Bloody Hell. This place is lovely

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Monday July 24th

As I said on the last blog I woke up at 9AM and immediately made my way out to get to Lijiang. Before taking care of the bus I had breakfast at Cafe de Jack which I really recommend. Good food, decent price and nice staff. It seems I hadn't learned from my previous mistake and didn't buy a ticket in advance thinking that since there were 20+ buses to Lijiang hopping on one wouldn't be any problem. I went to Michael's travel agency which had buses to Lijiang ticket advertised and asked for a ticket for today. He was not too happy about the fact that I was last minute but made some phone calls to drivers for morning buses. He is a fun character and talks lightning fast but good english. After waiting a while he told me that there was nothing before 2:30PM and I'd have to pay 65RMB for an "express" bus that I'd catch on the highway instead of a bus that starts in Lijiang. He told me: "Youknowcellphonecallsarereallyexpansive,1RMBanhour! Iwon'tmakeany moneywithyoubecauseIwastedsomuchtimeonmycellphonetryingtogetyouaticketbycallingdriversbutyoucamehereandtrustedmesoI'llgetyousomething. Sometimesyoumakemoneysometimesyoulosemoneyandsometimes,likenow,youdontmakeanymoneybutthatsbusiness". I'm not exactly sure how he manages to breathe when he talks. In any case I was heavily skeptical about his "I won't make any money" line but bought his ticket while swearing at my stupidity (both for not buying my ticket in advance and for not checking at other tourist agency if they had tickets available).

I spent the few hours remaining in Dali in Tibet Cafe where I had a burger to eat on the internet updating my blog and keeping track of the news. At 2PM I showed up at Michael's office and his brother drove me to the highway in a taxi. It was raining heavily and I had no umbrella as it was deeply buried in my backpack so Michael lent me one. The bus came shortly afterward and Michael's brother told the driver something. I got on without even showing my ticket and took a random seat at the rear. The bus quickly filled with people and it was obvious that someone had overbooked the seats. For 20 minutes chinese people argued and all the westerners onboard didn't understand what was going on. In the end a van came and took the extra people. There was a japanese/american couple in their 50s on the seat behind me and the man was really not happy: "It's cold, we're all wet and the bus won't leave. This is great".

Nevertheless we did depart a little bit after he complained. A israeli man sat next to me after the chinese girl who was there left the bus to get into the van. His name was Philip (I think, not sure if i remember right... doesn't sound very israeli though). Despite the fact that everyone told me I'd meet israeli everywhere while travelling he was the first one I met. I had heard from several travellers that israelis were generally asshole but he was cool and we talked for most of the ride. He is the first person I met who fell for both the teahouse scam and the art's gallery scam in Beijing. He did however get this ticket for 50RMB so when Michael told me he wouldn't make any money off me he was full of it. Never trust a travel agent that tells you he won't make any money off you. He was travelling with his friend Omar (spelling?) which was at the front of the bus for most of the time. When I mentioned that I had planned to travel to Lebanon he wisely suggested that I do not visit it, at least for several month which is pretty much the conclusion I had reached.

We got to Lijiang at around 6PM and we couldn't find any landmark by the time we got to the bus station so we had no idea where we were. Me and the 2 israelis got into a cab and we tried to make it go to the old town. The japanese woman tried to help us (she couldn't speak chinese but seemed more skillful than us at gesturing) and we eventually got a ride to somewhere close to the old town (no wheeled vehicle are admited in the old town). Lijiang is about 2000m above sea level and it was pretty chilly. Omar was hating this temperature: "In Israel it is always sunny. This place is so cold". As a Canadian I didn't have much problem and I walked around in t-shirt. We shopped around for hotels but they had higher standards than me (Philip: "This is not a toilet, it's a pit (while talking about a chinese flush squat toilet, which is almost a luxury for me!). I've been in China for a month and I never had to use them and I'm not gonna start now!) so we decided to go in different hotels and figured that we'd see each other again at some point. I can understand that after 3 years of army life in barracks you're not looking forward to dorm spartan accomodation when you're travelling.

I walked around alone trying to find Dongba Guesthouse in the maze of small streets but I was fairly lost. I saw 3 western people so I asked them: "I'm sorry guys but where the hell are we" while showing them my LP map of Lijiang. They quickly told me where I was and how to get to Dongba Guesthouse which is where they were staying. I found the place immediately and booked a dorm bed for a night. I had planned to go to Qiatou to do the Tiger Leaping Gorge trek right away but since I didn't get a morning bus out of Dali I was stuck there for the night. I put my backpack on the bed, took out warmer clothes and walked around the city for a bit. It is just as touristy as I had heard of except that it is overwhelmingly chinese tourist. I don‘t know if chinese tourists look like tourists because they are mainly from the coast and coastal people dress differently from the locals or because chinese dress differently when they are being tourist but the fact is that you can spot them from a mile away. It might be the fact that they are all herded around by the guide with a flag or the fact that they take picture of themselves in front of things such as the sign that says：“Lijiang Market Square” just so they can prove to their friends and relatives that they‘ve actually been in Lijiang (I’m serious, there is a lineup for people to take a picture on that sign). They also appears to love anything that looks too traditional to be true, like women dressed up in traditonal Naxi clothes and heavy jewelry that dance in front of a restaurant. It is obviously fake and a tourist trap but they couldn’t care less.

A little bit of background about Lijiang. It is mostly a Naxi town. The Naxi are one of the many Chinese minority and they‘re a subgroup of tibetans. The place used to be an independant kingdom until the Mongols came and conquered the Nanzhao kingdom and the Naxi have been mostly under chinese rule ever since although it has been less than direct rule until the communist came to power. The Old Town of the city is old Naxi architecture while the New City is your usual Chinese City (the government encourages Han immigration into minority areas so as to make sure to crush any potential independance movement and since Han Chinese are so numerous they have been very succesfull at flooding every part of China with ”real“ Chinese to ensure that the minorities will never get the land which is rightfully theirs). The attraction of Lijiang is the Old Town.

I walked around the Old Town for about two hours. I know that this place was been heavily rebuilt since 1996 after an Earthquake so even the town itself is not really old but was mostly built to look like the old town but I enjoyed walking around in it since they’re narrow, windy roads packed with people and full of little side alleys. I just try to avoid the place where tour groups congregate and it was fine. I also enjoyed the colder weather which allowed you to walk around without sweating after walking 10 steps like Yangshuo or Guangdong. I met Philip in front of Prague Cafe 2 hours after I had checked in and they still hadn‘t found a hotel so he was in a rush to find one. I told him I’d be eating at Prague and he said he‘d try to come. I had a Naxi sandwhich (goatcheese and local ham) that was really good. The ambience at Prague was exactly what I was looking for: european-style cafe where you can relax and read while sipping some drink. I got a book there called: China:An introduction by Lucian Pye which is another history book on China. It’s not that I want to read only history books but it just seems that all the books I‘ve seen on book exchange are simply uninteresting. If I was into Danielle Steele style books I’d definately have a wider range of book to chose from. I bargained the price down to 50RMB for the book (from 75RMB) which is probably way too much anyway. I walked back to Dongba Guesthouse and had a chat with the 3 people who told me where I was when I was lost earlier and 3 friendly french girl/1 french guy (the guy and one girl slept in the bed next to me in the dorm). They were planning to go to Baisha by bike tomorrow and to do the Tiger Leaping Gorge the day after just like me. The 3 other people had just came back from Western Sichuan and norther Yunnan by the "backdoor route" that goes through small Tibetan towns that I was planning to take so they gave me a few tips for the road. I was tired of going to bed past 1AM so I opted for an early sleep and I headed for the dorm as the french were about to start dinner.

Tuesday July 25th

I woke up fairly early that day and immediately set about preparing for the day, fully revigorated after this long night of sleep. I was sort of planning to go with the french for my bike trip to Baisha, a small sleepy village by the mountains a few kilometers away from Lijiang. I quickly rented my bike and ate breakfast. Justine and Geoffrey (sp?), the french sleeping in my dorm, were doing the same thing with the 2 other french girls. However before I could tell them we should be doing it together I heard they were gone to buy their bus ticket to Qiatou for tomorrow. I quickly asked for information on how to get to the bus station to do the same and I was on my way, along with the 3 people who had shown me how to get to the hostel from yesterday who were leaving for Dali. One of them had waken up at 6AM to take pictures of the old town in the morning when it is empty which I thought was a good idea so I decided I'll do it on Wednesday (if I wake up in time). It took 10 minutes to get there and buying a ticket for tomorrow morning was no problem but I didn't see the frenchies. When I came back I still saw now signs of them so I decided to bike on my own.

I made my way out of town following the map that I had been given at the reception of Dongba Guesthouse and I arrived at Black Dragon Pool Park fairly fast. It's a park with what the Lonely Planet says is the most obligatory photoshoot in Southwest China (a beautiful pond of water with the mountain in the background). I learned that entrance was 70RMB and figured I had better things to do with my money than to spend 70RMB for a picture. If you want to see the picture just buy the LP China, it's in there. I cycled through some small road after going toward the mountains. The road was pretty bad and I was cycling in mud going along some very poor residential areas. At some point I hit the main road which was under construction and then the highway close to a petrol station and after that I cycled through 6km of highway. The scenery is beautiful along the highway but being on a big road sort of takes away from the fun. Nevertheless after a while was the exit for Baisha so I took off in the countryside and cycled through fields and small villages for a while and there it was wonderful.

I was alone most of the time with local people who are not all dressed in tradtional clothings, the older people are but the younger generation is wearing western clothes. Some people might dislike this as they'd say they came to China to see tradition and not western clothes but I prefer it this way as it is at least real whereas the tourist board fabrication of chinese culture that you see in downtown Lijiang are just that: fabrication. The fact is China is in a process of transformation as we speak and if you want to see any "real" culture you'll have to live with the fact that all traditional cultures in China have started adopting certain parts of western and other cultures from around the world just like pretty much every other people on the planet. It seems from the comments you wear when you talk with other western tourists that some can't accept the fact that we're not in the Qing dynasty anymore and China is evolving. If you expect people to still wear traditional clothes, do foot binding on women or kill girl babies (they do it with ultrasound and abortion now, cleaner but same principle) you'll be disapointed but if you're prepared to look past the western shirts you'll see that chinese are not losing their traditions at all but simply incorporating aspects from other cultures (mostly western but by no mean only western culture) into their own in a process of evolution of their culture and this is by itself very interesting. Of course it makes for less impressive pictures of locals that you can show your friend back home but chinese don't exist to serve in a museum for foreign tourists.

After cycling around in small village streets and fields for 30 minutes I entered Baisha proper which is a bit bigger and slightly touristy. Baisha's claim of fame comes from Dr Hu, a traditional medicine practiconer, which featured in a travel book written by Bruce Chatwin that was apparently very popular but I've never heard of. Since the publication of the book several tourists go from Lijiang to the "sleepy little mountain village of Baisha" and I was among them although I couldn't care less about Dr Hu. I was just there to see rural life in this part of China. The level of tourism is order of magnitude lower than in nearby Lijiang and it is limited to a few Naxi restaurant with english signs, a eco-tourism travel agency/restaurant and less than 10 tourists that I could see in town. Just as I was entering the city I saw Marie-Laure, the french woman I had met in Yangshuo when I went to eat with Louis and Maude (the quebecers). She had been in Lijiang for 4 days and was visiting Baisha for the day before going back to Kunming in the evening because she was heading toward Vietnam. We talked about our experiences since Yangshuo and then went our own way as I had a bike and she was on foot. I stopped at one of the restaurant and had water with scrambled eggs/tomato fried noodles. I went out of the village and just cycled around for a while until I saw a cool hill which had a path up. I hid my bike, locked it and walked up to get a view of the surroundings. Just as I started walking up I saw two Naxi women walking with their huge basket on their back filled. I tried taking pictures of them, the surrounding fields, Baisha village and the faraway mountain in the same picture but was not quite succesful. They didn't see me or my hidden bike so I continued walking up at least knowing that my bike wouldn't be stolen.

The feeling from top was wonderful. It might not look like much from the picture but I really liked it. I just sat around on top of the hill for about an hour just relaxing and watching the surroundings. It was quite a pleasant experience. I walked back down and cycled some more but after a while I decided to call it a day early because I had to do some laundry (the path were full of mud and my previously clean pants were now totally dirty). I came back by the highway and on the way I saw another little village called Suhe so I decided to have a look. The place was one of those fake village for tourists and it was full of them, almost only Chinese tour groups. Of course where there are tour goups there is an entrance fee. I turned back and continued on the highway. So if you want to see fake traditional village life with picture perfect local people, Suhe is the place. If not go to Baisha and around.

I was back in the hostel by 3 and I quickly proceeded to do some handlaundry which took a while. I then walked around town until I stumbled upon Well Bistro, a cafe serving decent coffee and food from what I heard. I just got a coke and sipped it while reading my guidebook to prepare for the next day. The place is quite relaxing, the waitress is nice and they play good music (Tracy Chapman) which I was really happy about. I decided not to bring my iPod on this trip because I didn't want to cut myself from the places I was visiting by tuning in to my music but sometimes I misses listening to what I like. At some point Marie-Laure passed by to eat just before leaving for Kunming so we talked and exchanged emails. She had been eating at this place for the past 4 days. Like me she loved it because of the nice waitress, the good music and she even told me the food was good, especially the pizza. I caved in to some pizza and it was fairly good. I left a bit after Marie-Laure and went back to the Guesthouse. I met the french there and they explained to me what happened in the morning. When I thought they were going to buy the tickets they were eating breakfast at a place that had baguettes so I missed them and since I left right away when I came back from buying the ticket thinking they were already gone I missed them again. They didn't even go to buy tickets in the morning they went after their trip to Baisha and it turns out they couldn't get a bus for the morning and could only find one for 2:30 so if I want to trek with them in the Tiget Leaping Gorge I'll have to wait 6 hours for them. I told them I'd think about it since I wasn't too sure if I wanted to wait for that long. I went to an internet cafe for a while and went to bed fairly early since I knew the next 2 days would be trekking days and slept like a baby.

I liked Lijiang even though I disliked Dali. I think it is because I managed to get away from the tourist crap in the Old city by walking in small streets and especially by cycling to Baisha which was a wonderful experience. Also I think the fact that I had such a low expectation of Lijiang helped. I didn't think I'd even bother to stay at first but I changed my mind and stayed 2 nights in the end.

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Photos

Lijiang main square
Mountain in the background

Kids playing in Lijiang Old Town
This picture was taken in the peak tourist hour. Even in Lijiang it is possible to take side streets and get away from the crowds and see the locals.

Lijiang in the morning
This place is packed full of Chinese tourists usually

Waterwheels
In the morning, at the entrance of the Old Town

Side street
During the day it looks the same except there are hundreds of chinese tourists and all the doors are souvenir shops.

Mountain
Usually in the rainy season you can't see the mountain from this distance.

Old women carrying stuff
In a little village close to Baisha

Old Naxi women carrying stuff
Same women but taken from a bit farther up.

Baisha
The sleepy little mountain village of Baisha

Sleepy village close to Baisha
I spent an hour on top of that hill just looking around totally alone.