Lijiang is one of the oldest preserved towns in China and fortunately for us, is only a quick flight away from the provincial capital. We left Kunming in the evening so that when we arrived it would be even more difficult to navigate the old streets. We’re just those kind of adventurers, I guess. Either that or we’re just bad planners… People who are so into the moment that they neglect future moments? …Which is to say, procrastinators. Like I said, we’re adventures like that.
If I had time, I’d thrill you with tales of all the times I’ve hiked the Grand Canyon in the dark, road tripped in the dark, or about the time we flew into Tokyo in the dark but it’d probably be too thrilling.
So back to 800 year old Lijiang, which luckily, was used to time passing because it took us about 800 years to find our hostel among those dark narrow streets – and that was with having a native speaker along. At the time I couldn’t believe how complicated the old city must be if our fluent friend was having that much trouble.
Like many places all over the world, opportunists have noticed that people like to see the local, the ancient, and the traditional. So they mass produce it and sell it to outsiders at a modern, non-traditional price. In fact, there’s even a $13 tourist fee just for seeing sites in Lijiang.
Trip Advisor reviews had warned me that it was a tourist trap. But it is legitimately old and my aesthetic was so tired of modern concrete that old wood and stone – even at the peril of peddlers – sounded awfully pleasant. Some walked into the trap.
As advertised, the old buildings did display the beauty of the old China I’d seen in photos: cobblestone allies lined with low, sturdy stone buildings with thick wooden doors and tiled roofs; the whole scene softly illuminated at dusk by old lanterns. Sometimes, in a quieter alley or once the shops had closed for the night, I could begin to imagine how it was hundreds of years before. I had no idea Pizza Hut went back that far. Though, to be honest, I was a little skeptical about the McDonalds; I’m pretty sure the electric arches weren’t original; they weren’t even real gold. Seriously, it was like they weren’t even trying very hard to trick us. Oh well.
But then in the morning the shops reopened, the crowds piled back in, and modern life picked up right where it had left off the night before. As predicted, the shops all repeated the same popular items: scarfs, silver and bead jewelry, Buddhist symbols, and bongo drums (never figured that one out).
I bought two of those scarves. It’s disappointing for a person to realize that they’re just a tourist too.
The next morning as the sun lit up the tiled roofs, we three piled into one of the many vans that scour the city for tourists. The itinerary: to Baisha Village and Yu Long Xue Shan (Jade Dragon Snow Mountain). The account of our frosty adventure at the mountain, which surprisingly turned out to have neither jade nor dragons nor even jade dragons, I’ll have to save for later since Baisha deserves a little elbow room.
WikiTravel casually calls it “By far the most legit old town in Lijiang,” which is great since we only go to legit places and stuff.
It actually was less touristy despite the entrance fee. I didn’t know villages charged entrance fees…but if I ever start a village, I’m definitely going to consider it. To be fair, a more ancient section of the village had been turned into a Naxi museum so there was that. There were also frescoes dating from the Ming Dynasty (14th century) and plenty of intricate architecture. The murals are said to be quite unique because they combine Taoism, Buddhism, and Tibetan Buddhism. Had I realized it at the time, I might’ve looked more closely. I also probably would’ve found a way to take the No.6 bus instead of paying for a van.
At one time, Baisha had been the capital of the Naxi Kingdom. The Naxi are one of the 56 recognized people groups in China – though I might as well mention that some people are adamant that there are far more groups that go unrecognized. Interesting fact: Yunnan represents the most people groups of any province.
So we wandered through the old buildings with their large murals, past the shop of the famous Dr. Ho (herbal Curer of various diseases), and through the newer sections with their shops and embroidery institute. I’m not partial to embroidery but I greatly respect the craft that goes into these people’s work. The fineness of the silk thread they use is impressive and I imagine frustrating. I’m pretty sure that if I worked there I’d just be making knots and balls of knots knotted together… which I would sell to tourists for exorbitant prices. So actually it might not be that bad.
But I’m distracting myself from the educational part: similar to cotton thread, the smaller pieces (I’ll call them strands) can be separated out. A single strand of silk is as fine or finer than a spider’s web (see the photo of the orange fish for an example) so I can hardly imagine the patience these artist have working with it.
Unfortunately, the food at a nearby Naxi restaurant didn’t seem to have had the same good taste as the art (apology for shameless pun). The meat seemed to be entirely fat and the sauce didn’t help it go down any easier. Most likely we were just too spoiled by the delicious food in our adopted city up north.
We took too long in the village. As I told our hired driver in my best Chinese (which is terrible) while we watched from the street as Drama went into yet another shop, “she likes to buy things.” It would have been more correct to say that she likes to window shop but I didn’t know how to say that. He laughed and said lots of things which I wished I understood. And so went our conversation.
Trip Log, August 11th
Next up: Yu Long Xue Shan!