LIJIANG PART 2 - Wednesday - August 21

It's hard to think back sometimes. Precious memories fade. But one thing i remember clearly from this morning was the cool cash changing machine in the hotel. It changed changed Dollars to Yuan... and thanks to Ai's little loan... THANKS AI!!!... i was no longer on the verge of spending my last yuan. Oh yeah, breakfast. The pancakes were soggy and sour, gross, but i heard the first batch was fluffy and delicious, darn.
We had a short stop at a very rustic village. More like another "scam stupid americans into buying junk" opportunity. Then again, i bought something, so what does that say about me. Oh yeah, and this was the donkey that almost ran me over. Some musicians providing lively entertainment.
Nature's Rest Stop

We drove and drove, and on either side, beautiful mountains. I knew that they'd turn out like crap if i tried to take a picture out the window of a speeding bus. Luckily, they stopped and gave us 10 minutes to take pictures and .. uh hemm.... take care of our business if necessary. Ask Ai to tell you her story if you need elaboration.
Me and Scotty in our Chinese soccer jerseys we purchased the night before. It was cool, Tim and Lindsay had one on too, as well as Ken and Brett i think. Unfortunately, we never took a team shot like i wanted. regrets regrets. But look how cool the background is in this picture. Think we were 6000 ft. above sea level.
Master Hu taking a picture of Bill and Jiayin, while his nephew blocks the rain. Is it just me, or does something seem eerily surrealistic about this picture. Like something's out of place, but you can't tell what.
Lijiang - Up Up and Away

This was waaaaay cool. One of the coolest parts of the trip. I mean.... it must have been 50 degrees or something. Okay, besides that, it was awesome too... we were so high up, definitely the highest i've been... beside being in a plane or after 6 hours in my painting class. We waited in a packed line while munching on chips ahoy and peanuts. And those spiffy red jackets were 15 yuan to rent.
"Hello, Hello" it was fun waving to people coming back down. That's me and scotty. Russ and Lindsay behind us.
Whoaaaa.... picture taken from the chairlift. Does it no justice though. It was real nice, mountains enshrouded in clouds. We were being taken over 9000 feet above sea level.
More interesting costumes and head dresses.
Aghhh!!! Camera!
Scotty's Ansel Adam-esque photography
Master Hu browsing the wide array of herbal medicines and other exotic items.
Suicide meadow... a place where forbidden lovers come to die, to be together in the afterlife.
Taking a break. Being up so high, and not being acclimated to it, it was easy to be short of breath. They were actually selling bags of oxygen. Fortunately, our wushu training prepared our bodies to be in tip top shape, able to handle anything.
Some nice trees, and a dead one.
Coming Down. There's Jose and Jiayin.
Some random yak place...
Our bus stopped here and some people went down to ride the yaks. I just stayed up near the bus cause it didn't seem too interesting, and i was thinking about food.
Lijiang Lunch

Lunch couldn't have come any sooner. It had been a jammed packed afternoon, and we were ready for some good eating. The tourguide had pointed out the restaurant as we were heading toward our tour sites earlier, and it looked quite promising. Then... as the bus approached the museum looking building, as we were being seated in big carved chairs, and as they were carting out dishes of food, we still thought we were in for a treat. Unfortunately, things aren't always what they seemed... the food was, let's say... not satisfactory, umm... gross. Even the tea was bad. Damn, should've had the yak meat on the mountain.
There is so much irony in this picture.
Interesting decorations, quite smelly though.
We had a lot of free time to hang out after lunch... almost like they were prepared for the fact we'd need to use the bathroom.
The front had a nice big wooden deck, and we decided to do some wushu. Hadn't done it in quite some time and my legs were dying
Some Buddhist Thing

I forgot when or how we got here... i just remembered being there... and it was raining. There was smoke from burning incense... big ones for 100 yuan, smaller ones for less. It was quiet comtemplation time. I'm not into the whole religion thing, so i got bored.
Pot and smoke
ooooohhhh mystical.... cough cough
Some neat prayer drums. I remember that some people went to get their fortunes told by some guy in back. I didn't though. It's not egotism, but i create my own future.
Timmy doing another one of his surprised looks. That's Scotty stretched out.
hmm... i wonder
Lijiang Airport

This airport was quite unmemorable... *memory jog* *memory jog*... oh yeah, once we got to the departure gate, the gift store sold a bunch of panda toys.
Jiayin sharing some of her music on her laptop at the airport.
Back in KUNMING - still Wednesday, August 21

Master Hu's Birthday Celebration - When we arrived back in Kunming that night, we had dinner and celebrated Master Hu's birthday (and decent food). Many toasts were made, thank you's, goodbyes (since the national tour guide would be leaving us), and it was a sad sad reminder that the trip was almost over.
Yummy cakes. The best one was the one with the green apple flavored icing.
ALRIGHT FOLKS... That's page 9 of my extensive China Journal. Only one more page to go. bwahhhh. good times, good times.