"Lijiang - Venice of the East" a Lijiang Travel Page by hooiluangoh

You find the place full of rich chinese tourists. And the night scenes (if the lights are up) so beautiful it is a little unreal.

Then again, the view in the day with the snow mountain as the backdrop can be awesome.

This town was "discovered" and developed into a tourist destination after the 1996 earthquake. The new town just sprung up after that time too. Before that the locals were into forestry and farming. Now perhaps most people's work have something to do with the tourism industry.

As you walk along the street in the old town, you find 6 kinds of business:
1) tourladies asking you if you want to go to the Jade Dragon Mountain.
2) hotels/motels/accommdation
3) restaurants/bars
4) silverware
5) yak's jerkey
6) Dongba handicraft

And no heating in the buildings. So it can be really cold in the evenings. Luckily you may get an electric blanket.

I find Camel's bar at the market square (Si Fang Jie) a very good cafe which does not overcharge, and the keeper friendly, the place clean with large sofa and plenty of videos to choose from.

Food wise, try the soya bean noodle (RMB 3) near the old bridge. The owner, a plump woman, is the nicest busineswoman I find in Lijiang.

To those whose budget is tight, this is a relatively expensive place to travel (compared to Dali). And the quality of accommodation is really so so (again, compared to Dali). Even the food in my subjective opinion, cannot compare to Dali. And the people (the Naxi minority) are a lot more business-oriented, and hence are very interested in your deep pocket.

A trip to the Jade Dragon Moutain may appear reasonable when the cab fare is only RMB 60 to RMB 80, but there are all the other charges and they all add up....

If you want to see the "original" Lijiang, go to the bus stop near the Big Water Wheels, and take the number 8 bus to "Li Ke Long" stop. From there take another van-bus to another town called "Suhe". This was literally the original Lijiang, as the Naxi who moved south built the town after Suhe. Tourist beware: the buildings are really old, but there is a crystal-clear pool in there. When you come back to Lijiang, you will think its water muddy.

The most inexpensive way to see the mountain is, however, a short walk to the north of the old town, into a park called "Black Dragon Pond" - Hei Long Tan. You have to may for the admission as well (RMB 10??), which is inexpensive, and this is where you see the spring bubble. The water flows all the way to the old town. The pond offers a good reflection of the Mountain.

If you want to understand why the Yangtze River ends up in Shanghai, then you should hire a cab (about RMB 180) to see the First Bend of the Yangtze River. Had the Bend been absent, then Yangtze River perhaps flows through Vietnam and be the second Mekong.