Finally, Some Pretty Pictures

Okay, the trip was not an unremitting parade of misery.  We did see some pretty things.  Here are some of them.

We'll start in Kunming.  These are lotuses in Green Lake:

While in Kunming, we made a day trip to Shilin, the Stone Forest.  This is scenic area of bizarre karst formations.

Here are Tom and Lillia in one of the narrow slot canyons there.

This is a Chinese mosque in a Muslim area south of Dali.

Near the mosque, an old largely abandoned Buddhist complex.  It was full of amazing sculptures and carved and painted doors.

(Look out behind you, Lillia!)

This is a qilin, known as kirin in Japanese.  This is the same critter you see on bottles of Kirin beer.

In the same area, minority women in a market.

A side street in Dali.

A riverside house in Lijiang Old Town.

The Zhongyi Market in Lijiang.  Does anyone know what that long white-tipped pink thing is?  I've never seen it before or since.  If you know, leave a comment.

Mangosteens and other fruit at Zhongyi Market.  Mangosteens are one of my favorite fruits and I hadn't seen fresh ones in thirty years.

More Zhongyi Market.  Lovely mangoes.

A Tibetan temple in Lijiang.

At the same Tibetan temple.  I love the kid sticking his finger in the Buddha's belly button.

Instead of staying in the tourist ghetto of Lijiang, we stayed in the charming nearby town of Shuhe.   There were plenty of tourists there too, but it wasn't overrun like Lijiang.  Here are some riverside cafes in Shuhe.

One of the soggy but cute yaks in the fog and drizzle of Yak Meadow on Snow Mountain.

Wildflowers at Yak Meadow.

Scene from the bus from Lijiang to Shangri-La.

World's largest prayer wheel in Shangri-La.

The Zhu Family Mansion in Jianshui.  Jianshui wasn't on our original itinerary, but we added it to break up the long trip from Kunming to Yuanyang.  It turned out to be our favorite place.

Sewer covers in Jianshui.  And here I thought Japan was the only country with decorative manhole covers.  The amazing thing was that we saw no two alike.

This was our favorite restaurant in Jianshui, and probably our favorite of the whole trip.  These jugs were full of homemade wines.

And finally, the Yuanyang rice terraces.  I couldn't stop taking pictures here.  Most of these were taken from the roof of our guesthouse.

Wow.  If this was the only post you looked at, you'd think we had a great trip.