16 August

I arrived in Lijiang a few hours ago, and so far I'm not too impressed. It seems little more than a busier, touristified, hyped-up Dali. At least in Dali you can take a rest by waterfall in the middle of the street, but here it's difficult to find anywhere to sit and, even when you do, you have to endure the racket and stares of the Chinese tourists. It seems more Chinese come here to gawk at the occasional foreigner than come here to see the sights. If you want to get a feel for the numbers, imagine the density of Xiangyang Market times ten with a lot bigger area. Dali seemed very quaint and laid-back, but Lijiang, in comparison, just seems so artificial and money-obsessed. Kind of makes me wonder why I left Shanghai in the first place...

I had a god-awful lunch at a local restaurant in Old Town, a Lijiang flat-cake (Lijiang baba) and some beef noodle soup, which seemed to be all beef and little noodle. Definitely a WRB (Wouldn't-rush-back). I couldn't even bring myself to finish it, despite the hefty 40 RMB price tag. In desperation, I went to another place for a 12 RMB "pizza roll," which was about as good as could be expected.

I'm sitting in one of the cobbled squares of the pedestrianized Old Town now, killing time while waiting for a call from Molly, my friend who's become an "American refugee" and opened a Tibetan cafe out here. Only about three hours to go...I just saw a dance routine by some local ethnic women, not Bai this time, judging by their dress, probably Naxi. I would've joined in, but I had to guard my luggage from overly-curious kids, some of whom were playing with my zippers earlier (the ones on the luggage I mean...not a Michael Jackson moment or anything) It's still refreshing to see people in their native dress here, it's so unlike the drab greys and browns (and semi-translucent socks) of Shanghai. I feel dirty just writing that. Plus, not knowing a damn thing about their native dress, even if they ***** it up I'd still be none the wiser. Contrast this with Shanghai, where I regularly almost burst blood vessels at the sight of a misplaced pleat at 100 paces.

Before coming to the Old Town, the bus let everyone off in New Town, which was just a regular Chinese city, with oh-so-many soviet Lego-block buildings. I've heard that this is slowly being "traditionalized" too, which, while hardly authentic, will at least be a bit less of an eyesore.