Lijiang Old Town walks, Yunnan, South-West China (part 2)

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Back to Lijiang - Strange encounter of an operatic kind

Back from Tiger Leaping Gorge, the minibus dropped us off in a corner of town we didn't recognise, but it was apparently near the Old Town. We were pretty exhausted and it was still hot, so we didn't really want a long hike through the streets before we could get back to the hotel for a shower. But we just had to walk in the general direction we thought was right, past streets where new hotels were being built and then at last into the Old Town. As the photos show, there's a lot of Old Town to walk through! Eventually we found our way to the central area and recognised one of the shopping streets, then continued back to our hotel. Fortunately they had a room (a different one, back on the ground floor) for that night.

That gave us the opportunity to try out another restaurant. This time we chose a Tibetan eating place. Like the one we used on our first evening, this had an upstairs floor where we were able to eat and look down on the street below as darkness descended. It was amazing to see what people were transporting on little carts pulled by bicycles - in one case what looked like a set of bedroom furniture, and another laden with a precariously balanced tall fridge.

There were odd things on the menus made from yaks and yak milk, which we tried. But the oddest thing was a guy wearing a striped cap who came up trying to sell us little handicraft items which we weren't interested in, but when he found out we were from Scotland he suddenly broke into a rendition of "Auld Lang Syne" and another Scottish song which I forget now. He had apparently had a bit of a career as a singer before turning his hand to making things for tourists. Maybe the Cultural Revolution had put him off his first choice. He turned out a few operatic songs in Italian as well. Although we didn't buy an artificial butterfly, we did give him a few yuan to video one of his songs and take his photo!

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Making the most of a good thing!

The visitors were obviously being drawn to Lijiang Old Town in large numbers, supporting lots of shops, hotels and restaurants, and taxi drivers. When we went for another walk after our meal, and crossed the "open space" mentioned earlier, we found out that the Old Town was doing so well that it was being extended. On the other side of the space - the main entrance to the Old Town - were some girls dressed in Naxi costumes performing a dance, and beyond them a couple of rows of tables at an open air restaurant on the banks of the stream, but with only a few customers. To the other side was a large clothing shop, and behind it were more shops that were only half built. It looked as though construction work was continuing through the night. And then, another big open-air restaurant area where they seemed to be closing up for the night.

So, evidently the authorities know they are on to a good thing with this traditional old town stuff, and are making the most of it.

Next day we had more time to walk around Lijiang and for the first time I noticed that the brickwork of the structures between the shops in the "original" Old Town was in many cases painted onto concrete! So there's been a process of "doing up" the old buildings even before the extension was built.

The Lonely Planet Guide tells of an earthquake in 1996 which demolished much of the new town, but left most of the old buildings intact. This apparently encouraged the authorities to build lots more houses in traditional style across Yunan, but you can't help wondering if they weren't persuaded more by the popularity with tourists. And if it means that places look more authentic, then why not? It works in Spain and Austria and Morocco. As well as Lijiang itself, we saw more evidence of this trend to build new tourist facilities in the old style on our bike ride.

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A final leisurely walk around Lijiang

On the last day we were due to get a bus mid-afternoon to Dali, so we had time to spare to see more of Lijiang. I was quite keen to visit the lake with the great view, mentioned in the Lonely Planet Guide - it seems that Black Dragon Pool Park (Heilongtan Gongyuan) on the northern edge of Lijiang has a magical view of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. However, it was a long way, it was hot, and we were still tired after Tiger Leaping Gorge, so we restricted our hiking to the Old Town. Besides, there was a hilltop park and pavilion which we could walk up to.

There were more old streets we hadn't seen yet, with even more shops, and they looked more like the real thing than some of the ones we had seen already. These led us through to the market square - a long sloping cobbled square, with a decorative well in the middle and stone benches for people to sit on in the shade of trees (more images in the Gallery).

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Up the hill with the view of Lijiang

At the top of the square, a gateway stood over the route to the pavilion viewpoint, with signs in English pointing the way. It was more of a climb than we expected, so we took it slowly. More shops. More views through the shops, to the sunlit private family courtyards behind.

Finally we reached another gateway - this one into the park at the top of the hill. There was an admission charge of 15 or 20 yuan, and Owen decided to sit it out in the shade whilst we explored the park.

Just beyond the gate was a terrace under trees, with a view suddenly opening out over the hundreds of grey tiled roofs of the Old Town towards the hills in the distance. It was very impressive (see 1st photo).

After enjoying the view, we found the path up the hill through the trees, providing welcome shade. It took us towards the Looking at the Past Pavilion (Wanggu Lu). On the approach to the final flight of steps, a couple of old men sat on a stone bench, quietly contemplating the wooded surroundings. They looked up as we arrived, and I decided to offer them a couple of yuan each to let me take their photo. After the success with the minstrel at the restaurant the previous evening, it seemed like a good way to get some photos of local characters without upsetting them. And it worked.

At the top of the steps into the Pavilion were a couple of stone jars with incense sticks. Inside, we climbed several flights of steps to the top, where we were rewarded with a great view over the city - both the Old Town to the east, and the New Town to the west. To the north, hazy in the distance, was Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (see panoramas in the Gallery).

There were various things for sale - postcards, books, pictures. Annoyingly (as elsewhere in China) all the postcards seemed to be in packs of about 20, so you had to buy a load of views of places you'd never been to in order to get a couple of decent cards from Lijiang Old Town. They just don't have racks of individual postcards such as you find everywhere in Europe. Strange. And none of them included any views of Tiger Leaping Gorge.

However, we needed to send a couple of cards, so I bought the best selection I could find. Then I came across a book on "Searching for Shangri-La", by Lawrence J Brahm. It had sections on Lijiang and Dali as well as other parts of western China and Tibet, and looked worth reading, so I bought it. (I finished reading it on the flight home, and it certainly did provoke a lot of thoughts about the changes currently under way in China seen through the eyes of Buddhists and artists, and the traditional qualities of life in Western China that are being overwhelmed by consumerism and concrete and glass).

We realised Owen must have been waiting for half an hour by that time, so we rattled down the wooden stairs and out of the pavilion, down through the wooded park, and out of the gate to rejoin him. That's where the photo of Catriona and Owen was taken, with the rooftops, the wooded hill and the mountain in the distance. Definitely worth the effort to climb up there.

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Cafe culture

It was time for some refreshment, so we were on the lookout for a restaurant on our way back down. At a junction on the alleyway we chanced upon the Wang Gu Youth Inn, which sounded like fun. Stepping carefully over the Alsatian dog guarding the doorway, we went in and were shown to a table in a corner by the open window, with views over the rooftops and down to the street sloping down below. Another splendid vantage point.

The service wasn't great, but it was a different kind of place to spend an hour or so. Over at another table two other Chinese customers were sitting leafing through books in a reading area over a pot of tea. The young woman who owned the place was playing classical music on the hi-fi and doing work at a computer, occasionally calling out to the staff to attend to another customer. Later, reading "Searching for Shangri-La", it became clear that there was quite a movement of artistic young people to Yunnan where they sought a quieter, more spiritual existence away from the concrete metropolis, sometimes opening a restaurant such as this one.

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Finding a pharmacy

Owen was still feeling below his best, and we were trying to work out whether it was due to altitude sickness or dehydration or something else. We thought we should seek out a pharmacy, and so we walked on down the narrow street back to the market square. A crowd of Naxi dancers were sitting resting, as though they had just finished a performance. Then we bumped into Mike who we had met on our walk through Tiger Leaping Gorge - he too was killing time waiting for a bus. He had managed to get out to Baisha to see Dr Ho, who had prescribed him a bagful of medicinal powder just like Catriona!

We chatted a bit, swapped e-mail addresses, then said "goodbye" again and continued down a street looking for a pharmacy. It seemed strange not to find one, until we were nearly back in the vicinity of our hotel and the entrance to the Old Town. Then two came along at the same time, one on each side of the street! Catriona and Owen went into one, then the other, to try to get something to revive his energy, but without success. So we just went to another shop and bought a bottle of hypotonic drink - we had taken some to the Gorge already. Then we returned to our hotel and started packing up for our bus ride to Dali.

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Leaving Lijiang

Now we had to hike the mile to the bus station again, this time with our heavy packs. As we hadn't spent too much money we decided this wasn't such a great idea and once we got back to the entrance to the Old Town we flagged down a taxi to save us most of the effort. It was a Good Idea, as it only cost a few yuan and we were all pretty tired.

After buying the tickets and waiting a while, we were able to board our bus. There seemed to be plenty of space, but on our way through the streets the driver picked up various other people, rolls of carpet, a box with a chicken inside, and other miscellaneous packages, and by the time we trundled out of town we were well loaded down!

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Cycle ride to Baisha>

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Contributed by: Andrew Llanwarne

Photos by Andrew, Owen and Catriona Llanwarne

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