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<\/a>The kitchen<\/p>\nA menu was not evident and anyway I wouldn\u2019t have understood it.\u00a0 One of the other passengers remembered enough English to explain the system to me and soon I was sitting down to a plate of tofu and vegetables.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The next day I found myself out on a minibus tour with some of the passengers.\u00a0 One couple had hired the bus and the rest of us added on.\u00a0 The girl I had left the previous hostel with to catch the minibus because I had been told she knew where the bus stop was located and didn\u2019t, but\u00a0that\u2019s another story, decided it was time to practise her English.\u00a0 After a very unpromising start she ended up being very kind and helpful and between her, the lunch time interpreter, a young man who decided to find his English voice and some others we met along the way I was very well cared for and got to see things I wouldn\u2019t ordinarily have seen.\u00a0 Lugu Lake was not really set up for the non speaker who didn\u2019t want to spend much money as there was no public transport and most places were too far to walk and although bikes were available for rent the terrain was decidedly hilly.\u00a0 I was able to tag along with other people\u2019s plans and share and reduce the cost.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Waiting for a Mosuo performance at a house.\u00a0 It was already pretty dark.<\/p>\n Some of the men dancing.\u00a0 They project a cowboy image.<\/p>\n Some of the women<\/p>\n One girl was still a uni student and learning English but the others were all graduates of 1-10 years standing and didn\u2019t use English in their daily lives.\u00a0 The ones who were interested did well to remember sufficient English to understand me and visibly improved their English over a few days.<\/p>\n \u00a0 Another night we went to dinner at someones house which was listed as a hotel.\u00a0 The Mosuo live in large compounds with buildings on all four sides.\u00a0 This photo was taken in the grandmother’s room, an independent building entered by a tiny\u00a0doorway\u00a0where we were taken for popcorn and sunflower seeds while waiting for tea to be ready.\u00a0\u00a0 Her room was said to be 300 years old.\u00a0 The furniture in the top left is part of her large enclosed bed, common in years gone by.\u00a0 The rest of her furniture matched.<\/p>\n Some of our food.\u00a0 The second plate on the\u00a0bottom\u00a0right is pieces of fat.\u00a0 I tasted one piece and had had some once before.\u00a0 It tasted OK, but I noticed the Chinese left it alone too. Eating outside was always a battle against flies.<\/p>\n This is the grandmother adding wood to the stove which is on the other side of the wall.\u00a0 She has part of her skirt tucked into her waistband, which was quite common.\u00a0 It seemed to be the way they\u00a0 managed\u00a0such voluminous skirts.\u00a0 I’m constantly amazed by the amount and variety of food\u00a0the Chinese manage to created from limited and often primitive conditions.<\/p>\n One young man was kind enough to invite me to dinner in Shuhe (Lijiang) with some other people he\u2019d made even though we arrived on different buses.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n