Hutiao Xia - Tiger Leaping Gorge

From Lijiang, our driver took us further up the mountains towards Shangri-La. On the way, we passed through beautiful landscapes, temples and many remote villages.

We made a stop at Tiger Leaping Gorge, which is the steepest and narrowest canyon on earth. The water in spring has a beautiful color and the view is just breathtaking...
The gorge is located where the river passes Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (5600m) and Haba Snow Mountain (5400m) in a series of rapids under steep 2000 metre cliffs.
Legend says that in order to escape from a hunter, a tiger jumped across the river at the narrowest point (still 25 metres wide), hence the name.

Lijiang - home of the Naxi people

We headed to Lijiang for another weekend trip. Lijiang is a remote town that lies at bottom of the Himalayas and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau at 2,400 meters altitude. It is truly one of the best preserved ancient town in China - we weren't disappointed.

A colorful group of Naxi women passed us. For about 1400 years, the Lijiang area has been home to the Naxi people, a distinct minority thought to be descended from the Tibetan Qiang tribes.

Our friend Haba and Bastian were always on the hunt for some local delicacies...

Evelyn was happy as well: The old town is full with little shops selling souvenirs such as carvings, clothes, leather and bags.

Evelyn took another amazing shot of a Naxi woman. This is one of our favorite pictures and it represents Lijiang's population very well: rich in tradition, hospitable and friendly people!

We walked through numerous cobbled streets, crisscrossing canals flowing with water, swaying willow trees and gaily-hued blossoms. Every so often, a bridge - stone, wooden, flat, arched, roofed - pops up and along it trundles local folk in traditional dress.

Naxi minority has the largest population in this region. The Naxi generally dress in blue clothing that reminds one of “Mao suits.”

The Old Town which occupies an area of three point eight square kilometers has a history of more than 800 years. The Lijiang old town is famous for its orderly system of waterways and bridges.

People in old Town of Lijiang depend on water for existence. Black Dragon Pool is the main water source of the town and subdivides into many streams which can reach every family and every street in the town.

The women were washing vegetables, dishes and clothes in the river next to the walkway.

When both of us were ready for a rest, Haba brought us to his 'secret' place that not a lot of tourists know about. Its the only house that has a roof top and offers a fantastic view of ancient Lijiang. We were sure that Haba had a few dates up here ;-)
The town has a history going back more than 800 years and was once a center for trade along the old tea horse road. We decided to explore one of the local markets...

We were amazed how fresh and colorful all the vegetables were. Despite the altitude, the land around Lijiang is fertile and the people grow all sorts of food including one of our favorites: potatoes.

Bastian was keen to see some of the more exotic foods so Haba brought us to a shady barn with many different animals. You can buy anything: chicken...

...rabbits...

... and to Evelyn's disgust: even cute dogs, cat, and many other not so yammi animals!

We decided to go for something different: Traditional Naxi food... We enjoyed the fried potatos (Bratkartoffeln) with dried meat and fresh vegetable. It was one of the best dishes we had in China.

It was already getting late so we walked up to our guesthouse which was located on the hillside of Lijiang.

On the way we saw a basketball court in the middle of traditional architecture. Basketball is sports No.1 and the kids' favorite is of course: the NBA star Yao Ming.

Haba and Bastian are enjoying a final view of Lijiang Old Town. We knew that the next days were getting exhausting as we planned to go all the way up to Shangri-La at over 3,000m altitude.

The setting of the hotel is nice as it overlooks Lijiang. The decor of the guest house is spectacular and the owner put so much emphasis on traditional designs.

Bastian did not care too much about the wonderful traditional decorations and furniture. He was so tired that he fell asleep in his clothing... ;-)

Longji Rice Terraces and 'Long-hair' women

We drove about 100 km from Guilin to the Longji Rice Terraces. On the way, we stopped at a Yao village. Yao people are distinctive by their colorful national dress and often the women will have extremely long hair which is coiled up on top of their head.

The village was remote and built in a valley. We walked along the river, but could not see any 'Long-hair' women...

Once we reached the center of the village, we finally spotted several Yao women and they invited us to take pictures.

During summer time, the Yao women wash their hair at the river. It was spring and if Bastian had known before that the lady did not wash her hair for at least 9 months, he wouldn't have done the below picture...

After our short excursion to the Yao people, we moved on to Longji rice terraces. Longji (Dragon's Backbone) received its name because the rice terraces resemble a dragon's scales, while the summit of the mountain range looks like the backbone of the dragon.

Hiking up the rice terraces was really fun. Unfortunately, spring time has lots of rain and heavy fog. Visibility was low and the higher we walked the less we could see...

Then suddenly, the sky cleared up and we had a beautiful view of the rice terraces. Wow, it was really magnificent...

Well, its actually a poster and we had to pay 1 RMB for this ;-)

Back to school at Yunnan University (Kunming)

During the week in Kunming our learning schedule was quite tough. Every day, we had four to five hours private lessons and needed to learn 30 vocabulary a day. By Friday, we were completely exhausted and traveling was a nice change...

We took our lessons at Yunnan University in Kunming. The classrooms were quite cosy, but always a bit smelly...

Later we found out that the house master was drying his fish and pork overnight in the classrooms (see evidence below)...

In the afternoons we were hanging out with friends, but oftentimes spend time in the local coffee shops studying (our teacher was a little strict!)...

This is not fake... Bastian sometimes could barely keep his eyes open!