Of Rocks and Mountains

"Oh what are men compared to rocks and mountains!" Tis a line I always remember from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Truly nothing, even if I doubt the great lady herself had ever been to China. More photos! This truly is a disgusting backlog, clearly not cut out to be a blogger. It turns out life is more exciting than I think it is. 

So one of the things unique to Lijiang and its native Naxi tribe is it's embroidery schools. They are kept within the family, and the skill is mostly imparted to relatives (nieces, daughters, daughters-in-law, cousins etc). In Naxi culture, it is the woman who earns the upkeep! Not really a yay for equality because the men just spend their afternoons drinking tea (or liquor) and playing chinese chess..... 

So one must most definitely go to see an embroidery school, when one is in Lijiang! They truly are amazing works of art, so much patience! Some of the more intricate ones take up to 700 days to complete, quite insane! 

Look how the fishes sorta come alive! The bright parts are where the silk embroidery has been done. At the school we went to, they had a whole lot of little dogs which were once stray but now guard the house (or laze about) in exchange for food and pats. 

TEEHEE me when I'm happiest, surrounded by furry little dusty dogs. 

Another tourist destination: Tiger Leaping Gorge. Apparently a hunter was chasing a tiger and it leapt across the gorge onto that rock and onto the other side of the river, which you can see by the tiny humans on the other side, is pretty damn wide. 

Food! Cooked by the boy in the blue jacket! I saw boy because he could not have been more than 16 years old but he had pretty legit cooking skills. I hang my head in shame. 

Moar food! This one was one of my faveee meals! It's called Guo Qiao Mian (or Cross Bridge Noodles), and is light and not too oily (although look at that soup). First, according to what you order, they serve you a plate of condiments and a bowl of noodles. Usually comes with peavine, ham slices, quail's egg, beancurd skin, pickled veggies and some meat like chicken etc. Then later on a big boiling claypot of soup arrives! You're supposed to throw the noodles into the boiling soup, followed by all the other condiments and then eat it all. It was super delish, need to try to recreate this dish! 

Some Peacock Dance show, rather entertaining. Granted, I did fall asleep once but only because I was tired. Then off to the Stone Forest, a forest made up of limestone formations. Naturally, being the civilised people that we are, we spent the entire time there having fun with the topography. 

Teehee! Daddytong says hi. 

The End.