David's Big Adventure in China

    On Saturday, February 23, a couple Chinese friends and I took an overnight sleeper bus to Lijiang in NW Yunnan province.  Lijiang is a popular tourist destination and the population is primarily Naxi minority people.   It used to be a major trading stop on the southern Silk Road and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It is famous for the cobbled streets and gushing canals of the ancient part of the city and for the Naxi people.  It is located not far from the edge of Tibet.  The Naxi descended from Tibetan tribes and in the past lived in families dominated by the mothers and often the women did not marry but allowed their lover to come spend the night then return to live and work at his mother’s house during the day.  The Naxi created a written language over 1000 years ago using pictographs and it is the only hieroglyphic language still in use.  Lijiang and nearby areas were exposed to the world in National Geographic articles in the 1920’s by Austrian/American Joseph Rock.  He lived in NW Yunnan for 27 years and wrote about the local cultures and sent over 80,000 plant specimens, 1600 birds, and 60 mammals back to America for study.  It was pretty cold in Lijiang and it was not tourist season so the hotel prices were low and there weren’t too many tourists.  Our hotel rooms cost about $7 per night.  The rooms were nice but they did not have heat and the temperature outside was in the low 30’s at night and in the 50’s during the day.  The rooms did have heated pads on the mattresses and hot water 24 hours so it was not too bad.      

    The first place we went to visit was the home where Rock lived and served as the headquarters for his expeditions around the area.  We then went to near the top of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain on horseback (see pic’s – remember to find the pic’s go to the right side of the blog and under “my links” click “pictures”).  The base of the mountain where we began is at about 10,000 feet elevation.  We went up to about 14,000 feet and the top of the mountain is at about 16,500 feet.  The rest of our time in Lijiang was spent walking around the ancient city and visiting a local park.  We left on Tuesday morning with a tour group of about 30 people headed to Lugu Lake where I was hoping to “get married”!  I was the only foreigner in the group and the tour guide spoke only Chinese and his local language but I was fortunate to have my friends translate the important stuff for me.  It’s great to travel with locals as it makes everything so much easier.  I pretty much just go along with whatever they want to do.  I much prefer being the only foreigner in the group rather than being in a group of nothing but foreigners.  It seems to be a better way to experience the local culture.  If you’d like to read more about Lijiang here is a link to a recent Budget Travel magazine article Forgotten Kingdom: Lijiang .    

    Lugu Hu (Lake) is about a 6 hour bus ride on a winding, treacherous mountain road northwest of Lijiang.  The area is pretty remote and seems to be only accessible by this road.  It was opened up to tourism in the 1980’s but has really started getting lots of tourists in the past 5 years and you can really see the dramatic effect that tourism is having on the area with construction going on everywhere.  The scenery and sights along the way were great with the mountains and the small villages we passed through.  It was difficult to take pictures from the moving bus but there were so many things I saw that would make great pictures such as the local people and their faces and clothes as they went about their daily routines.  Lugu Hu is famous for the Mosu people which are supposedly the last matriarchal society in the world.  They are famous for their “walking marriages”.  The women never really marry or cohabitate but instead have as many lovers as they like and the lovers visit at night and return home in the morning to the home of their mother.  They didn’t say how many of the ladies are monogamous vs. how many have multiple walking marriages.  A man or woman can suggest a “walking marriage” by rubbing the palm of the other 3 times and if it is reciprocated then it is agreed.  We were told that a man needs 3 things to be able to have a walking marriage; some meat (to give to the dog so it doesn’t bark), a long knife (to slide through the back door to lift the latch), and a hat (to hang on the door to let others know the lady is busy).  Children become adults at the age of 13 and the girls then can move into their own bedroom and out of the communal area.  Children belong to the mothers and the mother’s brother is responsible for filling the father role.  Shortly after a child is born if a man wants it known that he is the father then there is an acknowledgement party and he can then enter the woman’s home through the front door from that point forward.  The grandmothers are responsible for keeping the fire burning in the main room of the house.  The houses there look like what I think houses were like in the American west in the 1700’s and 1800’s except that they do have electricity.  Heat is provided by an open fire in the main living area.      

    We went to a dance party where the locals demonstrated their local dancing and allowed us to participate.  They also sang some songs and then asked one of tourists to sing.  Being the only foreigner there they asked me to sing so I did a really bad rendition of “Blue Suede Shoes”.  The lake itself was beautiful (see pics) but the weather was very cold.  At night it got down to the 20’s or low 30’s and warmed up a bit during the day.  My hotel room was 48 according to my thermometer but did have a heated mattress pad and hot water for a shower.  I slept in some clothes and survived but it was still too damn cold for me!   As I mentioned earlier, I was hoping to “get married” by having a walking marriage there but sadly none of the ladies rubbed the palm of my hand…..lol.  The tour guide (a Mosu person) was trying to have a “walking marriage” with some of the ladies in our tour group.  After several of us came back from having some drinks and snacks he knocked on the door of my friends and they opened the door for him.  He walked into their room and pushed one of them out telling her that I was looking for her and that he had no place to sleep and wanted to stay in their room (both of which were lies).  He then told the other lady that he wanted to have a walking marriage with her.  She said no and when he wouldn’t leave both ladies came to my room and asked me to change rooms with them and sleep in their room with the guide.  I couldn’t believe that they didn’t throw him out of the room.  I think it is partly due to their Chinese culture and partly due to their wanting to respect local customs.  I went into their room and threw his sorry butt out!     

    I’m now safely back in Kunming and classes started today, Monday, March 3.  We had a couple inches of snow on the ground here a couple days ago but it has warmed up a bit since then.          

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