Lijiang

I've already written a little about Lijiang in my post about hiking Tiger Leaping Gorge in June. The gorge was one of the main attractions; the other is the old town of Lijiang, which is a maze of Naxi architecture and canals. The Naxi people are the dominant minority in the area, with their own language and hieroglyphic script, food, dress, and more, and the old town in Lijiang is better preserved than in Dali.

Canal in the old town.

The first night, we stayed in a traditional Naxi courtyard house in the heart of the old town. It was a great experience, but there were shared bathrooms with squat toilets, so when we got back from the gorge we stayed in another courtyard house, but one that had its own bathroom (it was just outside the old town and had a hideous color scheme of purple, yellow, black, green, and pink--tradeoffs we were happy to make for the last couple of days, I have to admit!).

Our courtyard hotel.

One night we went to a concert by a traditional Naxi orchestra. Some of the instruments were original--the musicians saved them from the Cultural Revolution by burying them. The oldest musician in the group was 88, and there were several in their 70s and 80s. A lot of them wore glasses, I think so the audience couldn't tell if they were sleeping! There was a lot of talking in between songs, most of which was in Mandarin, so that was a bit boring, but overall it was worth the $17 tickets. It's supposed to be just about the only place you can go to hear traditional Chinese music played as it was meant to be played--although my favorite piece was a haunting Tibetan song that was sung a capella!

Naxi orchestra.

Besides hanging out in the old town, we rented yet another tandem bike and went to Black Dragon Pool park. Its entry fee had only gone up to 60 from 10 ($8 instead of $1.30), so we sucked it up and paid, especially since it's the most famous park in the south of China. It was a little cloudy that day so the pictures didn't turn out how we'd have liked, but it was still beautiful.

Black Dragon Pool park, with Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in the background.

We also go to see a traditional dance in the park, which was fun. The aprons and caps that most of the women are wearing are what the older Naxi women actually wear every day (except for the white caps--usually they wear black or blue hats that look sort of like railroad engineer hats).

Traditional dance.

The food was another thing we loved about Lijiang. The Naxi are famous for their ham (real ham! not Spam! miraculous!) and cheese (which is more paneer--firm, squeaky, and a bit tangy). We especially loved the Naxi sandwich, which has fried bread, cheese, veggies, and an egg and/or ham.

Mmm, Naxi sandwich!

There was an earthquake in the 1990s, and a lot of Lijiang was destroyed--except for the traditional buildings. Beijing was impressed, so they restored the buildings that were damaged instead of tearing them down to make way for new ones. Or something like that.

Traditional Naxi house (with "guard" dog).

It was a smart move, because the old town is yet another huge tourist attraction now. During the day it's great, but at night, it's impossible. Some of the streets are wall to wall with bodies, and the busiest ones are filled with competing noise from street performers and vendors (another reason why we didn't mind sleeping just outside the old town!).

Tourists, tourists everywhere!

All in all, Lijiang is a unique, charming place that feels like it's in a world of its own (probably because it is--we didn't have to fly to Chengdu for nothing!). It was worth the effort to get out there, even for such a short time.

Hanging out in the square.

So long, Lijiang.