YuLong Snow Mountain

29 October 2007 – Lijiang - YuLong Snow Mountain
6th day – afternoon



The scenic spot after lunch was excited. It was the YuLong Snow Mountain or the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain located 15 km north of Lijiang city with an altitude of 5600 meters (18,400 feet) above sea level, is the highest mountain on the southern bank of the Yangtze River. There are totally 13 snow-covered peaks in this mountain. The Jade Dragon Snow Mountain is the mountain chain, which is snowcapped year round year round and its shape like a glittering jade dragon lying on the top of the mountain. The mountain is a holy mountain for the Naxi people, a soul of the tribe. Allegedly, the Naxi tribe believed that their Genius "Sanduo" was the god of mountain, living on the Jade Dragon Mountain. It is also a holy mount of love in the eye of the Naxi people.


Water Step Ladder




The Alpine at YuLong Mountain








The scenery can be divided into four kinds: the alpine snow area scenery, the water scenery, the forest scenery and the meadow scenery.


Walking Track at YuLong Mountain with Pine Trees at both sides




Everybody was in full armour. I wore 5 pieces of clothing, a short sleeve t-shirt, a long sleeve t-shirt, a cardigan, a wool sweater and a vest with gloves and stockings on as the Malaysian tour guide told us it would be very cold. Four of us shared a bottle of oxygen for RMB40 which we did not really need it. We took a cable car up the mountain to the YunShan Plateau. There are stalls selling coffee and snack up at the cable car station up in the mountain. From the station we walked for about 20 minutes to a green pasture where we stopped to take photographs. Then we continued to walk a big round for about 40 minutes to return back to the cable car station. At the side of the walking tracks are mountains slopes with all types of plants especially the pine trees. It was so sunny and hot that I have to take off all the clothing except for the t-shirts. I was a bit disappointed that the type of scenery we experienced by waking along the walking tracks is the meadow scenery with alpine meadows and the alpine snow scenery from afar was not very beautiful or cleared.
The water scenery mainly refers to the scenery along the banks of the White Water River or Baishui River, the Heishui River and more than ten pools and springs at the foot of the eastern part of the Yulong Snow Mountain which is supposed to be splendid was not so because of the renovation going on.


White Water River at the foot of YuLong Mountain under renovation



It was already 6.30 pm when we left for dinner from the pools. We went straight back to the hotel after dinner instead of going to enjoy the night scene of the old town because few of the team members were not feeling well.

Lijiang

29 October 2007 – Dali - Lijiang
6th day – morning

The journey from Dali to Lijiang was about 3 hours on coach so we have to start the journey as early as 8.00 am. On the way, we visited a 5 stars toilet which is the cleanest and most modern toilet with locked door among all that I have ever visited in China. We visited a tourist silver shopping spot where I bought a necklace without any pendant for RMB150.

Lijiang (the Beautiful River), the Naxi Autonomous County is an old city in beautiful surroundings in northwest Yunnan. The old town of Lijiang differs from other ancient Chinese cities in architecture, history and the culture of its traditional residents the Naxi ethnic, the people there are called 胖金哥 and 胖金妹 (male and female respectively). It is situated on a plateau at an elevation of 2,600m and is impressive because of its scenery and lush vegetation. With the Jade Dragon Mountain as backdrop, the old town has adapted itself harmoniously to the natural scenery.

Ancient City and Foreigners' Street (Yang Ren Jie)

28 October 2007 - Dali Yang Ren Jie
5th day – afternoon



The evening visitation at 4.00 pm enlightened everybody. We were given two hours until 6.00 pm to shop at Ancient City of Dali. One of the streets there is the "Yang Ren Jie", i.e. the "Foreigners' Street", as the name suggests, frequented by foreign visitors shopping or having a good time in teahouses. There are many silver shops along the Dali Ancient Town, Mingzhu Square and I bought 2 pairs of silver earings for RMB6 and a bangle for RMB10. Many team members bought the woolen hat at RMB10 each as our Malaysian tour guide said it was very cold at YuLong snow maintain.