Lijang

Lijang is a very scenic old town with lots of Chinese tourists. The old town is UNESCO listed with no cars; it has numerous fast flowing very clean streams running through it. The town is a maze of small streets where you could easily get lost. However it’s not that hard as all the streams run to a central spot with a huge water wheel. Basically you just walk in the direction that the fish are pointing as they all swim against the fast flowing current.

17/5

Took a taxi to a nearby village which was just as full of character with old streetscapes, no cars, lots of clean fast flowing streams, numerous bridges and heaps of vendors and stalls. After that we took a taxi to Black Dragon Pool which is a lake/ gardens with a famous view of Snow Dragon Mountain as a back drop. In the gardens we stumbled on the Dongba Cultural Research Institute, which is a set of buildings from the Ming dynasty dating back to the 1500’s. The institute seeks to study and understand the Naxi culture which has not written language. Instead they use pictograms to communicate there are over 1400 characters. Dongbars are religious shamans’ who in this writing using ink and nibs. They have strong links with Tibetan religions.

May 16, 2008

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