The beautiful limestone terraces at Baishui Tai and passing through Tiger Leaping Gorge

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After breakfast with Glynnis and Seamus in Shangri La we said our farewells to them and caught a taxi (10 yuan)to the bus station where we purchased bus tickets (cheap 24 yuan each). I think there were only two buses a day and ours didn't leave until 2.30 that afternoon. As it was only 10.30 in the morning and having no desire to spend the next four hours at the grimy bus station we reloaded our bags back into another taxi and went back to the old town to fill in the time. After leaving our bags at the hotel we spent the time checking out the shops and people watching in the square. The time soon passed and we were on our way to Baishui Tai having no idea of really what to expect.

It was a fabulous trip - extremely scenic - actually the best scenery we have seen from a bus seat the entire trip do far. We left Shangri La and followed the route through the edge of the Pudacuo National Park - a region of meadows (very dry now) and old growth forests. There were many streams running through the region as well - though running is not the correct terminology as they were all totally frozen over! We passed through many tiny Tibetan settlements comprising of the highly decorated large homes, lotsof prayer flags fluttering, many frames of wood with drying crops hanging from them, yaks and occasional people. There seemed to be a lack of movement around the villages. Quite a few times we'd manage to catch glimpses of the snow covered slopes of the Meili Xue ranges - which was an unexpected bonus of the trip. We also passed many Tibetan white stupas on the road - these small shrines can only be passed on the right (clockwise) - we were heading in the correct directio for this - vehicles coming from the other direction actually have to leave the main road and take a dirt track around the stupa so they pass it in a clockwise direction. The road kept weaving around the mountains and the drop below the road was very deep and sharp in many places. The road surface though was surprisingly good bitumen. We stopped constantly to pick up and drop off some colourful local characters.

We drove around the edge of mountains the whole trip and the valleys below were steeply terraced, full of wooden and stone houses with tiled roofs, and very green. It was almost like looking down into an oasis region as the higher ground was barren and grey/brown in colour. At one stage the bus stopped and opened the door and a goat was just outside it - he had a curious look inside before we set off again. Another time we let off a tiny little ruddy cheeked boy and his grandfather. The boy was clutching an half eaten banana which he had held in his hand half eaten for at least the previous hour and a net bag of mandarins. It wasn't until later that we realised actually how rare fruit was in that region. Just before we arrived in Baishui Tai we stopped at a house and two big plastic bags of live fish which had rolled up and down the aisle since leaving Shangri La were unloaded. Three hours after leaving Shangri La we were dropped off in tiny village which we presumed was Baishui Tai.

Immediately three ladies came and tried to drag me in three different directions to look at rooms. We had been previously warned about the poor state of accommodation in the village and the three rooms I saw, though not expensive, were really not places I wanted to spend a couple of nights. We had been told to only stay in the Naxi Family guest house but had not been shown it. Debating what to do I looked up and saw a sign (in English) advertising it. I pointed to the sign and queried (hand signals) to one of the ladies who had shown us her room. Surprisingly she gestured to us to follow her and she took us down off the main road into the village proper to the Naxi guesthouse. Despite the English sign on the highway there was no signage in any language on the entrance to the guesthouse itself so I have no idea how you were meant to find it yourself. Anyway it was a purpose built guesthouse and the rooms were lovely.

There were no obvious restaurants in the village and when it came time to eat that evening the guest house owner directed us to the home of the woman who had shown us where the guest house was. That was obviously the deal traded for showing us the Naxi guesthouse. Fair enough I thought - though on our second night there we were given no choice of where to eat. Mama Naxi made it very clear that she was feeding us that evening!Mama Naxi was very friendly though all conversations were done in sign language - I doubt she even spoke Mandarin, probably only the Naxi language. She actually couldn't write either as she was unable to show us how much we were to pay for the room. We knew we would find out before we left somehow! We ended up paying only 80 yuan a night which was very reasonable. Hard beds, no wifi of course, electric blankets (every hotel so far has had them) and hot water - or at least we got water after Mama had replaced the shower head and cleaned the filth out of the pipes!

We wandered the village before dark - it was very traditional and we were surprised by the houses. They had very solid stone foundations and many of the houses were made like the American log cabins you see in the western movies. We watched a group of men chiseling the logs and making another house. Many of the houses also had the red and yellow Communist flag flying above them. For dinner that evening we went up to the other lady's kitchen where we pointed at various vegetables which she cooked up for us. The quality of many of the few vegetables she had on display was not brilliant - they appeared withered and past their best. The closest town of any size was Shangri La in one direction - when we left we realised that the next closest town of any size was over two hours away in the other direction. So little chance to buy fresh fruit or any vegetables that they didn't grow themselves. Anyway she put down the axe she was using to add wood to the enormous stacks already against her house and cooked our three serves of egg and vegetables (cabbage and potato) dinner in a big wok in her dirty kitchen. After she served our meal she went back to her wood pile again. She couldn't tell us how much the food cost but she seemed happy enough with the fifty yuan we left. Back to our room for an early night. It wasn't as cold as Shangri La but pretty close I think.

Next morning after very sweet coffee and some freshly baked flat Naxi bread (with our vegemite) we bought tickets (30 yuan each) for the limestone terraces which are the attraction of Baishui Tai. They are large, milky white series of limestone terraces and pools built up over thousands of years as pale blue lime rich water cascaded down the hillside. We could see the base of the terraces from the road and after refusing the offered pony rides up the hill we set off up the very rickety ladder/footpath to the top of the terraces which was much loser then we thought. They looked very pretty though we were unable to get close to the actual pools as all the ground surface surrounding them was slippery with a thin layer of ice. We were surprised at how many Chinese tourists came up to the top of the terraces whilst we were there. They got out of their large four wheel drives on the highway, climbed up and then roared off again to the next sight on their trip. We have seem many, many very wealthy local tourists - all driving top of the range four wheel drives, dressed in designer clothes (not copies I'm sure) covered in bling (some of the shoes are so over the top) and all toting brand name SLR cameras, with enormous lens attachments. The only show we've watched on Chinese TV was on their English language channel and it was all about the incredible wastage of food now in city restaurants by wealthy Chinese. They are known to order the entire menu (for show) and then only barely eat a couple of the dishes. This show of 'in your face' wealth is very blatant to our eyes not attractive at all.

We enjoyed the terraces though loved the countryside surrounding them even more. We have seen much larger terraces in Turkey. That afternoon after shop bought snack food for lunch we set off into the fields to make our way through some of the nearby villages. We had a great afternoon, balancing around the edges of the terraced fields, trying to chat to some of the welcoming field workers and peering through the open gates into the courtyards of the farm houses. As usual they all had large detailed entrance gates, the newer ones made of metal with tiled scenes of Chinese culture adorning the cement surrounds whilst the older ones were scarred adobe walls with heavily carved door frames which were covered with peeling faded red and gold New Year banners. I guess all the old banners will be replaced with shiny new ones shortly. After our long walk we were happy to return to a sunny spot, our books and a couple of bottles of beer in the courtyard of our guesthouse. The interior courtyard area was still very much a working plot of land as there were racks of corn drying, veggie patches and with lots of hand held farming implements lying around. We were half asleep when we answered a knock at our door to be greeted by two policemen who requested to check our passports and visas. All in order thankfully.

Late in the afternoon we went for another long walk though this time we kept to the road. We walked a long way, passing many tiny roadside lime mines (operated by a couple of people) and saw many tiny villages far down in the valley. We watched a group of women load bundles of dead pine tree needles onto there backs and walk down to the lower village with them. the forests around the villages were all pine forests and the villages were full of tall haystacks of dried pine needles. I guess it is used to fuel their fires. We watched the sun go down before returning in the evening chill to Mama Naxi's lounge room where we enjoyed pork with mint, wild mushrooms, and potato shredded and fried for dinner. We ate the meal on tiny stools, warmed by a fire in an earthen pot, in front of a very ornately carved and coloured dresser - all the time watched over by a 2005 calendar picture of Chairman Mao. We paid 66 yuan for dinner and breakfast was 30 yuan.

Next morning we woke early and climbed back up to the road in the dark to wait on the highway for the bus that Mama indicated she had phoned to collect us. Fifteen minutes later it arrived and we were amongst the first passengers On board. By the time we arrived in Haba, the next closest town of any size two hours later the bus was crammed - in fact at one stage even the locals on board protested (all in good nature I think as it was the only bus that day in that direction) when the driver literally pushed more people on. At one stage we had a pig in a bag between our legs. The bus was not much more than mini bus and it was so crowded I couldn't count the people on board. I did manage to count eighteen people in the front of the bus - that was in the aisle and first three rows of seats. There were five people (plus their baggage) on the small luggage area between the driver and the single front row seat. We were seating in the seat behind the driver. It was actually a pretty scary drive.

The bus was well over loaded, we were driving around some serious bends with the valley floor a long way down, and the driver spent too much time chatting on his phone and with all the people sitting around him and not enough time with his eyes on the road. The scenery though was spectacular which helped to take our mind off the driver and the road. Unfortunately though I was on the drop side of the bus and it was very obvious just how many times the bus drove along the white line which edged the road. There was a long way down on the other side of the white line... We passed very close to the base of Yulong Xue Shan (Jade Dragon Snow Mountain) the 5596 meter high peak which towers behind Lijiang. We even saw very clearly the large Yulong glacier which flows down from the summit. We were pleased to reach the uninteresting looking township of Haba where virtually everybody on board got off - no doubt to visit doctors or buy fresh supplies - before they caught a late afternoon bus back to their villages.

We had been travelling for over two hours by that stage and ahead of us we could see the looming entrance of Tiger Leaping Gorge. We had asked to be dropped at the mid point of the gorge - Walnut Grove - where we planned to spend a day before catching another bus onward to Lijiang. However there was something about the gorge that gave both of us a distinct feeling of discomfort so we literally both looked at each other and made an instant decision not to stay there. I have no idea what it was but it just felt sinister and spooky and we just didn't want to be there! At that point some officials boarded the bus and insisted all the tourists on board either show their tickets for entry to the gorge or buy some. Despite the fact that we weren't staying we had to pay 65 yuan each just to drive through the gorge.

All the other tourists we met loved their time either hiking or visiting the gorge but we have no regrets that we didn't stay as planned. We saw as much as we needed to just driving through it. As we were on the lower road (you hike along a much higher path) it was reasonably close to the water. The first two hours of that trip had been much scarier re heights then the drive through the actual gorge. As we drove we could see a wide pathway ( probably anout a kilometer long) on the opposite side of the river which was teeming with tourists, gift shops and bus parking. I think it passed the narrowest part of the river where supposedly a tiger once jumped across the river (hence the name).

We had another couple of hours of pretty boring driving before we reached Lijiang Where we paid the bus fare of 60 yuan each. Since we had left Dali we had regularly passed workers building a new multi lane highway to Lijiang. Much of it was above the ground so the cement structures were very obvious as it tended to follow the old road. Onwards to Shangri La from Lijiang we saw a railway being constructed as well. Both of these will no doubt increase tourist numbers greatly to all these areas after they are completed later this year. The new road was one reason that peaceful Shaxi had just started a building frenzy as the new would make it much easier and quicker to access that village. Upon arriving at the bus station we caught a taxi to the entrance area of the old town. Another place we had visited before and we suspected that we would see vast changes there as well!

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Photos

Women in a village near where we stayed
Note the Chinese and Naxi script on the wall. Both languages were on all the signs.