Lijiang old town..

Lijiang old town is really quite nice, sadly it's stuck at one end of yet another Chinese monster city, the good side is the old town is quite big so the city is very much obscured. The old town is a maze of small waterways and pretty old Chinese buildings, now mostly housing trinket shops selling to the hoards of Chinese tourists who flock to the old town on a daily basis, it can get very crowded with tourists so the best time to wander about is before 11:00 after that its a bit of a crush. The old town is also a hub of local "music" bars that blast out the latest Chinese screeching pop, so its best to avoid the pretty parts after dark. Lijiang is certainly quaint but it does have too many tourists.

Accommodation is plentiful and the budget end tending to be hostels, we stayed at a place called Mama Naxis ( after the local indigenous tribes folk ) it was a hub of activity with many western backpackers and we met some really interesting folk while we were here. From Lijiang we went further West to Shangri-la.

Lijiang Old Town

Lijiang Old Town

This quite early so the mass of trippers have yet to arrive.

Lijiang Old Town Waterwheel.

When there are no crowds this place is superb.

With the crowds came the rain..

Linda and the Little dog from Mama Naxis who trapsed around with us for a whole morning..

Lijiang Old Town

More lanterns .

Rainbow over Mama Naxis.

Lijiang Old Town

More of the stone slabs of meat ! they seem really popular here .... WHY ?? Don't fret we didn't buy any as presents for when we get home.

Lijiang Old Town at sunset.

Roof tops Lijiang Old Town.

Lijiang Blog ends here.

Next up Shangri-la.