Lijiang - Naxi and Old Town, 7/21

Here's a photo instead. Apparently the video is too long...

We finally got a nice day with no rain...a good thing since Jim left his rain jacket in Dali and it didn't arrive here until 6 pm. The first event on the agenda was a presentation by a local Naxi shaman. The Naxi are one of the few Chinese minorities with their own writing system, using pictographs like the Egyptians did. Their written language is the last living pictographic system. He also demonstrated a dance done at the start of each ritual to ask the gods' attention. I videoed about 30 seconds and will try to post when I can get thru. China is apparently blocking online access to picasa and blogspot.

Next, we  walked thru the Old Town Market...another interesting place, tho a lot like other local markets.  New were fresh potato chips and mangosteen, a wonderful fruit we last saw in Thailand. From there we went to a museum of Naxi culture with a very good guide. Amazingly, they allowed photos. A lot of artifacts were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, but many were saved because they had been shipped out of the country before then.

Next door to the museum was the Black Dragon Pool, named for the many springs that feed it, the result of dragon activity below. Unfortunately, there has been a drought for 3 years and the pool was maybe 3-4 feet lower than normal, but still pretty. There are a number of pagodas on the grounds and good spots for photos of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.  The clouds cleared away at the end so we could get a glimpse of it.

Pagoda at Black Dragon Pool

Then it was back to Old Town for jade and tea shopping. I has hoped to find a slender jade bangle, but soon realized that my bone structure prevented any bracelet from sliding over my hand.  The clerks were more than happy to slick up my hand with lotion to force one on  and didn't really get why I might want to take it off. I got a dog (my zodiac ) pendant instead. Then we went tea tasting. I do this a lot for my Chinatown tours and was interested in seeing what they had to say. This province is home to pu-er teas, which are aged and usually compressed and can be drinkable for years...kind of like fine wines vs grape juice. They had a green form I had not seen before that was quite good. On our way to the tea shop, we walked past a temple that had been rebuilt, but only at 1/3 its original size to make more room for tourist facilities, I suppose. Still impressive in the smaller version.

Rebuilt Temple

 We finished our day preparing to depart for Mongolia by way of China, feeling that this short sidetrip in China was a good addition to our knowledge of Chinese culture and the natural beauty of the countryside. Our first China trip was more museum focused and this one got us closer to nature and some of the minority cultures that help make the country so interesting.