Tom: Lijiang (July 29)

Lijiang (July 29) · Aug 1, 08:36 AM

I booked a bunk at the HI hostel last night, but did not go straight to bed. First, at Jim’s Peace Cafe down the street, I ordered a very delicious yak goulash with rice and was talked into a glass of Jim’s No. 1 Special, a tonic he brews in a large glass jar stuffed with Ginsing and who knows what else. Jim, a local friend of his, an Italian couple, and myself hang around for a while, chatting and drinking. I got to bed late, but my watch from Kashgar with the holographic hearts has died, to I don’t know how late exactly it was.

This morning I slept in, naturally. The second floor room — with very thin walls — has four beds, but only one other person slept here; she was gone when I got up. I took a shower before breakfast and made sure to wear my flip flops dry. Putting them away wet is a bad idea, a smelly idea. My first breakfast was a large bowl of fruit, museli, and yoghurt at Jim’s, after which I returned to the hostel to use a computer. Keep a journal — and keeping it online — is like swimming uphill. My second breakfast was taken around ten at the hostel; they have an excellent buffet.

After breakfast I inquired about buses to Lijiang — there were no tickets available until two thirty, so I returned to Xiaguan and caught a Lijiang bound bus at noon from the northern bus station. We arrived three hours later. Lijiang is heavily developed around the UN World Heritage old town. There’s nothing obviously left of the old village; it’s all been reconstructed into regional shopping for the thick summer crowds. Still, wandering along the cobblestone streets, beside clear running canals is pleasant enough. It took me a while to find quiet side streets. Locals were wandering about, and I stumbled into a small garden where three old women were chatting.

I found myself wandering north towards Black Dragon Pool Garden, but cut up the mountain first, up local trails through a forest to a ridge-running road that I only took so far before turning back. The road goes to the peak, and it look at least thirty minutes away. There are already views over Lijiang in the bright and hazy late afternoon. I also discovered that the ridge above the trail is littered with small tombs. They make for excellent wandering exploration, and then I descended back to Lijiang to spend an hour wandering the garden; it’s quiet and uncrowded, but there are still people walking around. I exited at the north end and worked my way back down to old town through an overdeveloped and largely empty new Chinese area.

In the evening Lijiang is bustling — even more than in the daytime. Red glowing lanterns hang outside the bars and restaurants. On one noisy side-street, across a deep and narrow canal, clubs are crowded and you can hear drinking songs spill out along with ethnic techno. Chinese girls in Bai dress lead a couple people dancing on small stages inside the bars. I bought ice-cream and yoghurt for dinner, then water and crackers for the hike, and finally a cough syrup with codeine to keep me from waking my roommates with a cough.

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http://tom.spacing-guild.net/2006/08/01/tiger-leaping-gorge-july-30

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