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Published: October 1st 2011
Am sitting on the small deck of Bruce Chalet, a small hotel just outside of the old town of Shuhe, one of several old, protected towns in this area, the best known and largest of which is Lijiang.
I arrived here yesterday on the night train from Kunming -- a good night's sleep in a soft sleeper compartment.
There's little of sightseeing value in Kunming proper, so I spent most of my day before boarding the train doing a very long walk from Yuantong, a Buddhist temple north of my hotel, back to my hotel. Along the way, there was the busy pedestrian shopping district, old market, and just the sights of a city new to me.
My sleeping compartment companions couldn't speak any English, but we got along fine trading snacks before getting to bed.
On waking up, the train was approaching Lijiang and the views were wonderfully rural. After three weeks of crowded Wuhan, this was a welcome change. Ahead, visible then, but I hear rarely so, Yulong Snow Mountain (about 18,000 ft elevation), just north of Lijiang, that’s normally surrounded by clouds.
China is beginning to make the most of its "ancient" town
resources. Shuhe may not have been much of anything, but is now a historic looking village with stall after stall of shops and restaurants. Still, a pleasant place to hang out. Every night in the central square of town, what appears at first to be a performance of Naxi dancing and singing designed primarily for tourists soon becomes, instead, a nightly line dance party for the locals.
Shuhe is a pedestrian-only district, with some narrow passages, all paved in granite blocks. While every shop begins to look the same, there are some visual surprises each time you take a turn. I find it pleasant just to stroll, stopping for a beer, tea or a bite to eat. When browsing at shops, there is little pressure, which is both surprising and great.
I’ve been exploring the area by bike. About 4 miles north of Shuhe is another old town, Baisha. It was once the capital of the Naxi Kingdom, one of the primary tribes in the area. It is relatively quiet, far enough away to be somewhat clear of the tourist circuit. Just adjacent to town are some 14th -century temples, one containing the “Baisha Frescos”, well-preserved and surprisingly
unguarded. It is wonderful to walk around a historic site without all of the warnings, security, and the like that’s so common elsewhere.
Lijiang Old Town was what started the move to tourist-ize old towns in the area. Pretty run down until 1996, it is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site for pedestrians only. Walking its cobble stoned streets lined with souvenir shops and restaurants, picturesque as they are, I longed for some of what was probably a pretty seedy place pre-1996. The town is packed with inns and tourists. Its main streets are edged by canals. The fun is in taking one of the narrow walkways from the main streets and getting lost in the web of the Old Town. Still tourist shops, but fewer tourists and a bit more of a sense of "authenticity".
Though it turns out that the one "historic" site in the Old Town, Mu Fu, really isn't very historic at all. The Mu were Lijiang's ruling family up until 1723. This is supposedly their "palace". It was actually rebuilt relatively recently. Still, it is beautifully done and a great escape from the shops and restaurants in the rest of the Old Town.
The joy of walking around is what I discover along the way. Today it was an unassuming restaurant where I ate a really memorable meal. An amazing grilled fresh water fish, crisp-skinned, covered with an array of peppers, garlic and who knows what else – cooked Naxi style. I just couldn’t get enough of it! Much, I think, to the surprise of the server who seemed stunned that I ate the whole thing on my own…not to mention a good deal of rice mixed with all the spices!
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