People wondered how we could spend 9 days in Lijiang when most of the organized tour groups only spend 1 day. Well we don't feel 9 days is long enough, there are so many interesting areas to visit around Lijiang. 4/5 - Arrived Lijiang airport in the afternoon and finally arrived 束河 after another 45 minutes of taxi/jeep ride. We stayed in "壹品居" which was 张锅头's old residence from 200 years ago. It is located in the back of the town, tucked away from major tourist routes. 壹品居 is only the front side (前院) of the original residence with 3 bedrooms, a little yard, and a balcony. The house looks a bit like 碉堡 from the street side 4/6 - M went out playing golf somewhere, so we just hung out in 束河 and enjoyed the town. Kids are just interested in everything, 晒的谷子，拖拉机，洗菜。 壹品居的老板还own壹餐厅，就在溪水边，面对一片菜地，每天吃饭都似乎在"农家乐". 那里几乎成为我们每天的食堂，杂锅菜，各种鱼，纳西饭，各种蔬菜是必点的。Boys also took pleasure of feeding dogs with our leftovers. Oh we found out most dogs would rather have spicy chicken bones rather than fatty pork. 4/7 - Big horse riding day. IZ and I, EZ and M rode from 束河 all the way to 拉市海源头, on the way back the guide took us to some even higher mountain to have a view of 拉市海. After 5 hours of horse riding going up and down mountain, we were all pretty beat and the kids probably don't want to ride another horse for a long time... 4/8 M played golf at 玉龙雪山 so IZ and I decided to go up the mountain. 天气开始转冷，IZ穿了6层衣服3层裤子，我也在下面租了长雪衣，考虑再三后决定先不买氧气瓶。After a long and ridiculous wait, we finally boarded the cable cart (Italian imported infrastructure) to go up to 4500+ meter （冰川公园）. 心中还是有些恐慌，不知我们对high altitude会有什么反应. 上去大概就10分钟，因为天气不好一开始还能看到近处下面的树和雪雨，到后面什么都看不见，只被四周的云雾所包围一直到最终看到了cable station才放松了心情. 当cart门打开时，马上感到空气稀薄，不过很快adjusted. 上面冰天雪地朦朦胧胧，Ian刚玩一会儿雪就开始喊难受，所以匆匆忙忙拍了照片就逃下去了。接了Michael后又去附近的白水河, 还满有特色的。骑牦牛的价位是下面5元，爬到第一层10元，最上面是20元。What a money-making system!
4/9 早上告别束河古镇来到大研古镇and checked into 月半湾, 很有特色，perfect location, 真的可以说是闹中取静。下午逛了黑龙潭。 4/10 EZ had some coughing so he stayed in with ayi while we took IZ to visit 虎跳峡. IZ enjoyed the trip with us. 4/11 M went out golfing again so I took IZ around 大研. We went up to 狮子山看了古镇全景。看来改天还要上来看夜景。 4/12 Weather has not been good, unlike Lijiang's normal temperature in April. We stayed in most of the time and took a stroll to 文昌宫 to have dinner and an evening view of the town. Boys enjoyed dancing and camp fire while we tried our very first outdoor hotpot on a charcoal stove (煤球炉). 4/13 Rain didn't stop us from going out today since it was our last day in Lijiang. We went to 黎明to climb千龟山, but I backed out last minute while M went up with the driver/guide. Boys and I stayed in 黎明, 在依山傍水的小餐厅，虽然外面细雨绵绵，2 hours of waiting still went by quickly. We stopped by 石鼓和长江第一弯 on the way back. Rafting and boating would have been very nice if weather was warmer and drier. We also stopped by a salmon farm next to 拉市海. Fresh water salmon sashimi is absolutely a must have delicacy in Lijiang area. Back in town, we had our last dinner at今生有约. I read owners' love story online and found it very romantic. Restaurant turned out to be very cozy and crowded, food tasted rather well with a touch of 四川. 4/14 Lijiang finally went back to its normal weather to bid us farewell. After a relaxing morning and last minute packing, we headed back to Shanghai.