East Earth Travelogue: Delicious and Interesting Food

Traveling in China gives one the opportunity to try a lot of different food prepared in different ways. Here are some pictures of some of the dishes we had in Xiang Ge Li La and Lijiang. Picture 1: assorted vegetables. Picture 2: soup. Picture 3: I don't remember but it was good! Picture 4 is a rice dish prepared inside bamboo. You use your chopsticks to get the rice out. Picture 5 is a street vendor cooking a breakfast. Dough is rolled out like a pizza and placed on his stove, then he spreads an egg batter over it. After cooking for a few minutes and folding it in quarters you have a hot and delicious breakfast meal that will fill you up until lunchtime. Amazingly good and it's only about 50 cents! Picture 6 This dish is made from green peas. The peas are cooked until they become a thick paste and then they are fried. Picture 7 is a soup. You can see the Black Wood Ear Mushroom in the bowl. Very tasty! Picture 8 is a Naxi woman selling glutinous rice. They are just mildly sweet. The last picture is a bottle of Sour Yak's Milk. The plastic top is held on by a rubber band and you poke the straw through. It is very much like a liquid yogurt. Imagining drinking plain kefir but only better.

East Earth Travelogue: Ganden Sumtseling Monastery

The Ganden Sumtseling Monastery (Songzanlin Monastery) is the largest Tibetan Temple in Yunnan Province. It was built in 1679 and is situated at an elevation of 11,090 feet. It is the most important Tibetan Monastery in southwest China. The main monastery structure built in Tibetan style has a gilded copper roof similar to the one at the Potala Monastery in Lhasa.

View from the Monastery of the surrounding countryside.

East Earth Travelogue: Xiang Ge Li La (Shangri-la) Watch Dog

Xiang Ge Li La (Shangri-la) is an area of China that is a primarily Tibetan county in northern Yunnan Province. The elevation of the city is rather high, around 10,800 feet. While walking around the older city I noticed this handsome dog on a rooftop watching the going's on in the narrow streets below him.