Matt in China - 2012 - Lijiang

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ApproachingLight
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These are awesome Matt. Great following your foot steps.
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Matt
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I jumped the gun on posting the photo of the tower at sunset. I actually made it to the top of the hill with a little time to fire off some shots before I lost light.

Here's the view from the top. Click the image to load a larger size
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What to do? Increase the ISO, warm up the color balance, turn on the IS, and shoot steady.

Walking around the outside of the tower, I was amazed at the details in the architecture.
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A bonsai garden and gate. Bonsai, although typically thought of a Japanese gardening art, actually began in China.
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This is a 5 exposure HDR shot of the tower.
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A bell. I guess if you are a white tourist, they don't mind you ringing it a few times, but they sure do cast stares.
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The tower through the gate
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The grounds are surrounded by these trees. I can't really call it a dense woods, because although there were a lot of them packed in, I could easily walk through.
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A lot of small tables, and stone sculptures on the grounds.
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Drum... not sure what it's used for. Knowing the Chinese, you probably pay money and drum it for good luck.
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The pagoda ceiling over the drum.
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Matt
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Tie a pine cone to the tree for good luck. That writing is a message a girl wrote to her sweetheart.
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They had traditional costumes for people to wear for photos. No thanks!
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Sunset time! Entered the tower... and realized I should have come earlier-- the interior was intricately hand carved and painted, really amazing, and it was set up as a 5-story art and book store. Awesome! But one problem... only natural light. Proceeded up the steps and waited for the right moment.
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You're going to want to click this one.
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Hiding behind the clouds is the summit of Jade Dragon Mountain. Tomorrow I am headed there. Doesn't look to big from here... but it's a 40 minute drive from the city. :shock:
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Headed down to do some shopping...
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The best store I found sold Dongba religious sculptures.
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Some shops close at night...
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a ton stay open.
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It's easy to get lost in the alleys. Many go completely dark. I will admit, we got lost several times.
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But there's always some character to each alley... remember just a few shops you have to pass, and you can make it back to the hotel.
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Here's a pic of me earlier that day.
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champy1013
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Pure GOLD. Love those last few - the pano of the city and the sunset over that. What a trip!!
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ApproachingLight
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Thanks for sharing these. Really cool!
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Matt
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Every cab driver we spoke to suggested we head to some lake... one of the few that still had water in it.
"it's so beautiful." "You must see the lake." "Have you been on the lake?"
So we decided to go.

It turns out... there are several lakes in the valley. A few are parks, surrounded by preserves, and a clean, beautiful and government run.
This particular lake was surrounded by private ranches. It turns out the ranch owners will give drivers a cut of the admission fees they charge to tourists. They charge not only to walk up to the lake, but to ride on their Tibetan horses, or to go out on a boat. The grounds aren't the most beautiful in the region, but it certainly was worth the 30 bucks or so to get there. I hear the government parks are much better though.

"Drink a cup of wine at the stud-farm and smile."
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May ass was still sore from riding up that mountain a few days ago. I'll pass on the horses.
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The lake levels were pretty low... we had to walk quite far over soggy grassland to get to the lake.
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Walking to school...
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ApproachingLight
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Nice pics as always Matt.

That last horse there lying on it's back. I could swear that is a dead rat!
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Jade Dragon Snow Mountain 玉龙雪山
The dominant feature of the Lijiang Valley, is actually a massif (range) of which the highest peak reaches 18,360 ft.
Although easily seen from all corners of the city of Lijiang, I had no idea how massive it really was until we hired a driver to take us to it. From Lijiang you see the southern end, not realizing it is a long chain of limestone peaks that extends nearly 15 miles north. The high peak has only been climbed once, by Americans in 1987. It hasn't been climbed by locals, because... well it is sacred. :|

At the southern food of the mountain is Jade Water Village, a small Dongba settlement and shrine to the mountain, now modernized for tourism. I didn't get a chance to visit the village, but read that it has a beautiful series of dams and man-made waterfalls.

To the north-west is Tiger Leaping Gorge, the deepest gorge in the world (depending on your definition), and has been marked as creating some of the most scenic water-based scenery in the east. A trip for future years, perhaps.


Mount Satseto (or Yu Long Mountain) is where I'm going...
[gmap=11]27.10276,100.18845[/gmap]

Click this for a large version of this pano
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Here's a shitty picture of me in front of the mountain we are going to up up into. I'm thinking: Did I bring enough layers? It's hot in the valley and it's early morning. I had no idea what it would be like on the mountain.
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We are at base camp, where our driver takes off. Here people pay admission, get information, register, and pee. This is actually a structure built to resemble the high peak.
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The Dongba-styled architecture at the base camp.
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A calligrapher sells on the mountain.
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How does one get up the mountain? Steps.. steps... steps... steps.. and more steps. Chinese made-steps.
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You can always hop on the wire carts (assuming they are working) and get over the really tough climbs. It is exhausting getting up here. There are benches everywhere. There are oxygen tanks lying everywhere. There are people wearing huge red safety coats, and there are guys with their shirts off. It's cold. It's hot. It's dark. it's super bright. Things are constantly changing. I keep worrying about my clothes-- if they will be enough at the top. Should we have bought oxygen. How's our water doing? At this point we are far from the wire carts. But there are plenty of people around, mostly sitting and resting. Breathing here is tough. Everything is up-hill and anything other than sitting is tiring.
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Then near where the snow settles... the government built this fancy platform for people to not slip and fall on their asses all the time. It wasn't quite finished, but it's a great break from the snow and mud. To the right, a glacier.
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Here's the view from that platform near the glacier. It's in the afternoon now. That's Lijiang to the right.
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A close-up of the glacier.
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Me getting my hair bleached by the UV
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A panorama looking back at the platform as we reach the end.
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A vertical pan- yay!
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