Lige
Just had 3 cultural nights in a row going to the Mosu singing and dancing display, as it’s next to my guesthouse not too much of a strain and nightlife here not the most active. The local Mosu dress up in native costumes and dance around a fire singing their love songs and at the end do the matchmaking. All very touristy but its on a small scale and provides a lot of fun, amusement and photo opportunities. And the young children all dressed up are so sweet.
Yesterday was a rain stopped play day. Never stopped all day and with the cold to match. Today better and took a long walk to Sichuan Province – actually the other side of the lake. They must be wealthier than Yunnan as the road is paved from the Sichuan border. And within minutes the locals were filling up my backpack with walnuts. Some of the little villages were so sweet, with the locals still wearing traditional clothes and a lovely mix of old and new.
In one of the villages a motorbike tuk tuk driver started yapping away in Chinese and pointed to the next village so I just thought whatever and jumped in. A bit further 2 chinese tourists joint us wanting to go somewhere. We went further and further away from my end of the lake and then stopped at some place and the driver asked for money and then said bye and pointed to a path for me to take. So now totally lost I followed the path only to end up lost amongst many paths with just the odd hamlet and farmers vegetable plots. In the end I had to double back and after a long walk was back on the main road but the wrong side of the lake and no traffic. Eventually a lama came passed on his motorbike and gave me a lift. This started well until the chain came of and jammed itself in the backwheel. Without tools this kept us amused for a while. Eventually it was half fixed and he insisted on us going to his place to clean up and eat and be shown the buddhist shrines. Then he offered to take me further by horseback but the horse looked big and if it was as well maintained as his motorbike it didn’t seem a good idea to start learning to ride now. So it was another long hike, I was actually pleased when I got back into Yunnan, just seemed closer to home despite being 3 odd hours away and 7pm. Not having warm clothes or a torch I was reduced to running as it gets dark about 8pm and walking of a cliff didn’t have much appeal. A group of girls did come pass and started singing their love songs to me, I don’t whether I was meant to join them at their place but mine has internet and a heater !
Eventually a car came pass and they saved my day by giving me a lift. So all in all a fun day .
Had planned to leave Saturday but now thinking of hiking around the lake, staying in some of the villages as they are great and given the speed of development here that won’t be the case for long.
Tags: China, Lige, Lugu Lake, Travel, Yunnan
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