lijiang

after my adventures in dali, i needed to have a break, so i headed up to lijiang with the purpose of doing absolutely nothing. an excellent plan.

lijiang is an old town that was almost destroyed by an earthquake 10 years ago. it was rebuilt using an entirely (ersatz) traditional architectural style, and was given the UNESCO stamp of approval for its trouble.

the result is a gorgeous old town with canals filled with goldfish flowing and criss-crossing beside and under all the cobblestoned lanes, which snake randomly through the village. easy and beautiful to get lost in.

after about a day, the beauty wears off, and you realise you're standing in a fake town built for tourists in which no real people actually live, and all the houses are shop-fronts selling souvenirs. shudder. scream.

i was gripped by a most vicious form of diarrhoea whilst there, which had me leaving the toilets thinking 'surely i at least chewed that...?'

i took the opportunity afforded by my near-hypovolaemic shock to sit around in a variety of lovely cafes chatting to who-ever passed by and catch up on some DVD watching. i've never seen a film that betters a book, but having just finished 'heart of darkness' by josef conrad, i decided to risk watching apocalypse now. damn you coppola. the one exciting cow-slaughtering scene certainly didn't justify the 300 minute running time, and the fact that the director went on to include additional footage beggars belief. read the book for a true exploration of man's heart of darkness.

after delaying for some days, i finally bit the bullet and hooked up with an american chick to escape the town and head to the tiger leaping gorge...

pic 1 - rooftops of lijiang old town
pic 2 - lijiang restaurant alley
pic 3 - black dragon pool with yu long xue shan (jade dragon snow mountian) in background