Lijang

It’s ok to return to a city after two days of nature. Lijang is a nice not too big city with channels everywhere. It reminds me a little of Bruges or Amsterdam. We walk along the channels, with no specific aim. There are many little shops everywhere, each offering a variety of touristy articles but also tea or other comestible items. People also wash their clothes nearby, and their hair, and their teeth... everything in the street.

On the top of a hill there is a tower. Imagine my disappointment when we discover that it was built in 1987. Being the symbol of Lijang, this means that it is a very young town I guess. We eat in a small restaurant. How can I explain to a Chinese who doesn’t speak English that I don’t want any meat? “Wo bu chi ru”, but in Chinese they have three different ways of pronouncing each syllable. Which is the right way, I don’t know… Also, in China the dialects are very different in each region, even per city. The easiest way to explain is to draw some meat and cross it out, then some vegetables and a “thumbs up”. It’s a miracle, I get good vegetarian food! We even return the next day, at least we are sure of what we get! The hostel is very “homey”, they even have a cat that seems to fancy Petter a lot…or is it the opposite, at least they seem to adopt the same positions, overlooking the channels in a dreamy way. I’m leaving by bus to Kunming, with a German fellow going the same way that we met in the Gorges.