In Lijiang, Yunnan, Don’t Miss Out on Life, Time, and Food

After a week of mental chaos, the most anticipated Lijiang ended up being the one I least felt like writing about...

Actually, Lijiang Ancient Town didn’t do anything wrong; maybe my expectations were too high, so I was a bit disappointed.

Still, many people love Lijiang. Otherwise, why would we see so many people there??

After a delicious tea egg breakfast in the morning, we bought tickets for a minibus to Lijiang (50 yuan per person) at a travel bus service point in Dali Ancient Town and took the bus at a little past 9.

There are also Yutong coaches to Lijiang, ten yuan more expensive, with scheduled departures, and luxury coaches at 70 yuan. The travel time is the same, only the comfort level differs. The luxury coach might be less bumpy because of the many mountain roads. But these coaches have fixed schedules, unlike the minibus which runs every half hour, very convenient.

Besides... I like minibuses where you can open the windows... so I didn’t regret it at all.

The scenery along the way was beautiful, we kept exclaiming... really felt like country bumpkins visiting the city....

Sitting next to me was an Argentine woman, looked a bit older than me. For the first half she was listening to music, later I offered her some fruit, she politely thanked me, and we chatted a bit.

She said she only spoke a little English, no problem understanding, but her mother tongue was Spanish, so our conversation was a bit difficult. She often explained to me, using Spanish to explain English...

She was a doctor, taking a vacation of over a month, specifically coming to China to travel, all alone! No Chinese, only a little English!! By herself!!! So tough!!

When she told her close friend about this, her friend said, ‘Are you crazy? Going alone to such a foreign country, not even speaking the language!’

Then she shyly showed me a book of suggested Chinese translations, which had Spanish-like phonetic transcriptions....

So it’s not just Chinese people who annotate English pronunciation with Chinese... foreigners are also helpless with Chinese...

She had already been to Xi’an, Beijing, Shanghai, and after Yunnan she’d go to Guilin, then Hong Kong, then head back.

Two backpacks, one big one small. She said she’d go straight from Lijiang bus station to Qiaotou by bus and hike Tiger Leaping Gorge....

Truly great stamina....

Since she wasn’t sitting by the window, I (sister here) didn’t have a chance to take photos of the scenery along the way....

The road to Lijiang also passed by a military exercise area. The dust storm kicked up by many tanks during the exercise was something else – spectacular! magnificent!

Arrived at Lijiang bus station, said goodbye to her..

We took bus No. 11 to the ancient town, about 20 minutes.

Lijiang Ancient Town, also known as Dayan Ancient Town, was first built at the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, with about 800 years of history. It’s an ancient town that has been very thoroughly developed, perhaps even over-developed.

Our first task upon arriving in the ancient town was to find a guesthouse and drop off our luggage.

Then we were dragged by a girl into her guesthouse. She said she was a post-90s, a bit embarrassing... maybe because her skin was tanned, she looked more mature. She kept teasing me, telling me to stay in Lijiang and marry her...

How could I possibly have the ability to marry a girl...

And besides... was I giving off some serious dude vibes???

To save time, we agreed to stay at this very ordinary guesthouse. It was off-season, so we bargained down to 80 yuan...

With the accommodation sorted, it was already past 2 pm by the time we got to Lijiang Ancient Town, and our stomachs were growling. We’d heard that the food inside the ancient town wasn’t authentic and was expensive, so we looked around the outskirts, but there weren’t many restaurants either, mostly Sichuan-style...

AND THEN we started our ancient town tour...

We never saw the guesthouse owner. When booking, the young lady was a bit indifferent. Maybe, just like the guesthouse name suggested, both the owner and staff were quite laid-back and leisurely.

The courtyard was lovely, and the whole guesthouse had a charming design.

The decorations were detailed. It had a certain flavor.

Transportation and surroundings:

Located inside Dayan Ancient Town, it took only a minute to walk to the bustling area. But because the alley wasn’t wide, not many people passed by. I didn’t see any bars around, but at night while sleeping you could hear the thumping bass... a bit annoying.

The room was rather old, a bit shabby, and lighting was average.

This guesthouse also had tatami mats on the second floor, but with wooden floors. I’d advise against sleeping on tatami, as it can be a bit damp. Even our standard room felt a bit damp. Didn’t like that.

There were two swings, a few wooden tables and chairs. If the weather was nice, you could sit in the courtyard on a wooden chair, bask in the sun, chat, snack on chicken feet, quite pleasant.

Dayan Ancient Town is about five or six kilometers from Shuhe Ancient Town. There’s a public bus to Shuhe outside Lijiang Ancient Town. (Can’t remember which number... sweat)

After wandering around Dayan, I was very much looking forward to the legendary tranquility of Shuhe.

Many people entered the main gate, walked a loop, and were quite disappointed. Sisters Fen and Min went back in less than an hour.

Left just the two of us, thinking we’d walk around Shuhe a bit more, buy some souvenirs.

The first stretch was all shops, not much different from Dayan.

Actually, Shuhe is quite big... but what we saw were small shops, not what we’d hoped for, so we wanted to head back.

Just as we were about to go back, we ran into Da Hua and Xiao Hua...

Expressed our disappointment, and they suggested we go to Harigu, saying there weren’t many shops open there yet, fewer people, nicer...

So past 5 pm, we decided to walk around Shuhe again!

It’s a fair distance from the entrance to Harigu, if you keep walking nonstop, probably about twenty minutes...

Sure enough, inside Harigu it was quieter, lacking the hustle and bustle of the outside streets...

More serene, more beautiful...

It felt like being in another world...

Let the photos speak for themselves.

Then we saw a road under blue sky and white clouds...

This was ‘that flower’s’ favorite spot that day...

And my soul lingered on the stretch before that dusty, sandy road....

Waited half an hour for the bus, got on, and realized it was a completely different route from the way we came, and we had to transfer....

And we rode for an hour...

But this was a part I really liked...

We were both very hungry... because we’d only had that bowl of sweet dessert for lunch... We took out the wafer biscuits we’d been disdaining and shared them. It was also starting to get chilly, and ‘that flower’ shared half of her scarf with me..

In Shuhe, many locals lead horses, and you can ride around the ancient town, fifty yuan...

Taking photos costs fifteen or ten yuan...

Saw a calligrapher with a big beard... Later he found out I took a photo... a bit angry....

Sorry about that...

First time seeing prayer flags in Yunnan, got a little excited...

For lunch we had the famous little pot rice of Shuhe. The rice is stewed, super fragrant, and really comforting to eat. Portions are generous, one serving is enough for two. Steampot chicken, a Yunnan specialty, the soup is super delicious and savory. The coated tofu was very nice, tender, very comforting. Also Naxi grilled fish, grilled to a fragrant crisp. And ‘water nymph’ (a local vegetable), the name sounds scary but it’s quite tasty, a local specialty vegetable, definitely worth a try!

Later we saw a big dog...

In our ignorance, we thought it was a Tibetan mastiff... but it didn’t seem fierce at all, so we went to ask the owner.

This is: a Caucasian Shepherd!!!

Then we saw a sculpture at the entrance, a soldier holding a sword. I ran over and pretended to be stabbed...

Then a man drifted over and said: ‘本当?’

So I invited him to demonstrate...

Sure enough, he was better than me....

Behind him, his woman was laughing happily....

We walked further and further off the beaten path... couldn’t find the way back. Asked a friend, they said there’s a bus over there...

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