Baaaaaaaaaaaack in Qingdao|

03/06/2011

回来了Well, back in Qingdao after a good, not-long-enough holiday at home.

After Shaxi we hit Lijiang, which is 8000 ft above sea level but only a wee bit north of Shaxi. In contrast to most tourist destinations in China, Lijiang caters to Chinese tourists, which, it turns out, translates as ridiculous prices for goods and food, apparently the Chinese rich are more numerous than previously suspected. The Old Town is protected by the local government, so no building there, unless it's in the traditional style. Actual Lijiang is way bigger, there's a huge city grown up around the Old Town, which, as the taxi driver from the station informed us, is now full of Naxi 纳西 minority peoples who've been kicked out of Old Town, Old Town having been filled with Han Chinese business peeps opening restaurants and shops.
We met up with Caroline and Stacey, a Brit and an Australian we'd met in Shaxi. They were so friendly and took us with them on searches for drinkable wine around Lijiang ^^ The Old Town paths are all cobbled with a tiny brook/ stream running alongside the paths in some areas. Caroline and Stacey have a friend in Lijiang called Keith, who seems to be the Chinese version of a pub-owner: he knows everything that's going on in Lijiang and everyone involved. He even managed to give me contact details for a man building an eco-hotel in Shaxi (me doing a 4th year project on sustainable tourism and all). The food at his cafe was brilliant -> Never eat western food in China unless you see that western peep slaving in the kitchen. In this case it was a guy called Kevin from Seattle. Lou and I went back the next day and he made us crispy bacon, eggs and beans. It was the best meal EVER. (minus the Dali apple pie