Day 6 : 1st July 2011
We arrived back in Lijiang at about 2 pm - after a fast downhill drive - which took about 3 hours. After checking-in at our hotel - the Chateau Le Act Hotel - our previous guide in Lijiang - Ms Beautiful Goose - took us to one of her friend's restaurant in the Old Town. During our 3 days in the Shangrila, Ms Beautiful Goose took charge of a group of 20 Malay teachers from Malaysia and it was, according to her, a very stressful and testing time for her. She took them to the Muslim restaurant and none of them could eat any of the dishes. In the end these teachers simply 'tau-pau' home some steamed rice and ate it in their hotel room - probably with some 'sambal ikan bilis' or 'serunding' they must have brought from home. She also related at how she had to take them to the local mosque several times a day only to find that the mosque was often closed. It was quite a learning experience for her. She observed that the Malaysian tourists generally were not interested in history or in visiting tourist sites - particularly 'temples' - and she pointed out that most of them were 'overweight' and 'unfit' to walk the lanes and streets of the Old Town as we did. The Malaysian tourists were mostly interested only in 'shopping'! And they would buy a lof of the cheap but fake 'designer' bags and apparels............hmmmm Malaysians...........
Ms Beautiful Goose also told us that in the past she had only come across mostly Malaysian Chinese golfers and many of them after their day of golf wanted her to fix for them 'concubines' for the night........
Now that Ms Beautiful Goose had learnt something about Malaysian food preference - she took us to one of her friend's cafe who married a foreigner. The Naxi-Swedish partner served pizza and pasta at their outlet and it was very acceptable to us....
a local Naxi beauty at the North gate of Lijiang Old Town..
Old Town Castle Hotel..
Ms Beautiful Goose had promised us 3 days earlier that upon our return from Shangrila, she would walk us up to a vantage point of the Old Town to have a bird's eye view of the area. And this she did after our lunch.
lots of little cottages and inns as we walked up he hill..
a down-hill peek thorugh a door into a restaurant..
rooftops of the Old Town..
this viewing site was at the Northern end of town
whilst our hotel was at the Southern Gate...
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