Steve Perrin:
It seems as though we’ve spent a lot of time moving
so far in our trip. By now, our new fliers are seasoned
air travelers and have learned new ways to amuse themselves
while waiting to fly. We took a very short flight from
Kunming to Lijiang today. We’ll spend the next two
days here exploring Lijiang and Dali before returning
to some intense work in Kunming. Both Lijiang and Dali
are culturally rich areas, Lijiang being predominantly
Naxi and Dali is home to a large Bai population.
Paxton will be your guide today, giving you some thoughts
on what we’ve done today.
Paxton Belcher-Timme:
The day opened with an breakfast of noodles, sauces, and
spices. The feeling of a spicy breakfast is different
than we’re used to in the US. As good as it tasted,
it was still strange to eat spicy foods at seven in the
morning. As the meal came to a close we all headed to
our rooms to pack for the flight.
The flight from Kunming to Lijiang was under an hour,
but very turbulent. On the flight the man in front of
me turned around to ask where I was from. I told him Vermont,
as a look of surprise came over him. The man continued
to say that he was from Middlebury College, he was a teacher
at the college, and invited us to come to the Asian Studies
program at the college over the summer.
We all left the airport and got on our coach bus for a
beautiful ride to the hotel. The hotel was gorgeous. The
hotel is an ancient looking building with the classical
feel to it; our doors open to a two story courtyard with
a Chinese garden inside. The hotel is in the old style.
Dr. Wu took us out to lunch at a restaurant called Hot
Pot. In Hot Pot, your table companions choose the ingredients
and then the whole table eats from a big bubbling pot
in the center. We chose to eat spicy broth and also ate
many strange foods in it.
After Hot Pot, we went to Black Dragon Pool and learned
about the ethnic groups in the area. The Dongba are the
dominant group and we learned a little about their culture
and met a Dongba shaman. Following this, we were able
to spend some time in small groups exploring the old section
of the city. Lijiang is a great place and we are excited
to be here.
