The Old Town of Lijiang is a World Heritage Site, and one can understand why after wandering around the streets. The city has a history going back more than 800 years. Early in the morning is the best time to explore - wandering around the quiet cobblestone streets, you can really appreciate the centuries old architecture.
The twisty streets climb up the hill, where there are some great views of the tiled rooftops, and one of the many bed and breakfasts on the hill would be a great place to spend the night or watch the sunrise.
After a morning of exploring the Old Town, we walked a few minutes down the road to Black Dragon Pool Park. This was a lovely park in a beautiful setting. Harry and John got blessed by the Naxi monks who live in the park, and they had some interesting Dongba artifacts and art in the museum. We spent a couple hours just wandering around the lake, and found a nice teahouse next to the lake to enjoy some tea and cold beer!
We wandered around the newer part of the city a bit, and then later that even, we caught a Naxi musical performance. The Naxi are an ethnic minority in China, and you can see a lot of their influence in Lijiang area, with their unique dress, language, temples, and art.
Naxi music is over 500 years old, and we were told that there are (3) reasons people like Naxi music: the age of the instruments; the age of the musicians; and the unique style of the instruments. Note that love of the music is not one of the reasons!
Not exactly my style of music, but it was an interesting show to give a listen.
We finally returned to our hotel (San He Old City Hotel, pictured below) ready for our journey to Tiger Leaping Gorge the next day.
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