Double fish symbol on the roof peak for luck

Street vendor serving breakfast - it looked good!

Jade Dragon Snow Mountain trying to appear for us

Pealed garlic

Cheese?

Many things from which to make tea

Market activity

Traditional carrying basket

Vendor selling animal parts as religious objects

His products

Chairman Mao (from the bus window)

        After the market, we headed to Black Dragon Pool Park.  We entered through Civilization Gate and walked the path to the scenic lake, pagodas, and view of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.  Unfortunately, Lijiang is in a two-year drought and the mountain glaciers can't keep the lake full of water.  Instead, it is a dry, cracked lake bed.
      Next we entered the Five Phoenix Pavilion, which is 500 years old.  The building once housed a monastery.  A man in the courtyard was doing palm paintings of Chinese scenery.
        Holly tried to explain a Bazi Chart to us.  A turtle was killed with an arrow shot through his side.  The turtle rotates and his arrow points to numbers, zodiac figures, and Chinese characters.  It is used in fortune telling.
         On the north side of the Black Dragon Pool is the Dongba Culture Museum and it is a first-class museum.  A Dongba shaman was sitting at a desk drawing pictographs.  
 

Black Dragon Pool Park

This is what it is supposed to look like (picture from the internet)

Wonderful sign!

And yet another!

Sign for Institute of Dongba Culture

Bazi wheel

Five Phoenix Pavilion - Dragon Temple

Totem pole

Palm painting

Palm painting

Another great sign - "The seat of your position"

Dongba Culture Exhibition

Relief map of the Lijiang area

        As we walked back to the old town area for lunch, we were able to see more of the local sights. The city of Lijiang depends on a system of canals for its water supply. The water in these canals is moved by large, strategically placed, water wheels.

Water wheels

World Culture Heritage monument

Lunch spot

Desserts

Lady in costume (I took the picture before she said "no")

       Back at our hotel we sat out in the courtyard for a lecture by a Dongba shaman, Mr. He Li Min.  Mr. He explained that there are eight parts to the Naxi culture. No. 1 is the use of a shaman similar to a priest.  He conducts ceremonies and rituals like naming a child when he is three days old, a maturity rite at age 13, wedding rituals at age 20 when yak butter is put on their heads, a longevity rite at age 60, and funerals.  When someone is sick the shaman dances to drive away evil spirits - the Naxi culture does not use hospitals.  No. 2 - the shaman is a scholar who writes and reads manuscripts, many of which are the stories of how the earth and animals were created.  No. 3 includes the manuscripts, which preserve ideas and beliefs.  No. 4 is Dongba music.  They sing and chant twirling a hand drum and cymbal bell.  No. 5 is Dongba dancing used at the rituals.  No. 6 is painting, which is a very fine skill.  No. 7 is craft works like using willow to make hangings, and No. 8 includes all the ceremonial rituals and fortune telling. His presentation was excellent.

Naxi shaman

Naxi shaman

Fri., 6/21/13 - Lijiang to Kunming to Beijing
            We left the hotel at 6 AM to catch our flight to Kunming and then change planes to fly to Beijing.  The first flight on Lucky Air was delayed three hours because the rain, which started last night, resulted in clouds so thick at ground level that nothing could fly in, to then fly out.  Since we then missed our connection in Kunming on China Air, Johnson worked hard to get us on another Lucky Air flight that was also delayed.  We finally got to Beijing at 8 PM.  After another Chinese meal with ten different dishes we got to bed by 9:30 PM.  Our hotel is the Royal Phoenix in downtown and is a four star hotel, the finest we have seen so far on this trip.

Toilets in China and Mongolia

        Prior to our departure for this trip, everyone was asking "What about the bathrooms? How are you going to deal with the squat toilets in China?" etc. Well, first of all, a lady on our Antarctica trip who heard us say we were going to Mongolia came over to say we needed to get some Travel John disposable urinals, especially for the ger camps in Mongolia where the bathrooms were in the lodge some distance from our ger. Another handy product is the Freshette, sold by REI and others. Strengthening leg muscles is a third option. So, armed with all of these, we were prepared for China and Mongolia.
        Below you will find a pictures and comments about a limited number of the toilets we encountered.
        First of all, there are Western toilets in the major airports - Beijing, Kunming, Lijiang, Ulaanbaatar, etc., hotels, and larger restaurants. Often, these are not in use because the natives don't like them.
        The first "rest stop" we made in Yunnan caused Gale to produce the following: We stopped at a gas station and rest stop to use the crudest WC we have yet experienced.  The squat toilets were in cubbyholes without doors.  Of course there was no TP - we always carry our own now.  Since the locals just went about their business of peeing, so did we.
        Check out the pictures below - we weren't able to take very many, as you can probably understand.

        We found this style of toilet in our hotel room in Ulaanbaatar. The heated seat had to be turned down as it was too hot for comfort. Neither of us used any of the other included amenities.

        In this style, the opening necessitates that you face the person in the stall across from you. We also encountered a similar arrangement where the opening was perpendicular to the stall wall so everyone faced either forward (toward the stall wall) or backward.

        This style was found just inside the door at the Stone Forest in Kunming. It is probably intended for children's use as there were more private (a relative term) cubicles.

        Don't be deceived into thinking this might be a Western-style facility. It wasn't!

        This represents the typical Mongolian style facility found everywhere except in hotels and restaurants. It is characterized by a pit with a couple boards on either side and a door which probably won't close.

        Does this suggest what Chinese think is the best use for a Western toilet?

        We did manage just fine (some days you don't drink too much coffee in the morning) and the Travel Johns came in handy.