N’s KitchenINTERNATIONAL$$
(二楼小厨; Èrlóu Xiǎochú MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %0888 512 0060; 17 Jishan Xiang, Xinyi Jie; breakfast from ¥20, mains from ¥28; h9am-10pm; W)
Clamber up the steep stairs for one of the best breakfasts in town, a monster burger and fine Yúnnán coffee. It’s a reliable source of travel info too and can arrange bus tickets.
Lamu’s House of TibetTIBETAN$$
(西藏屋西餐馆; Xīzàngwū Xīcāntīng MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %0888 511 5776; 56 Xinyi Jie, 新义街56号 dishes from ¥20; h9.30am-10.30pm; W)
Friendly Lamu has been serving up smiles and hearty Tibetan and international fare for more than a decade. Ascend the little wooden staircase to the 2nd-floor dining area, a great spot for people-watching, and try the excellent Naxiburger, or choose from the selection of Tibetan dishes. There’s also a good selection of paperback books to thumb through.
THINKING OUT OF THE BOX
An interesting local historical story has it that the original Naxi chieftain, whose former home is the Mu Family Mansion, would not allow the old town to be girded by a city wall because drawing a box around the Chinese character of his family name would change the character from mù (木, wood) to kùn (困, surrounded, or hard-pressed).
6Drinking & Nightlife
Stone the CrowsBAR
( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; 134-2 Wenzhi Xiang, 文治巷134-2号 beers from ¥25; h6pm-late)
Worth checking out is this foreign-owned, endearingly ramshackle bar with a good range of local and foreign beers and a mixed crowd of locals (many musicians who play in the nearby bars come here) and Westerners. There's a pool table and decent pub food: pizza, pies and burgers. It gets going later rather than earlier.
3Entertainment
Impression LìjiāngDANCE
(tickets ¥230; h1pm daily)
This big song and dance show, squarely aimed at local tour groups, takes place at the foot of Yùlóng Xuěshān.
Nàxī OrchestraLIVE MUSIC
(纳西古乐会; Nàxī Gǔyuè Huì, Nàxī Music Academy MAP GOOGLE MAP ; Xinhua Jie; 新华街 tickets ¥120-160; h8pm)
Attending a performance of this orchestra inside a beautiful building in the old town is a good way to spend an evening in Lìjiāng. Not only are all two dozen or so members Naxi, but they play a type of Taoist temple music (known as dòngjīng) that has been lost elsewhere in China.
8Information
Crowded, narrow streets are a pickpocket’s heaven. Solo women travellers have been mugged when walking alone at night in isolated areas. Xiàng Shān (Elephant Hill) in Black Dragon Pool Park (Hēilóngtán Gōngyuán) has been the site of quite a few robberies. Pay admission at the entrance to the Old Town.
Bank of ChinaBANK
(中国银行; Zhōngguó Yínháng GOOGLE MAP ; Yuyuan Lu, 玉缘路 h9am-5pm)
This branch has an ATM and is convenient for the old town. There are many ATMs in the old town too.
China PostPOST
(中国邮政; Zhōngguó Yóuzhèng GOOGLE MAP ; Minzhu Lu, 民主路 h8.30am-6pm)
In the old town just north of Old Market Sq.
Public Security BureauPOLICE
(PSB; 公安局; Gōng’ānjú %0888 518 8437; 110 Taihe Lu, 太和路110号 h8.30-11.30am & 2.30-5.30pm Mon-Fri)S
Come here for visa extensions. Located on the west side of the Government Building. A taxi here will cost ¥15 from the city centre.
NAXI SCRIPT
The Naxi created a written language more than 1000 years ago using an extraordinary system of pictographs – the only hieroglyphic language still in use. The most famous Naxi text is the Dongba classic Creation, and ancient copies of it and other texts can still be found in Lìjiāng, as well as in the archives of some US universities. The Dongba were Naxi shamans who were caretakers of the written language and mediators between the Naxi and the spirit world. The Dongba religion, itself an offshoot of Tibet’s pre-Buddhist Bon religion, eventually developed into an amalgam of Tibetan Buddhism, Islam and Taoism.
Useful phrases in the Naxi language are nuar lala (hello) and jiu bai sai (thank you).
8Getting There & Away
Air
Lìjiāng’s airport is 28km east of town. Tickets can be booked at CAAC (中国民航; Zhōngguó Mínháng GOOGLE MAP ; cnr Fuhui Lu & Shangrila Dadao; h8.30am-9pm). Most hotels in the old town also offer an air-ticket booking service.
From Lìjiāng there are 13 daily flights to Kūnmíng (from ¥440), as well as daily flights to: Běijīng (¥1360), Chéngdū (¥710), Chóngqìng (¥590), Guǎngzhōu (¥970), Shànghǎi (¥1420), Shēnzhèn (¥1020), Xīshuāngbǎnnà (¥440)
Bus
The main long-distance bus station (客运站; kèyùnzhàn) is south of the old town; to get here, take bus 8 or 11 (¥1; the latter is faster) from along Minzhu Lu.
AChéngdū ¥317, 24 hours, one daily (8am)
AJiànchuān ¥23, 1½ hours, five daily (8.20am, 11.30am, 1.30pm, 3.30pm and 5pm)
AKūnmíng ¥217, seven hours, seven buses daily (9am, 10am, 11am, 12.40pm, 4.30pm, 6pm and 8pm)
ALúgū Lake ¥100, eight hours, two daily (8.30am and 9am)
ANínglàng ¥49, five hours, five daily (8am, 8.30am, 9am. 9.30am and 11am)
APānzhīhuā ¥88, eight hours, seven daily (7am, 7.30am, 8.30am, 9.30am, 11.30am, 4pm and 6pm)
AQiáotóu ¥22, 1½ hours, one daily (8.30am); Lìjiāng to Shangri-la buses also stop here.
AShangri-la ¥40 to ¥58, four hours, every 40 minutes (7.30am to 5pm)
AXiàguān ¥56 to ¥87, three hours, every 30 minutes (7.10am to 7pm)
AXīshuāngbǎnnà ¥242, 16 hours, one daily (7.30am)
In the north of town, the express bus station (高快客运站; gāokuài kèyùnzhàn GOOGLE MAP ; Shangrila Dadao) is where many buses originate, but it’s usually more convenient to catch your bus from the long-distance bus station.
Train
There are seven trains daily to Dàlǐ (¥34 to ¥69, two to three hours, 8am to 9.50pm) and seven trains to Kūnmíng (hard sleeper ¥141, eight to nine hours, 8am to 11.50pm). The line will be extended to reach Shangri-la by 2019.
8Getting Around
Buses to the airport (¥25) leave from outside the CAAC office from 6.30am to 10pm.
Bus 6 ( GOOGLE MAP ) runs to Báishā Village from Minzhu Lu, close to the main entrance to the old town. Buses to Yùlóng Xǔeshān ( GOOGLE MAP ) run from Mao Square, a few hundred metres north of the old town.
Bike hire is available at most hostels (¥30 per day). Taxi flagfall is ¥7 but taxis are not allowed into the old town.
Báishā 白沙
%0888
By far the most serene spot around Lìjiāng, Báishā (白沙) is a small village near several old temples and makes a great day trip by bike from Lìjiāng. Alternatively, it's an ideal spot for lazing and cycling the surrounding area for a day or two.
Located on the plain north of Lìjiāng, Báishā was the capital of the Naxi kingdom until Kublai Khan made it part of his Yuan empire (1271–1368). Now, it's known as a centre of Naxi embroidery; you'll see examples of local handiwork throughout the village.
1Sights
The ‘star’ attraction of Báishā is Dr Ho Shi Xiu, a legendary herbalist who was propelled to fame by the travel writer Bruce Chatwin when he mythologised him in a 1986 New Yorker story as the ‘Taoist physician in the Jade Dragon Mountains of Lìjiāng’.
A sprightly 94 at the time of writing and still treating the ill every day with herbs collected from the nearby mountains, Dr Ho is very chatty (he speaks English, German and Japanese) and is happy to regale visitors with the secrets of good health and longevity. One result of his advanced years is that sometimes he delegates his 58-year-old son to speak to people. His 'surgery' is on Báishā's main street.
There are a couple of frescos worth seeing in town and the surrounding area. The best can be found in Báishā’s Dàbǎojī Palace (大宝积宫; Dàbǎojī Gōng ¥30; h8.30am-5.30pm), and at the neighbouring Liúlí Temple (琉璃殿; Liúl
í Diàn) and Dàdìng Gé (大定阁). Note that you'll have to show the ¥80 Lìjiāng town entrance ticket to gain access to the Palace.
4Sleeping
Báishā There International Youth HostelHOSTEL$
(白沙那里青年旅舍; Báishā Nàlǐ Qīngnián Lǚshě %0888 534 0550; [email protected]; Sānyuán Village; 三元村 dm ¥35, d ¥168-248; iW)
Laid-back hostel; a fine place for chilling out after the crowds of Lìjiāng. Dorms are bright, while the private rooms are spacious and comfortable. There's a cool communal area and a garden. Bike hire is ¥30 per day. It's down a lane off the street where Dr Ho's clinic is: look for the sign.
5Eating
Me LetCAFE$$
(米良; Mǐliáng %130 9744 0079; 14 Sānyuán Village; 三元村14号 breakfast ¥58; h9.30am-6.30pm Mon-Sat; W)
Famous for its homemade plum juice, which also comes in an alcoholic version, this cafe run by a transplanted Hong Konger has a great garden to eat in. The all-day breakfast is hearty, and there's a small menu of Western dishes, as well as many coffees and teas (from ¥30) .
8Getting There & Away
Báishā is a one-hour bike ride from Lìjiāng. Otherwise, take bus 6 (¥1, 40 minutes) from Minzhu Lu, which drops you in the village. It returns to Lìjiāng regularly.
MONASTERIES AROUND LìJIāNG
There are a number of monasteries around Lìjiāng, all Tibetan in origin and belonging to the Karmapa (Red Hat) sect. Most were extensively damaged during the Cultural Revolution and there’s not much monastic activity nowadays.
Jade Peak Monastery (玉峰寺; Yùfēng Sì GOOGLE MAP ; ¥30) is on a hillside about 5km past Báishā. The last 3km of the track requires a steep climb. The monastery sits at the foot of Yùlóng Xuěshān (5500m) and was established in 1756. The monastery’s main attraction nowadays is the Camellia Tree of 10,000 Blossoms (Wànduǒ Shānchá). Ten thousand might be something of an exaggeration, but locals claim that the tree produces at least 4000 blossoms between February and April. A monk on the grounds risked his life to keep the tree secretly watered during the Cultural Revolution.
Lìjiāng is also famed for its temple frescos, most of which were painted during the 15th and 16th centuries by Tibetan, Naxi, Bai and Han artists; many were restored during the later Qing dynasty. They depict various Taoist, Chinese and Tibetan Buddhist themes and can be found on the interior walls of temples in the area. Remember, though, that the Cultural Revolution caused havoc around here so many are desecrated in various ways.
Frescos can be found in Báishā and on the interior walls of Dàjué Palace (Dàjué Gōng) in the village of Lóngquán.
Shùhé Old Town 束河古城
%0888 / Pop 3000
Shùhé Old Town (束河古城; Shùhé Gǔchéng) is attracting increasing numbers of travellers and day trippers due to the fact that it is marginally more tranquil than nearby Lìjiāng. A former staging post on the Tea Horse Road that’s just 4km from Lìjiāng, Shùhé can be visited in a day, or makes a less frenetic alternative base for exploring the region.
1Sights
Although there’s little in the way of sights, the cobblestone alleys and streets south of its main square are picturesque and more peaceful at night than Lìjiāng. Head for the original section of town, which is sandwiched between the Jiǔdǐng and Qīnglóng Rivers and nestles beneath the foothills of Yùlóng Xuěshān. The first part of town, identified by a large Chinese-style gate, is actually completely new (though it looks old), built for the purposes of tourism in the early 2000s (this section of town is owned by a private company).
4Sleeping & Eating
K2 International Youth HostelHOSTEL$
(K2国际青年旅舍; K2 Guójì Qīngnián Lǚshě %0888 513 0110; www.k2yha.com; 1 Guailiu Xiang, Kangpu Lu; 康普路拐柳巷1号 dm ¥35-50, d ¥158; iW)
Big and busy hostel popular with Chinese travellers. Dorms are a little cramped, but there are two large communal areas and a decent cafe/restaurant. Not much English spoken. To get here, don’t enter the town’s main gate, but take the road to the right, which leads on to Kangpu Lu after five minutes.
Sleepy InnGUESTHOUSE$$
(丽舍客栈; Lìshè Kèzhàn %0888 6401 0235; 8 Qinglong Lu; 青龙路8号 d ¥368; Ws)
A flashpacker hang-out, with large, well-maintained, comfortable rooms set around a pleasant courtyard (they are regularly discounted by 50% in slack periods). Reach it by crossing the bridge over the Qīnglóng River and walking 100m west on Qinglong Lu. There's also a small swimming pool.
8Getting There & Away
Getting to Shùhé from Lìjiāng is easy, with buses 5, 6 and 11 (all ¥1) running here, or within a 10-minute walk of the main gate. You can pick them up on Minzhu Lu.
JADE DRAGON SNOW MOUNTAIN
Yùlóng XuěshānMOUNTAIN
(玉龙雪山; Jade Dragon Snow Mountain admission ¥135, plus Lijiang old town entrance ticket ¥80)
Also known as Mt Satseto, Yùlóng Xuěshān soars to some 5500m. Its peak was first climbed in 1963 by a research team from Běijīng and now, at some 35km from Lìjiāng, it is regularly mobbed by hordes of Chinese tour groups and travellers, especially in the summer.
Buses from Lìjiāng arrive at a parking area where you can purchase tickets for the various cable cars and chairlifts that ascend the mountain. This is also where the Impression Lijiang show is held, a mega song-and-dance performance. Note that if you are going to the performance you will also have to pay the park admission fees. Close to the parking area is Dry Sea Meadow (干海子; Gànhǎizi), a good spot for photographing the mountain.
A cable car (¥180) ascends the mountain to an elevation of 4506m; from here you can walk up another 200m to a viewing point to see the glacier near the peak. It can often get chilly near the top so bring warm clothes. You will also have to pay ¥20 for the bus ticket to the base of the cable car.
Back down at the parking lot you can switch to a bus that goes to Blue Moon Lake (蓝月湖; Lányuè Hǔ) and White Water River (白水河; Báishuǐ Hé), where a walking trail leads along the river up to the lake (the round-trip walk takes about 90 minutes). The cable-car bus ticket is also good for the bus to the lake.
A 10-minute drive past Blue Moon Lake is Yak Meadow (牦牛坪; Máoniú Píng), where a chairlift (¥85, plus ¥20 bus ticket) pulls visitors up to an altitude of 3500m.
In summer, when crowds for the cable car are long (up to two hours' wait), most travellers just do the trip to the lake and Yak Meadow.
Minibuses (¥30) leave from opposite Lìjiāng's Mao Sq. Returning to Lìjiāng, buses leave fairly regularly but check with your driver to find out what time the last bus will depart.
Tiger Leaping Gorge 虎跳峡
%0887
Gingerly stepping along a trail swept with scree to allow an old fellow with a donkey to pass; resting atop a rock, exhausted, looking up to see the fading sunlight dance between snow-shrouded peaks, then down to see the lingering rays dancing on the rippling waters a thousand metres away; feeling utterly exhilarated. That pretty much sums up Tiger Leaping Gorge (虎跳峡; Hǔtiào Xiá), the unmissable trek of southwest China.
One of the deepest gorges in the world, it measures 16km long and is a giddy 3900m from the waters of the Jīnshā River (Jīnshā Jiāng) to the snowcapped mountains of Hābā Shān (Hābā Mountain) to the west and Yùlóng Xuěshān to the east, and, despite the odd danger, it’s gorgeous almost every single step of the way.
Tiger Leaping Gorge
1Sights
1Tiger Leaping StoneC1
4Sleeping
2Chateau de WoodyC1
3Come InnB1
4Halfway GuesthouseB1
5Jane's Tibetan GuesthouseA1
6Naxi Family GuesthouseA1
7Sean's Spring GuesthouseC1
8Tea Horse GuesthouseA2
9Tina's GuesthouseC1
2Activities
There are two trails: the higher and the lower; the latter follows the road and is best avoided, unle
ss you enjoy being enveloped in clouds of dust from passing tour buses and 4WDs. While the scenery is stunning wherever you are in the gorge, it’s absolutely sublime from the high trail. Make sure you don’t get too distracted by all that beauty, though, and so miss the blue signs and red arrows that help you avoid getting lost on the trail.
At the time of writing, a new road was being tunnelled through part of the gorge, resulting in a diversion at the start of the high trail which makes the route an hour or so longer. From the Qiáotóu ticket office, it’s seven hours to Běndìwān, nine hours to Middle Gorge (Tina’s Guesthouse), or 10 hours to Walnut Garden. It’s much more fun, and a lot less exhausting, to do the trek over two days. By stopping overnight at one of the many guesthouses along the way, you’ll have the time to appreciate the magnificent vistas on offer at almost every turn of the trail.
Ponies can be hired (their owners will find you) to take you to the gorge’s highest point for ¥200; it’s not uncommon to see three generations of a family together, with the oldies on horseback and the young ones panting along on foot behind them.
The main hiking route along the higher road starts at Jane’s Tibetan Guesthouse. Walk away from Qiáotóu (桥头), past the school, for five minutes or so, then head up the paved road branching to the left; there’s a sign to guide you. After about 2.5km on the road, look for the blue sign pointing to the high trail diversion. The serious climbing starts straight away thanks to the diversion, with a steep ascent and then descent into Nuòyú (诺余) village.
Lonely Planet China Page 142