Tibetan Temple - Near Shangri-La, Yunnan

While in Shangri-La, we had a chance to visit a Tibetan Temple.  This will have to be my first encounter of a Tibetan Temple, so I didn't know what to expect.  But I know I always wanted to photograph the prayer flags, and I didn't disappoint, however, I don't know think I did a very good job of capture them, somehow, it's just not very dramatic...  


Colorful

A view of the mountain and the city - it snowed that day.  We are at around 4000+ meter in elevation 

A 3-story tall prayer wheel, it was not easy to move, took a whole team of 10 people to move it.   

Ladies - I don't think they were nuns. 

Carving on the Prayer wheel 

Roof line - the satelite dish sort of ruined the old style look...
 

Looking back at the temple. 

Macau

Macau, former colony of Portugal, is now under China's rule.  Its a special district, and Chinese citizens must get a special VISA before they can cross the China/Macau border.  I am using US passport, so no problem at all.  It was only a 2 hour bus ride from city of Guangzhou. 

This place is much smaller than Hong Kong, which I enjoyed visiting a year ago - even though it was only a day trip.  This time, we spend a night, hotel rate was not bad at all, around $102, I was expecting much higher rate, and the room was very comfortable, so I am not going to complain much...   :)


Street scene - lots of pawn shops and jewelry stores, just like Vegas.

One of the older casinos.
 

European styled plaza.  I like this type of stuff, very relaxing feel to it.   but just around the corner, the massive humanity awaits
 

Here we go - people every where.   waiting in line for some food...
 

St. Pauls church - burned down many years ago, this is what's left.   This of course, a must see land mark.
 

 

Grand Lisboa in the distance
 

 

 

 

 

 

Can be very hilly here.  Get a good pair of walking shoes
 

Old fort 

Rio Casino at night
 

Another Casino - not a lot of people in this side of the island for some reason. 
 

Yours truly, pretending to be a photographer
 

Grand Prix Macau
 

Another casino, again, not a lot of people
 

A new casino, just finished recently

China - Road Sides

Province of Yunnan is located in a fairly mountaineous region of China.  Because of the mountains, it is very hard to open construct road ways to link cities within the province (translates to high cost).  The preferred methods of transportation is actually by air.  There are 13 airports for this province, which, considers who rural this province is, this is quite a bit of airports.   It doesn't mean travel by air is cheap, plan your trip accordingly to reach this place. 

What is Yunnan known for?  Actually, I believe you can find all 56 classified ethnic minorities in this province, which is a big draw for people who are interested in different cultures of these minority groups. 

We travelled by bus to go from cities to cities, very tiring, but we stopped at some rest area to stretch, or, restroom breaks....

 

 

Prayer flags.

Modified farm tractor to carry lumber.  Lots of construction in the Shangri-La area. 

Road side restroom.  Cute little girl.  Too bad I didn't get a clear shot as I took this when I was ready to board the bus.

Fruit vendor. 

Baked potatoes.  No sour cream or bacon to go with it...... 

Young and the old. 

 

Old town in Lijiang, Yunnan China

Lijiang is an artsy-fartsy city in the province of Yunnan.  It was put on the map due to an earth quake in 1996, and from there on, due to the charming old town, many tourists flood the area, and made it a popular tourist destination.  
My mistake here was that we joined a tour group, which, I think their primary goal is for us to see as many sites as possible.  The old town was really my primary interest, but unfortunately, didn't get to spend enough time there for me to fully check out the place.  The little that I saw, I liked.   If I go back to this place, I would just get a room, and stay in the old town area and explore. 

The hotel/motel situation wasn't bad, the accomodation was very nice in Lijiang (we stayed at 2 different hotels).   The only thing I can't get used to was the bed.  I don' know why all the beds are like sleeping on box springs......  There's only one hotel where the bed was soft enough for me, all others are just way too firm to be comfortable...  

It is actually very easy to get to this city.  There's a brand new airport built, and the roads are very good, I was really surprised.  There are many ex-pats from different countries staying in this city. 


Old-Town at night - got in at around 10PM, sought a nice place to get something to eat...  

Kids going to schoool in the morning.
 

Early morning, no one around..   The only time for peace and quite...
 

Youth hostel in the Old-Town. 

Streets of Old-town.
 

Court-yard of the second hotel, nice place.
 

Early morning walk.
 

Lots of phot studios.  Many newly weds come to Lijiang to get their wedding pictures taken. 
 

 

Heading to school
 

 

 

A fen-shui master recommended the local majesty to divert water through the city streets, this was done to improve the town's luck after 8 years of famine.  It must have worked, as the town prospered.
 

Generations - grandpa with grandson going to school