Happy Chinese New Year; A Most Interesting Day in Lijiang

I missed the ATC session in Bishan Library last month, and it seemed ages for the next one to come - perhaps because January session was postponed a week ;) We had a fun evening doing paper quilling. I do quill occassionally, but it was fun doing together, and an eye-opener looking at all the dragons and Angry Birds Mdm Au did. She was our instructor for the night, and what a lot she prepared for us - papers, tools and the ATC backing.(Above) The quilled fish ATCs I did - planned for the Chinese New Year! Wishing everyone 年年有余 - a year filled with abundance. And for the theme "Simply Red", my ATCs (below) adorned with red tatted flowers, wishing all 洪福齐天!

The quilled dragon and Angry Birds (bottom left) are the amazing works of Mdm Au.

I finished this birthday ATC for Annette (New Zealand) in good time. This should reach her before her birthday in early Feb.

Another few alphabet ATCs done, I have completed the series for Sherry! Just need to do another set for Mari.

2 gorgeous ATCs came - V is for Violet and a very cute W is for Worm - from Sherry. I love her needle-punching works, and that's something I haven't tried.

Still on Day 3 (8 Dec) PM in Lijiang: We stopped by a jade city - Dian Mian Yu Shi Cheng (丽江滇缅玉石城) . This is one of the largest in China - rows and rows of counter-top, thousands of pieces of jade, in colours and unlimited designs from earrings, pendants to bangles, small to big sculptures. Not only jade, but there were also some crystals, and Chinese herbs. We bought quite a bit of the herbs here, not that they were cheap, but guaranteed that they are the real and quality ones.
This is the model of the place which acts to provide directions around the counters. The squarish tables at the bottom right are those selling herbs.
Next was a visit to Shuhe ancient town (束河古镇). We gave up walking after going down one of the streets. Still very cold despites the glaring sun, we could hardly opened our eyes walking in the direction of the sun!
One interesting shop.
On one side of the road, trees were bare, .... ... and on the other side, greens!

Here you can see both sides of the road.
Just one of the numerous signs - this one written "Be kind to the followers and grasses".
Along the main streets in Lijiang.

The "Acrossed Bridge Rice Noodle" (过桥米线) as written on the signboard in front of the shop, is one of the Yunnan's special food item, with some interesting stories behind it. I went to Yunnan once about 10 years ago, and believe it or not, I missed this rice noodle cooked in booth so much, I just must take this again. I had my good share of it for 3 meals! More delicious than our local fishball noodle soup!

Finally, we visited Lijiang ancient town (丽江古城) .

"The sun's in my eyes!!!! "
The sun was going to set. No more glaring sun, but the uneven tiles on the ground and steep terrain made the walk pretty tiring.

Weaving in process. Although the Chinese government classifies the Mosuo (摩梭) as a part of the Naxi minority people, they have many of their own distinctly different cultural practices.

Along some of the streets in the ancient town. There were a number of shops selling yak meat here.

We were almost lost inside the town. Armed with a map and not-to-scale directional signboards along the streets, with lesser and lesser people to almost deserted streets, we finally found our way out to the main road to hail a taxi back to the hotel.

The front lobby of the Guanfang Hotel (官房酒店), the morning of 9 Dec, when we checked out after breakfast.

Paradise Lijiang and Back to Tatting and ATCs and a Challenge

I'm back to my crafts, trying to catch up on swaps, trying to finish the Alphabet ATC swaps with Sherry (USA) and Mari (South Africa). These are not new designs as I have finished until Z for the alphabet swap in another group. It's not easy to think of different critter design in tatting for alphabet U to Z.

I join a new swap for the year - a birthday ATC swap! It will last the whole year, right from January till December. Tahlia (USA) is the first birthday girl in January. She love peacocks, so a tatted one is going her way right now.

Mary Green of Green Paper has an on-going monthly challenge, Green Paper Collage Challenge - to create a piece of art using at least part of each of the three images provided. I'm not one into vintage prints, this is the first time I created art with these vintage images. I intend to print them on black and white and added colours by tatted motifs. Here's my ATC "Ravishing Red" created for the January challenge:

Continuing on my China trip in December ...
Day 2 (7 Dec) PM: The car journey from Dali to Lijiang (丽江) took 4 hours. Vast mountains and green farms dotted the way.

We reached Lijiang in the late afternoon. After checking in Guanfang Hotel (官房酒店), we roamed the nearby streets and went to the supermarket for some titbits and drinks.

Day 3 (8 Dec) AM: Behind us was the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (玉龙雪山).

The Yunshanping Meadow Cableway and a ski site have been built on the mountain. The total length of the cableway is 2,968 meters, with a vertical difference of 1,150 meters, supposedly one with the highest altitude of its kind in the world. We decided to skip the stop fearing the cold.

Yunshanping (云杉坪) is "Wuluyoucuige" in Naxi language, which means the place for lovers to die for their love. The Naxi tribe living here believe the Jade Dragon Mountain can protect their love from being ruined by worldly conceptions.

Lijiang county of Yunnan province is the main region where Naxis resides. The Naxi minority created a very unique culture of their own - rich and diverse, with their own music, art, and their thousand-year-old pictographic writing system which is similar to hieroglyphics and considered the only existing pictographs in the world today. (See the pictorgraphic words on the wall in the photo above?) They also has their own religion which is a hybrid of the Tibetan''s and Han''s religious beliefs.The main feature of Dongba religion is in their ancestors and nature worship. Dongba which stands for sages, are responsible for passing down the Dongba culture to successive generations. The Naxi culture is derived mainly from the Dongba culture hence their art forms such as music, dance, painting etc. are a replica of the Dongba''s culture.

At the Dongba Valley (东巴谷), a cultural village showcasing the Naxi culture.

A pine tree (云南松) - I love it against the sky.

Jade Water Village (玉水寨) is located at the foot of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. We were there when everyone was getting ready for a national inspection team to inspect the place.

A sacred spring is situated in the center range in Jade Water Village. Its water source originated from the snow mountain - pure and fresh snow melted water flowing through a distance of about 2400 meters before it reaches the Jade Water Village. According to some legend, the mouth of the spring was where the Jade Dragon came out to inspect the plain of Lijiang, hence this spring was named as "Sacred Spring".

When this spring runs down the range, it forms three tiers of waters. The first tier was known as "Appearing Dragon Waterfall", the second tier the "Playing Dragon Waterfall" and the third, the "Farewell Dragon Waterfall", hence the name of "three-tier water".

The natural scenic spot makes it a favourite ground for wedding shots, even in winter!

It's no wonder people calling Lijiang a paradise!

Beautiful Dali

We took almost 2 weeks break in China, and it was a mad rush for Christmas shopping when we were back. Then it was family gathering over the long weekend. Time for a breather and catching up on my blog and my exchanges!

Day 1 of trip in China (6 Dec): We arrived in Kunming (昆明) in the afternoon, and immediately set off for Dali (大理) by car. On the highway from Kunming to Dali:

It took about 4 hours to reach Dali, and it was already dusk by the time we reached. After checking in the hotel, we went for dinner. These 2 dishes were interesting - the left one was egg white with milk, deep fried, with red bean paste in the middle; the right one was a chicken dish fried with dried chili and lined with deep fried mint leaves at the bottom. Nice to take a bit of each food, but too greasy to eat more.

It was cold throughout our whole trip, below 10 deg C, but most of the time, hovering just above 0 deg, from 1 to 5 deg. We weren't quite prepared for such cold weather. In fact, we took turns to come down with fever on the first few days. Luckily, there is such a thing called paracetamol!

This was the front lobby of the Landscape Hotel (兰林阁酒店) we stayed in Dali, full of oriental charm.

We visted the Tang Dynasty Three Pogoda Temple (崇圣寺三塔) in Dali on Day 2 (7 Dec). Regarded as one of the best preserved Buddhist structures in China, the compounds behind the pagodas were destroyed during the 1920s earthquake and later in the Cultural Revolution and were rebuilt starting in 1986.

The Central Pagoda (the one in the centre in the photo below) is almost 1200 years old and represents a period when Dali was a Buddhist Kingdom.

The other 2 pagodas are on each side to the left and right of the centre one.

The Congshen Temple (崇圣寺) behind the Three Pagodas has recently been rebuilt and reopened, after deteriorating in the 20th century due to earthquakes, fires and the Cultural Revolution. It is a massive complex that continues far up the mountain.

Next was a cruise by boat on Erhai Lake (洱海).

This is the largest highland lake next to Dianchi and one of the seven biggest fresh water lakes in China. It means, "sea shaped like an ear" in Chinese, implying that the lake is ear shaped and as large as a sea, hence it was so named. The lake is an important food source for the local people (Bais), who are famous for their fishing method: they train cormorants (seabirds 鱼鹰) to catch fish.

The caught fish deep-fried for sale at a resting point:Despite the cold, it was a clear day with blue sky and white clouds.
A quick lunch before we set off for Lijiang (丽江). We tried to go for non-spicy food where possible!

I didn't have much time nor mood to handmake gifts this year. Only managed to tat a few of my favourite holly paperclips and decorated some tic tac boxes (part of the lots here):

The Christmas swap hosted by Bonnie Jean Larsen (USA) arrived before the new year. Top left ATC done by Bonnie herself, bottom ATC by Eileen Britten, and the Angel ATC by Marie Schroller (USA).

This was my last doll ATC swap for the year. The theme was "Leaves and Trees", the pair was hand-drawn by Lisa Ricchio (USA), this being her first swap for doll ATCs.

Hope everyone has a good start in the new year, and a wonderful year ahead!

Aladdin

Just a few ATCs this week. I touched up a few of my previous cards for a Christmas swap,

and the following "T is for Teacup" and "U is for Umbrella" received from Sherry for the alphabet swap. It was a very busy week, stressful and tiring, and a few late nights too - preparing a tender, attending company D&D, watching a musical, sourcing for a new maid (yet again), and trying to clean up my house (some bugs overrun 2 of the rooms, thanks to my maid, and it seems to be spreading) :( Have to call in the pest control guys, they are coming on Monday, hope things will be better. On a more lightful note, we will be taking a 2-week break in China - flying off on Tueday!! It will be a cool, or rather, a very cold change (the temperature, that is) :)

The musical, a year-long wait, was W!LD RICE's pantomime - Aladdin. As usual, a well-loved fairy-tale was given a clever local twist and charmed audiences with its side-splitting comedy, heart-warming songs and snazzy dance routines. Asian Idol winner, Hady Mirza, and Singapore Idol runner-up, Sylvia Ratonel, made their theatrical debuts as Aladdin and Jasmine (in photo above). They sang well. Directed by Glen Goei, the cast also included Karen Tan as Wizard ABBA-k’adab-rah, Darius Tan as Widow Wong Kee and Juwanda Hassim as Genie of the Lamp, and some 50 young talents from the age of 4 to 14 as part of W!LD RICE’s First Stage programme. Karen and Darius brought so much laughters and delightful sqeaks!

The story and the twist - Wizard ABBA-kadab-rah wants to rule the world! He needs 3 wishes from the Genie in the Magic Lamp. But in order to get that – he needs the help of a boy who is pure of heart. In other words, he needs Aladdin! Aladdin & the Wizard go on a magical musical mash-up adventure as they sing their way to the Blue Mansion in Malacca to steal a magic ring from the fearsome bibik - Amelia of Amethyst Rise (left on the above photo). With feisty sidekick Jasmine (the not-so-little nyonya) in tow, off they go to the fabled Batu Caves. But what treachery lies in store for poor Aladdin? When the Wizard traps Aladdin in the cave & whisks Jasmine away to his harem of Single Ladies in the exotic land of Ukenastan, will it be courage, love or magic that will unite them? For local friends, you can still join Aladdin & friends (& fiends) on a GLEEful adventure that weaves pop hits and show tunes into delightful showstoppers! Aladdin is on till 17 Dec. Not an advertisement, but a recommendation for a good treat for the whole family.