Wednesday, April 11, 2007
9/4/07 - lijiang trip
argh! this is so frustrating. i can't read blogs in office. i'm sooo bored. heh heh.
got back from Li Jiang on sunday night at 12am. the journey to Li Jiang was by coach from Kunming all the way to Li Jiang, and it was almost 12 hours journey ride, which includes toilet breaks in between and 1 hour lunch. urgh! the journey was so terribly long, and one of my colleague said that it only takes half an hour by plane from Kunming to Li Jiang.
we set off at 5am, and reached Li Jiang at about 5pm. yingyu and i were both feeling carsick, as the journey on the highway was very jerky, and there was no way we could have a good sleep. besides, we woke up at 4am just to do our last packing before taking the coach. so if you guys are wondering why only yingyu and i went to Li Jiang, and what happened to the rest of them?qiufen and helena went to Beijing for holiday, while chloe went to Kunming over the weekend. when we got to Li Jiang, the inn which we were staying in is located in Li Jiang Ancient Town （丽江古城）, and all that i can say is that i love Li Jiang! i shall let the pictures speak for themselves.
on the coach..
pics of the inn that we were staying in li jiang..
Nazi tribe writings on the wall..
the super gigantic water heater in the toilet. duh!
i totally love the inn i was staying! so nice... and it has that very ancient feeling. as if you were filming some chinese ancient drama serial. hohoho. and the toilet is superb! as you can see from the pictures. hahaha! i know i'm totally hopeless, until the extent of shooting the toilet. but! with this computerised bathing system, you can enjoy bathing hot water 24 hours a day! i know you can enjoy this at home too, but this is not the case for us whom are staying at 宝丰楼 (name of our hostel). everybody fights for hot water every night starting from 7.30pm onwards, until the hot water runs out at about 9 plus. and you'll have to bath ICE COLD water, and its not s'pore standard of tap water, which makes you come out of the toilet shivering. and this doesn't help especially for now, when the weather has just suddenly turned so cold that sometimes i really don't feel like bathing! but i can't take it for not bathing for a day. hahaha! besides, its suppose to be spring now! its so cold at night when i go to sleep, that i have to wear 3 layers of clothings, cover 2 blankets, and i can still feel that i have goose pimples. duh!
some snapshots i took while i was at Li Jiang ancient town..
wind chimes! i bought 3 for RMB 10 each (S$2). =X
i know its kinda blurrrr..
shawls... they were all so lovely that i bought 8! yes, 8! your eyes ain't failing ya!
haiya! one of my favourite pictures of the trip yet it turned out to be so blurrrr...
there are a thousand shops selling shawls everywhere.. different designs at different prices, and there are also shops selling same shawls at different prices so you gotta bargain like mad to get the lowest price. yingyu and i learnt our lesson, that is to shop at night when the shops are about to close and the lady boss of the shawl shop charge us RMB15 (S$3) per shawl. that is like.. madness! 3 bucks for a shawl! otherwise, prices for a shawl can come up to RMB75 (the most expensive i heard so far from all the shops i've been to)
the road that turns alive at night.... full of clubs and KTV pubs. its so happening every single night! people party starting from 8pm, all the way through the night till about 3am. you can see people dancing, drinking, singing across to each other from opposite pubs. the pubs have two storeys, and both levels are open air. so when the people from the opposite pubs sings a song across, the other side would have to sing another song across to them. interesting!
one of the singers at 樱花屋 (directly translated as cherry house)
my supervisor brought yingyu and i there after dinner. the singers had really great vocals! the pub was really huge! and it was divided into several different areas. the first storey was a dance floor, while part of the first floor was the place were only alcoholic drinks are sold, and you can see the singers singing in the pub like what is shown in the above picture. there was also the second floor whereby you can also see and listen to the singers at the first floor. the other part of the second floor was a restaurant where you normally have your meals. i tried their hot chocolate but it was too thick. however, it kept me really warm especially during cold weather like for now.
while we at Li Jiang, we found a cafe catered to foreigners. and to our surprise, there were really lots of foreigners, as in Caucasians, staying or visiting the town. we tried their hot chocolate, i found it too milky, and it tasted like milo added with fresh milk in it. yingyu tried their ham and cheese sandwich, while i ordered blueberry cake (they didn't have tiramisu anymore. urgh! frustrating.) lol. both of us loved the cafe.. and there were even books on sale! you can read them in the cafe, and there were lots of magazines and comics too. simply miss home too much... i mean the food. duh! the photos are kinda dark.. opps.
shall update till here..... will update next on the sightseeing places i went to at Li Jiang.
i took 3 days to complete this entry! duh.
