Lijiang, Tiger Leaping Gorge and Shangri-La
Trip Start
Aug 21, 2007
1
18
27
Trip End
Dec 20, 2007
Zhongdian,
China
Thursday, November 8, 2007
...and the weather was great!!! It's good to see that despite all the technology the weather man is still as wrong as always.
Lijiang is well established on the tourist map thanks to it's old town. Apparently the mud-brick and timber buildings of the old town largely survived the 1996 earthquake that devastated most of Lijiang's new town. And the government has poured massive funds into the fiurther development of the old town that is steadily increasing in size. The Chinese are experts at making new things look old (and for that matter making new things look new, too..i.e. faking everything under the blue skies) - so they have built a large annex to the old town over the last years to cater for the ever-increasing tourist hordes. It's painful to imagine how crowded it can be here during the main season
Tibetan Dancing, Shangri-La
. Right now the Chinese tour group crowds are well tolerable, though and accomodation rates are rock bottom most places in China. The old town has a lot of charm. With it's cobbled streets, canals, bridges and tastefully kitschy craftsman shops it reminded us of a glorified German Christmas market sans mulled wine (Gluehwein). This was much missed considering the blistering cold of the place as soon as the sun starts playing peek-a-boo. At night dances on the village square and inviting red lanterns everywhere only enhance the athosphere. We found a lovely family guest house (for an incredible 2 Euro a night...) smack in the middle of the old town. As soon as we'd unpacked they invited us to join in their dinner which was one of the best meals we'd had in China: Szichuan spicy fish soup, glibbery green noodles and tasty veg. Afterwards we went to see the Naxi Orchestra perform. This is the Chinese answer to the Buena Vista Social Club. The Naxi are a Chinese minority group in this region. They are famous also as in some areas of the region they uphold the last matriarchical society in existence. The most prominent aspect of this are the so-called "walk-in marriages" where the girls from age 15 can invite males into their chambers for a night or more at their will without commiting themselves to a single male and without marriages or a lasting partnership. The children resulting from these loose ties are then looked after by the female community
Drum Tower, Xi'an
. An insight into this can be gained by watching our travel hero Michael Palin's BBC "Himalayas" travel series. There is a rich tradition of music among the Naxi with 1000 year old written scores and traditional instruments. These all had to be hidden or buried during the Chinese cultural revolution (where officially sanctioned hooligans destroyed everything with links to old cultures and traditions during Chariman Mao's reign). Only 20 years ago some of these aged musicians dug out their instruments and assembled to recreate this ancient music. It appears those members of the band that have passed away have since been replaced by young lasses from vaying ethnic minorities that add their particular slant to their performances. We were much impressed (I especially by one of the ladies mouth harp (Maultrommel) performances). I'll try to upload a video. Much recommended! Another interesting fact about the Naxi is that they have the last exissting hieroglyphic written language. This has been preserved mainly due to the special paper the old scriptures are printed on. It is made from bitter bark that apparently is a turn-off for any paper-munching vermin and thus has lasted for centuries in an excellent state. The scriptures are passed on by the so-called Dongbas, a hereditary lineage of wise-men/shamans. We visited the very informative Dongba heritage centre in Black Dragon Pool Park and had some of their scriptures explained to us by one of the students there who spoke astonishingly good English
Tibetan Dancing, Shangri-La
. Mediated by him we had the Dongba write us a wedding certificate conveying a Naxi blessing to us and our offspring. Encouraged by this blessing we also bought a beautifully stitched baby carrying cloth as used by the locals as an investment into our reproductive future. Babies are carried around everywhere in China on their mother's or grandmother's back. Another feature of Chinese babies, by the way, is the slit in their pants, very practical should a need to purge arise. The baby/toddler is then lifted over the nearest drain on the street, the business done and after a quick wipe all's sorted. No diapers/nappies needed, no taking off clothes, easy-peasy on the fly defecation. (There's a picture in our Li River entry). The lovely Zhong minority people who sold us the carrying cloth also invited us to join them at their delicious dinner. We actually managed some meaningful conversation thanks to our phrasebook. It was interesting to observe the lady of the house just spitting all the fish bones onto the floor while we politely defiled them into the ashtray can. In the meantime her husband produced some of the local rice wine and we emptied a good 1 1/2 bottles between us. What incredibly hospitable people we found in Lijiang!
The site to see here is the Black Dragon Pond Park
How many babies can you spot?
. On a clear day you can see the snow-coverd Yulong mountain peaks in the background with a beautiful chinese bridge and pagoda in the middle of a lake in the foregraound - probably one of western China's most photographed sites. Sadly we did not have good enough weather to see the snow mountains. We did see local artisans at work though, such as a palm painter who paints mountain scenery with only his palms and fingers and a silk embroidery workshop that produces works of art with photographic perfection. The only downside in northern Yunnan province was the cold and the lack of central heating other than at upmarket hotels. People here light charcoal and wood fires in metal pots or burners to keep warm. Some places have electric blankets. Otherwise we had to beef up our insulation. One way of doing this is by eating the local food which really challenges your gall bladder and pancreas with a fat content rivalled only by that of equally cold regions such as, e.g., Scotland or Russia. We bought gloves and a woolly hat and wore everything we had at once. Also, guest houses here provide a thermal flask of hot water. We made the most of this by buying a hot water bottle and our own tea making peraphernalia.
Next stop was to be Tiger Leaping Gorge. This is a deep cleft between the Yulong and Haba mountains (each well over 4500m in height) through an earthquake
Little old Tibetan ladies
. Since then the here still relatively young yet already mighty Yang Tse River (the world's third longest river according to dodgy Chinese statistics) has dug itself deeper into the granite forming some deadly rapids (all attempts at rafting the gorge have been fatal so far...)As for the name of the gorge, the legend states that the gorge is so narrow that a tiger managed to leap across it once. Having seen the narrow rapids along the way this story is actually credible.
We took two days to hike high along the gorge along what was once a so-called tea-horse path. This goes back to old trade routes between Yunnan and Tibet where Tibetans traded their horses and yak-butter in for tea. It's a truly amazing hike through serene alpine beauty. Guest houses dot the way, beckoning to drop in for a drink, some food or a night's stay. Initially we were followed by local horemen who, like vultures, were hoping to transport weary travellers falling behind or their luggage.We stayed at the Tea Horse Guest House with great views onto the steep mountain sides on the other side of the gorge and had a great evening with the two Irish Aelreds from whom we learnt some more Chinese and philosophised over some well-deserved beers. We also met up with our favorite travel group and their knowledgable leader Jonathan. As a result of the beers the starlit night sky was repeatedly a magnificent sight to behold on the freezing walk to the outdoor toilet..
Pagoda, Lijiang
.Talking of toilets, next day we ventured to the Halfway Guest House for Lunch, whose "loo with a view" was, once again, made famous by Michael Palin. Although the squat toilets that have been a faithful travel companion since our arrival in Bangkok usually encourage us to leave them as soon as the most necessary has been taken care of, this particularly one does invite to linger a bit longer and take in the breath-taking mountain scenery. The owner of this guest house is a traditional Chinese practitioner and kindly supplied Regine with some herbs to sooth her sensitive stomach that's been finding it hard to deal with the greasy local cuisine. Sadly the bitter herbal mixture he whipped up hasn't really taken any effect yet...
Recently a road was blasted into the cliff to link up both ends of the 20 km long gorge and the path eventually drops down to this level. From there we went all the way down to the churning river at the bottom of the gorge. From here the chasm was possibly even more impressive and, excuse the pun, gorgeous than from the high path. We couldn't manage to get out of the gorge that night, so sadly missed a chance to meet up with our favorite travel group at Shangri-La, 3 hours to the north, until the next day.
Shangri-La is a fictitious place in the mountains described some 70 years ago by an author named James Hilton in his book Lost Horizons that, in my understanding, describes a group of people lost in awe-inspiring mountain scenery after a plane crash
Practicing my French with Eliane and Brigitte
. Although India and Nepal laid claim to this locality, the Chinese took their unsubstantiated claim further and renamed the mountain town of Zhongdian and the surrounding county a few years back. Now nobody speaks of Zhongdian anymore and tourism is rife in the newly created no longer fictional Shangri-La.Shangri-La, situated on a plain at 2500m of altitude, was the closest we were to get to Tibetan culture without entering Tibet itself. 80% of the regional population is Tibetan. The scenery is splendid. Vast plateaus, sturdy wood and stone buildings, drying racks for the harvested crop, grazing pigs and Yaks and tibetans in their colourful costumes everywhere. Shangri-La's cobbled old town has a similar Christmas market feel to Lijiang - only smaller. The abundant cafes must be splendid in summer. In this blistering cold, though, we sought out any indoor warmth we could come across. One warm joint that we declared our prime site of pilgrimage was a traditional dumpling and noodle shop (diagonally across from the Tibet Cafe). The family here make noodles and amazingly tasty pork-noodle dumplings in front of your eyes as you order your food. They made our second favourite noodle soup (the standard was set by Hong Kong's Citibank canteen). And their fried dumpings are on par with those incredible dumplings we had with Liz and Pete in Singapore. We hardly ate anything else and also met a lovely French couple, Brigitte and Eliane, there
Hanging with the Dongba-wedding certificate
. In fact, I don't think I've spoken so much French as I have at Shangri-La since leaving school. It's an unofficial French colony!Oh, and don't try to cash traveller cheques in Zhongdian: you'll be sent from bank to bank in vain. Shangri-La is a very sleepy and pleasantly quiet town. No karaoke disco noise for a change, only barking dogs and the occasional warbling ice cream truck-like western children's songs in the streets. Investigating this unexpected source of music it turns out that this is emanated by the local garbage trucks to beckon streams of locals with their trash cans which are then ingested by the rubbish eating behemoth.
It's well worth a stroll through the surrounding villages - some guest houses also offer stays with Tibetan families. The highlight are the Tibetan Buddhist temples. Clad in red 9rather than the Southeast Asian saffron-coloured) robes the monks here are very friendly. There is a monastery with an enormous prayer wheel in the old twon that's worth a visit, yet the main focus is the probably most important monastary in Southwest China, north of town. It's very active, large and somewhat run-down, although they're undertaking major renovations at present.
In shangri-La, like the rest of Yunnan, people are passionate about dancing at night
Lijiang
. I guess it's the best way to keep warm in the blistering cold (we experienced our first snow of the season here). We were lucky to be there at the same time a Chinese television crew was making a movie about the town. For those who haven't experienced Chinese television, let it be known that it is tacky beyond belief: either ludicrously bad quality soaps, or minority singing, theatre performances, Chinese vs. Japanese war movies, political propaganda, or kitschy documentaries. One of the latter was in production in Shangri-La and the film crew had recruited many locals in traditional costumes to dance and sing all day in front of one of the monasteries. The locals seemed to enjoy it and danced well into the night. There is in fact a tradition of young and old dancing every night on the town square. We could witness this the next day. They blast out traditional discoed-up music and everyone from jeans-clad teenies to the ubiquitous ancient little old ladies in Tibetan costumes knows the steps to each particular song. Impressive!After two nights in Shangri-La we returned to Lijiang to meet up with the Hugheys (our travelling lawyer friends frm Washington D.C.) to have some beers and exchange tips as our itineraries were criss-crossing. Earlier in the evening, after indulging in another helping of yak gulash, we also met another German ex-pat from Shanghai, Jens.
Shangri-La
Now we've arrived in central China, in Xian, home to the famous terracota warriors.
It's been an adventure getting here. After a 3-hour delay (with provision of a meal and free tea by Easten China Airlines, mind you) we had a stop-over in Kunming to have a first hand demonstration of ridiculous chinese bureauracy. Although flying onwards we had to leave the plane and take the shuttle bus to the terminal, have our boarding cards exchanged with an identical one, then herded back onto the bus only o take up our same seats again before the plane took off. I couldn't help laughing throughout while Regine couldn't stop shaking her head in dibelief at the complete disregard of any logistical common sense.
I'm impressed you're still reading this. You've reached the end of another way too long entry courtesy of the Xian Bell Tower Hostel. More on Xian in our next entry.
