Lijiang, Yunnan Province

Monday, May 2nd

Arrived in Lijiang. The railway station in Kunming was fairly quiet and there were empty sleepers on the train, I thought travelling on the Bank Holiday would be quieter. The hard sleeper was O.K. but I wouldn't like to do a long journey that way. It was fine for straight to sleep, wake up, get off. I wouldn't like to be on the top bunk either, they are three high and the top one seems very high. I was fortunate enough to always get the bottom bunk.

Lijiang is lovely. Very touristy, which is what happens to lovely old towns, but not pushy.
Lady carrying goods on her back.
Village street

The local washing area

I think these girls had just been persuaded to come out and have their photo taken!

Water wheels at the top of the town, not sure if they served a purpose.

Weaving in the main square, there was a display because of the Bank Holiday

The public toilets in Lijiang were a work of art.

I had an expensive first morning in Lijiang, I wondered around the shops and it was chilly. I bought 4 pashminas, a pair of trousers and some ear-rings. Then I went to a restaurant for lunch, I hadn't done that for a while, I really felt as if I was on holiday. Everyone was very friendly. I booked for a Naxi concert in the evening.

I thought it was music typical of the area. It wasn't it was ancient Chinese music on ancient instruments, mostly from the Tang dynasty, the locals protected their instruments during the Cultural Revolution, mostly by burying them! (video below) The only drawback was the length of introduction for each piece of music, then the 'leader' of the orchestra came on, he spoke for 15 to 20 minutes, nearly all in Chinese. By this time I decided I'd had enough, it was 9.30, the concert started at 8 p.m. but I'd probably heard under an hour of music, the rest was talking, so I went home to bed.

Street in the town.

Tuesday

Up early to go to Tiger Leaping Gorge. A 3 hour mini-bus ride, we picked up in a number of places so I was not alone. Unfortunately it started to rain on the way, between the rain and the traffic the journey was closer to 4 hours.

Strawberry sellers on the roadside.

When we got to Tiger Leaping Gorge and Tina's Guest House I decided to have lunch before attempting a walk, the food was good and it stopped raining whilst I was eating, unfortunately it started again as soon as I was ready to go out. I walked along the road first, for about half an hour, then returned and started up the hill.

View from the road.

View across the gorge.

The path up

Tiger Leaping Gorge

The walk up was not as difficult as I had expected, I didn't go very far but I felt I would have been able to go much further. I would not have wanted to walk alone and the rain was a deciding factor in not continuing any further then. Slipping on wet stones was not in my plan for the trip and, having left my jacket in Shanghai, walking in the rain was not an option. As I didn't do the trek I may be wrong, but I felt that doing it from this direction, rather than starting with the 24/28 bends (as usually advised), was more doable, especially as they recommend taking 2 days for what is not a very long walk, distance wise anyway. I had made a decision not to attempt the trek based on panic and fear, it was a lesson to me to make decisions on site with all the information.
The mini bus broke down as we were about to leave, we were an hour late starting back, and he drove very slowly, so we got back late, on the other hand some of the top road had no barriers and was very narrow so I was grateful he was a careful driver.
Altogether I enjoyed my day, worth the £15. I also got the hostel to book my ticket from Dali to Kunming, the first ticket that I didn't book myself.

A typical house

The wooden structure

Above are two photos of the hostel, I really liked this one. (Garden Inn)
Wednesday, 4th - Raining again when I got up but I followed my plan of going to Black Dragon Pool. I was trying to have a cheap day but when I got to the park the entrance fee was 80 yuan (£8), much more than I'd anticipated. I was about to pay up, handing over 100 yuan, when the girl looked at me and asked how old I am, when I told her she handed back the note and let me in free! I know elderly locals get into the parks free but it's the first time it's happened to me.

The park was lovely, the water so calm, though there was no reflection of Jade Snow Mountain because of the clouds.

Having paid for a Naxi concert the first night here there was one for free. (video below) At one point there were loads of fire crackers and a procession of people with flowery decorations, unfortunately I was on the wrong side of the lake to get a good picture. some of the people looked as if they were wearing turbans! They all processed up Elephant Hill.
When I got back into the town I was accosted by a guide, he was trying to persuade me to go to some village with him. It migh have been good but I hadn't factored in that kind of trip. If I had met him on my first day I might have done Tiger Leaping Gorge with him. I went to Pizza hut for lunch, the menu was very different to anything we have in the UK and the pizzas were about the same price. I went to a tea shop and bought some Jasmine Tea, at least that's what I asked for, with hindsight I don't think it is, but it gave me something to drink on train journeys. I started to feel settled in Lijiang and loathe to move on, it was the town I most enjoyed in China.

Chengdu and Kunming

Thursday
I had a good nights sleep, managed to get a photo of, what I think was, the Hwang ho.

I had booked a pick-up at the station in Chengdu, he wasn't there when I arrived but I didn't have to wait long. How anyone drives in China I don't know, no one seems to obey any rules, least of all the cyclists. This was my first night in a hostel, I was at Sim's Cozy Garden, it was lovely, had nice seating areas outside.

I found hostels were much more friendly and accomodating than hotels. this one had a restaurant, a bar and loads of computers, not free here but at 10 yuan for 10 minutes not bad either. It was very hot, already very hot at 08.00 when I arrived, it also seemed to be very polluted, more so than Beijing.

Wengshu monastery

I went for a walk and found an interesting, re-vamped 'historical'area and Wengshu Monastery. Like all temples the streets around were full of shops selling incense and buddhas.

The monastery garden

Several people spoke to me but no-one tried to sell me anything. I then spent a lazy afternoon in the garden, reading a book.

Friday, 29th April

Up early, breakfast and off to see the pandas. There were 8 of us in a mini-van, well worth paying the 90 yuan because the temperature was still in the 30's. I would never have coped with finding buses. I videoed the pandas playing!

I had lunch back at the hostel and then went for the train to Kunming. The picture below is a 'soft-sleeper' and the frilly curtains in the corridor.

Paddy fields, viewed from the train.

When I arrived in Kunming I went to get my ticket for Guilin. There was no notice saying that there was an English speaking window, and I didn't expect one, so I queued for 20 minutes only to be sent to window 2, I queued another 20 minutes and got my ticket. It was May Bank Holiday weekend and very busy. I went to the Hostel then went for a walk to a park. There were people dancing, some in regional dress and others not.

I managed to get totally lost in the Park and the sun was hot, eventually I got back to the hostel found a book to read and a shady spot and relaxed.

Sunday, 1st May
When I asked what time breakfast was served the first answer was; 'All day', when I asked what time it started she said; '11'. I thought this was rather late, but when I got up I had a snack from my bag and went to look for the Pagodas. I found, not only the pagodas, but what seems to be the old part of town. There were thick walls and tables ready for a street party!

There were also stages up, this weekend being 'A Cultural and Tourism' weekend. For some reason my camera batteries died, I had just changed them and I was sure I had re-charged the spares, so this was a little worrying.I returned to the Hostel at 09.00 and found breakfast definitely being served so I had a second breakfast. I wanted to buy some more tea, I bought tea bags in Shanghai but these had run out, I contemplated going to Carrefour on the way to the station, the alternative was to attempt a tea shop! In the end I left it for another day! My train from Kunming to Lijiang was at 23.02, hard sleeper, fortunately I could sit in the hostel and finish my book. I returned to the Pagoda area in the afternoon and saw some of the dancing, but there were so many people it was difficult to see well and all the explanations were in Chinese, so I didn't know where the people were from. They had a display of embroidery and some leaflets.

I was given a booklet, in Chinese, but with nice pictures, which said it was from 'Ancient town of Yi nationality, Yunnan Province.' and a hand embroidered decoration. I realised that, in both Chengdu and Kunming, I was not bothered by people trying to make me buy, but this was the first, and only, time anyone gave me anything.

On the way back to the hostel I walked past a series of musical instrument shops where people were having lessons, I also walked past a dentist, ground floor, plate glass windows! I don't think I'd chose that dentist!
The Bank of China was open, despite the fact that it's Sunday, May 1st. People seem to work any day, and often everyday.

Beijing to Xi'an

Monday, 25th April
Last day in Beijing. I was too late to book a sleeper on the train so I had a 'hard seat' - 13 hours of journey! It was a T train, a better class, so I had hopes for the hard seats being like the ones on the train from Shanghai. I had planned to stay in a hostel in Xi'an but changed my mind when I realised I was going to have to sit up all the night before!
My impressions of Beijing were generally favourable, I enjoyed the town and found many people to be courteous, friendly and helpful. I was a little surprised to find that some things had managed to survive Mao's cultural revolution of indiscriminate destruction. There are rooms in the Forbidden City with, what appears to be, original furniture and the Lama Temple has old artefacts but they are totally neglected. In the Forbidden City the rooms are not open to the public, just visible through windows, but everything is covered in dust. In the Lama Temple the musical instruments are just covered in dust as well, it's an awful shame. There is a lot of talent in Beijing; painters, musicians, there are streets dedicated to the selling of musical instruments, so the skills are encouraged.
The downside of Beijing was the aggressive, in your face, sales techniques and the awful upping of prices. I understand that haggling is expected at street stalls but not in restaurants. I was not sorry to leave Beijing though I did enjoy the visit.
So, my last day in Beijing was going to be lazy, but I got bored. Once I had checked out of the hotel I still had several hours to kill. I had lunch in the little restaurant near the hotel, where I could be sure of a good meal for 20 yuan. Then I went to the indoor market of Hongqiao. I promised myself I wouldn't buy anything but, of course, I succumbed. There were loads of technological gadgets, which I'm sure were really good value, but as I don't know anything about technology in English I didn't feel inclined to buy in Chinese. I fell for a silk top, a jade pig (I was born in the year of the pig!) and a painted scent bottle (painted on the inside!). The latter was a little silly as I hadn't bought one in places where I had seen the artist at work, also this one had pandas and I was going to wait till Chengdu to buy any panda items but they were selling these at 15 yuan (£1.50) and the price was marked.

When I got to the station I went to buy my ticket 'Kunming to Lijiang' for the next Monday. There was a group of French youngsters behind me who wanted tickets to Xi'an for that evening, they ended up with standing tickets! God help them!
Beijing West Station was like nothing I've ever experienced, outside was heaving with people, lots sitting on the pavements with their baggage (baggage came in all shapes and sizes - bags, cases, buckets etc. - when I say 'bags' think plastic bags and potato sacks!).
There were 3 trains assigned to our waiting room - one being at 23.30, I'm not sure some of these people weren't for that train. There were people selling small stools, I thought these were for the waiting room but later I realised that they were probably for the train as well!
I decided it was probably sensible to use the toilets at the station, when I saw a lady cleaning her teeth I copied her and did that too. My train was the first and when the check-in opened there was an almighty rush. If any one knows how to push it's the Chinese, queue and order just aren't in the vocabulary, it was a heaving, pushing mass, when I got to my seat people were already sitting there, fortunately I discovered on the way from Shanghai that people without seats are very quick to appropriate any vacant one. My main concern had been about finding space on the rack for my back-pack, and I was right to have worried, because people were travelling with everything but the kitchen sink, some may have had the kitchen sink as well. I just managed to squeeze my backpack into a gap, I had to hold onto my 2 smaller bags.
I found I was sitting with grandma, mum and toddler, just what I had dreaded. I had hoped that maybe people wouldn't travel overnight, on hard seats, with children, but I had forgoten that this was the train for Chengdu, most of these people would be on the train for more than 24 hours. It is difficult for someone from the UK to conceive of the distances in China.
I had noticed before that small children don't seem to wear nappies, instead they have trousers with a large front to back gap and their bums in the air. I had noticed that the floor was wet when I got on, I tried not to imagine what it was, but when the child happily jumped down and pee'd on the floor there was no room for wondering. Grandma thought this was very clever and other people did not seem to mind, unfortunately the pee was around my feet so I did, also I wanted to put a bag down! The child was sitting on Grandma's knee with his penis aimed at me, I had visions of getting a warm shower during the night, however the second time that the child pee'd on the floor there was an uproar, he narrowly missed my feet, but the wee spread and with all the people and luggage on the floor there was a protest. They were very firmly told to clean up the mess and that he must use a container next time.
The journey was certainly an experience. There was a generous supply of food, despite the crowded aisles food trolleys kept coming. There was a fruit trolley, a drinks trolley and a salad/cold food trolley, they were up and down several times. Most people had 'pot noodles', these are prolific in China and much bigger than the British variety, with lots of different flavours. There is constant hot water on trains, and in stations, and the majority of people travel with a bag full of food and their own tea supply. I had bought a salad sandwich and plenty of 'nibbles' both savoury and sweet. I had also invested in a plastic tea container with lid, the kind used for travel, so I had tea too.
The seats are straight backed and hard, but there were televisions, so for those who understood they were a way of passing the time. The train stopped roughly every hour until 2 o'clock and each time more people and baggage were crammed in. To me it appeared it was becoming risible, the guy next to me seemed to agree, I suspect that he, like me, was travelling hard seat because he was too late to book anything else. Many were doing it for economic reasons, these people were about to stand, or sit on the floor, for about 30 hours, an incredible period. I felt very sorry for the poor French students on the next train. Getting to the loo or the hot water was an obstacle race, not to be approached lightly, especially as some people were asleep by 9 p.m. I didn't attempt to move until morning when I discovered that the toilets are locked before approaching stations, and not always unlocked very quickly afterwards. Some stops are long so this could be an endurance test for some. I was one of the few who alighted in Xi'an, when I showed that I was getting off there was a rush for both my seat and the gap my back-pack had made on the luggage rack. I don't know how long they would manage to keep my seat but one person managed to free himself of some of his luggage.

Tuesday
I survived the journey and rather enjoyed it in a freaky kind of way. In Beijing I was thinking that I wouldn't recommend my journey to my worst enemy but during that journey I realised that I experienced China in a way that most tourists don't. For anyone interested in sociology or anthropology it is a more worthwhile experience than being ferried by coach from airport, to luxury hotel, to tourist site and back again.
As I arrived in Xi'an early I decided to do the Terracotta Warriors first, then; hotel, shower, food and rest.
I was accosted as soon as I left the station. It made me cross every time but this time I was very close to getting angry, after my experiences in Beijing I really didn't trust anyone, which was sad as some people really were just trying to be nice. This guy claimed he was from the Tourist Office and tried pushing me towards the taxis, I totally refused. the Tourist Office in China is unlike any I have experienced before. it's aim is not the giving of information but pushing towards tours and the spending of money, this guy did have his uses though as he showed me the left luggage office and told me where I could get the bus. I was pushed out of the way at the bus stop so I got angry, then when we got to the Terracotta warriors there were hundreds of guides, all insisting that it is imperative to have a guide. One guide got very stroppy with me, until I threw a wobbly and told her that I had spent the night on a hard seat from Beijing and now I just wanted to be left in peace, I think she thought I was about to cry, which I probably was, so she left me. They have certainly attempted to make it necessary to hire a guide as there is nothing written in English/Roman letters except the words -ticket office. There was no explanation of prices, the entrance price seemed to be 110 yuan, which is very expensive by Chinese standards, after which you have to go to another office to buy a ticket (5 yuan) for a special bus up to the site. There was no explanation of this. I arrived at the entrance gate, with my ticket, at the same time as 2 ladies from Panama. They were obviously feeling like me as they kept refusing guides, we were turned away from the entrance with no explanation, we were left wondering around looking for some alternative entrance, until someone pointed out that we needed a bus ticket! Once I had a ticket I was allowed through the same entrance, the buses were large golf buggies.
Once I got in I went for a cup of coffee and to relax before visiting the museum buildings. The buildings had no explanations, no arrows or pointers, the whole place was designed to take money off punters, or else with no concept that foreigners would be interested in visiting and the latter is impossible as there were so many English speaking guides. In fact, although I went into all the buildings I managed to miss the main show, the large burial chamber, so maybe I should have had a guide. On the other hand I saw enough and I have seen videos of the large burial chamber!

I managed to find the obligatory show promoting the government, no possibility of missing that! When I left I discovered that you don't get a bus back, there is an impressively large, smart line of security guards to ensure that you walk back via about a kilometre of souvenir shops, all with someone aggressively pushing you to buy and telling you what you're looking at, in case you're too stupid to know. Postcards in China always come in packs of 10, I didn't want 10, then I noticed that the Post Office was advertising 'individualised postcards' when I asked if I could buy 1 she agreed, so I paid 5 yuan for 1 card, (the packs of 10 cost 10 yuan) and then she wouldn't personalise it as I had only bought one! By this time I was past caring, I manged to get back to Xi'an without losing my temper with anyone and retrieved my back-pack. As I was crossing the square a young man called to me; 'Good morning. Welcome to China!' he didn't want to sell me anything he just wanted to be nice, I was very glad I managed to be gracious and turn to respond, I was able to smile and say thank you.
When I got to the hotel they couldn't find a booking for me, fortunately they had a room so it was not too serious. It was a lovely clean and comfortable hotel and cheaper than Beijing. I found an English language programme on the television, in Beijing I was watching loads of snooker as I could understand it, and loads of Beijing Opera, which I couldn't understand but enjoyed.
By the time I checked into the hotel and showered it was after 2 and the Chinese eat very early but I found a department store down the road, they were just clearing the restaurant but they let me eat, I had a lovely lunch for 14 yuan (£1.40). Then it was back to the hotel to rest and watch T.V.

Wednesday
I woke up early so decided to use the internet but couldn't get a picture, so I gave up and went to look for the Drum and Bell Towers. I had a map so this should have been easy but I took the first turn, instead of the first major turn. I ended walking past the fish market, mostly Xi'an seemed more peaceful than Beijing and Shanghai but here it did get a bit frenetic. I had quite a wander, found the theatre, then I had almost decided to give up when I found Dong Dajie (East Street).

This was a much bigger road than I had been expecting but it was the one I had been searching for. I found the Bell Tower, a Starbucks, a nice garden and a Tourist Information Office.
I asked, in the Tourist Information office, if they had any information on the Terracotta warriors, the answer was 'No'! There was a concert of ancient music in the Bell tower, I videod a bit (below).

Xi'an was about to host some flower show so there were flowers everywhere. I bought a prawn sandwich in Starbucks, to eat on the train later, afterwards I realised that prawn was maybe not a good idea, given the heat. The temperature was a little cooler than the previous day when it had been 28 degrees. I went back to the hotel and tried to use the internet, this time there was a picture but I couldn't access my emails, this was a nuisance as I was wanting to bring forward my bookings for Guangzhou and Hong Kong. I checked out and headed towards the station and had lunch in McDonalds! If anyone had ever told me that I would voluntarily eat in McD I would have said they were mad. Then I went for a walk and tried to get up onto the City walls but I couldn't find an entrance.

The station area was really busy again, Chinese stations seem to heave with people, not surprising I suppose, Chinese trains have about18 carriages and each is full, not to mention the standing passengers. You can't get into the station without a ticket, then there is a security check as the entrance is narrow this is where the pushing starts, everyone wants their luggage on at the same time. This time I had a ticket for a 'soft sleeper' so I got to use the 'Soft seat' waiting room, spare seats and very civilised. When I got to my compartment there was a family with a small child, I feared the worse but she was very good really. I kept thinking of those poor people who had done Beijing to Chengdu in one journey and had stood for most of it!