My Little Lijiang
Lijiang is a nice little city in the northwestern part of Yunnan province. There are two distinct parts of the City, Old Town and New Town. Old Town is specifically for tourists just like all Old Towns are. In 1997 there was a big earthquake which destroyed much of the old Old Town and it was rebuilt after that. The first I walked through it I had the feeling of being in Aspen because there was large mountain in the background, which was covered in snow.
In the morning we went to Old Town to buy some tickets to listen to some Naxi people play traditional Chinese music. After scoping the seats out and buying tickets we headed for the nearest mountain. We heard that going to the mountain was a great activity from the lady who helped run the hotel we were staying at. In the end I think we all unanimously disagreed with her, but it was still a fun experience.
We payed too high a price to ride some horses up the mountain and back down, but it is a little late too complain now. We were all given a horse with a lady. The lady is supposed to come along with the people to accompany the horse, I assume. They certainly did not fulfill any type of guide role. Most of the time they were quiet, screaming they don't have kids or speaking in their native Naxi tongue. They told us not to speak English, but they continued to speak their Naxi language even when we asked them to speak Putonghua. I think the best part of the afternoon was just talking with them. I was kind of sore after riding the horses, but I did not want to complain because the whole few hours we were riding up and down this mountain the ladies, whose ages ranged from relatively young to old enough to be a grandma, hiked with us.
Once we had gotten back to the 'ranch' we quickly hopped in a cab home, so we could shower and get ready for dinner. We went back to Old Town to eat since we had tickets for the concert which was held in Old Town as well.
This concert was definitely interesting. Their is a man named Xuan Ke who sort of runs the whole show. He starts off by speaking to the crowd and Chinese and then English. Afterwards the band plays. Once the band is done performing he gets up again to speak to the crowd. This goes on for about two hours and then it is over. The most entertaining part of the evening was listening him criticize the youth for listening to pop music. Also he managed to bring up suicide bombers. I wish I remember how he did it. On the whole the music was decent, but I would not dare say it is my favorite music.
After all the music was over we walked around for a little bit, bought some postcards and then headed back to the hotel.
In the morning we went to Old Town to buy some tickets to listen to some Naxi people play traditional Chinese music. After scoping the seats out and buying tickets we headed for the nearest mountain. We heard that going to the mountain was a great activity from the lady who helped run the hotel we were staying at. In the end I think we all unanimously disagreed with her, but it was still a fun experience.
We payed too high a price to ride some horses up the mountain and back down, but it is a little late too complain now. We were all given a horse with a lady. The lady is supposed to come along with the people to accompany the horse, I assume. They certainly did not fulfill any type of guide role. Most of the time they were quiet, screaming they don't have kids or speaking in their native Naxi tongue. They told us not to speak English, but they continued to speak their Naxi language even when we asked them to speak Putonghua. I think the best part of the afternoon was just talking with them. I was kind of sore after riding the horses, but I did not want to complain because the whole few hours we were riding up and down this mountain the ladies, whose ages ranged from relatively young to old enough to be a grandma, hiked with us.
Once we had gotten back to the 'ranch' we quickly hopped in a cab home, so we could shower and get ready for dinner. We went back to Old Town to eat since we had tickets for the concert which was held in Old Town as well.
This concert was definitely interesting. Their is a man named Xuan Ke who sort of runs the whole show. He starts off by speaking to the crowd and Chinese and then English. Afterwards the band plays. Once the band is done performing he gets up again to speak to the crowd. This goes on for about two hours and then it is over. The most entertaining part of the evening was listening him criticize the youth for listening to pop music. Also he managed to bring up suicide bombers. I wish I remember how he did it. On the whole the music was decent, but I would not dare say it is my favorite music.
After all the music was over we walked around for a little bit, bought some postcards and then headed back to the hotel.
posted by Jon Keto at
11:18 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home