Hopefully I can tell myself to be stopped being a "Ni ni" and travel light n in style! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Reach the station @ 7 am. Guess what ?! The tickets are sold out for 730 am ?! How can that be when the tickets sales ARE SUPPOSE to start only at 720 am ?! 导游 was fumming mad. I was pretty cool about it, in China, you just have to be prepared to accept all this kind of crap. They dont fazed me anymore, maybe because I have lived with them for a yr .
We just have to settle for 830 am one instead.
Met a dutch couple, helped them to get their tickets. A french couple approached us after knowing that we can speak English and Chinese. Apparently, they have been ripped off ! The train station actually sold them the tickets (RMB70) to Zhongdian and asking them to just alight at Qiaotou. Whereas, our tickets to Qiaotou is only RMB15. 导游 tried to help them to change their tickets. In situations like this, Im very grateful that Im effectively bilingual.
70% of the passengers were ang mohs. However, there was this local lady who is from other province. She is just like a LOUD HAILER ! She talk so loud and non-stop ! Kept yakking away ! Maybe, its because she is travelling alone ? So have to talk at every opportunity ? DUHZ !
She actually say this :-
“韩国只要待一天就够了！去这个地方转一转，拍拍照就行了."
My eyes just rolled hearing comments like this ! She might as well stay at home to look at otos of different country !
Reached our Naxi Family Guesthouse @ 1pm, after 1.5 hrs of walking. Had lunch there. 
After our much needed break, we have to continue our trek. The much known 28 bends is waiting for us - uphill all the way till the top of the 28th bend. According to the map we had, it will take us 1.5hrs (3km) to reach the top of the bend.
Barely 15 mins of walking uphill, tiredness set in again ! Doubtful thoughts start seeping into my brain.
- Can I finish the 28 bends and reach the guesthouse before it is dark?
- Here I am, just panting away, not even enjoying the scenary, just thinking of whether I can complete it . Why did i put myself into all this 自我虐待 activities ?
- Am i really so weak, considering I have been running so much? Im just like all the other typical weak girls !
- Maybe I should had just take the lower trails, sit in the comfort of the bus. Stop at touristy n scenic spot to pose and take photos. Telling people I have been to Tiger Leaping Gorge.
Was also thinking if running a marathon is tougher or this trek ?! 
Maybe my mind was just not willing to be defeated, somehow or other, I make it to the top of the 28 bend ! Yippee ! The tough part is over !
Reach 茶马客栈 at 5 pm. The earlier advise that we got was that we can continue to walk to Halfway Guesthouse if we reached here before 5pm. We decide that we will be able to reach Halfway Guesthouse before dark.
The route from 茶马 to Halfway was just a flat route. Very easy to walk as compared to the rest. By 615pm, we reached Halfway.
Quite a nice place with a lake (Yes .. Its a lake, not 海) & a vast piece of grassland with horses. Apparently, the place is not accessible on foot, we need to be horse-riding. They have a few horse-riding package and they are not cheap ! (ok .. the price is ok for horse-riding, but not cheap for China std!) We chose the package which will cost us RMB380, after some bargaining, the boss agreed to be @ RMB300 (Yes .. everything can be bargain in China!) 
Got ourselves up the horse. Start to feel abit scare ! Paranoid thoughts start coming to my mind. Things like - what if I fall off the horse-back, break my head n bleed profusely! Seriously, you wont want to get injured in China and visit their hospital ! This is the last thing i wan to do ! The 师夫 asked me to hold the reins myself, I started to protest! Hearing me scream, he took back the reins.
<<导游>> have to DIY then, since we only have one 马夫.
We started the journey on the grassland. I can see some fears from 导游's eyes. At that point, I was glad that I dont need to maneuver the horse ! :P
We pass by many farms, with the mountains, blue skies and white clouds as backdrop ! The air is so fresh ! Funnily, the song <<康定情歌>>, came to my head. Maybe, been drinking too much China water! haha
Dint manage to go 七彩湖 as they are maintaining the roads leading there.
Went to 原头，it is like a mini waterfall. Actually the scenary reminds me very much of the kind of "waterfall photo" you find many yrs back then come with a clock face ?
Since we cant go to 七彩湖, we told the 师夫 to let us ride around the grassland longer. After > 1 hr on the horse, was feeling quite comfortable and gamed for the idea of "riding the horse" myself. Requested to hold the rein myself, but was turned down flatly ....... because the young horse Im on will go wild on the grass ! So basically, I dint have a chance to really RIDE A HORSE ?
The 师夫 also offered to give us a free boat ride ! :) Was really nice and relaxing ! 
During our horse-ride around the village, we saw alot of Propaganda like these below.
They will have things like :-
1) Having 1 child will means more wealth to the family;
Looking more relaxed and at ease
Nice wooden doors with craving to greet you
Its well worth every single cents !
Oh .. did i forget to mention there was a small screen showing MTV in each cubicle ?!
I like this photo alot ! 
I think they are call "dates"? One of my fav food when I was in China. So happy to found them this time again ! 
Sweet corn !! My favourite ! Surprisingly the ones at Yunnan taste pretty sweet as compared to the ones i get from Dalian 
They actually put our nationality on the receipt ? Hmmmm
Since we have never seen the making of 刀削面 before, we decide to take a photo of him in action. Whipping out the camera was a "mistake", it immediately warrant an astonished face from the chef and the locals at the shop !
He couldnt resist and blurted out .. "你的地方没有刀削面? Suddenly it seems like we are ailens from other planets - how can they not have 刀削面? All eyes were on us now ! Now we cant disguise ourselves as locals ! Darned !
刀削面是山西人民日常喜食的面食. The chef will have a dough in his hand, uses a knife and start shaving pieces of noodle out from the dough. 它同北京的打卤面、山东的伊府面、河南的鱼焙面、四川的担担面，同称为五大面食名品，享有盛誉。
The noodles were pretty good. A bowl will only cost you RMB3 !
Arent they wild ? Sitting on the roof
There were groups of people singing at opposite side of the stream, and they will pass "the singing baton" to the group opposite.
They will say something like “Yang1 Shuo4 Yang1 Shuo Yang1 Yang1 Shuo4"
This means that the "baton" is pass and the other group will need to follow up with a song.
It reminded me of us doing CHEERS during school days. 
Tourists gathering round !
Managed to find the Prague Cafe to find out more about 梅丽雪山, we wanted to see if there are any tours from Lijiang ? and the dangers or difficulties that we will faced if we are going to go without joining a tour.
We had dinner @ Lamu Tibetian Cafe. I like this Place ! It is a 2-storey Cafe with Al-fresco dinning on the 2nd floor, plenty of books/magazines for you to browse ! You can just sit on their balcony, and see the world goes by below you ! 
Our 1st group photo
We had Tibetian Momo, Stir-fried veges, Tibetian style tomato soup. The soup is just like some diluted pasta. But its actually quite nice !
We had bought tickets to watch Naxi performance. The chief of the orchestra was pretty humourous to a certain extent. Wont say I enjoy the performance since it is not the kind of music I would appreciate ? Think more suitable for my dad ? :P
Bad concert attitude was displayed by the Chinese ! *UGH!* Talking on the handphone during the performance ? It was not just for 3 mins ... it was for a full 10 mins ?!?! Playing with their plastic mineral bottles ?! Will they be ready for 2008 ?
Located 35km from Lijiang, soaring to 5596m.
Recently, Zhang Yimou directed a folk musical << 印象丽江>> against the natural setting of 玉龙雪山.
The audience will have a full view of the show staged on a round platform at an altitude of 3,100 metres above sea level, most likely the highest theatre in the world. The performance is a window into the local ethnic groups, particularly the Naxi people and their world.
The cast of more than 500 performers are local people of different ethnic groups, coming from 16 villages across Yunnan. When they recited poems and introduced themselves, they spoke Putonghua (Mandarin) with strong accents.
But too bad, I dint get to watch this musical. Watch it if you all have a chance !
The tickets are easily available are the tickets booth @ the old town itself. If I dint remember wrong, the tickets are priced @ RMB179 each. You will need find your own transport (either by public bus or hire a taxi) to bring you to the foot of the mountain. It is not too far from the old town itself. 
Since our room was not ready, we left our bags with them and went to look for breakfast !
We had 云南粑粑 for breakfast at this small alley. 
We walked back to 四方街 in a bid to look for more food. Its around 9 am now, and the crowd are coming in - there are group and group of tourists ! *Horrible!*
<<导游>> wanted something hot. We went into this vegetarian place and ordered soya milk. This one taste quite similar to the ones we have in Spore, but super diluted ! The ones I had in China before had a much stronger soya taste, which I am not used to it.
1 lady approached us whilst in the cafe. She recommended us to go 拉市海。This place was not mentioned at all by Lonely planet, however, it was featured in the chinese guidebook. Maybe, this is not a place for Westerners ? After some discussion, we decide to go tommorrow, the transport will cost us RMB40 to and fro.
Went to Naxi Family place for lunch. We order (1) stir-fried Brinjai, (2) Tofu & vege soup, (3) Chinese sausage and (4) 鸡豆凉粉 - this is one of Lijiang 特色小吃.
鸡豆是一种豆类，产于高海拔地区，产量极低，由该种豆制作的凉粉， 有冷热两种。
Dont like the dish though, it is like eating some flour like stuff being fried. Carbo-loading ??
Walk around the old town, it seems like all the road will eventually leads back to 四方街. 
Went up to 文昌宫, you can have a good overview of 丽江古城.
Started to rain. Decide to take a break @ SAKURA restaurant. This place is opened by a Korean who married a Chinese. They actually have a wide selection of food - Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Chinese and English. 
