Getting Greener, Going Slower

We’ve just arrived in Lijiang in Yunnan province having spent a couple of days in Kunming.

For the last month, it seems we’ve mainly wandered around big, big cities (at almost 20 million people, you don’t get much bigger than Beijing) often a bit wide-eyed and slack-jawed a little like those country cousins come to town. We’ve also had some very specific things we’ve wanted to see and so we’ve followed the crowds to various monuments and temples and viewpoints and temples and … well you get the picture. Even when we got out of the city, we found ourselves being organised or spending long days travelling/sightseeing with little downtime. With a country so big, so much to see and a once in a life-time (yeah I know it’s the third time for some) trip, the temptation is to rush from one sight to the next, cramming in as much as possible. While this might be okay for a short period, we knew from experience that it couldn’t carry on and so arriving back in Chengdu a little frazzled after our four day Chinese tourist trip, we altered our plans and had a day of a little bit of shopping and a lot of relaxing in Sim’s Cozy, our green haven in the city. It was wonderful, you need some time to recharge, assimilate some of the experiences, plan and just do some normal things like read and play pool.

Having moved further south, our hope always has been to get more into the countryside and move slower. Less things to tick off (i.e. Tian’anmen, Great Wall, Pandas…)  and more exploration. A 500 mile trip to a city of 6.5 million people followed by a 300 mile trip to another city of   1.2 million may not seem to fulfil either criteria but both these places have a much smaller and more relaxed feel to them. Less traffic, more trees and hills and mountains within sight and reach – something that both Jo and I, country bumpkins at heart, have caught each other grinning madly about.

In Kunming, we stayed in The Lost Garden Guesthouse which not only was itself tucked away down a pedestrianised street in a residential area, was also less than five minutes from Green Lake Park. Jo has already written a little about the differences between Chinese parks and those in the UK and I have to say that it’s in the parks that I’ve really enjoyed watching the Chinese people. Take Green Lake Park for instance which, as the name suggests, consists mainly of water with a series of bridges and avenues and tree-lined plazas. We wandered in on Thursday afternoon and it was heaving with people enjoying the autumnal sun. Many people seemed to be just out for a stroll but many more seemed to have come for a specific purpose. Every little square and arbour had  something happening within it. Dancers, choirs, orchestras, bands, soloists all squeezed in, often right next to each other making it difficult to tell where one amplified song finished and the next begun. Cacophony is the only word to describe the noise in the busiest parts of the park but round other quieter corners we’d find card-players, mah-jong tables, kite fliers, skateboarders, Tai Chi practitioners and top spinners. On the water, people splashed around in punts and pedalos. People having fun. Many of the groups face inward rather than out to the spectators. They’re not in the park for the amusement of others or to compete but for the performance and the social interaction. The park is overflowing with life and it’s a joy to wander from group to group. We spend several relaxing hours over the next couple of days doing so.

Kunming – Line dancing

Kunming – Guitar strumming

Kunming – Fan waving

Kunming – Fiddle playing

Kunming – Top spinning

Lijiang – lanterns and flowers

Lijiang – resting by a canal

Lijiang – the mountains are close

Lijiang – Naxi costume

Lijiang – canals and bridges

Lijiang – Ellie

Lijiang – flowers everywhere

Here in Lijiang, the vibe’s a little different. The place is a rather smaller than Kunming and it is divided into two distinct parts, the new and the old. The old district, where we’re staying in Mama Naxi’s Hostel is made entirely of traditional 2-3 storey wooden buildings built around narrow pedestrian only streets, canals with arched stone or planked wooden bridges and twisting alleyways. The guidebooks warn of millions of tourists but it was practically empty today and we spent several hours just wandering aimlessly, lost amongst the alley’s and bougainvillea. This evening, enjoying being fussed over by Mama Naxi, eating a slap-up family meal by candlelight  because of a powercut, Jo and I were transported to warungs in Bali and teahouses in Nepal. What’s more there are snow capped mountains only a bike ride away!