Lijiang Day 1 (0419) - Getting There

Carrie, her dad and I made it to the airport and on our flight painlessly. Unfortunately there was a lot of turbulence and the western breakfasts ran out right before me. I guess there are Chinese who prefer Western breakfasts to their own. Argh! The safety video was interesting and included such safety tips as: "Take off your shoes and any sharp jewelry if crashing" and "Get into bracing position." First off, if the plane is going down and there is chaos, I don't think I will be thinking about taking off my shoes and any sharp jewelry. Luckily I wasn't wearing any sharp jewelry, but that could have been a disaster if I was.

When we arrived at Kunming, we met up with Steve (another Fulbrighter), who was going to be on our flight to Lijiang. We had five hours before the next flight, so we left the airport and went to the nearest restaurant. Strangely enough, as soon as you walk out of the Kunming Airport, it looks like you are in the city, so it was quite convenient. The food was pretty tasty, however there was an older woman hocking up loogies onto the restaurant floor!!! I guess she thought that since it was being mopped, she could just spit on the floor. Nastiness. I am not sure if I have mentioned my disgust with hocking loogies yet, but it makes me sick. I can hear it a mile away. Hocking loogies indoors makes me even more disgusted!

After lunch we checked into our flight and went through security. The sign at the security entrance was pretty amusing. Here are the things you cannot take on the plane, exactly as they were written:
Guns&Ammunition
Truncheon
Controlled Dirks
Fireworks&Ammunitionk
Megnetic or Redioective Artieles
Radioective Artieles
In Flam Mables
Acid or Toxic Articles
Corrosive Avticles
Explosives

The flight to Lijiang was alright but we had a lot of turbulence (again). When we arrived at Lijiang we were all amazed at the scenery and we were breathing in the fresh air as deeply as possible. The sky was such a vibrant blue that the landscape looked unreal, like it was a painted set.

A driver took us into Old Town to our hotel, Fan Guan Guesthouse, where we met the other two Fulbrighters, Adina and Justin, and our guide, Lily. It was already evening, so Lily took us to a Naxi restaurant deep in Old Town called Mama's. The roads in Old Town all look very similar and there are many canals and bridges to cross, so it is very easy to get lost. When we got to Mama's, we ordered a bunch of traditional Naxi food, including a fish dish. Then we heard a flop and looked over to see the chef by a little pool of fish and one fish flopping around on the floor. It was there for quite a while until the chef picked it up and brought it into the kitchen. Sure enough when we got our food, our fish dish looked the same size, so I am guessing it was the same fish. Eek!

After dinner we walked around Old Town for a bit. All of the buildings had red lanterns, the roofs were lit up, there were koi in all of the canals, women singing to people in the restaurants, various meats and veggies on sticks waiting to be cooked right in front of you . . . it was all very fascinating and tickled every sense.

A couple of us decided to go to a bar because we didn't want to go to bed yet. We went to this one that was along the canal. There was a woman, dressed in traditional Naxi clothing, across the canal singing to people in the bar. These women are all over and are employed by the bars and restaurants. We noticed that she would sing to a table across the canal and then they would sing something back. We liked this one song she sang about "your legs are as big as hams," so we asked her to sing it to us. Then of course we had to respond and so since none of us know any Chinese songs, we sang "Row Row Row Your Boat" in a round.

After the bar we went to our rooms and had to pack for several nights away from Lijiang.