picture of us on our horses (Sesame and Little Blacky) in a big meadow, at the base of the mountains.

The other main attraction, aside from the city itself, is Black Dragon lake. It's really incredibly scenic, and the site of some famous photographs. Here is my attempt at capturing its famous bridge, temple, and mountain range in the background.

We've spent four days in Lijiang and they've all been great. We're leaving tomorrow for Chengdu, where we'll spend three or so days before heading off to Tibet. I will definitely miss Lijiang.