Oasis in Old Dali

We were on board a bus leaving Lijiang headed to Dali. Our expectations were fairly low, as we repeatedly heard of the over development of the town for the new breed of Chinese tourists. Although Sichuan and Yunnan provinces offer gorgeous sights and opportunities for cultural exchange, we hadn't found any — pardon the old cliché — "wow factors" as the popular guidebooks suggested we might. We asked ourselves, what could we get out of this old city Dali?

Those who visit Dali's old town come for the views the mountain Cang Shan, which rises surprisingly high behind the town, the large lake stretched out in the shape of Buddha's ear named Erhai Hu, as well as San Ta Si (Three Pagodas) built in the mid-9th century. Travelers' hangout on a street called Huguo Lu, also known as "Foreigners' Street", where guesthouses, restaurants and cafés are concentrated. Chinese group tours stop here for a taste of Western travel culture.

What caught our attentions in this town, however, was the local culture that has been established by a group of young people living in this relatively quiet town. The formation of this community took its natural course, as young Chinese and Westerners migrated here and became friends. Some of the Chinese are native Dalian, but others moved from big cities like Beijing and Shanghai. They all had the same reason for moving here, saying "I lived in other places in China, but it was Dali where I met the most interesting people." The young Chinese seem to be the freest and of the most atypical we have seen throughout China.

They explored their unique viewpoints, tastes in music and art during conversations at the local cafés and soon they began to form a loose knit community of friends, eating and drinking together on a regular basis. The relationships formed extend in many directions, with both the Chinese and Westerners learning and relating to each other equally. As a result, they have established a collective atmosphere that is supportive, warm and welcoming.

For all of its fame as a tourist destination, Dali is relatively quiet town. There is not the kind of development pressure like we saw in Lijiang, and only the center of town is bustling with tourists. Still, many investors have their eye on Dali, expecting a boom to take place sometime in the future. This community of young adults is no exception, however, the hard push of commercial businesses is not evident and they continue to enjoy their slow lifestyle while running guesthouses, cafés and bars. The income generated through their businesses generates just enough to keep them free.

The result is an at-home, warm and relaxing environment where they welcome visitors who appreciate their unique sense of lifestyle. As travelers passing through Dali, we felt fortunate to find this wonderful community. It was an opportunity to get to know others while exchanging information and thoughts with people who were outside of the mainstream. After traveling in China for two months, it was an oasis where we could drop our guard and enjoy ourselves with these new, creative friends.

Apples and Sunflower Seeds

Yunnan Province is rich in nature and full of fertile lands. The area hosts a rich variation of culture as it sits on the borders of Tibet, Burma (now called Myanmer), Laos and Vietnam. While most of China is made up of the Han Chinese culture, multiple cultures have co-existed here for centuries, each forming their own communities and villages throughout the province. There are 25 unique minority tribes found throughout Yunnan. They include the Zhuang, Hui, Yi, Miao, Tibetans, Mongols, Ya, Bai, Hani, Dai, Lisu, Lahu, Wa, Naxi, Jingpo, Bulang, Pumi, Nu, Achang, Jinuo and Drung. The area around Lijiang is dominated by the Naxi tribe, while many of the people around Dali are of Bai origin.

We visited the Bai village called Jiu He on market day. It's located about 75 kilometers southwest of Lijiang. Villagers were shopping for all sorts of daily necessities ranging from toiletries, to clothing, to, of course, food. It is a market for the local people, and nothing at the tourist market was for sale. The most unusual item found at the market was, most likely, the two foreigners who came to visit (that would be us). We were welcomed with their honest smiles as they all tried to offer us their wares. When we were encouraged to try the local dish of sautéed soybean jelly flavored with chili I decided to go for it. It looked similar to the Japanese food called Kon-nyaku, but was much softer and melted in my mouth. At first taste, my tongue was covered in certain sweetness, followed by the punch of the chili spice. It was a delicious, yet inexpensive, treat.

Children began to gather around us as we walked through the market. We played the fun game of "instant photo" with the digital camera. The kids became even more excited when they could see their own face on the LCD screen and pushed their way into the next series of photos offering up their innocent smiles. When finally we came to the gate of their elementary school, they reluctantly waved goodbye and headed back to class.

It had been raining everyday during the past week, but this day was filled with sunshine. That early autumn feeling was in the air, cool and crisp, but still warm and pleasant in the sun. Soon the village would be in full swing bringing in the harvest, but for now, the adults gathered on the porches of the village houses and chatted about life.

As we headed back to our base at Lijiang we stopped off at another local village, this time of the Naxi tribe. The village was named La Shi and was well known for their apples. The town seemed like it was built around an apple orchard, and everywhere we looked branches were laden with red and green against the fading green leaves. In the center of the village, women sat in the quiet hours after lunch and chatted away while working on there knitting or drying of seeds. Their smiles were welcoming and they displayed an innocent curiosity about this strange Anglo and Asian couple.

Two elderly women invited us to visit their homes. Both were in a traditional design, with impressive gates and walls surrounding the property. Inside, the gate gave way to a large open-air courtyard surrounded by four structures, one on each side. The south facing structure was the main house where, traditionally, the eldest family members live. Two other structures faced east and west, respectively, and housed other family members, usually the oldest son and another sibling. Water buffalo, pigs, and chickens were housed in the north facing structure. Fierce dogs that barked non-stop at the strangers entering the family compound stood guard.

The courtyards were lovingly cared for, filled with walnut trees and potted plants. Corn and sunflower seeds were spread out in the open-air to dry. Each of the women offered us apples and sunflower seeds, pushing handfuls of the freshly harvested seeds deep into our pockets. We sat and listened to their life stories that reflected on China's hard and complex history. Today they live happy and content, enfolded in the traditional family structure, surrounded by their children and their grandchildren. Their smiles told us more than their words ever could.

Red Lanterns

An overnight train from Emi to Panzhihua plus an eight-hour bus ride took us to Lijiang, an old town known for its uniquely traditional architecture and Naxi culture.

Due to its cultural importance, the "old town" (as it's called) has been chosen as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The old traditional buildings withstood a major earthquake in 1996. Most of the damage in Lijiang occurred among the newly developed buildings, while the old houses stood almost indifferently. The officials were so impressed with the stability of the old building that they are now rebuilding the collapsed parts of "new town" using the same traditional methods.

Over half of the Yunnan population is a collection of minority tribes, Naxi and Bai among them. China's cultural wealth is well preserved in this city. Women proudly wear their traditional dress in their daily life and the younger generations create designs using the traditional pictographic Naxi language.

Looking down upon the town from the hillside takes you back a few hundred years as the view is filled with classic Chinese style rooftops made from slate tiles. The skyline is a series of black lines all sweeping upwards at their ends.

The town reminds me of an area of Kyoto called Kiyamachi because of the clean, clear flowing canals that line the cobblestone streets. At night, a warm glow comes over old Lijiang. Red lanterns cast their rosy colored light in the running waters of the canals. Everywhere you look you have the sense of being in old China.

Walking the cobblestone streets offers quite different views from the hillside above. The first floor of each building lining the street is a storefront. In the "old days" these shops sold all manner of goods necessary for life in Lijiang. Today they have been converted into souvenir shops, restaurants, and cafés. From morning to midnight this small town's streets are full of tourists shopping, walking and eating.

At first I was disappointed about the shopping mall appearance, with shop after shop selling T-shirts, jewelry, tea and more of the same. However, after a few days I found the reason for all the souvenir shops.

The mountains surrounding Lijiang, including gorgeous places like Tiger Leaping Gorge and the "official" Shangri-La, are also known for their lumber resources. Repeated flooding and landslides, made worse from the deforestation, have prompted the Chinese government to shut down many of the local logging companies. They have begun to encourage the communities to replant trees to stabilize the earth in the affected area. This resulted in massive unemployment, especially among the Naxi people, and they turned to tourism to make a living.

The UNESCO label created a world-class destination and the Chinese are quite proud of it. They flock to Lijiang to shop, take snapshots with the locals in their tribal clothing and to party in the bars at night. Only old black and white photographs on postcards can tell how it used to be, when this old town had its true charm.

Scenic Places in Sichuan

There are many scenic and historic attractions in Sichuan, a province located in southwestern China. We left Chengdu, its capital, on our way south to Yunnan Province, and stopped off at a couple of places along the way.

The first place was a town called Leshan. Its major attraction is the huge stone-carved Buddha that towers majestically over the confluence of two big rivers, the Min He and Dadu He. They claim it's the largest Buddha in the world. Our arrival coincidentally coincided with Da Fo Ji (Big Buddha Festival) and the grand Buddha was decked out in ribbons. This mid-size town was swollen with visitors who were taking part in festivities. As night fell, thousands of light filled paper lotus were released into the river.

The best part of Leshan was the people. They were very friendly and treated us with the typical curiosity toward foreigners but also with manners that they would use with their neighbors. This town has a gentle kindness among its people.

Emi Shan, our next stop, is famous for its beauty of forested mountains, waterfalls and ravines. It has been registered as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Its tallest peak reaches over 10,000 feet, and its mysterious environment, shrouded in fog, is said to have been inhabited by hermits with unworldly knowledge and power. Emi Shan is dotted with several Buddhist temples and is one of the four holy mountains in China. The air is fresh and thick. Water is pristine and its flow sounds powerful and refreshing. So many colorful butterflies of various kinds fly about everywhere. And the vegetations on the mountain seem to hold everything together.

Despite the beauty and spiritual undertones of Emi Shan, we had a hard time appreciating its gifts as bus load after bus load of Chinese tour groups dutifully filed through each of the scenic spots. Thanks to the paved roads and cable cars that connect the major sites, it doesn't take much effort to be able to appreciate them.

Here in China, one must venture off the tourists' paths, in order to experience views and quiet moments at "famous scenic and historic sites of interest". It requires stretching your paths to places without much transportations or that take physical effort to reach. At Emi Shan, this means climbing up and down literally thousands of stone steps on the sides of the mountains for several hours. Once off the main path, though, the mountain showed us her true beauty.

It has been interesting to observe the budding tourism industry here in China, from Beijing to Tibet and now the southwestern corner of the country. To me, China has some of the most beautiful places that I have ever seen, for their nature, histories and mystic impressions. On the other hand, every country in the world has it's own famous tourist destinations that have been overly developed and commercialized. That seems to be the case with many places in China and unfortunately the true beauty is shaved away by excessive development.

Reting Wind

I was walking fast on the streets of Lhasa. Dusk was near. Vegetables, cup-of-noodles, sweet bread and snacks were packed in my daypack. We had just returned to Banakshol Hotel on Beijing Donglu from a three-night, four-day trip into the countryside. And we were getting ready to turn our heels back to where we had left this morning. Back to Reting, a Tibetan monastery on the side of a woody mountain that over looks a wide river valley.

The car used for the tour was a 20-year-old Toyota land cruiser. But the ride this time was by public bus. The Oxford student, Paul, who had joined us during the last four days, said he would return to Reting one day behind us.

We departed Lhasa's eastern bus terminal the next morning at 8. The bus, packed with Tibetans and Chinese passengers, followed the Lhasa River toward the east, then turned north along one of its tributaries. Eight hours later, we arrived in this other world after traveling through extremely rough road that made our asses sore. We carried our backpacks up the hill to the monastery from Reting village. The elevation is just over 14,000 feet and we were out of breath.

Reting Monastery once held an important position in Tibetan affairs. It is the home of the Reting Rinpoche, and also the place of the Regent. During the years when the 14th Dalai Lama was still young, the Reting Rinpoche, acting as Regent, was responsible for the state of affairs in Tibet.

It was also one of the biggest monasteries in the area. It hosted several hundred monks in what used to be a large compound, which looked like a smaller version of Potala Palace. Most of the monastery was bombed and destroyed by the Chinese Red Army in 1958. Now only few dozens monks live here, and the site remains largely in ruins. (The photo above was taken in 1948.)

The sparse accommodations are managed and operated by a few young monks in their twenties. Not many tourists visit here, but some pilgrims and a few travelers find their way. We took them by surprise when we reappeared a day after saying good-bye. They offered us their cheerful big smiles in a warm welcome hello. We offered eggplant and onions and they cooked us a meatless meal. As we waited for dinner, the only other sounds we heard were the rushing water below, calls of kites — small bird-of-prey — the whisper of the wind blowing down the valley and the faint sound of cowbells off in the distance.

Gracing the hillside stands a grove of ancient juniper, old and wise in their existence. If only they could tell the stories of their time on the mountain. Each tree it's own magnificent bonsai. Bonsai is an art of seeking common beauty between nature and man. However, these trees were grown without the intention to be beautiful. Instead, nature and the needs of man shaped then into their grand presence. There is a tender yet powerful energy that the trees and the land radiated here.

We took afternoon hikes to a nunnery nearby and a small gompa near the top of the mountain. Nuns served us yak butter tea and showed us their tangka paintings and a sacred statue of Reting Rimpoche. They enjoyed themselves while we made photos from the rooftop.

In the hilltop gompa lives a 55-year-old monk who lives there alone. It looks down towards Reting Monastery and the valley below. Kites soared by looking for their prey. A younger monk, tall, handsome and shy, lives a little higher up the mountain. In the simple and modest structure he maintains is a study and sleeping quarters for the Dalai Lama. The young monk's duty is to care for the place, awaiting the daywhen His Holiness will return to his homeland.

The young monks at the guesthouse befriended us during our second visit to Reting. Their curiosities were endless; digital camera, computer, English, and life in America. They also affectionately told us about their families. Besides their duty to run the guesthouse, they work to restore the monastery by building new guest rooms and furniture. They work cheerfully, often joking around and singing along to tapes of Tibetan folk songs or even groovin' to cheesy house music.

What attracted us to Reting were the young monks' bright, innocent smiles, the wind passing through the valley, and the great energy from the old juniper trees. We walked down to the village through the woods in the morning of departure, without saying farewell to the monks. While we waited for the bus, we heard the sound of cymbals prompting the beginning of morning prayers, followed by the sound of those Tibetan folks songs. Those young monks' day must have begun.