Advertisement
Published: August 6th 2007
Edit Blog Post
Souhaits en l'air
Wishes in the wind FRANÇAIS
Finis les sièges durs dans les trains de nuit. Deux coups d’avion et nous sommes dans le Yunnan (Sud Est de la Chine), à Lijiang pour être tout à fait précise.
Lijiang, c’est le centre historique du peuple Naxi*. Les mauvaises langues pourront dire ce qu’elles veulent mais la vieille ville est vraiment charmante: un labyrinthe de ruelles pavées et de canaux qui s’entrecroisent, des pontons en pierre, des maisons typiques en bois sculpté, des lanternes rouges qui se balancent… On se croirait en Chine!
A Lijiang, la musique tient une place importante (héritage conservé par les Naxi): les personnes âgées jouent et chantent un peu partout dans les rues, ce qui crée une atmosphère plutôt sympathique... voire même nostalgique. Ah!… les fest noz et fest deiz!...
Nous avons passé notre deuxième jour à explorer les villages et la cambrousse autour de Lijiang en vélo, accompagnés de Simon, français et moniteur de ski, ainsi que John, irlandais et (oh surprise!) patron de pub. Journée très rafraîchissante, surtout quand il s’est mis à pleuvioter.
Juste au moment ou la pluie commençait à vraiment s’empirer, un vieux monsieur ridé à barbichette blanche et vêtu d’une blouse de docteur
Lijiang old town
Lijiang, la vieille ville est apparu au milieu de la route, brandissant les bras vers le ciel… On s’est dit qu’il valait peut-être mieux s’arrêter... Et devinez quoi? Il s’est avéré que c’était le « célèbre » Docteur Ho!... L’homme le plus admiré au monde… Du moins d’après les affiches devant sa maison et les articles de presse dont il nous a ensuite gavés… Oui, car on a accepté son invitation: on s’est arrêté pour une tasse de thé. A peine assis, on s'est retrouvé littéralement ensevelis sous une tonne de vieilles coupures de journaux, de cartes de visites poussiéreuses laissées par des gens du monde entier, de Guestbooks écrits en son honneur et dans toute sorte de langues…
Quand il s’est arrêté de pleuvoir, on s’est dit qu’il était temps de se remettre à pédaler. On a acheté un sachet de healthy tea et on a remercié Dr Ho pour son accueil... Merci encore Dr Ho ! Tu nous as vraiment gâté avec ce thé et maintenant on se sent en pleine forme!
* Petite leçon d'histoire : en Chine, à part les Hans (les mandarins), il existe 56 minorités ethniques dont presque la moitié se trouve dans le Yunnan. Parmi elles,
les Naxi.
ANGLAIS
After cleverly leaving my phone on a charger in the lounge at Kunming airport we arrived in Lijiang. Helped by some wandering happy drunks who hadn't lost their mobiles, we found our hostel. Lijiang "old town" in the day was a picture postcard of what we imagined old China would look like: narrow alleys, cobblestones, stone bridges, streams and red paper lanterns. The funny thing was that all this quaint old-school architecture and town planning looked like it had been completed last week. Everything was pretty much spotless and also you couldn't see into the innumerable shops past the 20 person tour groups and their umbrellas and flags. This wasn't old old China but some kind of replica doppelganger thing. Even with these oddities the place is attractive and nice to stroll around. As well as being "old China" Lijiang is also a place where what is left of the minority groups, the Naxi and Yi, live and work.
We spent our second day on bikes, exploring the nearby villages in the company of a French ski instructor (minus his skis) and John the Irish owner of the Sexy Tractor bar in Lijiang.
Up
in the hills are Naxi villages, cheesy tourist attractions and beyond those the Jade Dragon Snow mountain. It was just starting to rain when an old man with a white beard and wearing a long white coat appeared in the middle of the road, waving his arms in the air. We thought we had better stop to find out what was the matter with him only to find out that he was the famous Dr Ho, renowned Chinese medicine man and also "the most admired man in the world" according to him and his press cuttings. We were invited for tea but spent more time looking at the articles, visitor books and dusty bags of business cards that he presented us with. We also had a look at his luxuriant garden, but the only plant we could identify was the known as Mary Jane (Marie Jeanne).
When the rain stopped we thought we'd get back on the road. We bought some healthy tea (not happy tea) and waved Dr Ho goodbye...admiringly. Talking of tea, it's really big here in China. When you eat at a restaurant they often pour you some green tea automatically and keep refilling your cup
even though you've asked them to stop... twice. Even in internet cafe's we've had the same. The best thing about tea though is an ad on CCTV9 (the state TV station English language channel). It starts with a picture of fields of tea and fades into a picture of a lady sleeping. The voice over starts "Have you ever considered the benefits of combining a pillow and tea....?". Whether you have or not someone else has and they've come up with the "Jade Mountain Tea Pillow". "Imagine how restful to wake up with the feeling you're in a tea garden." Tea-pical marketing madness.
As we said, Lijiang by day is all folkloric dancing and singing by the old Naxi ladies who apparently do their thing because they like to, not for the tourists. We didn't see any money changing hands but there were a lot of photos being taken. At night the same cobbled streets next to the bubbling streams and open air cafe/restaurants turn into pumping bar strips complete with flashing lights, booming basslines and the bar staff competing in chanting contests. Oh my oh my!
We loved Lijiang for a few days, but had to leave
her. She's been raining everyday and there's a gorge full of tigers for us to check out.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.244s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 22; qc: 91; dbt: 0.0965s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
Jean Noel
non-member comment
Trop sympa la chine
Juste un petit coucou a vous deux et plus particulièrement a ma cousine (désolé jason on ne se connait pas encore). Vos petites vacances planétaires donne très envie. Vos photos sont très belles et moi de mon bureau j'ouvre régulièrement votre "travelling blog" pour m'evader 10 mn quand je sature du boulot. Bonne continuation a vous deux! See you...