The Ancient City of Lijiang is a maze of cobblestone streets, lined with a small stream, dotted with hostels, small shops, ATMs and bars. We dropped our bags at a cute garden guest house and headed to the main square to find somewhere to eat. The late hour and our indiscriminate hunger caused us to choose a crowded, “Rough Guide reviewed” bar called Sakura, along the river. There are actually 4 or 5 of these bar/restaurants alongside each other, all with the same name, all claiming to be the “first”. The spicy noodles we ordered were good. Beer on the menu was priced at 35 RMB ($5), which is a huge overcharge – but we talked our way into getting big Tsing Taos for the regular price of 15 RMB – I think they just leave them off the menu to get more money from the tourists (annoying). It was a raucous crowd at this place... not 5 minutes after we arrived, a man loudly fell in the bathroom (passed out?) and the English-speaking manager who took our order immediately went in there to mop (up what?)... the tables were filled with bottles of Budweiser & Heineken, and hundreds of Chinese tourists in their 20's or so were playing drinking games. Then about 10 girls got on a table and started singing a song – which another big group of girls would respond to, repeating the same words. This went on for some time, before they all settled back into booths to do more shots. When telling this story to some Chinese friends we met along the hike, we were told they were singing to solicit a “419” which means “For One Night” (as in, one night stand). So that was our first and only impression of Lijiang's nightlife. The medieval walled-in city – reminiscent of Rhodes, Greece - definitely seems like a place we might have enjoyed one more day. But alas, we had mountains to scale...