Lijiang, China
Arrived here yesterday. It was 68 degrees F, what a change! That's the coldest it's been since Tasmania. Lijiang is in a beautiful city in set in the middle of the mountains. It's at an elevation above 7,000 feet. I can feel the thinner air when I'm biking around here.
I'm staying at a very friendly Chinese run place called the Old Town Garden Resort. On arriving at here I discovered my computer would no longer boot. Considering I have all the Laos photos plus hundreds of bits of information and trip planning stored on it, it was quite anxiety producing. It has become a source of security for me. I stayed at a small guest house and asked the woman that worked there if she knew of a place to fix it. She did and helped me rent a bicycle and go with her to the place. We spent most of the morning there. She's very nice but doesn't speak a lot of English and no one at the computer shop spoke any. The technician was very nice as well. The data was still good, but the Windows systems was hosed. We left the system for him to work on and returned to the Garden Resort.
I had lunch with the family that runs the Garden Resort. It was family style with everyone picking food from the communal serving plates and bowls. I was using chopsticks and they kept trying to hand me a fork, so I guess I wasn't doing that brilliantly. Oh well, I persisted until the end. It was very kind of them to include me and I enjoyed it very much.
It ended up taking all day to fix it, including purchasing an external 2nd drive to copy the data to, and I now use the Chinese version of Windows. I will get an English version of Windows in India. The amazing thing is they got it fixed, I didn't lose any data (just programs) and it only cost me a little over $100 USD.
In the evening I decided to go to the Naxi Classical Orchestra performance at the last minute. My host at the Garden Resort again came to my rescue, providing me an umbrella and guiding me down the maze of streets in the old town to the performance hall.
The performers were dressed in brilliantly colored traditional costumes. The conductor was very generous in describing the origin and meaning of the pieces. The music and instruments were fascinating. There was a great variety in the music including solo voice, jew's harpe and flute as well as the full orchestra. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Afterwards it was pouring rain and I appreciated my hosts foresight in providing an umbrella.
It has been amazing and wonderful and frightening that I have entrusted by life to people in the most different culture I have encountered since traveling. I have not encountered another westerner in the last day and a half until now. Communication has been challenging, but reflects the patience and kindness of the Chinese people I have met. I have made frequent use of a picture book as well as writing things on paper. Chinese people appear to be able to read and write English a lot better than they can speak it. I am humbled by the experience.
Arrived here yesterday. It was 68 degrees F, what a change! That's the coldest it's been since Tasmania. Lijiang is in a beautiful city in set in the middle of the mountains. It's at an elevation above 7,000 feet. I can feel the thinner air when I'm biking around here.
I'm staying at a very friendly Chinese run place called the Old Town Garden Resort. On arriving at here I discovered my computer would no longer boot. Considering I have all the Laos photos plus hundreds of bits of information and trip planning stored on it, it was quite anxiety producing. It has become a source of security for me. I stayed at a small guest house and asked the woman that worked there if she knew of a place to fix it. She did and helped me rent a bicycle and go with her to the place. We spent most of the morning there. She's very nice but doesn't speak a lot of English and no one at the computer shop spoke any. The technician was very nice as well. The data was still good, but the Windows systems was hosed. We left the system for him to work on and returned to the Garden Resort.
I had lunch with the family that runs the Garden Resort. It was family style with everyone picking food from the communal serving plates and bowls. I was using chopsticks and they kept trying to hand me a fork, so I guess I wasn't doing that brilliantly. Oh well, I persisted until the end. It was very kind of them to include me and I enjoyed it very much.
It ended up taking all day to fix it, including purchasing an external 2nd drive to copy the data to, and I now use the Chinese version of Windows. I will get an English version of Windows in India. The amazing thing is they got it fixed, I didn't lose any data (just programs) and it only cost me a little over $100 USD.
In the evening I decided to go to the Naxi Classical Orchestra performance at the last minute. My host at the Garden Resort again came to my rescue, providing me an umbrella and guiding me down the maze of streets in the old town to the performance hall.
The performers were dressed in brilliantly colored traditional costumes. The conductor was very generous in describing the origin and meaning of the pieces. The music and instruments were fascinating. There was a great variety in the music including solo voice, jew's harpe and flute as well as the full orchestra. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Afterwards it was pouring rain and I appreciated my hosts foresight in providing an umbrella.
It has been amazing and wonderful and frightening that I have entrusted by life to people in the most different culture I have encountered since traveling. I have not encountered another westerner in the last day and a half until now. Communication has been challenging, but reflects the patience and kindness of the Chinese people I have met. I have made frequent use of a picture book as well as writing things on paper. Chinese people appear to be able to read and write English a lot better than they can speak it. I am humbled by the experience.
posted by Chris at 3:00 AM
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