Lijiang

Lijiang


Lijiang is a city that is torn between the old and new. The new town has a similar look and feel as Beijing just on a much smaller scale. The old village however is a maze of dead ends and streams, lined with brick houses sealed with mud. The narrow stone paved streets are closed to traffic in an effort to promote tourism and protect what remains of the old village. Most of the old village dates back to pre-1300’s however due to war and natural disasters much of it has been re-built over time. We had a day to explore Lijiang before heading off to Tiger Leaping Gorge so we set off through the old village to see what we could find.
Lijiang has worked to find itself post cultural-revolution with local artisans selling their crafts from hand woven scarves, to cooper pots and pans you can find it among the shops and stalls. The old village itself is a Chinese tourist trap, it hasn’t been touched nearly as much by foreigners and 5 whites guys walked around the streets quickly became local celebrities. As we garnered stares and had our pictures taken we made our way through the town and the picturesque mountain backdrops that represent the foothills of the Himalayas. At the center of the village we found Mu’s house and for 45 RMB (about $7 we decided we’d explore Lijiangs version of Asheville’s Biltmore Estate (for a fraction of the price).
Mu’s house stood as the cultural and political center for the Naxi people (the ethic group in this region of China). Mu’s house was the home to the political leadership their wives and concubines (one of my favorite plaques read “This is the room where leaders would come to play with their concubines.”). The open air house was filled with halls, pagoda’s and water gardens.
On our walk back to the hostel to get ready for dinner we stopped in a local tea shop where the shop keeper caught the eye of one of my classmates. He began to flirt with her and next thing I know we’re sitting around a table with the shop keeper for an hour drinking tea and meeting all of her friends. The conversation was minimal because of the language barrier except for Ted who was able to communicate with relative ease with his girls. After about an hour they brought us to a restaurant and told us that this was the best restaurant in all of Lijiang and we parted ways. After what turned out to be a great dinner, highlighted by a sweet and sour fish (head and all) most of us called it a night as our bus for the village of Qiaotou and the base of Tiger Leaping Gorge was set to leave at 7:50 AM.