Thursday, September 28, 2006
Pissed in Li Jiang
If you hadn't guessed it, we had a quiet afternoon today (28 September) so we have posted a lot of blog entries.
Li Jiang is where we stayed for 2 nights surrounding our Tiger Leaping Gorge trek. It is a REALLY touristy town, mostly Chinese tourists as opposed to foreigners. There is a big square where some traditional dances take place and you can pay to get a photo taken on the back of a horse (incredible!).
We stayed at a bit of a back-packer joint with communal toilets and showers. It wasn't too bad even though the toilets were squats, which we were becoming quite accustomed to by now. The showers had water which was a nice temperature, that was until the cold water ran out! There was also a very cute puppy who lived there, and who we played with as much as possible of course.
For our free day in Li Jiang we visited Black Dragon Pool which is a beautiful lake that reflects an old arched bridge, surrounded by nice gardens. The entrance fee is a bit steep though ($14).
We also got to see a performance by the local Naxxi (Nashi) orchestra. This was very entertaining I thought, as they went through a number of vocal, instrumental and dance routines. There was even a calligraphy section where a member of the audience was asked to translate the ancient hieroglyphics. The particular audience member who did it was so stoked that he got up on stage and took a few bows, and didn't want to get off!
Several of the streets in the old town were lined with 2 storey restaurants on each side, and are open (i.e. no windows) to the street. The tradition here is for a group of people in a restaurant on one side of the street to sing a traditional Chinese song (but change the words in a witty way) to a group of people in a restaurant on the other side, and end it with the Tibetan chant 'Yasoo, Yasoo, Ya-Ya soo' (or whatever it is meant to be). It's sort of a 'who is loudest wins' thing. Often it is a bunch of guys vs a bunch of girls, and the girls win every time (with those piercing voices).
On our last night after a few very quick Dali beers (670 ml), four of us decided to give this thing a shot. After plucking up the courage we challenged a loud group of Chinese men across the street by yelling at the top of our voices 'Aussie, Aussie, Aussie....Oi, Oi, Oi...Aussie, Aussie, Aussie....Oi, Oi, Oi...Aussie....Oi...Aussie....Oi...Aussie, Aussie, Aussie....Oi, Oi, Oi...Yasoo..Yasoo..Ya-Yasoo...' etc. We were given a standing ovation by some Chinese in our restaurant but not so much more than a raised glass from our rivals across the street. We just didn't have the strength of numbers.
Down on the street some western tourists had heard our war-cry and were giving us cheers. So we decided to invite them up to join in. Also a couple more members from our tour arrived so we got back in the game. We threw everything from Madonna's 'Like A Virgin' to Queen's 'We Will Rock You' at our rivals, and ultimately we reigned supreme and they gave up! We were all stoked and managed to down more Dali's until we just couldn't find our mouths anymore...
Li Jiang is where we stayed for 2 nights surrounding our Tiger Leaping Gorge trek. It is a REALLY touristy town, mostly Chinese tourists as opposed to foreigners. There is a big square where some traditional dances take place and you can pay to get a photo taken on the back of a horse (incredible!).
We stayed at a bit of a back-packer joint with communal toilets and showers. It wasn't too bad even though the toilets were squats, which we were becoming quite accustomed to by now. The showers had water which was a nice temperature, that was until the cold water ran out! There was also a very cute puppy who lived there, and who we played with as much as possible of course.
For our free day in Li Jiang we visited Black Dragon Pool which is a beautiful lake that reflects an old arched bridge, surrounded by nice gardens. The entrance fee is a bit steep though ($14).
We also got to see a performance by the local Naxxi (Nashi) orchestra. This was very entertaining I thought, as they went through a number of vocal, instrumental and dance routines. There was even a calligraphy section where a member of the audience was asked to translate the ancient hieroglyphics. The particular audience member who did it was so stoked that he got up on stage and took a few bows, and didn't want to get off!
Several of the streets in the old town were lined with 2 storey restaurants on each side, and are open (i.e. no windows) to the street. The tradition here is for a group of people in a restaurant on one side of the street to sing a traditional Chinese song (but change the words in a witty way) to a group of people in a restaurant on the other side, and end it with the Tibetan chant 'Yasoo, Yasoo, Ya-Ya soo' (or whatever it is meant to be). It's sort of a 'who is loudest wins' thing. Often it is a bunch of guys vs a bunch of girls, and the girls win every time (with those piercing voices).
On our last night after a few very quick Dali beers (670 ml), four of us decided to give this thing a shot. After plucking up the courage we challenged a loud group of Chinese men across the street by yelling at the top of our voices 'Aussie, Aussie, Aussie....Oi, Oi, Oi...Aussie, Aussie, Aussie....Oi, Oi, Oi...Aussie....Oi...Aussie....Oi...Aussie, Aussie, Aussie....Oi, Oi, Oi...Yasoo..Yasoo..Ya-Yasoo...' etc. We were given a standing ovation by some Chinese in our restaurant but not so much more than a raised glass from our rivals across the street. We just didn't have the strength of numbers.
Down on the street some western tourists had heard our war-cry and were giving us cheers. So we decided to invite them up to join in. Also a couple more members from our tour arrived so we got back in the game. We threw everything from Madonna's 'Like A Virgin' to Queen's 'We Will Rock You' at our rivals, and ultimately we reigned supreme and they gave up! We were all stoked and managed to down more Dali's until we just couldn't find our mouths anymore...
# posted by Glenn @ 3:46 pm 
