To Lijiang

May 23, 2019

Last Stop

To Lijiang

20/05/2019

I was only mildly surprised to find Oscar, sitting out on the patio at the Cloudlands hostel in Kunming. Like me, he also likes hanging around in Kunming and tells me he is considering buying an apartment here. He's mostly just killing time, waiting for a flight back to Shanghai and Canada. Wouldn't be surprised if he showed up in Perth some day: he is a wandering global traveller, by his own admission searching for direction. I'm catching a morning train to Lijiang , my last destination in Yunnan, he's heading Shanghai in the afternoon.

When I told Oscar it took me about three days of hard travel to get out of Bingzhongluo he apologised. He forgot to tell me that there was a notice up in town that the road would probably be closed to the public for a few days because it was unpassable. He avoided all of that by taking a shared limo over the 3,900 metre pass into the next valley. He said the active rockfalls and landslides made it very memorable.

I made it to the Kunming train station with plenty of time to spare, taxi fare $5. It's a very big, well organised station moving massive numbers every day. There is a system, and everyone but me knows it. I got a bit frustrated trying to get through the station's entry system, but through trial and error figured my way in. Train leaves at 10:41, we sit and wait. They will open the boarding gates soon, anxious passengers are queuing. There are hundreds more of us sitting and waiting, watching the massing scrum- it must be a big train. It took only about 10 minutes to move all of us from the station lobby to our designated seats on the train. They had us all neatly lined up on the platform in rows according to where our designated car/seat would be, well before the train arrived. We leave exactly on time.

I don't do a lot of travel by train: some in Europe many years ago, Australia many times, the US last year, SE Asia frequently. To my inexperienced eye, this is impressive. The ride is rock steady, butter smooth and very fast - our maximum cruising speed approaches 200 kmph. Yunnan is rocky, hilly country, yet there are no slow climbs and descents - we just bore straight through the mountains and bridge over the valleys. It won't take us long to get to Lijiang.

Leaving the much smaller, but equally slick and efficient, Lijiang train station four hours later was simple - just swam with the current of humanity and popped out and then into a queuing taxi. Through her translation app the lady driver told me, "rest assured sir, I will take you to your destination." Oddly, this is not at all reassuring. Fifteen minutes later, thoroughly lost, she decides the simple solution is to jettison me onto the side of the road; I suspect preferably while moving. We pull over and stop. Much to her consternation, I'm not budging. I suggest once again that she phone the number I gave her when we started out. She finally relents, someone answers, a conversation ensues. She tells me the Inn owner is on his way. She motions that I can get out now….. Nah, I don't think so. I politely tell her we will both wait here for his arrival. Of course, he pops up alongside us a minute later. The Inn is just a five minute walk down the hill in the UNESCO designated Old Town, where cars are not allowed. That's why the Inn expressly stated in their written instructions to the taxi that they should phone to establish a rendezvous point. We got there in the end.

The Three Wells Inn where I'm staying for the next four days is right at the far western edge of the Old Town, much cheaper and so much quieter than the more centrally located hotels. It will be my home for the next four days.

Wandering the lanes late one night a few days later I was approached by a young thoroughly lost backpacker. He told me his taxi driver took him to about the same spot my driver tried to dump me, except he got out of his taxi and now needed help trying to find his accommodation. There are hundreds, perhaps a thousand or more small hotels and guesthouses secreted away in the maze of laneways in the old city. On top of that, they move, change names and ownership with alarming frequency. I wasn't going to be much use - my OSM map only told us where we were, not where he needed to go. We needed help and I had an idea... There are also hundreds, perhaps thousands, of fast food delivery scooters/drivers zipping in and out of the old town delivering meals. They are often almost as lost as the tourists. We accosted one of these as he was about to hop on his electric scooter and zip back to base. I left them negotiating a backpacker delivery to his hotel.

This is the Yican Well, one of the historic sites in the Old City. Kublai Khan's troops watered their horses and rested here on their way to sacking the Dali Kingdom, in the winter of 1253. The tourists walk by, oblivious, more concerned with taking selfies infront of kitch tourist shops.

The locals still use the well...

The well from the other side. The locals still drink from it and bucket water from it for use in their shops and homes.... +800 years and still going.

Wandering the streets, there are four pervasive sounds that cut through: the gurgling water from the stream channels that flow alongside almost every laneway; the tap tap tap of the copper and silversmith hammers as they work away at their trade in their shop fronts; the rumble of tourists' suitcase wheels as they drag them along the cobblestones searching for their accommodation; the rapptiy tappity rap coming from the pretty young girls in the drumshops demonstrating their wares (there may be just as many drumshops in the Old Town, too).

Electric Mules - these are the main method of moving supplies and goods through the Old Town.

The movement and sound of running water is pervasive throughout the old town... as is the sound of the Chinese tourists' suitcases rumbling over the cobblestones.

Rooflines of the old town. There are quite strict building restrictions for the old town, which all are supposed to adhere to.

Old Town street at sunset. Notice the new or newly renovated buildings, still in keeping with the theme of the old town.

One of the many tea shops in Lijiang. Tea has been serious business in Yunnan for 1000 years. I'm told a kilo brick of top quality tea can cost more than its weight in gold.

Firetrucks, Old Town Lijiang. Old Town Shangrila burnt down a few years ago and is now largely rebuilt. Old Town Lijiang has these cute little mini firetrucks parked everywhere on the narrow alleyways - which are far too small for any regular sized firetrucks to ride through.

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