This town was most definitely the highlight of the trip. However, we’re also convinced that we’d hate it in any other time than off-season. This opinion was reinforced by the statements of our new friends at Sexy Tractor...a great resource for local info in town actually, and one of the most pleasant porches to hang out on for a day, watching the world walk by on the cobblestone streets below you.
I guess I’m at a loss on how to really describe Lijiang. Where Dali was a quaint town that had been overrun by tourist-led renovations, Lijiang somehow managed to keep its character as an old town where people actually lived their lives. As we wandered the backstreets of the old city, I was struck by how much it was a lived-in city, with all the qualities of a small, happy town, and full of people who had lived there for generations. In most of China I have found that the cities have been built with a plan to an extent that one city feels and looks very much the same as another. Lijiang was the exception. Yes, parts have the feeling of a bad theme park as flag-toting tourist guides lead baseball-cap-clad Chinese tourists, but once you leave the main drag shopping streets it’s like you’ve stepped back in time and into another world populated by women wearing traditional Naxi clothing, hawking their vegetables down the alleyways. I am going to let the pictures speak for themselves because all narrative in my stilted prose would fail to do it justice:
Oh, and did I mention that on our second day in Lijiang we accidentally hiked up to 4680 meters? Yes, most of it was accomplished by a gondola, but we sincerely thought we were only going up to 3000 meters, and then we get on the gondola and we just kept going up. There’s a stunning mountain in the Lijiang area called Yu Long Xue Shan (Jade Dragon Snow Mountain), which you can see from pretty much everywhere, being as it towers up to 5,600 meters (18,360 feet) over the valley.
We were amazed at how long it took to hike up from 4506 meters to 4680 meters (the upper terminus of where silly tourists like us can go): two hours! But frankly it was worth it. We definitely had some oxygen and pressure issues – Doug on the way up, and me on the way down - we ate tons of food that night, and the cost was ridiculous for China (RMB 220 per person), but for the first time in my life I understand why there is an urge to climb mountains. The quiet and hugeness of it all was breathtaking (or maybe that was the lack of oxygen?). But in the end I can say I was at 15,354 feet…
One final note on Lijiang before I close out the China portion of the blog. A lot of places in the world have become replicas of themselves and many people have consistently argued that globalization creates homogenization of cultures and the loss of tradition and history amongst indigenous cultures and minority peoples. While not an opponent of globalization by any means, I have always been somewhat conflicted about the tradeoffs between significant increases in quality of life and health and life expectancy, and the loss of traditional values and entire cultures to the advent of “modern” life. In Lijiang we encountered something truly surprising. When all the annoying tour groups were gone from the streets and the tourist shops began closing their doors, something amazing happened in the central square every night. Young local people began converging in the square to dance and socialize. One evening we even saw an adorable old woman with an ecstatic smile on her face dancing circles around the younger women and men, teaching by example the joy she had for her traditions and culture. I took a short video, which doesn’t begin to capture the experience, but gives you a taste of the music, singing, and ritual to it all.
And so, I leave you with that for now...
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