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Lugu Lake – Lijiang (Day 4)

mrbiao — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:28:58 +0000

We woke up at 5.30am in the morning in time to join a sunrise watching tour at 6am. We each paid CNY 10 for a boat ride out to a tiny little island in the middle of the lake where we watched the sun rise and took photos. Thereafter we returned to Lige village to have a breakfast of noodles and buckwheat pancakes. The noodles were not so good but the pancakes were awesome.

After breakfast and a short rest in our room, we checked out and walked towards the meeting point for our ride back to Lijiang. Our driver was there, without the bus. We were told that due to road works, buses were unable to enter the village and we had to walk up a very steep hill to where the bus was parked. It was a 30 minutes hike under the scorching sun at high altitude so you can imagine how tired we were when we finally reached. There were already about a dozen people waiting outside our bus and we feared that we’d end up sitting right at the back again. Fortunately we managed to get seats near the front this time. It was another 7 hours ride back to Lijiang with a lunch stop at the same place where we stopped the previous day. Oh, there was an additional stop at a “tourist shop” selling local produce and herbs.

We arrived in Lijiang in the late afternoon and we decided to head to the Public Security Bureau to apply for our visa extension. Singaporeans can enter China for up to 15 days without visa, but due to my oversight I planned a trip for 16 days and we forgot to apply for our visas ahead of our trip… so we had to apply while in China. Anyway, the taxi driver took us to the wrong place – it turned out that the PSB had just moved to a new location way out in the suburbs a few days before. We arrived at the new PSB 10 minutes before closing time but were told (contrary to what we understood from online forums) that visa extensions required 5 working days to complete. We pleaded with the officer on duty but to no avail. She did however told us that the PSB in Shangri-la would be able to process extensions on the spot…. we’d have to try when we arrive in Shangri-la tomorrow.

We checked back into the inn and spent the evening hanging around town, window shopping and surfing the net back at the inn. Our driver from Shangri-la actually drove all the way over to Lijiang and stayed overnight at our inn at his own expense so that he could drive us to Shangri-la the next day. This driver, Lodzoh, a Tibetan guy in his fifties was recommended to us by the one we originally contacted as the latter was busy and could not take us around. We chatted with him for a while about the itinerary then went back to our room to pack our luggage. We highly recommend this driver who is a very interesting character and one of the nicest persons we ever met – more about him in the next installment of this trip report…

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Lijiang – Lugu Lake (Day 3)

mrbiao — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:45:29 +0000

We woke up at 7am, checked out of our room and left our baggage at the inn while we embarked on our overnight trip to Lugu Lake. Jenny helped us to book our 8.30am bus tickets (CNY 120 return trip) which did not come with pre-allocated seats.

Being the glutton I am, I couldn’t resist grabbing some breakfast while we were waiting for the bus. While I was shopping for breakfast the bus came and we ended up seated all the way at the back of the bus ‘cos everyone else were already on board =( I swore we would get front seats on our return trip the next day (and we did).

It was a 7 hours long bumpy bus ride along the scenic mountainous roads to Lugu Lake – the driver joked that we were getting a free massage along with our bus tickets.

On the way to Lugu Lake

The bus stopped for lunch at a family-run restaurant in the countryside enroute to Lugu Lake – it was an interesting experience – there were no menus, no waitstaff, no order-taker… customers walked straight into the kitchen and yelled their orders out to the cook or his assistant based on the raw ingredients available (one can yell out any combination of veggie or meat dishes and the cook will fry it accordingly). No such thing as first come first served or “I ordered that first” – once a dish is ready, the cook’s assistant would hand the dish over to the first person who sticks his/her hand out for it. Being inexperienced, the only two dishes I could think of were “stir-fried mushrooms with pork” and “tomatoes with fried egg”. After a couple of times of being slow in grabbing my dish of tomatoes with fried egg from the assistant, I decided to “do as the Romans do in Rome” – forget about being polite… and we got our food promptly.

A lady would make her rounds at the dining area to collect payment – apparently there are only 2 prices for the dishes – either vegetarian (CNY 10) or meat (CNY 20) dishes. Prices were steep for a place like that but I guess we had no choice since it was the only place to get food. Actually the food tasted quite OK.

I went to the washroom after lunch… they’ve got proper doors there but the toilet bowl was just a hole in the floorboard and waste material gets “recycled” immediately as fertilizer for the vegetables being grown on the farmland… I guess that was where the veggies for our lunch came from… ugh.

After lunch we continued with our journey. We arrived at Lugu Lake slightly after 3pm after a 30 minutes delay when our bus broke down and the driver had to fix it. Luckily it wasn’t a big problem otherwise we could have been stuck in the middle of nowhere. We paid CNY 80 each for admission tickets to the Lugu Lake area (I have to grumble again that admission tickets in China aren’t cheap).

We first went to a scenic lookout where we took photos of the lake. Afterwhich the driver took us to a place where we paid CNY 30 each for a boat ride to a small island in the middle of the lake. It was quite dumb and a waste of time and money actually – there wasn’t much to see on the island except a small temple and we were done “exploring” the island in 15 minutes and got back on the boat. The boat rowers tried to persuade us to part with more money for a longer ride out on the lake but we flatly refused. We had a better rowboat experience in Tam Coc, Vietnam.

View of Lugu Lake

Boating on Lugu Lake

Lugu Lake has 2 villages which are popular with tourists – Luoshui and Lige. Luoshui village is where the bigger guesthouses catering to tour groups are located, while Lige is a smaller place (about 500 metres long perhaps) with around a dozen inns and restaurants. While it still looks pretty quaint now, Lugu Lake is fast developing as a tourist hotspot and an airport is currently being constructed. I can picture Lugu Lake becoming much like touristy Lijiang in a few years’ time.

We arrived in Lige at about 5pm and immediately walked over to the youth hostel we wanted to stay at but it was full… so we headed quickly to the next one on our list and asked for a room facing the lake. We were lucky – there was only 1 room left and the receptionist asked if we wanted to view the room first – I said “No, we’ll take it!” because I was afraid somebody else would put their money down on it first if we wasted time viewing the room. Lucky I did that because a few seconds later another couple asked for the same room.

Our room balcony had a view of Lige Village and Lugu Lake

Dinner is being skewered

Our room was really decent and cheap (CNY 200) for a room with private bathroom and a lake view. There was a balcony with tables and chairs for us to relax in. By the time we settled down in the room my stomach was growling for the BBQ suckling pig which was being roasted right beside the hostel. We went down and got ourselves a 1/8 of a pig(let), a fish, potatoes, brinjal and Pepsi for just CNY 100. The food was so delicious we wanted to order more but the wait time was so long we got tired of waiting so we paid up and left. I think that was the best meal we had in our 16 days in China.

BBQ Dinner at Lugu Lake

At about 3000m above sea level, the temperature in Lugu Lake was a little colder than Lijiang. It was still warm in the daytime but I think it was about maybe 15 degrees celcius or so at night. I had a mild headache initially I suppose due to the altitude but it got better after dinner.

After dinner we went back up to our room to rest for a while before heading out again to join in a campfire performance (CNY 20 per person). PY joined in the dancing for a while. It was over by 10pm and we went back to our room to rest as there was nothing else to do and we had to wake up at 5.30am the next day for a short boating trip to see the sunrise.

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Kunming – Lijiang (Day 2)

mrbiao — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:09:36 +0000

The weather in Kunming at this time of the year is very much similar to Singapore (hot!) but is less humid. We went for a morning stroll near our hotel and had a breakfast of noodles (CNY 4), fried dough sticks and some local snacks, washed down with a cup of soya milk.

Our plan for this morning was to take a taxi to one of the flower markets Kunming is known for. However, while on the taxi the driver told us that shops at the flower markets don’t open so early (it was about 8.30am)… so she suggested we drop off at a nearby mall (WalMart!) for some shopping before we head to the market. As we had a flight to catch at midday, we only had enough time for WalMart… actually I like strolling through markets and supermarkets when I go on trips – one gets to see (and feel) how locals live – the food they eat, the things they buy, etc.

After WalMart it was back to our hotel to check out, get a taxi to the airport and check in for our 45 minutes flight to Lijiang. We arrived in Lijiang shortly after noon, found the minivan we booked for airport transfer, and checked in at the Tea Galleria inn which is situated on Lion’s Hill, overlooking Lijiang ancient town.

View from The Tea Galleria, Lijiang

We paid CNY 200 a night for a room on the second floor. The room itself was quite comfortable and the lady boss Jenny made us feel at home. Our airport transfers, Naxi ancient music concert and bus tickets to Lugu lake were handled by her, and she took no payment from us until our last day in Lijiang. Our room door opens out onto a corridor where there are tables and chairs where guests can just sit around, have some snacks and enjoy the scenery and fresh air.

Our small but cosy room

Tables and chairs are provided outside the rooms for guests to lounge around and relax

This is the inn's front gate

I only have two grouses about the room. First, the room door was only secured by a tiny little lock about 2 or 3cm wide (the type people use to lock their bag zippers) – it feels a bit insecure especially since the room door cannot be shut completely – it’s hard to explain but thats the way it was. However I have to say that security shouldn’t be much of an issue since the inn is situated in a residential area where there isn’t much human traffic, and it would not be possible for strangers to walk in unnoticed – Jenny has 5 cute dogs keeping watch all day (3 pugs and 2 puppies). Second grouse is about the lack of sound-proofing. We can hear every small movement the people in the next room makes… that’s how bad it was.

These small issues aside, we would recommend the Tea Galleria to everyone for its price, location, service and its 5 cute dogs.

One of the 3 pugs at the inn

Looking tired and grouchy

Aren't they cute?

Lazy afternoon for the dogs

The puppies were having their lunch while mummy seemed kinda impatient

Anyway, after checking in and resting for a while, we spent the rest of the day wandering around the old town. Lijiang ancient town is a UNESCO World Heritage site… however, over-exploitation and commercialization has made it into a Disneyland of minority cultures – all the shops, restaurants and businesses are there to cater for tourists… and at night the town becomes somewhat like Patpong in Bangkok with clubs playing booming dance music and girls dancing on bartops, minus the sleaze. I find it a pity, because with a little bit more control the local government could have made it into a nicer place with modern amenities but still preserving an authentic atmosphere of the ancient town and culture of the Naxi minority. The music from the clubs got so loud at night that we could hear the thumping beats from our inn up on Lion Hill.

There are lots of small canals like this in Lijiang Ancient Town - the townspeople wash everything (laundry, food, dirty dishes) with the water

Yak yogurt tastes really awesome. We had a bottle (CNY 4 each) every day while in Lijiang

Making ginger candy the traditional way

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