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I was trying to take a little nap before dinner, but my mind is racing with all the strangeness of China and I want to get it down before I forget. So here is my "stream of consciousness" list...
In the area of China with the cleanest air quality there is a major fire burning right now. It is just over the mountain from where we are. The sky is gray, the air smells like a campfire and ash falls on you when you walk around. Reminds us of life during the days of the Hayman Fire back home. What is being done to put out the fire? Nothing!
There was an earthquake an hour away from here; just outside of a town we want to visit. What can you find out about aftershocks or trouble in the area? Nothing!
The yak meat stands - dried, roasted, steaks, on a stick, spicy, not spicy...are everywhere, as are bamboo tree bugs - on a stick, in a bowl, freeze dried...AG said today, "I would do anything to eat at the worst restaurant in Italy right now!"
The town we are in is a beautifully preserved UNESCO World Heritage Sight. But after awhile all 80 streets of vendors of jade, silver and drum shops look the same. So today we went to a nearby town. It was touted as smaller and less commercial. It only had 12 streets of jade, silver, and yak vendors and only a few drum shops! So quaint. The 9 year old in the group announced, "This sucks!" I didn't even correct her language. It sucked. But there was an Italian restaurant there, so pizza! Yeah!
We thought we were token whites in Hong Kong. Forget about it! Here we have seen maybe one or two other white people a day, all very hardcore backpacker types and no one with kids. Now because no one speaks English, they don't even ask if they can take a photo with you. We just see them videoing us or snapping away. We sort of feel like zoo animals! This is great practice for Celeste. Next year she starts high school. Instead of feeling self-conscience, we think nothing will faze her after having 20 million Chinese stare at her for a month!
If you have the good fortune of obtaining a unique animal in China you are set for life. Just stand on a busy corner and charge people to take photos with your animal. PETA would have a hey-day here! In Lijiang alone there are 2 guys with golden eagles. They have them tied by the claw to a rope. They jerk the rope and make the eagle lose its balance. Then it spreads its wings wide to gain its balance and tourists snap the photo. All day long. There is also a resident peacock tied to a railing.
The whole town is full of nightclubs. They start at 4:45 and wrap up at 11:30. The song list is the same every night. We know because we are often in our room and can hear it all. Another traveler from Miami that we met said, you have to take the whole family. It is allowed. We had a blast, but it was so bizarre. They are very interested in the light show and the smoke machine. There are many choreographed dance groups that get onstage and act out a scene from "Cocktail", pretending they are Chinese Tom Cruise or there are airline stewardesses. Our favorite costume is this pig. There is also a monkey that looks like the ones from The Wizard of Oz. We thought it was just silly, but no today we saw that the pig and the monkey have a TV show where they frolic around in the fields. All the dancing at the club is family friendly and hardly anyone drinks. The one we went to served raw vegetable platters to lots of tables. The vegetables are carved in fancy designs like you might see at a brunch buffet or on a cruise. They also have blocks of wood that you can bang on the tables to show your enthusiasm, since clapping would not be heard. Can you imagine this in the US? One bar fight with a block of wood to the head and...lawsuit!
We were given the name of a tour guide in this area that we could contact to show us around. We sent her an email. She responded by saying, "Lijiang is a small town. Go see it yourself."
The further we delve into the country, the more amusing the English gets on menus and signs. Yesterday there was "pissing beef" on the menu and a yak meat store called, "The Fat Sister's Yak Meat" and we found a hotel called "Young Looks at the Scenery the Inn", which has a much better ring to it than Holiday Inn.
There is a 60 Yuan per person fee to be in the old town. It covers the costs of preservation. If you are caught without your paper receipt it could mean trouble. I cannot find our receipts, so I asked the hotel for a copy. Sure no problem. Please follow me and I will make you a copy. We followed and followed the lady. 25 minutes of walking to a copy shop where she photocopied the papers. In a land where everyone owns more personal electronics than one could use in a lifetime there were no closer copiers?!
There are drum shops all over town. We don't get it. It appears that you can buy a drum, buy a cd of someone drumming, but we don't think you can come in and drum yourself. They are everywhere! The strangest thing is that they all play the same one piece of music, maybe 20 notes long, over and over. Is this the greatest hit to ever come out of Lijiang? We don't know. But we have made a great video of the girls dancing to the ditty in 20 different shops.
The streets in Old Town are all cobblestone. The tourists are young, Chinese and so excited about their vacation that they packed their finest clothing. It is so hilarious to watch girls in 3 inch heels, try to maneuver the stones. They are of course also wearing straw hats and/or umbrellas to keep their skin from looking like they are peasants. There is a lot of fur and Hello Kitty to be found too. And the guys really dig cowboy hats. Please Chinese government let these people see more of the world on their TVs and computers so they will know how to dress!
Amy
- comments
Mackey Williams Nice one, Amy. Can't believe it made it past the censors. Hang in there! Love, Mackey
Kathy Essma When you get back to the USA, you definitely need to write (which you're already done) and publish a book. Love, Aunt Kathy (Loved your postcard)