Shaxi – Ian Louis Harris

China (Beijing, Yunnan and Sanya), 4 April to 27 April 2010, placeholder and links

We were very keen to see a rural and scenic part of China; Yunnan seemed to fit the bill. We’d see interesting places.

We’d meet interesting people.

There would be opportunities to do some wonderful walks.

We could stay in high quality hotels; unlike our fascinating but hardy experience in Tibet eight years earlier. Steppes East put together an excellent itinerary for us – here it is available for download: Harris – Final itin dep 4 Apr 2010.

We took some great pictures, divided into three albums:

One good story is already up and available – an unexpected cricket match between Tibet and England, with me representing England. The match was also reported in excruciating detail on King Cricket, a few weeks after the event.

As usual, there are loads of notes waiting to be written up properly. If you are desperate to see them and try to decipher them before I get there – feel free to download and have a go:

China (Beijing, Yunnan and Sanya), From Shaxi To Lijiang, 11 April 2010

Early rise – Ged strolls town.

Take breakfast at charming inn [Laomedian Lodge], then go to visit Templeton small museum.

See grand old family house from outside but sadly no one is at home.
Return the car to find one and porter in a state – one has locked his keys inside the car.

Within 45 minutes several experts have helped and half the town has watched a series of dextrous manoeuvers with screwdrivers and wires – success!
2 1/2 hour drive to Lijiang – meet new guide Wang Kuan (Alvin) and say goodbye to Zuay.
Then to Banyan Tree Lijiang. Frustration with the suite meant we didn’t get to properly settled until four-ish.

Then played tennis, checked out restaurants and shops, showered, changed, dined (Japanese eel, pork belly, lamb shank) and checked out the net.
Daisy crashed early, while Ged read. Then both looked at photos for a while.

There is a placeholder and links piece for this trip, with links to all the photographs, the full itinerary and stuff – click here for that.

China (Beijing, Yunnan and Sanya), From Dali To Shaxi Via Weishan, 10 April 2010

This was one of the most photogenic days of this holiday. If you really want to luxuriate in this day, it is worth looking at the first 70+ photos in the second Flickr album for this trip:

Again quite early start including check out (8:30).
South to Weishan – brand new road means this is only just over an hour from Dali.
Lovely well preserved old market town (really just the main strip preserved) – rarely visited by tourists, although the new road might well change all that. We were more watched than watching!

Back to Dali for light lunch at Kaiyi’s Kitchen (still great veg, sticky chicken and sweet) then on north to Shaxi – long drive.
Daisy took snaps of Sha Ping from a distance and zillions of snaps along the way. Ged slept mostly.

Time for an early evening stroll around this charming little town. We are staying in a guesthouse which is one of the old wooden courtyard houses on the main square – charming.