Shangri-la : Part 18 - Old Town Lijiang at Night

Jade Dragon Snow Mountain - Checked.
Lijiang Impressions - Checked.

Dongba Valley and Jade Water Village - Checked.

Everything as what we paid for.

It was about a 30-minute ride back to the Old Town of Lijiang. It was 5.30pm and the tour officially ended as we stepped off the bus.

In the Old Town, while walking back, we saw other travel services offering RMB340 to go to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. This does not include Lijiang Impressions. My friend said that ours is a good deal, although I am not sure because I don't know the individual prices of the places we went. I asked the tour guide, and he did not want to disclose (it's part of his work, and so I cannot blame him), even after I mentioned that I wanted to explain to my friends on the tickets if they came. He said the prices fluctuate according to the season.

We saw roasted pork and gazelle along the way.

We saw some traditional Han writings on the wall. 

This is the entrance of our inn. I finally got the chance to snap a photo of it. There are 2 entrances - one through the convenience store where we found this hidden jewel, and another which is the real entrance.

Before dinner, we had our peaches at the garden in the inn. I had mine and it was a bit spoilt with the brown marks. I was very afraid a worm was going to wiggle itself out.

Then, we are out from the inn at 6.45pm to look for dinner.

We saw a nice sculpture. My friend went to see what was inside, and she saw fish! I read that it was a well.

Story telling time : According to the legend, the Mongol troops led by Kublai Khan had stationed in this village and drank from this well while on their way south to conquer Dali in the winter of 1253.

Night was settling in, and I did not know how to capture the scenic view. How unfortunate! But I think the photos did not turn out too bad.

We saw a model posing for a photography session, and it was amazing that she did not feel cold, while we were walking with 2 layers of clothings.

Then, we saw a parade of boys and girls. It turns out that they were getting married that night.

We walked to the Bar Street in the Old Town. Almost in each bar, there were girls dancing. I saw a bar with man singing and there was no one inside. Haha! There was Sun Wukong (Monkey God) too, who has a telephone! It looks funny.

We were walking around looking for Western food. Finally, settled for this one. There were 2 floors in this cafe. We went upstairs. The place looks comfortable upstairs. Even with the opened windows, I did not feel the chill. I figured I must have experienced the worst chill in Yading.

While my friends were selecting the food from the menu, I was busy fiddling with my phone, and immediately changed my wallpaper - me in Yading! I love the photo.

For dinner, we had garlic bread, Hawaiian pizza (I think), spaghetti where the portion is smaller than the one we had in Olive Inn (the one which wikitravel stated has the best Western meal in town) in Shangri-la, salad, and chicken steak. Our dinner came to RMB200. We did not order any fancy drinks because we were going to have coffee in another cafe.

We went to this cafe to have coffee which have 2 men singing. And of course, the crowd was small. My friends had their coffee and I had my usual chocolate, because I can't sleep with coffee. Even taking coffee in the morning keeps me awake till late at night. I am such a hopeless case.

In the menu, they sell Kopi Luwak (Civet's Poo Coffee) for RMB480. So expensive. Very the expensive. The coffee sold in Kawah Ijen which I went in August, was at Rp75,000 for 12g of coffee powder. That 12g of coffee powder is sufficient for one cup of coffee. There are 2 different currencies, and so I am going to use RM for ease of comparison. In this cafe, it will be RM240 for a cup of coffee. In Kawah Ijen, the 12g of coffee powder costs RM25. The price in this cafe is close to 10x more than the 12g of coffee powder. 

Our 6 mugs came to RMB209 which was even more expensive than our dinner. I was happy with the events today. The highlight is definitely Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and Lijiang Impressions. 

Tomorrow's event - Our flight to Kunming. Initially, we wanted to take the train, but my friend saw that the flight ticket is cheap. So, plane it was. We were still in a discussion on what to do in Kunming, but fear not, last minute has always been our thing. Ad-hoc planning is always the best!