Naxi women walking through the old town of Lijiang
Wandered around the streets of Lijiang again. I bought a t-shirt and some books about Naxi pictographs and Dongba sayings. Naxi is the minority group that populates most of the Lijiang region. Dongba was their religion; a mix of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. The Naxi are famous for the creation of their own written language more than 1,000 years ago, using a combination of symbols and pictographs. It fascinated me and so I wanted to learn more about it. The dress of the Naxi is distinctive and most of the women continue to wear blue blouses and trousers covered by blue or black aprons. I learnt that the traditional T-shaped cape worn by the women has a dual function: it not only prevents chafing from the basket which is always worn on the back, but it also has symbolic meaning.
Mama arranges our bus back to Dali. She gives us each a necklace as a gift. We had our photo taken with her. We arrived at a guest house in Dali hoping that the swimming pool might be filled (unlike the last time when we wanted to stay here and they told us it would take a few days to fill). It wasn't even half full. Apparently the pool fills up naturally with fresh spring water. Not quite sure how that works but we end up staying anyway. I tried a Tibetan butter tea. It tasted awful. I have been reading this book about Shangri-La and the author is always drinking one so I thought I would give it a go. It tasted more like a sour butter soup.
