Lijiang

After another long ride on a sleeper train--and this one seemed even longer because we left at 1:40 pm and didn’t arrive in Chengdu until 5:30 am--we tied up some loose ends in Chengdu, like laundry and rest, and caught a flight to Lijiang. Although I’d like to say that I took the flight because I had tired of trains, in fact, Lijiang does not have many trains going to it, so a flight is pretty much a necessity, unless you really want to take many, many hours on a bus.


We arrived little the worse for wear, and I was startled to discover that this was a very small airport in a very rural setting. We managed to snag a taxi driver--a woman--who spoke no English. She was, however, willing to work with us, so she read our address and made some calls. Communication was limited, but she wrote down that the fare would be 100 yuan, a pretty substantial sum in terms of taxi fare, but I was a captive audience and readily agreed. Although I might have initially thought that she was taking advantage of me, the drive itself was quite long, and the farther we went, the more I thought her fee was deserved. Meanwhile, we kept going through only very rural areas, until suddenly she pulled over to the side of the road. There was nothing there.


“This is it?” I asked confused.


She whipped out her phone and called the number for the Panba Hostel. There was a brief but animated conversation, and when she hung up, she motioned for me to get out. Visions of abandonment filled my head, but I told Kinsey to get out, and we got the luggage out of the trunk.


The taxi driver motioned across the road, where another lone road creased off at a sharp angle.


“I go down there?” I asked, motioning with my hand and thinking this could be a disaster. She nodded and then made another motion with her hand.


“Ah! Someone is going to meet us!” I said, light dawning.


She nodded again. I paid her, and to her credit, she didn’t drive off, but waited until a girl appeared across the road and hailed us. I thanked the driver profusely, and we trotted of down the street.


I had made the decision to go to Lijiang with no real good intention, except that I had heard the trek through Tiger Leaping Gorge was a good idea. The closest jumping off point to the Gorge was Lijiang, which was still two to three hours away. Other than that, I had no idea what Lijiang was like. In addition, I had picked our hostel, Panba House, with a little trepidation. It was listed on Hostelworld with a solid high rating, and the clincher for me was that it had received a Top Ten Cleanliness Award. However, I hadn’t been sure where it was located in the scheme of things, and now it seemed we were in the middle of nowhere.


We dragged our suitcases down a narrow stone street, and the streets and homes seemed deserted. After a few minutes, we reached Panba House, and my spirits lifted considerably. The entry was manned by a young Chinese guy named Nick, who spoke excellent English, and was friendly and helpful in every way. The hostel itself was beautifully appointed with lots of carved wood, sliding wooden window panels, thoughtful decorating, fairly new, and above all, it was impeccably clean. Although I had to drag our luggage up to the third floor, the place was magnificent. Our room was huge--I’d had to take a family room with a double bed and a single--but there was an open verandah overlooking the old city with inviting rattan chairs and tables. Each level of the house had an open air courtyard with lots of spaces for mingling.

It was mid-afternoon, and we had not had a decent meal that day, so I told Kinsey we’d better go out and look for some food. I asked Nick how to get to town, and he told me to step outside, turn right and walk straight down the street, turning neither right nor left, and we would get there. He also provided me with a small map, showing the Old Town.


We set off. I still wasn’t sure what kind of town we would be encountering. A little way down the road, we encountered a group of American college-age kids talking with an American woman, who seemed to be giving them ideas on places to eat. I stopped to listen. She told me they were ex-pats living in Lijiang, and she had just picked up her children from school--there were two boys with her, about 8 and 10 years old. We tried to memorize her suggestions, while the college kids were more interested in cheap and funky hole-in-the-wall dives.


We continued down the street, when suddenly, small quaint shops started appearing, first a few, and then a flood, lining the narrow street we were on. It was a shopper’s paradise! Not being much of a shopper, I was overwhelmed, but thoroughly charmed. The shops were all inviting and well-kept, offering the most colorful, interesting items for sale. Only after thoroughly exploring Lijiang, did I conclude that many stores sold the same types of things, but at first glance, the items for sale were quite different from other items sold in China. For example, handcrafted items were a bigger draw here: wooden carvings; bright colorful tiered skirts; a local harem pant; funky jewelry; crafts that looked African more than Chinese, and more. Apparently, local Chinese ethnic minority groups sell in Old Town Lijiang, so the style is much different than in Beijing or Shanghai.

 As we continued through the Old Town, canals started appearing. There were beautiful pathways of stone, bridges, and flowers everywhere. It might have been touristy, but it was certainly beautiful.

After a lot of exploring, we picked a place to eat, trying to find something with a little Euro-sensibility to it. I ordered spaghetti and Kinsey ordered a hamburger. The spaghetti was decidedly overcooked, and the burger ended up to be stuffed with vegetables, so we were both a little put off, but it was still a nice change of pace from Chinese. Afterwards, we shopped, wandered, got lost, and eventually made it back to the hostel.


Although Panba House was a veritable oasis, after having endured the long days in Chengdu, I was beginning to get tired of China, so I thought we’d start rushing through the rest of our days. I had asked Nick if we could go to Tiger Leaping Gorge the next day, but he told me he could not arrange it on such short notice. So we agreed to stay one more day in Lijiang and go to Tiger Leaping Gorge the day after that.


It turned out to be a blessing, as we were both more exhausted than we’d realized, and needed a day to sleep in and relax. Our second day in Lijiang turned out to be a lovely day of shopping, eating, reading, and resting…we later learned it would be important for our trek in the gorge.