Yikes!

Liajiang was described as such a place like Dali. We had high expectations. Wade found what was supposed to be a charming Guest house for us in original form, the guide book giving it rave reviews. It was my time of the month and all of you that know me well, know that I am usually bed ridden for the first day. Here we had to navigate our way in the unmarked streets of the old town. Mind you all the streets looked the same and they were filled with the annoyingly chaotic Chinese tourists, mega phones and all. We found our accommodations and man was it a dump! It wasn't the worst place I have I stayed, but by no means was it comfortable. It was a similar set up to the last place. Rooms surrounded a very pretty courtyard. Our room had two twin beds and that's about it. The beds were awful. The place had communal bathrooms. The girls bathroom was a dump, filled with dump! Again, waist high barriers between holes in the ground to do your business. There were no flushes, just buckets of water to pour down. I didn't have a chance to see the showers, I would rather not shower than use them!

We walked about town, dodging the hundreds of people that lined the streets. It was a crazy place, beautiful but completely overrun. The stores were all tourist crap and the prices were outrageous! This place was a cross between colonial Williamsburg, Bleeker street and Dali. At the entrance of the old town stood a replica of a windmill... no wait... a wheel in water. What are those called? Anyway Chinese tourists stood in front of it and took many non smiling pictures. People were dressed up in silly clothing. It was basically the Hon Chinese trying to make a market out of minority culture.

We went to a music concert that night. It was traditional music with some of the oldest characters I have seen. It was a very special performance that I truly enjoyed.

We walked around town and found the craziest store or restaurant. It was called FAT SISTERS YAK MEAT. Did they really think this was going to drive people in? What a great photo though! We also found the bars. It was on a street that had a stream flowing down the middle, bars lined it on each side, one after the other. We found this street by the immense amount of noise coming from it. Apparently it is a Chinese tradition to battle each other in chant. From one bar to the next, groups of Chinese battled each other by singing a chant at each other from across the way. Westerners looked on with disbelief and this continued for hours!

We only planned on staying in this tourist trap for one day, but I woke up the next day sick! I had the loose poops! There was no way I was staying in that sorry excuse for a hotel. We quickly found a four star place and moved in for another two days! I had to treat myself as I was in bad shape. Poor Wade was stuck in Lijiang. While I was bed ridden, not being able to eat crackers or even drink water (I couldn't keep anything in my system) Wade went to the mountains for the day! He had an adventure of his own, hitch hiking as he didn't bring enough money with him to get back. his pictures were amazing though; I totally missed out... thanks Lauren, she must have been the one to get me sick! I was now on antibiotics for another 10 days.

I did get to try bamboo worms though. They were fried and tasted much like crickets, a perfect beer snack.

There is not much else to say on Lijiang other than to miss it.