The last week or so the four of us (Jen, Suzanne, Jim & Mike) took to seeing the sights of western Yunnan by plane, train and automobile. We started with an overnight train to Dali, then took a bus to Lijiang and finally returned to Kunming with a quick flight to avoid a 12 hour bus ride. The two towns we visited are popular tourist towns so there was lots to see so I will let the pictures do the talking...
In an effort to get back into cycling shape before getting back onto the bikes in hilly Vietnam next week, Jen and I have been doing some cycling in the hills near Kunming. Jen hadn't done a ton of cycling before we started our trip nearly 6 months ago, but now doing a few bikes without all our bags it is clear that she is a mean cyclist now!
A lady buying produce at a market outside Dali. It was pretty cool that most of the people in the area (the "Naxi" ethnicity mostly) wore traditional clothing like she is wearing in this picture and the one below it.
Jen, Jim and Suzanne in the old town of Dali.
A couple of old bikes we found resting against a wall in Dali while their owners were working nearby. This is one of my favorite photos from our trip so far. I am not sure why.
The view of the ancient city of Lijiang from our hotel window.
Another view of Lijiang..
Lijiang was a very touristy city and there were tourist stalls everywhere, but this bag was a souvenir that we found really funny. It is a bag embroidered with "Venezia, Italia" on it, but someone in Lijiang had obviously found a lot of them on the cheap, because the Chinese characters for Lijiang were stiched on top of it!! Flawless, right?
Naxi dancers in Lijiang. I suspect this dance was not as spontaneous as they made it seem, and had probably been staged by the city to promote tourism, but it was neat none the less.
Jim, Jen and Suzanne in front of a temple in Lijiang. I would say which temple it was, but honestly they all kind of look the same at this point. Let's say it was originally built in 1411, destroyed in the cultural revolution (or an earthquake, or fire, or an invading army, etc), and rebuilt in 1996 because the government realized that they could make a killing selling admission to tourists. My guess is the only thing that I am wrong on is the date it was originally built.
Jim hanging out with the Buddhas. The sign next to them said "do not touch", but they really didn't seem to mind.
Photos of Jim's new friends...
Three Little Piggies in the alley... (the third one was around the corner, I swear)
Construction in China; building a house one brick at a time. You can see the brick in the air as they throw them up one by one.
Mike and Jen in front of a lake just outside Lijiang. The mountain in the background was amazing and shows up a bit better in the photo below.
That's all for now. Jim and Suzanne are only here for four more days so we are going spend that time in town seeing the sights after which Jen and I head to Vietnam and get back on the bike. Lata!
1 comment:
Jen that pic of you on the bike is so cool, you should get it blown up and put it on a wall when you get back. Wish I could be there with all of you, looks like so much fun!!
Love you.
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