The tourist capital of southwest China

Lijiang
From Tibet we flew to Lijiang. Being the most touristed city in southwest China (maybe all of China?) it's the city that people love to hate.  And they do have some valid points.   China is 92% Han (the ethnic majority that is in power), but there are dozens of other ethnicities, the majority of which live in the Yunnan province, where we are.  Up until recently, the city was almost completely inhabited by the Naxi, one of China's ethnic minority groups.  But now, the majority of Naxi have moved out to the suburbs, where they rent out their space to Han entrepreneurs.  This has hurt a lot of the city's former character.  Plus, busloads of Chinese tourists descend everyday on the city, clogging the cobblestone streets from morning through the evening.  At times, it feels more like Disneyworld than an actual city.  A bar-owner told Alex that the government forced her to change her decor to "make it look more old."

Despite these drawbacks, we've loved Lijiang.  It's more picturesque than we could have imagined: no vehicles, flagstone streets, canals everywhere, traditional architecture.  It's like being inside Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.  Being outside of high season the crowds weren't as bad as we expected.  While the main squares and streets off them got packed, it was easy enough to leave the hordes behind -- the Old Town is very large, and we were able to find authentic markets, residential areas, and "normal life" just by walking 10 minutes away.

Tiger Leaping Gorge
Chris: We were both planning on hiking the Tiger Leaping Gorge, the most famous trek in the region.  Unfortunately, in Tibet Alex slipped while walking to the sacred lake (the Tibetan gods didn't protect her) and re-injured her ankle.  This made the 2-day hike impossible for her, so I went on my own while Alex explored more of Lijiang.  The trek, a 2-hour bus ride north, was great.  There used to be two trails, the high and low, but the Chinese love to build roads and have now paved over the low trail.  I started the high one but got very confused as after 15 minutes the trail met a paved road.  Did I somehow veer towards the low trail?  No, the Chinese have now decided to pave part of the high trail as well.  The were working on it as I walked and yelled at me as I almost walked on the freshly poured concrete.  Luckily, a real trail appeared after 30 minutes, I left the trucks behind, and ascended the trail.

In some ways it was like Nepal's trek with guesthouses along the way (although the scenery wasn't nearly as dramatic).  After the one hour-long difficult section, I came to a guesthouse, where a puppy found me.  I loved this dog.  He didn't have an owner and literally followed me for the next 2 hours as I walked along the trail.  He even slept outside my door when I stopped at a guesthouse for the night.  I seriously considered keeping Tashi (yes, I named him -- he looked like the Tibetan dogs and I named him after the Tibetan word for "hello"). But then I realized Alex might not love it if I showed up to Lijiang with a dog in my arms.  (However, she also fell in love with him after seeing my pictures.)

The night I returned, we had without question the grossest meal we ever ordered.  We stopped at a restaurant where people had clay pots with a large flame underneath.  It looked like a fun meal so we ordered the chicken version, thinking it'd be a safe bet.  It was not.  In no way do we believe that what we were served was chicken.  Inside the pot was a clear broth with chunks of something floating in it. This something consisted mainly of bone with dark grey scaly gelatinous things attached to it.  It looked disgusting.  Alex went to the manager thinking there was a mis-translation of "chicken."  She even started imitating a chicken to the manager, and I had visions of Gob Bluth from Arrested Development doing his chicken impression (anyone who's seen the show will know what I'm talking about).  It was also ironic that we had decided to splurge on our most expensive meal but couldn't bring ourselves to eat it.

Baisha
Chris: The worst part of the night was that Alex somehow got really sick.  We were supposed to leave Lijiang the next morning but Alex needed the day to rest rather than travel.  So, I rented a bike and rode an hour north to the charming village of Baisha.  It was a nice way to spend the day in this small, traditional Naxi village.  I also visited the famous Dr. Ho.  He's now almost 90, but his son is taking over his business of using local herbs to help solve people's ailments.  But Dr. Ho is no quack.  He's been written up by every major paper.  The Mayo Clinic has even written a case study on his work and worked with him, because he helped a man with prostate cancer.  Without any radiation treatment the man, who's American, has been in remission for 15 years now.  I got Alex some mixture of ground herbs for her stomach.  Whether it was the mixture, or just time, we were amazed (and relieved) that she was completely better after a few doses of the concoction.

Shaxi
Now that Alex was better, we traveled the 4 hours south by bus to the little town of Shaxi, this one inhabited by the Bai, southwest China's largest ethnic group.  This town -- again charming with no vehicles, flagstone streets, and traditional architecture -- was even less-toursited than Baisha.  (We were literally the only tourists in town and were treated to private tours of several major sites.)  This was once a major stop on the Tea Horse route, which once stretched from Tibet to Burma.  Since 2001 a Swiss group has created a master plan to help revive the city.  We found it extremely interesting to read about this comprehensive plan -- restoring and preserving the ancient buildings, poverty allevation by developing a diversified and sustainable economy, improving sanitation and environmental awareness for the inhabitants, linking Shaxi to other potential tourism areas, and increasing awareness of the town's historical imporance.

There wasn't a lot to do in the town and only one restaurant where we had some tea, but it was a nice place to stroll around.  The surrounding farm fields was also a nice change from being in a city so much, especially for Alex.  Our guesthouse was very simple, but it felt like we were part of the family.  For lunch and dinner there was no menu; we just ate what they had on hand (which, fortunately, was delicious).

The next morning a movie crew was shooting a Kung Fu movie in the main square, and the producer, who went to Middlebury College, asked us to be extras.  Unfortunately, we had an early bus so our Chinese
big-screen debut will have to wait.