| Wednesday, 25-Oct-2006 01:16 |
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LiJiang - Where It All Began Again
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Okay, I am into a lot of plagiarism these days. I plagiarised the titles of the last two entries from songs. This one, from the WWE or, WWF as it used to be called. Despite my great philosophical meandering, I am a great fan of the WWE wrestler called The Undertaker. So now you know my deep, dark secret!! Anyway, I think he is great. Superb athlete. Superb persona. And, I love the Dark Side. Whether it is the dark side of the moon, the mind or, the world! Anyway, the gentleman took a short career break and, when he returned, at one of those PPV events, to his dark side persona, the event had the sub-title - "It All Begins Again". So now you know the source of this title. I will try and be more original next time.
So, what began again in Lijiang? For me, photography. I had practically given up photography, from 1987 onwards, except for some sporadic photography in Varanasi, on a road trip in Rajasthan and, in the Marwar region of Rajasthan. I resumed in 2003. I took these B&W shots. At that time, I had not yet found my current processing lab so, I gave it to a lab and, the lab messed up the negatives and, the prints.
Lijiang is a hilly area. Near the Li River (so, Li Jian) and, the Tiger Leaping Gorge. Also, home to the Naxi minority. They have an old town, which is picturesque. A few, radiating, water channels, with restaurants on the banks. They have a town centre. It also has a new town, which has no personality. The old town has personality. In the evenings, the old and young folk gather in the town square, form a circle and, dance. On one occassion, they were dancing to the sounds of the flute, played by a falconer. I was invited to dance as well. Warm hearted people, loving life.
And, we also went to a concert. The group is full of old men. Average age - 75 years. They have instruments that are over 100 years old. The group, from a few families, have played together, through the generations, for over 400 years. They play court music from the Song and Tang Dynasties.
It is beautiful. By the way, Lijiang is on the way to the Shangri-La.......
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