Old Town Lijiang - 大研古镇 (Dayan Ancient Town)
Arriving in style~
In my boots and trolley bag...
In my boots and trolley bag...
However,...the uneven cobbled street Does make it uncomfortable to walk in my "stylo" boots...
Having our first lunch at the restaurant near our Inn..Surprisingly, not too bad!
Food is not overly oily, nor salty as what we had experienced in our Har'Er Bin trip.
Chanced upon this kitty that's stuck on the roof...
We stood there for 10 mins, watching how she tried to maneuver her way across the roof tops.
Scary... But I don't know how we could help her,
so Eugene suggested we continue exploring the Old Town.
Yunan "Shi Ba Guai" -
Apparently they are famous for the 18 different types of weird delicacies...
e.g. Worms, scorpions, nymph, etc, etc...
Definitely not game enough to try this! Would you?!
Food street where the stalls sell the typical Lijiang fares
I like their "Yang Rou" and "Niu Rou Chuan" (Lamb and Beef on giant satay stick)!
10 RMB for 3 sticks of any choice.
Though they called it "Mao Niu" and "Shan Yang rou"...
I doubt it's real as these can't be this cheap.
Posing along the pavement. *Funny Pose*
One reason why we love Lijiang Dayan Ancient Town is because of
the water running through the streets.
Romantic~
The pub area in the day.
"Wen Cang Gong" - The temple perching at the top of Dayan Ancient Town.
You are supposed to get the best view of the Ancient Town from there...
Kids playing along the little stream
Playing with "Wa Mao" as I relaxed at the courtyard.
"Wa Mao" is the cute and vivacious dog at our inn and in fact, the inn is named after him!
Keeping myself warm by siting at the "fire place"
and drinking freshly brewed tea with the locals.
and drinking freshly brewed tea with the locals.
Dayan Gu Chen at night!
Eugene trying to navigate around the Ancient Town with his map...
And we finally found the place where we were supposed to attend a concert...Traditional Naxi Music!
(Eugene were enjoying with his eyes closed!
Just short of playing symphony with the band on stage...)
Day 2: 14 Nov (Sun)
2 Days 1 night local tour to Shrangi-la 香格里拉
- View point where we can see "Haba Shan" (Haba snow mountain) and "Yu Long Xue Shan" (Jade Dragon Snow Mountain)
- 虎跳峡 "Hu Tiao Xia" (Tiger leaping gorge)
- 小中甸牧场 (Tibetan style Cattle ranch)
View of the snow mountain at the restaurant where we had Lunch
小中甸牧场
Tibetan style house
Beautiful mountain range
2 Days 1 night local tour to Shrangi-la 香格里拉, part II
- Shrangri-la
Pudacuo National Park
I think my furry hat is attracting the squirrels!
Perhaps they are mistaking me as one of them..
I think my furry hat is attracting the squirrels!
Perhaps they are mistaking me as one of them..
Chanced upon another furry friend as we walk along the trail..
forest in its pristine conditions
We also spotted a woodpecker!
Misty lake
Horse Ranch
After we left the National Park, the Sun came out!!
Argh..!!
Yangtze first bend
Random view of the mountains from the Yantze First Bend's viewing point
Back to Dayan Gu Zhen at night!
View from the pub where we chill...
Our new found friends from Chendu,
also our regular meal khakis during our Shrangri-la trip
We took a stroll along the pub area after our drinks..
Beautifully lighted streets on our way back to Wa Mao inn
Wa Mao came to our room to look for me!
Day 4: 16 Nov (Tue)
玉龙雪山 (Jade Dragon Snow Mountain)
Dou Jiang You Tiao and Bee Hoon for breakfast.. Nice!
Cheap and nice breakfast from this restaurant
We saw this doggy relaxing on the swing!The doggy sure knows how to enjoy life!
Hey, it's the same kitty that was trapped on the roof the other day!!
Glad that it's safe and sound!
Impressions Lijiang!
玉龙雪山
Awesome!
On the way to take the cable car to 云杉坪
云杉坪
The place where you can get a closer view of the beautiful snow-capped mountain
W can't get enough of the gorgeous view...
So happy, I started to dance...
白水河
蓝月谷
Eugene told me this place looks like Jiu Zai Gou!
Further down 白水河 and 蓝月谷,
you get amazing view of the waterfall and the snow mountain
黑龙潭公园
We asked our driver to bring us there after 玉龙雪山
since we have already paid the conservation fee..
And the view is awesome!
Another view of 玉龙雪山 outside the 2nd entrance
where you get a view of the snow mountain without having to pay for the conservation fee...
Checking in to our Garden Villa at Banyan Tree Lijiang (丽江悦榕庄)!
Best resort I ever stayed so far...
And Eugene ordered BBQ dinner
at our Villa to celebrate our 2nd year Anniversary...
The Main Chef for that night!
And the assistant chef...
Impeccable service and attention to details!
The decorated our Bed with rose petals and
prepared a huge cake and a bottle of red wine as it is our wedding anniversary!
After all the food, we decided to skip our initial plan of visiting Shu He Ancient Town...
And headed for a soak in the heated jacuzzi pool in our Villa instead.
Truly an enjoyable experience despite the chilly night!
Back to our huge , cosy bed!
View of our day bed in the garden ....
Beautifully landscaped pool in Banyan Tree
Taking a morning stroll to She Hu Ancient Town..
ANd I couldn't resist snapping pictures of the snow capped mountain...
Eugene asked me to take a picture of the streets...I immediately squatted down and snapped a picture of this Cutee little pup running towards us!
Ooh... look at those puppy eyes, I almost wanted to bring it home!
Ok, now a proper picture of the street that Eugene wanted...
They say this ancient town has a more authentic feel as there are still Naxi people staying there... Check out the crops growing infront of the houses!
Our breakfast!
I have been wanting to ride a horse...Initially, Eugene refused to let me ride the horse/pony despite my constant nagging...
Finally, he relented and we hired 2 Naxi horses/ponies to bring us back
to Banyan Tree from Shu He Ancient Town.
Look at how elated I was!
It was a bargain at 20 RMB! We managed to drive a good bargain as we thought that 丽江悦榕庄 is very near. However, after a long while, we realised that it is actually not very near....And the horse/pony owners had to walk with us as we took the ride,
so we decided to pay them more...
Taking a couple shot with our horses/ponies outside 丽江悦榕庄
Going for another dip in the heated jacuzzi after our morning stroll...
Don't be fooled by the sunny weather, it is still chilly in the day!
Back to Dayan Ancient Town and hike up to the viewing point at "Wen Chan Gong" for photo...
Fungi Dinner before we head to the Airport!
W thought we had a wonderful trip and a perfect end to our trip ...
However, our flight from Lijiang to Kunming was delayed for 3 hours+++ and caused us to miss our connecting flight from Kunming to Singapore!
Eugene was brooding over the impending flight delay at the airport as he was worried about meeting his sales target for the month. I finally managed to cheer him up a little and consoled him that it might not be so bad after all since the airline would be making arrangements for us at Kunming and we will get to visit Kunming for a day! But when we reached Kunming airport, the nightmare begins..
There was nobody at Kunming airport receiving us, and airline crew was at the main hall! As it was already past midnight, all counters were closed and when we managed to find 2 staffs, they refused to help us as they were not from "that" airline, and even refused to lend us their phone (which is on the counter) to contact CEA airline helpline. I got so angry that I started scolding them! Finally, they relented and lent us their phone and we were asked to go to the International Departure hall as there happens to be a flight out to Seoul at 2am. (Imagine if there's no late flight out that night, I really don't know what would happen to us...)
We ran to the departure hall and were relieved to find the CEA crew, and after some calls, they told us that the earliest flight back is 9plus pm next day. They asked us to call a certain sales desk to book our return flight back the next day morning as they are unable to reserve any tickets from their side (weird). Then, they arranged for an accommodation for us (Kunming Zhong He Dang Pei Xun Zhong Xin Da Jiu Dian) and told us to take a cab there ourselves!
On the cab, the driver were puzzled where this place was, but after calling told us that this is not "Da Jiu Dian" (Hotel) but a training centre and started asking us why we are going to a training centre at this hour!
When I heard that I wanted to check-in at other hotel, however, it was very late and Eugene suggested to go to that training centre in case the airline crew couldn't find us.
However, the horror came when we checked into the room! After switching on ALL the lights, the room was still dim and gloomy, lamp shades were broken, some lights were not working, and the toilet was filthy! I couldn't make myself sleep in that room... ANd since we couldn't make any calls from our room, I had to go to the reception desk and call CEA operation helpline... After going several round, we managed to talk to the help desk at Shanghai, But the lady said she couldn't do anything as she's not at Kunming and there's no 24 hours helpline at Kunming! I finally gave up and Eugene asked the reception if he could give us a better room as the lights in ours were not working. We changed to a slightly better one (least the lamp shades were not broken and it doesn't have that strong stinky stench) and went straight to bed without bathing.
However, our flight from Lijiang to Kunming was delayed for 3 hours+++ and caused us to miss our connecting flight from Kunming to Singapore!
Eugene was brooding over the impending flight delay at the airport as he was worried about meeting his sales target for the month. I finally managed to cheer him up a little and consoled him that it might not be so bad after all since the airline would be making arrangements for us at Kunming and we will get to visit Kunming for a day! But when we reached Kunming airport, the nightmare begins..
There was nobody at Kunming airport receiving us, and airline crew was at the main hall! As it was already past midnight, all counters were closed and when we managed to find 2 staffs, they refused to help us as they were not from "that" airline, and even refused to lend us their phone (which is on the counter) to contact CEA airline helpline. I got so angry that I started scolding them! Finally, they relented and lent us their phone and we were asked to go to the International Departure hall as there happens to be a flight out to Seoul at 2am. (Imagine if there's no late flight out that night, I really don't know what would happen to us...)
We ran to the departure hall and were relieved to find the CEA crew, and after some calls, they told us that the earliest flight back is 9plus pm next day. They asked us to call a certain sales desk to book our return flight back the next day morning as they are unable to reserve any tickets from their side (weird). Then, they arranged for an accommodation for us (Kunming Zhong He Dang Pei Xun Zhong Xin Da Jiu Dian) and told us to take a cab there ourselves!
On the cab, the driver were puzzled where this place was, but after calling told us that this is not "Da Jiu Dian" (Hotel) but a training centre and started asking us why we are going to a training centre at this hour!
When I heard that I wanted to check-in at other hotel, however, it was very late and Eugene suggested to go to that training centre in case the airline crew couldn't find us.
However, the horror came when we checked into the room! After switching on ALL the lights, the room was still dim and gloomy, lamp shades were broken, some lights were not working, and the toilet was filthy! I couldn't make myself sleep in that room... ANd since we couldn't make any calls from our room, I had to go to the reception desk and call CEA operation helpline... After going several round, we managed to talk to the help desk at Shanghai, But the lady said she couldn't do anything as she's not at Kunming and there's no 24 hours helpline at Kunming! I finally gave up and Eugene asked the reception if he could give us a better room as the lights in ours were not working. We changed to a slightly better one (least the lamp shades were not broken and it doesn't have that strong stinky stench) and went straight to bed without bathing.
Day 6: 18 Nov
A day unplanned for, but nevertheless, we decided to leave our yucky room and visit "Shilin" - Stone Forest which is about an hour and half bus ride away after the call to CEA.
View from the Gazebo, which is located in the middle of the bigger Shilin
Love the colour mix!
Back to the City:
As it was still early after our visit to Shilin, Eugene asked the cabby to bring us to the shopping district to cheer me up after the traumatic experience last night. It is one of those rare days where he would n0t give me that "killer" looks when I enter a shop... Unfortunately, I didn't have the mood to shop!
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