Yunnan Trip (Part Four)

13/8/2013 (Day Four)

Woke up early in the morning as we promised to meet our driver at 830am. Again, vehicles aren't allowed to enter the old town, so we had to carry our luggage from the inn to the entrance. Started our ride and on our way to Shangri-la, the place where I had been so excited to visit. We stopped at some attractions or some spots to snap photos during the journey.

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The driver dropped us at a scenic spot to let us to snap some photos of the snow mountain. But the fog was heavy at that time, we could hardly saw the snow mountain.

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#3 - Snow mountain at the back. 

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Started our ride again and headed to the First Bend of the Yangtze River which is another tourist attraction. I was shocked when I reached there as I thought that the attraction supposed to be full of tourists but it was empty. I realised that there is another place to view the First bend of the Yangtze River but have to pay for the entrance fee.

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#11 - Naxi ethnic stories interpreted in drawings

Finished visiting the First Bend of the Yangtze River, the tour guide told us that toilet was at the entrance and it was clean. Having thoughts that the toilet was the same as the public toilets back in Malaysia. But, I was definitely wrong! No doors at all! You can see the person in front of you even you are squatting and some more the toilets weren't that clean, didn't even dare to look down!

#12 - Public toilets in Yunnan. Photo credits to www.bootsintheoven.com

### To be continued ###

Yunnan Trip (Part Three)

12/8/2013 (Day Three)

Woke up in the morning with a rainy weather. We planned to visit Shuhe Old Town but then decided not to go as we had to pay the extra entrance fee and mom had altitude sickness since yesterday. So, we just spent the whole morning at the inn getting enough rest as we were heading to Shangri-la the next day.

We went to a restaurant beside Mu's palace to have our lunch.

#1 - The interior of the restaurant

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#4 - Clockwise direction from top left
Chickpea bean jelly, Cross-bridge noodles, Steamed-pot chicken, Beer

Went to QiYi street after having our lunch. Wandering around and bought some souvenirs for friends and relatives.

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#7 - crowd of people at the QiYi street

Returned to the inn after that and bought myself the yak yogurt. The yogurt was made from yak milk and it was so awesome. Slept all the way until it was time for dinner.

#8 - Yak yogurt 

Parents decided to go for hot pot for dinner. We walked all the way to HuaMa street where the street is full of hot pot restaurants. Wanted to try the famous Lijiang freshwater salmon. Having hot pot dinner on a rainy day was so awesome.

#9 Top : Mi Guan Cang / Rice sausages
Bottom left : Freshwater salmon
Bottom right : Pork ribs hot pot 

### To be continued ###

Yunnan Trip (Part Two)

11/8/2013 (Day Two)
Reached Lijiang at around 6.20am.

#1 - Early morning at Lijiang railway station

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Lijiang railway station is a pretty new building. At first I thought that there would be no taxi or any blue van to the old town as it was pretty early in the morning, but I was wrong. There were many taxis and blue vans waiting outside the railway station. So, we took the blue vans to the ancient town with RMB10 for each person.

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20 minutes later, we reached the old town of Lijiang. No vehicles are allowed inside. We stopped at the street where the inn that we were staying located at. We booked the accommodation earlier as we afraid that there would be no rooms available for us because they were having summer school holidays at that time. Carrying our luggage for 5 minutes to the inn was tiring, we couldn't pull our luggage as the wheels of the luggage might break because of the cobble-stoned street. The street was quiet early in the morning, shops weren't open yet,

#4 - The inn that we stayed

Reached the inn and surprisingly, the inn turned out to be far more better than what we expected. It was clean, quiet and relaxing. Left our luggage at the inn and headed to explore the old town of Lijiang. The crowd were less empty in the morning but getting really packed by mid-morning and you couldn't find any empty spot to take a photo of the scenery.

Old Town of Lijiang is a part of the UNESCO Heritage Site. The old town has a history of more than 800 years and was once confluence for trade along the old tea horse road. The buildings, history and the culture in the old town are influenced by the Naxi ethnic group.

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Walking along the street in the old town in a cold weather was so peaceful and relax. Headed to McDonald's for breakfast. The McDonald's breakfast was the most expensive breakfast I ever had. RMB98 for 4 persons.

#12 - Hieroglyphic writing system of the Naxi ethnic group

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#14 - The traditional Naxi's snack 

Headed back to the inn after we had our breakfast. Decided to go to the Mu's palace after we had enough rest. Mu's palace was the home of the Mu clan who led the Naxi people and ruled Lijiang for over 700 years. The buildings and grounds are influenced by the attractive mix of Naxi, Tibetan and Han architecture and design.

#15 - The entrance of the Mu's palace

The Mu's palace was the seat of power and the home for the Mu clan. It was compared to the imperial palace at that time. The building was destroyed during the Qing dynasty wars and was later rebuilt.

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#19 - The view of the whole Lijiang old town from the highest point at the Mu's palace

After spending around 2 hours inside the Mu's palace, we decided to have our late lunch at the old town. Decided to try the Naxi traditional food. The food was okay, not as bad as what I thought. 

#20 LEFT : Naxi bamboo rice
CENTRE :  Steamed-pot chicken
RIGHT : Cross-bridge noodles

Went back to the inn after having our lunch and yet tried the yoghurt that being recommended by people who went to Lijiang before.

The inn's owner brought us to 88 Snack restaurant located at WuYi street for dinner at night. The restaurant has wide selection of local dishes and the price was reasonable. The food was great but it was a bit salty and oily for me.

#21 - Local dishes

## To be continued ##