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We started the day with a table full of breakfast offerings!! A bowl of congee; rice, cabbage and chicken soup, very tasty and almost calorie free. A chipped bowl of porridge - which turned out to be watery rice - that we left. A plate of dumplings, a folded pancake with syrup and Sam had a fried egg! Susie and I had coffee, it is so expensive here!!! I guess we are in the land of tea.
We then wondered around old Lijiang, nestling below the foothills of the Himalayas.... It is beautiful.... Curved roofs, red lamps, hundreds of small shops catering for the needs of the Chinese and foreign tourist, everything from plastic rubbish to hand crafted delights. Whole families living their lives in the open; small children playing and being hoisted over bare earth to pee; young boys getting their hair washed on the street; old men washing chickens in the cleaning pools; women selling barbied potatoes and sweetcorn. A complete soap opera acted out in front of your eyes.
We walked to Black Dragon Pool just north of the town to take in the stunning view of the lake, surrounding by pagodas and quaint bridges with the snow-capped Himalayas in the background. We drank tea sitting on a wall by the side of the lake and Susie accidentally pushed my strawberry milk tea into the crystal clear water; needless to say we rushed to find someone to fish it out before the e numbers killed the fish! We ate 'baba' (local flatbreads) from a street stall while meandering back to the Heavenly Inn.
We spent time today preparing for the big trek!! We have both managed to fit all the gear that we will need into baby rucksacks for the next four days.... We may end up being smelly but who cares. I (Angie) have sneaked in breakfast bars, sachets of hot chocolate and a Terry's chocolate orange.... And its all mine...
Dinner at the same place as last night. We are all feeling a little paranoid about being unwell on the trek so went there on the grounds it was yummy, cheap and did not make any of us illl!!!!! I (Susie) was however slightly disturbed tonight to discover several large goldfish swimming in a bucket by the entrance and to realise that that was probably what we ate there last night. Hmmm.
Back to the hotel via the tea shop next door and were treated to a traditional Chinese tea ceremony which, like much else in this fascinating country, seemed quite complex, involving as it did much infusing of leaves and pouring of boiling water over cups, trays and frogs!
Tiger Leaping Gorge tomorrow... we may be incommunicado for several days as we are heading into the back of beyond, trekking through the deepest gorge in the world on the edge of the Himalayas... Wish us luck xxx
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Cath Did Susie find the chocolate orange?