Lijiang is even more touristy than any other cities with old town we’ve visited until then. The old town is a maze of mostly narrow or very narrow streets with endless rows of shops selling beautifully presented fruit, colorful pastries and other treats, clothing (including traditional clothing for rent, of course), and items you should call souvenirs.
Towards evening, it took minutes to move 10 meters in the crowded alleys.
Not only did the shopkeepers speak much better English than elsewhere, but we also saw enough Westerners to explain why. Michi found a new part-time job at a fruit tea shop, where he took over advertising with sample sales.
For dinner, there was new food again, but at least combined with some familiar dishes. We went downtown, and the shops were now bars, and no bar without a band or dancing girls. All I’m saying is, their dance style and moves had little to do with ancient Chinese culture, at least not with the official culture…
Some bars were busy, while in other bars, you could only see the bands playing for themselves.
Suddenly, someone called out, “Leo, Leo!”, which didn’t surprise Leo at first, as it reminded Leo of various Chinese words with similar sound, but Fiona had found him.
We celebrated the expansion of our group at a bar, and there it was decided that we should start a band because 10 years earlier, Leo had played drums, Mari had sung in a band in high school, and since I’m still in high school, I should become the guitarist. Without rehearsing, we played “Yellow” (Coldplay) and later “Lemon Tree” with Danny.
It was a wonderful experience!
