Arrival and Impression of Lijiang

First of all, we took a train from Dali to Lijiang. The journey takes about 2 hours on a regional train. Taking the train and everything else, like buying or picking up tickets and boarding the train, went smoothly - we now expect nothing less from China. :) Although most people speak little English, it is usually enough for the essentials - and it is still more than we can speak Chinese...

I don't find train travel itself super comfortable, but maybe a picture says more than words:

In Lijiang, like in Dali, there is both a New and an Old Town. We are in the Old Town, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Unfortunately, the Old Town was largely destroyed in an earthquake in 1996 and rebuilt over the next three years.

We like the city better than Dali. Why actually? There are also plenty of tourist shops here, but somehow everything is better distributed, as the city is bigger than Dali. In addition, the salespeople are not pushy - we haven't been ripped off yet either. It is not peak season right now, so the number of tourists is manageable. However, mainly domestic tourists can be found here as well. As Westerners, we are quite exotic.

On the first half day in Lijiang, we strolled through the picturesque alleyways and in the evening we went to Lion Hill to watch the sunset.

In the evening, on the recommendation of our hotel, we went to V. Sherry Restaurant: long lines indicated that it is a very popular restaurant in Lijiang. There were few Westerners in the restaurant, so we were very interestedly observed by our Chinese table neighbors during our meal. I found that very uncomfortable because I saw out of the corner of my eye how they laughed - we can eat with chopsticks, but apparently we did something else that amused them. It was delicious nonetheless.