Once Upon A Time In China

The Jade Dragon Snow Mountain is an all imposing guardian that watches over the city of Lijiang. It is a range with 13 peaks. It is also the southern most glacier in the Northern Hemisphere. Most importantly for the Naxis, this is their holy mountain.

Today, we will understand what Lijiang is all about. We will spend a day at the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and its environs.

A full force PLA exercise stormed the cable car station at the base of the mountain. The cable car to the Yulong Mountain Glacier National Park will take us to the base of the hike up the mountain at 4506 metres above sea level. It may interest you to know that Mt Everest is at 8850 metres above sea level.

While queuing up for the cable car, there were constant boardcast above the high attitude & the thin air. We are not suppose to run but to walk slowly & touts were pushing chocolates. You will need all the sources of energy you can find up there. Great hype ahead of the ascent. Meanwhile dark clouds were gathering in the horizon.

The ride up was an eye opening experience as we see how the vegetation gradually change with coniferous trees giving way to tiny plants. The mountain was also rather cloudy & the cable car was sailing through mist as we head up.

At the end of the ride, the first thing we see is a booth renting out thick ponchos & selling cans of oxygen. The first feeling is one of dizziness & a high not different from gulping 5 cans of beer at one go. This we found out later was due to the brain expanding from lack of oxygen in the thin air.

From the cable car station, it is just a simple 400 - 500 metres climb to the peak at 4680 metres above sea level. A simple trek following the wooden planks up the slope or so we thought. Faiz, Chang (maybe due to just recovered ankle) & XMan were so badly affected, that they had to buy cans of oxygen to get going. YP is probably descended from mountain goats & he just disappeared up the slope. All of a sudden, I understand how Maradona's Argentina lost to Bolivia 5 - 0 in La Paz. DO not blame for being tactically naive. I was so breathless, I had to stop every 50 metres or so. But the experience is 100% worth it. There were glaciers up close & the scenery is just immense despite the heavy clouds that occasionally block out the peak & drop light showers on us.

Halfway up, there were a line of young girls sitting on the steps, some throwing up & some just feeling faint. Trudging on breathlessly, I came to the bottom of a flight of 50 steps or so....the stairway to heaven. It was a challenge getting to climbing the stairs to the top without stopping, my lungs were bursting when I hit the platform at the peak. The first smell that hit me was cigarettes smoke from the other guys who were there before me. Ironical but this is China after all.

A Shaman altar is erected at the 'peak'. There's also a booth selling more oxygen. And, surprise ! I was joined by both Chang & Faiz at the top both sharing a can of oxygen. Faiz said he had to do it since he has already came all the way. Bravo!!

Take picture for me. Take picture for me. After several shots, we are ready to descend back to the cable car station.

Not before curious Chang bought a cup of yak milk to try. He had about 3 sips before leaving it at the table.

Back at base station, I couldn't resist buying Faiz a medal with his name engraved for his effort in climbing the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.

Next stop, the Blue Moon Lake (Lanyuehu). The Blue Moon Lake is a short bus ride away from the base cable car station. At first sighting, it looks like someone has poured copper sulphate into the lake. It is really blue.

We had a few quick shots & off we go to the next destination : Ganhaizi (The Dry Lake)

This is a huge meadow 3100 metres above sea level. As the name suggests, this place used to be a highland glacier lake that dried up in the 1940s. In spring & summer, you can horse ride, grass slide, have parties etc in the meadow. Now it is late autumn & there are no more flowers. However, on a closer look, the whole meadow is filled with flowers but really small ones. These are the winter flowers.

The Lijiang golf course is also located on the Ganhaizi.

On we go to the Jade Water Village (Yushuizai). It is not exactly a Village but more like a Dongba cultural center. It is built on Naxi Holy Land, the source of the Yushui.

It is constructed like a park. As we walk in, we are greeted by a Garuda like deity perched on top of a pillar like a totem. This is the bird God Xiuqu & the monument is a plaque for the International Dongba Culture Convention.

Near Xiuqu is the Shenlong 3 waterfalls. The water comes from melted snow from the Jade Dargon Snow Mountain. Legend has it that the Jade Dragon comes down every year to inspect the Spring (which is the gate from which these waters flow) & these waterfalls are a symbol of his arrival & departure (The Arriving Dragon, Playing Dragon & Departing Dragon Falls)

The Stone Museum is located near the entrance. Showcased here are natural stones with unnatural shapes. There is a whole banquet table filled with stones that looked like food. And of course my favourite is the kuku stone.

Moving up the park, passing through streams, lakes, waterwheels & of course lots of greenery, we soon come to the a square. Faiz complained of tireness from the mountain & we put him sitting in front of the huge statue of Shu, the Dongba Goddess of Nature which is chimera like with a snake body with a huge pomergranate.

Chang & I proceeded to the Yushuiyan Temple. This temple is recently opened both for religious purposes as well as a Dongba culture learning center for young Naxis. Inside they worship Dongbashiluo, Conrenli'en & his 2 wives & 3 sons, Sanduo & his 2 wives, Shu (the goddess of Nature) & the avatar of frog & bear. The temple also has several new wall frescoes.

Next to the temple is the cultural village with several old huts demonstrating the Naxi lifestyle of old. They show how Naxi toddy & paper is made. There is also a mill & 2 yaks for photo taking.

Faiz has now sufficiently recovered to go to the transport & we moved on to the Baisha Old City; the oldest of the 3 Old Cities in Lijiang.

Baisha is famous for her Ming dynasty frescoes. We headed off to Dabaoji Palace to view the frescoes. The frescoes are religious in nature, a good example of Tibetan buddhism. The Dabaoji Palace is where the Ming Emperor resides when he comes to Lijiang. At the entrance of the Palace is a centuries old Y shaped tree.

There are 2 other temples in the complex : the Guanyin (Goddes of Mercy) & Confucius temple. The Goddess of Mercy Temple has lifelike wood carvings of the 18 Lohans. The Confucius Temple is of course for people who is parying for academic excellence.

Finally a quick drive around Baisha village before we head back to Suhe. Naxi houses are made from mud & straw. These buildings are strong & all of them withstood the great earthquake of 1996.

It has been a busy day at the office. The only regret was missing Zhang Yimou's amazing performance of "Impressions Lijiang".

Back at Suhe Old City, we did some casual shopping for souvenirs. Lijiang is famous for silver, Naxi jewellery & tea.

We also came across several wells which is unique to Lijiang. It has 3 overflowing pools with the highest pool holding drinking water. This overflows to the second pool which is used to wash vegetables & the final pool is for washing clothes. This is an ancient art of conservation that makes a lot of sense.

Dinner has got to be Naxi Farmer Cuisine in Suhe. We had lots of mushrooms, wild vegetables & a fish hotpot. And beer chilled in the canals.

After dinner, Faiz was feeling tired so we had a few beers in Suhe & called it a day

Day 4 - Golf day / A Day in Lijiang

Golf day for Chang, Faiz & XMan. At 3100 metres high, the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain Golf Club is the highest golf course in the world. It would turn out to be the most challenging course for Faiz. YP & I decided to check out the sights in town.

We decided that we should visit at least visit 1 lamasery while in Lijiang since Tibetan Buddhism is very popular here. Lijiang is very near to Tibet.

We decided to go to the nearest one : Puji Lamasery. We drove to Puji Village near our hotel & walked up the hill for about a kilometer to the Puji Lamasery. The walk up the slope had me panting for breathe due to the thin air.

The lamasery is a small affair but since it is perched on a hill, it offers a good view of Puji Village. The first thing that caught our eye is red palm prints on the the wall of the lamasery. Mr. He was not able to explain what it is. Otherwise, the lamasery is pretty normal with the regular deities & prayer wheel.

The hill also offers an awesome view of the nearby Puji Village.

After the Puji Lamasery, we went to Heilong Tan (Black Dragon Pool). This is a tourist trap offering the iconic scenery of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain with the Black Dragon Pool & the Jade Belt Bridge in the foreground. Unfortunately due to the weather, the mountain went into hiding & we only had half of the icon.

I also made offering at the temple in Heilong Tan, buying a lock for next year's blessing. I sat through the whole fortune reading process with 2 Shaman masters & learnt nothing new except that all things will be good in the forthcoming year.

During lunch, I then got a call from Chang that Faiz played only 9 holes of golf & felt very tired. So he went back to the hotel to rest. Lunch meanwhile was a simple affair. we had rice with Yunnan ham in a restaurant owned by a Taiwanese. Here's another guy that fell in love with Lijiang and has decided to live out his days here.

After lunch, I brought some water to Faiz & he was in an awful state. He was prone on the bed, too tired to move except to pee.

After accompanying Chang for a late lunch, we then continued down to Lijiang Old City. Other than walking the city & buying souvenirs like yak bone comb, silver ware, wood carving etc we had a good time with the snacks : yak satay, baba, bee grubs & dragonflies. The Mu Mansion was already closed for the day when we got there. The Mu Mansion is where the governor for Lijiang used to stay. So lots of last minute souvenir & craft shopping & we had only street food for dinner.

By the way do you know that there are no city walls in Lijiang ? This is because all the governors of Lijiang has the surname Mu. In Chinese, if you surround Mu with a wall, you get Kun or Difficulty. Thus Lijiang has always been without walls.

Finally we met up with XMan & YP for drinks while Chang went to boil his feet. Faiz was out the whole day.