Southern Gate of Lijiang Ancient Town 丽江古城
It was quite funny how I just came from an ancient town in Shangrila to another one in Lijiang, though this one is hands down the more impressive one. Both towns like much of the area here were part of the old tea horse trade route. As the name suggests there was a thriving trade route passing through this part of Yunnan because of its abundance of good tea. The tea here is prized throughout the country from the olden days to be ones of superb quality. Much international trade of tea passed through here as well as this would also be a place where merchants from all over would some can sell their tea.
Beautiful Arch in Front of a Restaurant at Lijiang Ancient Town 丽江古城
One could be forgiven if they think that Lijiang Ancient Town is the modern town of Lijiang. As with a lot of other places in China, the old town is usually left alone for tourism and cultural purposes while the modern town rises outside the city walls. However, none of this matters for this town since it really is that big. As a result, Lijiang sucks most of the tourist traffic coming to Yunnan, fortunately there is still room to accomodate that. I was there in the month of July and it was still not extremely crowded. I dread to think how it would be if I would be here on Chinese National Day holidays.
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