After finishing the semester out I jumped onto one of the new express trains headed for Shanghai. Once there I met up with Mama Froman, who had heard the rave reviews after Papa Froman’s winter trip and decided to come see China for herself. We were only briefly based in Shanghai, though- within 24 hours we were both on a plane bound for the southwestern province of Yunnan.
24 hours after that we had arrived, via a long bus ride, in Dali.
Dali is comprised of a pleasant old town located a few miles away from the new city of Xiaguan. There’s a large lake on one side and a range of moderately-tall mountains on the other. It’s a center for the Bai minority, a group that has lived here for centuries. Our hostel was very nice- comfortable, modern rooms surrounding a courtyard:
A Note From Mama Froman: This hostel was probably my favorite. Charming and well located.
A five minute walk gets you to the old town, where a mountain stream runs down between cafes and crafts shops:
Outside of the first few touristy streets the rest of the old town still seems dominated by the Bai, though. This tower sits near the main intersection in the old town:
The lake is miles and miles long, and has a number of fishing villages along the shore. Mama Froman and I ended up heading into the mountains instead. A lift carries you up to the halfway mark on the thickly forested slope, where a perfectly even trail runs from the city of Xiaguan all the way up the range to the top of the lake. Supposedly you can take a few days and walk the entire thing, but we just did an 11 km stretch.
Here’s the view from next to a stream where the cable car drops you off:
The walk takes you through the folds of the mountain, along waterfalls and cliffs and giant canyons. At some points you can look across and see the next portion of the path just 50 or 60 feet away across the gap, although it would take ten or fifteen minutes to walk in and reach a crossing. Here’s the view from one such time:
Here’s one of the pavilions built over one of the crossings:
Later it gets much more dramatic, with a cut in the rock in front of a view of the city of Dali and the lake:
Eventually you reach the end point and take an old-fashioned ski lift back down to the city, which itself gave some great views:
Mama Froman: This walk through the mountains was definitely the highlight of my trip! The scenery was dramatic and beautiful, the weather crisp and the whole day just picture perfect.
Part Two: Lijiang
After Dali we headed up into the mountains, to a town called Lijiang. Lijiang is known for being the center of the Naxi people, another famous southwestern Chinese minority. The town became famous during the late 90s, when an earthquake failed to damage the old town- the modern buildings in the new town were left in shambles. Today it’s a hotspot for Chinese tourists who want to get away from the megacities on the east coast and spend some time somewhere pleasant.
A number of streams lined by cafes and guesthouses run through the old town, with plenty of cobblestone bridges passing over them. The whole place is a giant maze, built around an open square in the middle. At night every inch is lit by large red lanterns that hang off of every roof.
Here’s one typical scene in the afternoon:
Now keep in mind that the entire place is equally picturesque- turn the corner and there’s another stream and another bridge and more weeping willows and even more of that architecture. As we get closer to the evening the lanterns start to come on:
And then night falls:
From the hill that overlooks the town you can get a good view of the old town maze:
Another major sight there is the Mu family mansion. The Mu family ruled Lijiang for a while, and their extensive estate in the middle of the old town shows the luxury to which they were accustomed. Here’s a shot of one of their many structures- I think this one contained the Mu family library.
Mama Froman: Lijiang was just so picturesque, the climate just perfect, and we had some great meals. There were a ton of tourists, all Chinese, which made for great people-watching. We really liked our hostel here, too.
Next up: some bike trips outside the city.
A number of streams lined by cafes and guesthouses run through the old town, with plenty of cobblestone bridges passing over them. The whole place is a giant maze, built around an open square in the middle. At night every inch is lit by large red lanterns that hang off of every roof.
Here’s one typical scene in the afternoon:
Now keep in mind that the entire place is equally picturesque- turn the corner and there’s another stream and another bridge and more weeping willows and even more of that architecture. As we get closer to the evening the lanterns start to come on:
And then night falls:
From the hill that overlooks the town you can get a good view of the old town maze:
Another major sight there is the Mu family mansion. The Mu family ruled Lijiang for a while, and their extensive estate in the middle of the old town shows the luxury to which they were accustomed. Here’s a shot of one of their many structures- I think this one contained the Mu family library.
Mama Froman: Lijiang was just so picturesque, the climate just perfect, and we had some great meals. There were a ton of tourists, all Chinese, which made for great people-watching. We really liked our hostel here, too.
Next up: some bike trips outside the city.
Part Three: Outside Lijiang
The Lijiang old town is an obscenely nice place to stroll around and eat good food, but the most interesting things in the area are outside the city. Normally the most visible is Yulong Mountain, a snow-capped peak that looms over the city. Sadly the rainy season clouds obscured it during our visit, but there are yet more places accessible via quick bike trips. Our first was Puji Temple.
Puji Temple is a Tibetan temple belonging to the Red Hat sect. The Red Hats are much smaller in number than the Yellow Hats, who own the big monastery in Shangri-La and the even larger monastery I saw in Gansu last winter. Reaching Puji Temple is actually a bit of a challenge- it isn't clearly marked on any of the maps we saw, and the vague directions we were given at the hostel were no help. After vainly biking up one road for half an hour we finally asked a passerby about how to find it- he pointed at a white monument barely visible on a nearby mountain and said that was it.
Eventually we got off the main roads and onto a small farming road, passing a group of thirty or so "HELLO"-ing children on the way. After a while we saw a sign for it next to a small but well-to-do village, and started up the hill. Here's the village and the fields from immediately above:
The path was steep, leading through the forest with few markings. Occasional prayer flags told you that you were still on the right track:
And then there's a clearing and you find the temple itself:
Inside some monks were chanting while a small audience of pilgrims looked on. A path out the back of temple led up to the white monument we had spotted from afar:
Heading back in we ran into some young monks, who were apparently throwing an impromptu bonfire for fun:
Another easy trip from Lijiang takes you to Baisha, another Naxi town. This one was apparently the old Naxi capital, but there isn't much evidence of that these days. We found one courtyard where they were drying out the famous baatik cloths that are the most well-known craft in the area:
A typical Naxi barn scene, with cow skulls and corn and a strange painting:
As we were eating lunch all traffic on the main street halted for this:
Inside some monks were chanting while a small audience of pilgrims looked on. A path out the back of temple led up to the white monument we had spotted from afar:
Heading back in we ran into some young monks, who were apparently throwing an impromptu bonfire for fun:
Another easy trip from Lijiang takes you to Baisha, another Naxi town. This one was apparently the old Naxi capital, but there isn't much evidence of that these days. We found one courtyard where they were drying out the famous baatik cloths that are the most well-known craft in the area:A typical Naxi barn scene, with cow skulls and corn and a strange painting:
As we were eating lunch all traffic on the main street halted for this:
Mama Froman speaks: Getting out of Lijiang by bike was a blast! Going through little towns and seeing the countryside up close was definitely a perk of travelling with young Abe.
Part Four: Shangri-La
From Lijiang the roads lead up through the mountains to Shangri-La. The views were fantastic, with the Yangtze on one side and huge mountains on the other:
This area is home to Tiger Leaping Gorge, a famous trail for hikers which leads along some of the steep gorges and cliff-side villages of northern Yunnan. Eventually the uphill climb evens out and the scenery transitions to wide valleys with grazing yaks and Tibetan homesteads.
After finding a great hotel on the outskirts of the old town we wandered around the place for a bit. The old town is built around a temple on a steep hill:
On the temple grounds is an enormous prayer wheel, which is kept in constant motion by a stream of pilgrims in the morning:
It was just as easy to get lost here as it was in Lijiang, but there are a few landmarks to help keep people on track- like this stupa in one square:
At around 7 each night the stalls in the main square empty out to make way for a group of extremely old Tibetan women who start dancing to traditional songs. The locals join in, including many of the shop owners and waitresses you may have seen during the day:
The biggest sight in town is Ganden Sumtseling Monastery, a large place which you can easily bike to from town. We hadn’t even made it in the door before we were stopped by a ridiculous photo opportunity- a large white yak parked next to the outer wall. It turns out the yak belongs to a rather eccentric man who jumps out and starts singing whenever anyone approaches his yak. Here he is with Mama Froman:
The monastery itself is still being restored, with a huge construction zone in the top middle. The halls they’ve already finished look great, though:
It looks like the high ticket price drove off some of the locals- the place felt empty compared to Labrang Monastery, which I visited back in December and which was crawling with monks and pilgrims and nomads. Luckily there are some monastery puppies who keep an eye on the place while everyone else is out:
Mama Froman speaks: We didn't realize it at the time, but the altitude at Shangri-La was 11,300 feet, which explains why our bike rides, and all the stairs at the monastery, had me panting! The weather was perfect- crisp days and cold nights!
Next up, biking out of Shangri-La.
Part Five: Outside Shangri-La
After two days in town we finally rented some bikes and explored the area for a few hours. Just 10 minutes from the old town is the huge Napa Grassland, a wide valley that goes on for miles:
We set off down a random road heading towards the mountains on the far side. At first there are a number of Tibetan homes and horse rental businesses, but after that you enter yak-grazing territory. These yaks seem to be pretty good about getting off the road when the occasional car or truck barrels through:
Every small village along the road had a standard stupa and prayer flag construction set up somewhere:
When we finally reached the other side of the valley we found a yak herd which had set up camp in the middle of the road. Luckily they’re fine with people biking right next to them:
Mama Froman: It turns out they were fine with us biking through them, but I think we were both holding our breath as we went through, hoping none of them had any issues with bicycles or foreigners!!!
Right before we turned around to head back Mama Froman got this great shot of the scenery:
And here she is making it to the top of the hill next to the old town, a steep one made all the harder by the thin air:
Part Six: Fromanvision!
To conclude the entries for this year I've got some videos taken along the way during our Yunnan trip. First are these two from the mountains above Dali:
The next two are from Shangri-La. Here's the enormous prayer wheel from the temple in the middle of the old town:
And here we've got the old women starting the evening dance:
