Finally I made it here to Lijiang, after rough travel in Kunming before I got here. I was glade that I finally visit Lijiang because I have always dream about it. Lijiang is so fascinating for me because of the architecture that live on for about 800 years history. For the first time I arrived at the airport and I was on the way from airport to the hotel. I could only the beautiful mountain and rice fiels which was relaxing and beautiful. I was impressed because of the nature and traditonal slow life. After about 30-40 minutes cab drive. I finally arrived at the beautiful hotel Crown Plaza Lijiang. I was happy and this hotel is so beautiful and the architecture was blended with an old town Lijing. I could not wait to walk around old town and the good thing about Crown Plaza is that the hotel is located right next to Old Town so I could walk to Old Town by the back door of the hotel. It was very convenient. Old Town Lijiang is also car free. After a horrible bad traffic in Kunming I was just glade not see car and bad traffic here in Lijiang.

 Lijiang was also very clean. It was nice to walk around and check out all the souvenir shops but most of the shops sale the same stuff such as Jade, Jewelry, Silver, Dongba Paper, Hand-Woven Scarves, Drum etc. There are many hand craft souvenir products here. It was very enjoyable walking around town. I love the vibrant and food vendors are all around. My first night here I gave it a try at a restaurant not so far from hotel. There was live music but it was in Chinese. The most difficult thing here was the lack of comunication even though I only want to or a bowl of rice, but they brought me three fried rice. I have to be honest with you that I really hate the service and rough maner here. They also wont take back instead being so rude to me. I did not want to have an argument with them and there was no point since they would never understand what I say or even with body languge it still would not help. However I think food is pretty greasy here. They used a lot of oil. I felt kind of sick afterward. It blown me away when I saw those food vendors pure a lot of oil on dumplings, bus, fried rice etc. I did not enjoy the food that much and too bad I got sick after eating these food. I finally decided to order food at the hotel for my dinner for the rest of the trip instead of eating out.

 I am usually very adventurous with the food but food here was not that good for me, someone I know that had visited Lijiang before told me to eat local food but when I saw those places. It did not look clean to me so this is really up to the standard on individual preference. Enough complaning but let's talk about my journey in Lijiang. This magnificant Old Town is rich with its old culture and architecture. It is a UNESCO Heritage site, Lijiang is located in the northwestern portion of Yunnan and borders Sichuan and the unique thing about Lijiang is that It is built where the Jade River divides into three and its streams form the canals and waterways which flow along the old town streets. There are also many bridges around Old Town which made its achitecture became so unique unlike any other places, but because of it is one of the most attraction city from tourist so there were so many touristy, cafe, sounevir shop, restaurants and hotels but lack of English communication here. You really need to stay at 5 stars hotel for better service. I found that wherever I go there were always someone tried to sell thing like tour packges etc. If you love a relaxing trip and not involt with tourist so I am not sure this is the best destination but well don't get me wrong. This town was amanzing. It was really beautiful but probably I just never got used to people spit all the time and talk like yelling. 

 For the best part of this trip were visiting Mu Family palace which was a short distance by walking from the hotel. I love walking up to the top of Lion Hill you get a view of the rooftops of Lijiang's ancient town. Lijiang has many canal and one of the most inteligence thing that was the water wheel engineer which created from the past century. This double water wheel is a part of ancient city water transportation system, is close to the entrance to the Lijiang Old Town. It is one of best attraction and this double water wheel also represent the living life along the canal of acient old town as well. Not so far from water wheel. I walked about 10 minutes to Black Pool Dragon Jade but before I got there. There were a few suckling pig vendors and with that smokey smell of the sucking pig made me so hungry! However on this trip I just had enough greasy food so I just only have a few photo of suckling pig to show you guys. People here also love yak jerky so if you love wild game. I think it would be a fun trip to be more adventurous with these type of food. 

 I also love eating local fruites here. There were tons of street vendors and they always tried to rip me off but for me fruites seem like the best choice of this trip for me. I finally arrived at Black Pool Dragon Jade. It was beautiful here and relaxing. From here I could see the beautiful view of the mountain and river. There was a boot where you can dress up like acient Naxi and have your picture developed here but I was not so crazy about it. After sometimes I decided to walk back to the hotel. I also discovered farmer market just really closed to the hotel. It was really fun for me. I love that craz vibrant in the market and again I bought a lot of strawberries. I really love the fruites here and since I would not bother to eat vendors food here again after I got sick and the greasiness that I could not stand. The farmer market was a wonderful experienced because I got to see local food and people life, but I did not like live chicken and duck in the cage and it seem very dirty to me. You can see the scene on my travel episode in Lijiang. 

 I was galde that I picked to stay at Crown Plaza because of the perfect location, beautiful and at least someone at the concierge could communicate with me in English. One of the person I knew told me that he loves local food but I prefered food at the hotel. There are some authentic Chinese dish on the meny too. I might seem difficult with food on this trip but believed me this was the first time. it's not like I have never travel in Asia before. I was born in the city of food vendors like Bangkok Thailand and I travel through Vietname which I love street food there a lot too but not here on this trip to China. There are so many beautiful attractions in Lijiang but I actually brought my parents to Lijiang so I did not want to do a hard trip plus I was really tired of getting in the car here. However I totally suggest to visit Leaping George and Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. I am sure It's really beautiful there. I hope you guys enjoy to pictures of my trip in Lijiang. Last that I wanted to say. I was glade that I finally visited Lijiang because I have always wondered about this place.