Banyan Tree Lijiang, a haven of peace

You do not come to Lijiang innocently. By landing on the runway of the airport Yunnan people come to learn the history of the Chinese people and its ethnic minorities. The walls of the Old Town of Lijiang dates back to 1200, and over the plateau of Yunnan day summit of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, famous mountain overlooking the valley and the villages of Naxi people, Yi, Dongba and. For some, Lijiang is also a gateway to Tibet and the morphology of faces or yak meat offered in restaurants in the city will prove to you.

I toured the world several times, I slept in caves on the floor, and the most luxurious hotels. I know excellence in all its variations, yet I refuse to feel jaded. Some hotels will sometimes give a sense of déjà vu, already lived. And the danger, when addressing a hotel owned by a hotel group is to feel reassured (e) by formatting the space, or a familiarity with the decoration. I am this kind of feeling, I like the creativity, distinctiveness, originality.

In Lijiang I went for the first time in a hotel belonging to the group Banyan Tree and it was a promise of quality that I longed to know. But I never imagined that I'd fall in love with Asian sophistication makes the enchantment of a stay.

Your stay at Banyan Tree Lijiang begins a resurrection of the body and soul just greeted by a young man with obsidian eyes and mischievous smile, I find myself sitting on the shimmering fabrics, a small towel warm and fragrant in one hand, a tiny cup of tea in the other. When my partner sees my embarrassment, he rushes to relieve myself of the towel and with a look confused but amused asked about the temperature of my ginger tea.

I sniff, I dip the lips, and here I am almost thrown from my seat under the force of the ginger and hot liquid that flows in my veins already. I arrived exhausted with fatigue had erred length in the cobbled streets of Lijiang, I suddenly feel refreshed by the drink evil and fragrant that I will very quickly become addicted to the point of preparing for, regularly.

I cough a little, wipe my eyes, sniffling quietly, and I answer questions that are home to register my arrival at this hotel with glass walls and whispering bamboos. I'm already in another world, and I am yet to receive.

The ginger tea is the bombshell on my muscles and my brain and I'll take a second cup, but an athlete dressed in the colors of the Banyan Tree already charged my camera bag on his shoulder while I was slips a "be carefull please ...". It is much bigger than me and we are in China in a luxury hotel. Needless to insist on wearing my own precious photo gear, he would not understand.

The formalities completed, and rain threatening, they accompanied me to a golf cart that slides swiftly on a path paved: I enter the field of Banyan Tree Hotel and I discovered a sight that I will enjoy more later. A Chinese flag majestically in front of a pond surrounded by willows and bamboos. Left the glass walls of the restaurant and bar that I refuse to call it as such given the preciousness of the place, right restaurant dedicated to breakfast. Everything is transparent, green and mahogany wood built into the gray stone of the region recalling the architecture of Lijiang Naxi houses.

I visited the website before leaving the hotel, but nothing prepared me for what I now discover the young man asked me to leave the cart and opened for me the two wings of a heavy wooden door into a garden wall thick. A few more steps into the garden, and I stop, stunned: here is one of the villas of the hotel, with its garden, Jacuzzi and out of sight.

I caught up with the young man waiting in front of sliding glass doors of the villa, and I am scrupulously as he describes to me the scene: here the room and a huge bed on which I will find a small gift each night ( which is a charming little toy panda that sits on my desk now), is the lounge with a sofa cushions and multi-game-jong, my precious, hi-fi and video, sophisticated facilities that attract my attention less that the selection of teas presented in small earthenware pots, and finally the bathroom clad entirely in glass.

I thank while I have not yet assimilated (I'll look the next day the famous button that allows me to state without leaving the house that I do not wish to be disturbed), and I begin with a long shower before restorative I lay on my camera.

Upon entering the Banyan Tree Lijiang I knew I'd live a unique experience, but this is just the same evening that I realized the privilege to live for a few nights in this den of well-being. After a delicious dinner at the restaurant Bai Yun Cantonese cuisine for lunch, I came quickly to my villa to enjoy a rare treat in my nomadic life.

I donned a bathrobe thick, I prepared a tea scented with jasmine and I won the cup in the garden. At the secluded I slipped in the jacuzzi and sitting in the steaming water to the shoulders I looked up at the stars dotted the sky like diamonds over the snowy mountains of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain ... A moment of serenity unsurpassed.

Residing at Banyan Tree Lijiang is wanting another experience during a stay single. The Banyan Tree Lijiang is an asset which is a continuation of this journey that projects the visitor into another dimension, that of Asia and its culture. Here for the first time I understood what I meant by the word: contemplation ...

This article contains the keywords: Banyan Tree , Banyan Tree Lijiang , China

This article was published on 14 March 2010 to 18 h 34 min in the category: Asia . Follow the comments feed: RSS 2.0 .