Last Yunnan post

though i still have many pictures to show, i think one week of blogging about my China trip is enough :) and so this shall be the last entry. wondered what i should show... eventually selected a spot i had tea at, which had superb view; and a picture of a local in Dali washing up in the morning just outside his shopfront. This was actually a series of 4 pictures- from his spitting; to gargling; face-wiping... and a final one showing end of all 'commotion'; with only harmless-looking stools and water remaining. alas, thought it wasnt too nice to publish someone else's washing-up routine (i wouldn't want anyone to do that to me; but then again, i also don't wash up in the middle of a street :P)It might not seem that high up from the picture, but we were really above almost everything else. Basically there's this pavilion where you can go for a bird's eye view of the old town... but it was overpriced and we decided that we've had enough of exorbitant and not-value-for-money tourist destinations. As such, wandered down from peak into the little streets and stumbled upon this inn! basically they are situated near to the pavilion and thus enjoyed almost equally good view. and tourists need only pay 2 RMB to go in to enjoy the view (with tea provided). So there i was, sitting above almost everything else :) I really really liked this place. imagine doing your readings up here! it was a little chilly, but still comfy enough for me to stay up there for close to an hour hehe. was also fun peering down at rooftops below you and watching human activity down there.

on this morning set off to the city wall with hopes of capturing the sunrise. but it was too cloudy. so instead wandered around on the city wall, looking down at locals preparing for the day's activities/business. this guy caught my eye... and using my ultra-zoom, i managed a pretty close-up from maybe 30 meters or so away up on the wall. tried to be discreet too; cos i was ultimately sneaking a picture of his daily washing-up routine! :P

Yunnan (4) - Of kitties, dogs and chickens

Before heading to Lijiang from Dali, we had a Tibetan-style lunch at Jim's Tibetan Cafe. Across the street was this book/DVD store whose exterior looked like a place I would like. And so i entered. They had a really great selection of books and DVDs... but what really distracted me for the first 10 min or so in the store was a nicely decorated corner for ppl to chill out. There was a curious kitten pawing the chess pieces on the chessboard... highly extremely unresistably cute. By the time i whipped out my camera and tried to capture the endearing scene, the kitten had unfortunately jumped out of my imaginary frame and down onto the floor. :(

There it is, looking really cute and innocent but perhaps really just eyeing my camera quite suspiciously. The curious/playful creature bounded off soon after I took this shot.

There it is once again, on the other side of the chessboard. Waited quite long for it to look up into my camera, but it never really did. Anyway i really loved the entire arrangment of chessboard, flowers and other random objects on this table. The person who did this must be a genius!

There were two dogs on the roof of a certain wing within the monastery grounds. Have never seen dogs wandering on rooftops before and they (perhaps unfoundedly) felt a little 'celestial' to me :P
The chicken seller with his caged-up chickens at the market at Xizhou, near Dali. I think maybe some 10 years back we could still see similarly caged-up chickens in wet markets in Singapore... remb mini outings to wet markets with my aunt/grandparents as a kid when living at my Grandma's place. not sure about today though. hehe i suppose we can definitely see some if we visit poultry farms :P

Yunnan (3) - Food

There was a huge variety of Yunnan (at times Tibetan) cuisine as we moved through the different cities. The best culinary experiences were in Dali and Lijiang. Didn't manage to sample all the local food; but think i still did a good job overall :) Most of the ventures were worthwhile, with only a couple of 'bad eggs' :)

Yak butter tea in Sakura Cafe, Old Town, Lijiang. It actually comes in two flavors- sweet and salty! The salty tea sounded too weird to me and so opted for the sweet version. Tasted interesting but pretty good!
Tibetan bread with honey for breakfast in Lijiang, at a cafe called Lamu's House of Tibet. The bread was soft, chewy but a lil too greasy. However, it went pretty well with the rich, sticky honey. Yummy.
A Naxi sandwich-- a fusion dish i think, with Naxi-style bread and 'western' fillings, including cucumbers, tomatoes, pan-fried breaded chicken and pickles. Huge portion, but quite delicious.
A local snack termed fried Dali Cheese in the restaurant menus. Saw it in many places along the street and thought... it must taste quite good? bought one 'cheese fan' to try; but on the contrary it tasted quite HORRIBLE. expected this to taste sweet and milky; but instead it was dry and sour... bleah.
Lastly, halved pig heads, pig trotters and a packet of pig brain right in the middle. Well, don't think this counts for food - least not in my case. however, i couldn't really categorise it under 'animals' either, since it's really just slaughtered and disfigured parts of the pig. erm... saw this in a local market in Xizhou, some 15 km away from Dali. was rather grossed out actually, but it was interesting nonetheless. The man who was hawking this was really friendly, and quite proud of his pigheads, too.