Exploring Yunnan, China: Lijiang

The main attraction in Lijiang is definitely the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (Yulong Xue Shan in Mandarin). Before heading up the mountain, we headed south of the mountain first to the Dongba Ten Thousands God Garden which introduces the Naxi people's (main tribe in Lijiang) philosophy with various totem poles and paintings to showcase what they believe in. There are two sides to the route in the garden, with one representing hell and the other heaven.

Close to the Dongba Gardens is the Jade Water Village. Here, it is said that it will bring you good luck if you drink from the water source here. The village itself is quite small and we spent only about 20-30 minutes here. You will notice that salmon fish is reared here. It is also in this village where we first saw a huge Tibetan dog for the first time. It is really huge in size and reminds me of a lion.

Another short stop nearby is the Yufeng temple which is a lamasery. The temple is also worth only a short stop as there isn't much to see here. One point to note though is that no matter where I go in Yunnan province, it seems that the flowers bloom beautifully =)

Finally, after lunch, we headed up to the main attraction in Lijiang, the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. Despite the name though, we were visiting too early in autumn to actually see its famous snow-capped peaks. The mountains were constantly shrouded by mist as well. Still, the mountain is worth a visit for its beautiful scenery and to see the clear emerald waters of Lan Yue Gu (also know as Bai Sui He) at the base of the mountain. The views were amazing despite the rain. However, the trip was marred by a lack of controls at the boarding of the internal buggy to travel from one stop to the other. Many local tourists jumped queue and pushed past us in order to get to the front of the queue. Thankfully, with the help of other members in the tour group, we managed to board safely in the end and left for the Lijiang city centre.

In comparison to the Dali Old Town, the Old town of Lijiang seems a lot busier. As a UNESCO World Heritage site,most of the buildings have been preserved well. A large portion have been converted into pubs or cafes where you can enjoy live music while having a drink. Water plays an important role in the layout of this old town with small canals running through the side of the town. An important landmark where many people usually gather is also the huge Windmill at the entrance into the town.