Travel to Lijiang (Yunnan)
Sights : Lijiang is really the "Chinese Venice". It's a big old Chinese city, world patrimony by Unesco, full of cobbled alleyways, tiny rivers, little bridges and old Chinese wooden houses. A third of the old part of Lijiang is very touristy but the rest is very authentic, full of old Chinese ladies with blue hats. In the evenings the touristy part of Lijiang is very busy with lots of people moving about on the lit up alleys, the non touristy part is then mostly unlit. The old part of Lijiang is big enough to get lost inside. Every two days the young people of Lijiang dances on the square of the old town between 19:30 and 21:00. They do traditional circle dances to Naxi music and finds it great if you dance along. The dances are simple and vary for every song. In the broad main street of Lijiang on the northern end of the old town there are two concert halls for traditional ethnical Naxi Music shows : * Naxi Orchestra : Excellently dressed old men dreams away on their instruments and plays rather lazy tunes. This is the original music show of Lijiang. Tickets costs 30/40/50 Yuan, the show starts at 20:00 every evening.
* Dongba hall : Naxi dance and singing show, at times a bit touristy. Starts at 19:30, tickets costs 30 Yuan.
Lijiang Practical Travel Information
- Lijiang is the ideal place to buy Western music CD`s for 15 Yuan a piece, in the little shop next to the most beautiful bridge of Lijiang.
- In the old town of Lijiang there is a cash machine next to the square, ICBC bank. In the new town of Lijiang there is a Bank Of China between the water mills and Mao with a cash machine that excepts Cirrus and VISA.
- To my great pleasure I found one bottle of Chimay (Belgian beer) in between the bottles of whiskey in one of the cafe's in the old town, it cost me 30 Yuan but was worth every single penny. It had come from Kunming said the cafe owner, the correct serving glass is not to be found..
- It is a little bit more difficult to buy bus tickets or rent bicycles in Lijiang than in Dali. The city is obviously less prepared for backpackers or independent travelers.
- Slide film can be found everywhere in Lijiang for 60 Yuan, you can easily bargain to 50 Yuan, and sometimes even 40 Yuan.
- Black Dragon Pool Park, i the northern side of Lijiang stands the probably most photographed temple of China. You will have seen it uncountable many times over the whole of China. Follow the river from the water mills to get to the park. The entrance fee is 20 Yuan per person. Sights in the park : there is a photogenic pavilion with a big park around. From on top of the two big hills that you can easily climb you get a beautiful view of the hills around Lijiang. You need 2-3 hours to be able to get a proper visit of the park.
Budget hotels in Lijiang
The Old Town Shingri-La Guesthouse, 78 Wenhua, WuYiStreet, Old Town Lijiang, phone 0888-5185930 : very well run family hotel in the non touristy part of the old town in Lijiang. You really get the feeling of rather being a guest in these friendly peoples house than a tourist staying in a hotel. A room costs 15 Yuan per person per night, 8 Yuan for a very generous and tasty dinner, 2 Yuan for breakfast, 6 very clean 2-bed rooms. There is a telephone on each room to which you can receive international calls, there are hot and clean showers. The only negative point is that the hotel, just like the other buildings in the old town, doesn't have any toilet.You must go outside and use the public toilet next to the hotel. For during the nighttime there are potties in each room.
Tiger Leaping Gorge
- every hotel in Lijiang has a A3 paper map with a plan of the local walking/trekking route. These maps are being spread by the budget hotels along the walking path of the Tiger Leaping Gorge clove. There own hotel is marked as the very centrum of the gorge.
- a day trip to the Tiger Leaping Gorge is practically impossible, you need at least 2 days. The Tiger Leaping Gorge is a very popular trek for tourists visiting Lijiang. How many other trekkers you will meat depends on the season, in mid october we only met 5 people. From Tina / Sean guesthouses about halfway along the Tiger Leaping Gorge path there is a crossing path leading to Zhongdian.
- budget hotel accommodation : there are many small hotels/guest rooms along the path thorough the gorge within a few hours walking distance from each other.
The route goes as follows :
Quiatou ---- 2 hours walk -----Naxi Guesthouse ---- 6 hours walk ---- Halfway + Five Fingers Guesthouse ---- 2 hours walk ---- Tina Guesthouse ---- 30 minutes walk ---- Sean + Woody guesthouse ---- 5 hours walk ---- Daju.
- Naxi Guesthouse, Halfway Guesthouse and the new Five Fingers Guesthouse are real farms rebuilt to guesthouses. They are all three very beautifully situated in the mountains on the high part of the route.
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Tina Guesthouse, Sean Guesthouse and Woody Guesthouse are less cozy since they are situated along the low lying path. Sean has a Western WC with seat which makes the stop worth while.
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The prices for meals and accommodation in these small budget hotels are the same as in Lijiang : 10-15 Yuan for a meal, 10 Yuan for a bed. The rather new Naxi Guesthouse had no menu and then charged us 48 Yuan per person for dinner, breakfast , beer and bed which was to expensive, therefore always ask for the prices. We found the people so friendly that we didn't want to ask. The other guesthouses had menus.
- Travel by public transport :
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bus Lijiang - Qiatou : the bus leaves at 8.30 and 14:00. The travel takes 3 hours. With the bus at 14:00 you can just arrive before dark in the Naxi budget guesthouse.
* The last bus from Daju to Lijiang leaves about 13:30. On the trip back you pass at around 16:00 the cable lift up to the "Snow Mountain", perhaps is you have a lack of time you can do this as well. Next to the mountain there is a touristy village with hotels.
- entrance to the Tiger Leaping Gorge costs 30 Yuan. If you happen to be there before 5:30 in the morning the ticket office is still close and you can simply walk in for free.
- route walking path Tiger Leaping Gorge :
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the first part of the trek through the gorge you can choose between walking along the beautiful high mountain path or the low bus way.
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the second part of the trek (from Tina guesthouse) everyone follows the low path which is a lot less scenic.
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the direction signs along the path are frequent and informative. They are put up by the little hotels along the way only the first half hour of the walk I felt a little unsure if I was going the right way.
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You have a choice between two ferries at the end of the walk to cross the river.
To get to the "new boat" you have to climb down a very steep hill which means that you don't save time by choosing this one, ticket price 12 Yuan.
To get to the "old boat" simply follow the wide road, tickets 10 Yuan.
