丽江 Lijiang, The Venice of Yunnan

Lijiang is gorgeous. Touristy. Confusing. Crowded. Labyrinthine. And gorgeous. It's a canal town, but there are no boats on the canals, instead they are a form of water distribution through the old part of the city. There is a large reservoir, Black Dragon Pool, to the north, then a single stream down to two waterwheels at the north of old town from which canals run every-which-way. Apparently there are 354 bridges throughout old town!

The view from a cafe in old town across a small flower-filled square.

In addition to having gorgeous scenery, Lijiang is an interesting historical and cultural town. The old town and a few nearby settlements together form a UNESCO world heritage site. Although Lijiang has been settled since the Paleolithic, the seeds of old town were really planted in the 13th century. It has since been developed considerably as a tourist attraction, but it maintains a particularly unique cultural fusion of Naxi, Han, and Zhang.

Mornings in Lijiang and pretty and calm. Lijiang is lovely at night, too. (But it's when the crowds are at their worst!)

The drive here was also quite pretty. I particularly liked one wind farm that stretched across a long mountain ridge. This is just a small part of it!

More on Lijiang and its surroundings to come!