NAXI LADIES WHO LUNCH
There are more than a few moments of the past 10 months of travelling that I will never, ever forget, but today’s experience here in the Yunnan province of China may end up near the top of that list. Cheryl and I arrived to Kunming, China from Singapore about 10 days ago and spent 3 nice days exploring the surprisingly quiet and pleasant center of Kunming. They have eliminated one major through road and put the other underground for about a mile to create a beautiful new civic gathering space right in the center of the city and luckily our hotel was right on the new square.
NEW PEDESTRIAN SPACE IN KUNMING
The food, people, and relaxed vibe of Kunming were really surprising for a city of millions and it immediately eliminated a bunch of preconceived notions that we had about Chinese cities.
We then took a plush bus about 5 hours on a new motorway to Dali and spent two cold and wet days of unseasonable weather trying to get around the old city between heavy showers. Parts of the ancient city of Dali have been restored and are quite pleasant, but we found the side alleys and roads more interesting, especially for great dim sum mom and pop restaurants. After a fun 3 hour bus ride on a crammed mini-bus, we are now enjoying our last day of four in Lijiang, which sits just down a large valley at 8000 feet from the base of the awe inspiring giant mountain Snow Jade mountain (18,000 feet). The mountain has shown itself only a few times as it is generally shrouded in cloud cover.
We explored the restored UNESCO heritage old town for the first day and soon decided it was time to head out to the countryside on bikes. Lijiang is being developed rapidly as a major tourist destination for the Chinese and the countryside and nearby villages are getting encroached upon rapidly from the sprawl of Lijiang. Is is packed with Chinese tourists and probably less than 1% foreign tourists, so although it feels a bit like a cross between Disneyland, Vegas, and Venice, it still feels unique to us as there are very few Westerners. And the whole middle-class tourist scene of the new China is something to behold in itself.
Although Lijiang is growing by the minute, on bikes you quickly find your way into villages full of the local minority Naxi culture, which is an ancient group related to some Tibetan tribes and with a related range extending down to Northern Thailand.
NAXI TRADITIONS STILL STRONG NEAR LIJIANG
The traditional Naxi are quickly identifiable by their blue colored dress and definitely have a look different from the Han Chinese. They still use traditional methods to cultivate the land and can be seen using oxen, carts, and loads of human muscle to go about their daily routines. It’s quite an amazing sight to see, especially so close to the new China. The changes here are happening so fast it’s mind boggling and you can tell that the traditional people in this valley will be all but assimilated in the next 10-20 years, short of the approved historic tourist villages being developed by the government.
Yesterday we explored north up the valley riding through some nice countryside and villages, and stopped for lunch in the touristed Baisha village.
We had a wonderful lunch of traditional Naxi fare in Baisha which Cheryl will cover in her upcoming food blog. So today we wanted to see more and headed west of the city towards some vague villages on the hillside. And after a few dead ends into farmland and depressing slum zones that seem to exist in between the old and the new, we found our way past a few traditional Naxi villages. We passed an especially lively courtyard (a signature construction feature of Naxi homes) and I stopped to take a picture into it, but was soon getting yelled at by the Naxi men playing Ma Jong and drinking tea.
So we took the plunge, parked our bikes, and headed in to sit at the tiny benches to enjoy a simple tea break. The crowd of 20-30 was soon aroused and presented us with one cup of great green tea and some sunflower seeds to chew on. (I was also offered a cigarette, but declined)
CHERYL ENJOYING GREEN TEA IN THE COURTYARD
So we sat and smiled with our tea for awhile and decided it was time to head back out, but again were confronted with friendly faces clearly insisting that we sit and eat. So we did.
And soon it appeared nearly the whole village was starting to arrive and settle in around the dozen or so tables to enjoy lunch (or brunch as it was just after 11?)
THE NAXI LUNCH SCENE
It also appeared that we might be occupying someones table in the courtyard, so luckily we got invited up to a table of 6 very elderly Naxi women.
HEY, WHOSE IS OUR SEATS?…THE WOMEN ARRIVE
Cheryl and I sharing a bench on one side of our table for 8. Now remember we speak very little Mandarin (which was worthless with the older Naxi anyways) and two words of butchered Naxi from the lonely planet, hello and thank you. But you can say a lot with smiles, gestures, and the shared enjoyment of a great village meal.
Then the food arrived…loads of it, and very delicious with a bowl of soft animal fat, spicy liver(?) with crunchy vegetable, tofu, fried pork(?), dried beef with peanuts, chicken and green onion, glass noodles, eggs, shrimp, mystery crunch veg, and spicy fish, all served communal style in a wonderful feeding frenzy as the women pushed each dish on us and we all dove in with chopsticks (Cheryl and Rich think “Hep A/B shots…check”)
AMAZING SPREAD – THIS IS NOT PEASANT FOOD
We rubbed our bellies and all laughed as we bumbled a few times with the chopsticks, although I must say we held our own with the ladies. They also insisted that we have some Cola and then add Dali beer to it which was not a drink destined to creep into the trendy bar scene anytime soon. We think that one of the women said that she was 90 years old and we believe it as they all had faces with a million stories. We wished we could have exchanged more words, but it didn’t matter. It was a magical and I imagine we at least made their week for excitement.
CHERYL AND HER NEW FRIENDS
So we took a few more photos (and shared them with all), paid the cooks a reasonable sum for the feast, and waved goodbye. We headed back out on our bikes through the village charged with life and both knowing that this was not a lunch we would ever forget. No tourists, “restaurant”, menus or anything within miles. Just two slightly bewildered and open minded Americans enjoying a sunny lunchtime meal with 6 Naxi women and half a village.
The world is a great place when you just smile and take the plunge. (oh yeah and approach it on bikes)
Peace, R
Tags: China, cycling, Lijiang, Naxi, Travel, Yunnan, Tag Index
rich.coffin