From Tibet we flew to Lijiang, a big tourist city that we loved. It's more charming than we could have imagined: no vehicles, flagstone streets (instead of pavement), water canals everywhere, traditional buildings. 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 huge amounts of people behind just by walking 10 minutes away.
Shaxi
After a few days we traveled to the little town of Shaxi. This town was also charming with no vehicles, flagstone streets, and traditional architecture. But we were literally the only tourists in town and were treated to private tours of several major sites. There's been a lot of restoration work recently. Also, we got to meet a minority group of people called the Bai who wear colorful clothing and a black cloth wrapped around their heads. 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. 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 whatever they were cooking (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.
Dali
Our next stop was another tourist town that wasn't as charming as Lijiang. The reason people come here is for the surrounding area, a couple miles from mountains on one side and the third largest lake in China on the other. We rented bikes and spent a day riding along the lake, stopping in at the farming and fishing villages that are in the area. People went about their daily business tending the fields, children played games and rode their bikes, and old men played mah jong (a popular Chinese game with tiles). Some villages were old and some were more modern. But everywhere we went people were so friendly and helpful, even though we hardly knew any Chinese.
Nuodeng
This town was the most un-touristy place we've ever been! After a 3.5 hour bus ride to the nearest city, we got on a 3-wheeled motorbike, crossed a rickety wooden bridge, and traveled 5 miles until the road ended. Here were a few sets of uneven stairs that marked the entrances to this village. The village houses are built up on the hillside. All we knew was that the guest house we wanted was near the top of the village. After about 10 minutes of climbing the narrow pathways of uneven stairs and stones and asking people to point us in the right direction, we found it. The owners gave us a simple room off the courtyard. They were extremely nice but the facilities were as basic as could be. The "bathroom," consisting of simply a hole in the ground, was outside the courtyard, next to the pig sty! We spent a lot of time "playing" Charades because the cheerful owner didn't speak any English and we speak very (very) little Chinese.
We spent the day just wandering about and admiring the old buildings. A couple people even invited us into their homes and were proud to show us around. We saw old temples, one of which we found by accidently walking through someone's home. At times it almost felt like we were the first tourists to see these sites in years. We also took a long walk in the hills opposite the village, through farm fields and along donkey paths, where we got great views of the entire area. There's literally no restaurants in town, not even the small noodle shops we normally find. So, we ate with the owners who gave us a feast of rice, fried pork, bacon, tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage, a squash-like vegetable, and beans.
Weishan
From Nuodeng we went to another village called Weishan. This was our first place in China that was a disappointment for us. It wasn't nearly as charming, had very few and expensive hotels, and didn't have much to do. There was a nice site 7 miles away near the top of a mountain that had lots of temples and palaces to wander around. Spending a few hours there helped make the trip more worth it, but we were ready to get back to Dali and have a few western comforts (like the best French toast at our guesthouse!).
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