It was nice to see something different from what the cities can offer for the rustic charms of Lijiang were beckoning to us. I had the impression the plane landed in between mountains, how cool is that? Free airport transfer to Lize Graceland Artistic Suite Inn which was perfectly situated within Old Town we were soo in love with our room (!!!!!) I totally treated it like home. There was one time we went back very early like mid afternoon after the Jade Dragon Snow Mt trip (coz we had set off damn early by our standard), I was flicking around their music channel and there was this long list of live concerts I could totally sing along to, and sang I did (: I love karaoke-ing to anyone who would listen hahaha and we watched a couple of movies for free too!! So yeah, their tv was superb.
And as much as it was likely we would coop ourselves in the room all day, we did not! There was actually so much to see if you have super leg power. If travels have any prerequisite, that would be it.
Want to see more, and you would have to go on further.
Old Town didn't feel like much at first, but it was the kind of place that grew on you especially after you found yourself knowing the ways around. There was this market square right smack in the middle where there's open air live pubs all around. Sometimes we would stop under willow trees to listen to someone sing. And everywhere we walked we heard 一瞬间 blasting off some cd player. That was Lijiang's trademark song you just could not ignore. Braided colorful strings into my hair the first day I was there and those lasted nicely throughout my stay. And the best food I had eaten during the entire trip got to be Alily Restaurant's tomato-egg fried rice and potato dumplings, along with this 手抓饼 from a stall it's name I didn't quite notice coz all the while I was staring at the owner as he prepared my food omggg he damn charming.
Horse riding and boat rowing at 拉市海 had been traumatic experiences in their own right. My butt was really hurting coz I got my position a little wrong right from the start and it was so hard to even properly adjust myself. And this poor horse got to carry this 50+kg weight of a girl I didn't really know what I could do for it except stroke its back from time to time. Like sayang you know. They didn't even look like those strong galloping horses; just some underfed, overworked ones I guess :( And this guy who rowed our boat he was talking about becoming friends and one night stands etc which made me felt like we were gonna be sexually assaulted by him I got damn freaked out coz we were in the middle of this (very dirty) lake WHERE COULD WE RUN TO and then he said he was only joking he should go fuck himself not even funny.
And Jade Dragon Snow Mt is one pretty mountain. So pretty you just take in the whiteness slowly, and then all at once. (Some serious TFiOS withdrawal symptom here.) We didn't climb very high up coz I was short of oxygen (I didn't mean to bring up Hazel Grace). And there were quite a number of amazing lakes / streams right at the bottom of the mountain I still cannot forget the feeling of immersing my hands in their clear cool waters. Like if I could, I just wanna swim in there naked. I love love love it there! And how to not mention our driver who had this leopard tattoo on his arm - he was telling us his tattoo 以前是流氓，现在是艺术. Whuttttt, really?
Some last ditch attempts at preserving memories of Old Town before we left for Shanghai:
