Lijiang

Not much in the way of photography this week, but I scraped together a few. We finally made the cable car trip up into the Dali mountains. Quite a long run broken into two separate “lifts”, reaching snow capped mountain top in the end. We witnessed what appeared to be a brown weasel standing out against the white snow. Very out of place.

The kids went strawberry picking in the local fields, and we took a couple treks to Erhai lake by horse and buggy. Kai finally met his fate while scampering over the stoney edge and slipped into the water up to his chest. Lily eventually found pants at a local market so he could continue the circumnavigation around Erhai in comfort.

We are now in the ancient city of Lijiang, a commercial center in the 1300s. More beautifully constructed stone walkways and canals, but this time with a towering snow-capped mountain as a backdrop. Now that we are higher in elevation, bringing the sun closer to our faces, we are still warm during the day. In the evening we take refuge in our cozy hutong with space heater and electric blankets.

Kai and Heidi are making good progress on their handwriting. On their second A5 Leuchtturm journal and they have a fresh one waiting for them (a Christmas stocking stuffer).