Shaxi Part 2 (2-14)

When I arrived back at the guesthouse Wednesday evening, Sammy came to tell me that we had been invited to a dinner for a new house. The meal included ten dishes, only one of which was not meat. I hadn’t seen so many meat dishes at one time. One was chunks of fat. 

When we arrived, the men were eating. After they finished, women sat at some of the tables. After everyone ate, the tables and benches were quickly removed and the ground was swept. 

There were several people sitting around a fire; so we joined them, as it was chilly. (The woman in the blue jacket is MaoMao's mother.)

MaoMao said that the house structure had been put up in three hours. There were red banners on the central posts. She told me that two were upside down. She was told that this was intentional, as it indicates that good luck is good luck no matter what direction it comes from. During dinner, we were invited to stay for dances starting at 8:00. While we waited, we went to Sammy’s house where we met her father and sister. In talking with him, MaoMao learned that local people are concerned that the new highway from Lijiang to Jianchuan will change the village. One tunnel is 3800 meters long. She learned from talking to the man who carved the wood trimming for the house that young men aren’t interested in learning this craft; it takes too long to do it, and they want to finish things quickly. I had heard this in Vietnam, too.

When we returned to the new house, people were playing cards. We joined the group sitting around the fire, which was toasty. One man chatted with MaoMao and her mother a lot. He brought us some hard nougat-like candy that was broken into small pieces. He showed us how to hold our piece near the fire to soften it enough that a wooden skewer could be inserted. Then the candy is held over the fire to make it soft. The soft layer is eaten and then the process is repeated. It was quite good. The experience was like toasting marshmallows over a campfire. When the dancers hadn’t returned in an hour and a half, we left. It was a pleasant and relaxing night.

Thursday morning we returned to the new house for breakfast.  MaoMao had suggested that we contribute cash in an envelope, which was a good idea. As in Thailand, donations were recorded in a book at the door. The meal was a repeat of dinner with two different dishes. As we arrived, we saw many men leaving. When we entered, the women were eating. Additional good luck banners were on wall at the back of the new building structure, and a long table was in front of the wall on which food offerings were being put. We ate and left.

On the way back to the guesthouse, we went to look at two modern houses MaoMao and seen and loved. The gate of one was open; so we went in with Sammy calling out greetings to the owner. The man came out and chatted with them. The house is beautiful. The central courtyard is a garden, which seems to be the case in the modern houses I have been able to peek through the gate of. The older houses use this area for storage. The owner told MaoMao that the house, not including the land, cost 1,000,000 yuan (about $167,000).

I had planned for Thursday to be a quiet, relaxing day. I sat on the veranda most of the day reading, enjoying the landscape, and watching the nearby village life go by. 

In the afternoon, I took a walk through the village and a very short way up the mountain behind it. It was a perfect way to end my stay in Shaxi.

Friday morning I had breakfast with a couple from Singapore who were at the guesthouse. They talked about how cold it was in Shaxi. The man commented that he had read in books about people saying they were cold and now he really understands what being cold is. There was a little frost on a car that was still in the shade at 9:30.

After breakfast I bicycled to Shaxi to go to the Friday market, which is always mentioned as something to do in Shaxi. The main area was full of venders selling vegetables and some fruits. People shopping carry baskets on their backs to hold their purchases. There were a few different types of baskets. 

Truckloads of vegetables were brought to the market. I watched in awe as huge bags and containers of vegetables were unloaded from a truck and put on women’s backs to be carried into the market area. I’ve never seen women carrying such heavy loads before, and I wondered where the men were and why they weren’t carrying the heavy loads. 

In another area I came upon the meat market. Whole slaughtered animals were on tables in large chunks that were cut as people bought the meat. 

Along the streets people sold small amounts of vegetables and other items such as hats and dry goods. It was a busy place with people coming and going. When I left at 11:30, the street was more crowded than when I arrived at 10:15.

Shaxi is on the old Tea Horse Road, like the Silk Road but for tea and horses. The road was used to carry tea across China to other places. Some tea was traded for Tibetan horses, thus the name. A sculpture at the town’s entrance honors the horses.

The area is home to the Bai ethnic/minority group. The old women wear traditional clothes. Young women do not.

Leaving Shaxi proved a bit challenging. I hired a taxi to take me to the place where I could get a van to Jianchuan. When one pulled up, it was immediately filled and I was left out. To be fair, I’m pretty sure most of those people were waiting when I arrived. Another man was also left behind, and I thought he looked like a Chinese tourist. Twenty minutes later another van drove into the lot; so I followed it. A few people were giving money to the driver. When I tried to give him my money, he said “no.” When I asked if it was going to Jianchuan, he said “no.” I walked away and stood at the entrance to the lot, not knowing what to do next. A few minutes later, he waved me over and motioned for me to get in. When I asked if he was going to Jianchuan, he nodded and took my money. I was seated in the back next to the other man. He spoke English fairly well and said the driver had done the same thing to him. After several minutes, the van stopped and picked up two more men. One was seated in the back with the luggage; the other shared the front seat. So we now had 11 passengers in the 7-passenger van. The journey went smoothly.

Shaxi Part 1 (2-12)

After a five hours riding on two buses, I arrived in Jianchuan. The bus from Dali was a small one. My knees barely fit between the seats, but I was able to shift so they didn’t press against the seat in front of me. The bus did not take the highway; so the ride was not always smooth. The first two-thirds were fairly flat and then the road went over the mountains. In Jianchuan, I found the van to Shaxi. I was the first passenger. While waiting, I walked around to stretch and then decided to buy some snacks for the rest of the trip. After I paid, the man pointed to the van where a whole group of people were getting in. It was full. I’d left my backpack on the seat to reserve it for me, but three girls were sitting there. The driver indicated for me to get in on the other side. So I did, and the three girls moved over. The road to Shaxi was rough. The vehicle didn’t ride smoothly, and the road wove around as it went over the mountains. The driver let me off at the intersection to the village where the guesthouse is and pointed down the road and to the left. I decided that it wasn’t very far; so I walked, which took about fifteen minutes. I enjoyed my first moments walking in the countryside.

The guesthouse is one I fell in love with when I first read about it. It’s in a very small village about three kilometers from Shaxi, a larger village. It’s an old theater—thus its name Old Theatre Inn—that has been restored and converted to a guesthouse with only five rooms. It was very quiet while I was there, as only two rooms were occupied. The woman at the desk, Sammy, speaks acceptable English and, more importantly, tries to communicate and is very nice. Since nights are cold and the walls are thin, the rooms have a portable heater and the beds have electric blankets on the mattress. The electric blanket was really nice, as the bed was where I spent the evenings. By the time I went to sleep, the bed was toasty; so I could turn off the blanket and was cozy all night.

The theatre has three levels. 

The top level has an altar with a statue of a god. 

There is a veranda outside the building that was wonderful for sitting and relaxing. Views of the fields are stunning even though it’s the winter season and most are brown.

I decided to walk to Sideng Square, the center of old Shaxi, to have some exercise and to enjoy being outside. The dirt road goes along the river. The second half of the river walk is beautiful. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of trash along the shore for most of the first half. This area—and the mountain I walked up—are the places with the most trash on the ground I have seen.

Shaxi is an authentic village where people live and work. Very few buildings have been reconstructed, and homes are modest. 

The square is small and compact. It has an old theater and temple, a few cafes, a few shops, and a guesthouse. The theater is now a museum. Like the Old Theatre Inn, its top floor has an altar with a statue of a god. 

Walking back to the guesthouse with the evening sun illuminating the fields was especially beautiful. Goats are raised and taken to the fields to graze.

Tuesday morning I planned to walk to an old temple on a nearby mountain. However, I turned the wrong way and didn’t find the road leading to the trail. I asked several people where it is, and two responded and pointed out the direction, but I didn’t know the second word they were using. So I returned to the guesthouse to get a bicycle for my new plan to have a bicycle ride. When I mentioned that I’d walked to the Old Pear Temple, which is affiliated with the guesthouse, Sammy showed me her key and offered to take me there. So we rode there first so I could see the temple. I enjoyed the unique artwork on the walls and the statues. It is being restored to be a community center and small school. The book in my room says that it opened it April 2013; Sammy said it will be finished this April. But I—and another guest I chatted with—think it will probably be next year till it’s finished.

Then I rode along the road. After Shaxi town, there wasn’t much traffic; so it was a quiet ride. The road has several gentle hills that were easy to go up with the 24-speed bicycle. 

My goal was to get to the river crossing, and an hour and a half later I did. 

On the way back, I walked into two of the roadside villages to see what they are like. Houses aren’t fancy like those in Dali. Many don’t have stucco covering the packed dirt, and they have outhouses on the outside of the complex. 

One path that looked interesting went to a small temple. New construction is going up everywhere. The new houses are the modern style—bit and fancy with indoor plumbing. (Again, I learned later that these are probably vacation houses for wealthy people from elsewhere.)

I stopped in old Shaxi to go to the temple and theatre, since they were closed Monday evening when I was there. I planned to eat at one of the cafes, but it was closed. So I went to a restaurant at a fancy guesthouse. It is a lovely old house that has been converted. I ordered the local tuber dish. The tubers are very thin and were fried; so they were crunchy. I could only eat half, but I took the rest with me as snacks over the next couple days. Eating them was like eating chips.

At the guesthouse, I chatted with a woman I’d met briefly as I arrived. MaoMao is from Sichuan but now works in Shanghai in real estate, helping people to purchase investment property abroad and in China. In fact, she connected the American owner of the guesthouse with the old theatre. This was her third time staying at the guesthouse. She returned this time to bring her mother to the guesthouse and to Shaxi.

Wednesday I set off to go to the mountain again. This time I turned the correct way and made the hike. The destination was Shizhong Temple, part of the complex of grottoes on Shibao Mountain. The trail is paved with flat stones; so it is easy to walk. I don’t know why I was surprised to see stone steps going up the mountain, but I hadn’t thought about experiencing Chinese steps up a mountain again. 

The first part of the trail goes to two small temples built around carvings in the rocks. The second one is locked, but someone had removed one of the wooden bars so people can see and take photos easily. 

After the second temple, the trail goes up to the top of the mountain. Part of it is lined with pine trees. After two hours, I arrived at a temple. From there, I could look down at a view of a large temple lower down, which I later learned is Shizhong Temple. There was a sign with a map of the Shibao Mountain area, but the symbol for “You are here” was missing; so I wasn’t sure exactly where I was.

On the way down to Shizhong Temple, I was surprised to see rock paintings on one of the cliffs.

Shizhong is the only temple in the area that is open to the public. (There are others on another mountain in the Shibao area.) It has a long area of Buddhist cave carvings. There are also two carvings of a famous king. A final carving is of female genitilia, the first I’ve seen that.

The weather was perfect for hiking—not too hot and not cold. A strong wind blew off and on throughout the day. My jacket and sweater were off and on all day, too.

Dali Part 2 (2-9)

Saturday morning I went down the street to buy some oranges to add to my breakfast. I found a dried fruit vender and created a mixture of banana chips, pineapple, and cherry tomatoes. I was surprised how delicious the dried tomatoes are. I also bought some almonds. Mixed together they made a great snack to carry with me during the day. Breakfast was included with the room, but it’s a typical Chinese breakfast—tasteless rice porridge. They did give a few slightly spicy, picked vegetables to put in it, which helps, but it’s still not my favorite breakfast. It also included mantou, steamed bread, made by Andy’s father. I like mantou but not with porridge. I took a piece to eat with my trail mix, which worked well.

I planned to go to the ancient town and the Three Pagodas. Andy drove another man and me to the Three Pagodas. It is actually a complex with a huge temple and is called Chongshen Temple and Three Pagodas. It was originally built in the 9^th century but has been rebuilt because it was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. Since it is the most important temple in the province, many Chinese tour groups were there throughout the day.

The Three Pagodas are near the entrance, and the complex extends way back and up the mountain. I ended out walking around for almost five hours, as I saw everything. 

You can climb up three of the buildings for good views of the complex and city, even all the way to the lake. Each temple or hall contains a different important Buddhist figure. One building has gold-plated arhats. 

Another has a thirteen-faced god. 

One has a god of fortune, which I hadn’t seen in a temple before but encountered fairly often here. 

The pool of nine dragons became a fountain while I was in the building behind it; so I had to go out to see it again.

From the top of the last building, there are good views of the valley, including the city and the lake. 

And good views of the mountains behind the complex.

Weather wasn’t as good as it was on Friday; it was cooler and was windy off and on throughout the day. So I was really glad I’d had my bicycle ride on Friday.

After finishing my time at the temple, I negotiated a taxi price for the ride back to town. Old Dali is a walled city. There are four gates to enter it. After entering West Gate, the first item on my agenda was finding a place to eat. 

Near the gate there were a number of restaurants that have food displayed to be ordered. I tried to order mushrooms and tofu cooked together at one place. They could stir fry the mushrooms, but the tofu could only be fried; so I would have to order two dishes, and they couldn’t make them a small size. When I ordered mushrooms at another place, the woman wrote something on her pad. When I said I can’t read Chinese, she produced an English/Chinese menu, which simplified the process. I ordered what I thought was three kinds of mushrooms stir fried, but it came as mushrooms cooked in broth with tofu. Nevertheless, it was good.

Then I walked down the street, stopping at a small museum, a park, and a temple. I mostly looked at the buildings and found that I’d seen pretty much enough, as they were starting to look the same. 

I learned that Dali is famous for marble and started to notice marble “paintings” on some of the buildings. At the end of the street, I called Andy to pick me up, a nice service he offers.

My original plan was to go up the mountain one day, but that had lost its appeal. The mountain tops were in clouds on Saturday, and I knew I’d have more mountain opportunities in Shaxi and Liang. So I planned a quiet day on Sunday. When I woke up, I thought about taking a boat trip on the lake. At breakfast, Andy asked about my plans. When I mentioned the boat trip, he asked if I wanted a small or big boat. After he described the different trips, I decided on the big boat. He arranged for me to join his parents, since they were going on the big boat that day. We were picked up and driven to the boat, which was definitely big. It is a former five-level cruise ship that has been converted to lake tours. 

The bedrooms are now sitting rooms with comfortable benches, a table, and a TV. A few dishes of snacks were on the table, and tea was provided. The rooms all have special names. All the rooms on our level had names related to the moon. Ours was Elegant Moon Room.

When we boarded the boat, we were given a heart with Erhai written in Chinese to hang around our necks. We were also given coupons.

Andy’s parents took good care of me. His mother linked her arm with mine until we were safely in our room. They walked me around the islands we stopped at and took me to the cultural performance. His father took 55 photos of me—some with his mother and some alone—on my camera and about half that many with the two of us on their camera. It was certainly a Chinese photographing experience.

The tour guide for our group had his wife and son along. The boy is ten years old and spoke a little English with me. A few times others tried to use him as a translator, but, of course, he doesn’t know that much English. But it was fun to interact with him a little.

Half an hour after leaving shore, we went out to have a photo taken. I wouldn’t have had any idea what to do if my new friends hadn’t been taking care of me. Two photos were taken: one alone and one with a woman in traditional Bai clothes. Andy’s mother had her second photo taken with me instead of with the woman. One of the coupons was to claim a free key ring with the photos. You could also purchase the photos. They took care of claiming these later.

After traveling for an hour and a half, we stopped at a very small island. It was packed with people selling skewers of food, mostly fish. 

One interesting item was small birds on a skewer. The island has a very small temple. Other than that, this stop seemed to be about buying food from the local people. We walked in a steady stream of masses of people for fifteen minutes. It was good to be back on the boat.

There were many sea gulls around the island. They knew to fly along the boats because people threw bread for them. We watched them as we approached the island and again after returning to the boat.

Next we went to the cultural performance that had started while we were enjoying the sea gulls. Although we missed the first part, we saw twenty minutes of Bai dances. We put our tickets on the ledge in front of us so we would be given three small cups of tea to sample. When the show was over, Andy’s father had one of the woman stop for a photo with us. His mother said something about fifteen and I agreed. Next thing I knew, I was buying a box of tea for 15 yuan. It has six small boxes that each have a small packet of the three kinds of tea we had sampled.

The next activity was a 40-minute walk around another island. This one was more enjoyable than the first island. It is much larger; so people weren’t in a steady mass walking around. The path is lined with trees most of the way, and there are nice views of the lake on one side. 

On the island is an imperial palace that was our destination. It also has a statue of the Mother Goddess/Kuan Yin. We had time only to look at each briefly and take photos, of course.

After touring the island, we relaxed in our room while the boat headed to shore, arriving half an hour later at 1:30. We were immediately taken to our vans for the return trip. On the way back, we stopped for lunch, which was a surprise for me, as Andy hadn’t mentioned that lunch was included. Eight dishes were quickly prepared, most of which did not have meat (perhaps because I mentioned that I don’t eat meat). It was quite a good meal. Then I was put in a returning van. I wasn’t sure what was happening. Perhaps there was only one van to take all sixteen of us in the group.

Next I took a bus to the ancient town to walk around a bit and have a massage. I’d seen a few massage places when I walked through town after arriving on Thursday and decided that I wanted to have one. I enjoyed walking around taking photos of the buildings for about an hour and a half. I like the ancient towns, but that’s about my limit for enjoying them. Like all the others, this one is full of tourist shops. 

I came to one building you can walk up and enjoyed the view over the city to the lake. 

During my walk, I continued adding to my collection of photos of baby carriers. They are beautifully embroidered and all seem to be different. Then I found a massage place and had a wonderful foot and shoulder massage before returning to the guesthouse.

Monday morning I woke up early to leave Dali. When I looked out the window at 8:00, there was a beautiful sunrise. I thought briefly about rushing down to the lake but decided to continue to enjoy it from my room. When I went downstairs for breakfast at 8:30, Andy’s father was just unlocking the doors; so it was good that I didn’t want to go out earlier. They were having a slow morning after the two busy weeks for the Spring Festival holiday.

After breakfast, Andy drove me to town where I could get the bus to new Dali where I would get a bus to Jianchuan. My time in Dali was over. I think Dali will be a China highlight.