We started with Huangshan. We couldn’t find winter pictures of these places, so we went there, driven, of course, by curiosity, and never regretted it. Read here: Huangshan in winter
After that we took a plane to Kunming and drove along the old Burma road in January 2014 in the time between the two holidays – European and Chinese New Year, i.e. the low tourist season in China.
A poster on the wall of a rural house. We saw similar posters in every Chinese rural house we stopped by.
The itinerary was the following: Arrival in Kunming – Dali- Donglianhua- Yunlong- Lanping- Shaxi- Tiger Leaping Gorge- Lijiang- departure to Shanghai.
First, we were planning to rent a car with a driver and take a 5-day road trip through Yunnan from Kunming to Lijiang, with stops in different authentic villages. However, on the internet we came across a company specializing in such kind of tourism, contacted the owner and couldn’t resist his offer – the price and conditions seemed very reasonable.
And here we are, leaving the airport, getting into the minivan, meeting the driver, who was the agency owner (low season, all employees on vacation), the interpreter, and going to Dali. Within the next few days we were going to see the old Burma road, communities of Chinese national minorities just recently opened to the public, the Phi river valley and many, many other interesting sights.
OLD BURMA ROAD
This road was built between 1937 and 1938 during the second Sino-Japanese War by widening the existing roads and tracks and adding new segments and bridges. It was built in an almost roadless area of China with the purpose of providing a supply of weapons, ammunition and other goods from Burma, when the Chinese sea ports in the East were completely occupied by the Japanese troops. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries the English tried to expand their railway network from Lashio in Burma to Yunnan, however they had to give up as the landscape here is one of the most challenging ones in the world – with its mountains and deep rivers, requiring bridges and ferries. East and West were only connected by the Southern Silk Road, consisting of pedestrian and horse trails, with small bridges and crossings.
The Old Burma Road was built by 200,000 unqualified workers from different tribes of Yunnan with the help of agricultural tools. Complex construction was impossible without proper equipment, that is why the road goes around the mountain tops and river valleys.
When the Japanese troops occupied Burma in 1942, the road became a battlefield between the Japanese, trying to get further to Kunming, and the Chinese troops, supported by volunteer American aviators, aka “Flying Tigers”. The Chinese soldiers blew up bridges and the pilots dropped bombs in an attempt to cause landslides. The Nujiang river became the front line and the furthermost point of Japanese occupation in Western Yunnan. The allies had no choice other than transporting cargo by plane over the mountains from India to Kunming. This air corridor, called “the Hump” was one of the most dangerous air ways in the world due to the high mountain ranges, often poor weather conditions, and air attacks by Japan, who controlled most of the route. That led to the urgent necessity to build a new route from Ledo in India to Burma, to be connected to the already existing Burma road. The completed road was named after the General Joe Stilwell, who supervised its construction. By the way, along the whole Burma road there’s only one single sign showing its name.
The first convoy along the re-opened Burma road reached Kunming on February 4, 1945. Soon after, it was followed by almost 26,000 army trucks and vans. In the last two months of the war the system of fuel pipes supplied nearly 11 million liters of gas for planes and cargo vehicles (before that alcohol and wood fuel had been used).
After World War II the Burma road lost its importance. The Chinese Civil War also closed the border with Burma.
For many years the road had been maintained and paved with cobblestones, but currently it’s not really being used. Parts of it became the China National Highway G320, while some parts were abandoned. The former G320 was later replaced by the new modern four-lane highway G56, with its bridges and tunnels allowing people to cover the distance of the old Burma road in just a few hours.
However, some of the original segments of the Burma road still exist from Kunming to Burma border. They are free from traffic and offer beautiful landscapes and 13 mountain ranges (although they’re very poorly paved).
VILLAGES OF NATIONAL MINOROTIES
According to LP, the main route through the villages of ethnic minorities in Yunnan is located south of Kunming. We, however, were more interested in visiting northwestern communities, which hadn’t yet been overloaded by busloads of tourists.
For instance, the Muslim village of Donglianhua (25 miles south of Dali) populated by the Hui people, was opened for tourism just a year ago.
There are three magnificent houses in the village, that belong to three brothers of the powerful ‘Mo’ family (“Mo” means “horse”, plus it’s the first syllable of the prophet Mohammed’s name). The family organized tea caravans to Tibet, Eastern China and Japan. They also traded opium.
After the Communists came to power, the brothers fled to Thailand, however they still supported the village, providing maintenance for the local mosque (the largest one in the area with the capacity of 1,000 people)
Yangbi is another quiet Muslim village at the junction of Southern Silk Road and Tea-horse Caravan Road, going to Tibet. The representatives of Yi, the ethnicity that used to have slaves until recently (about 40% of population were owned by nobility (7%), the ‘nosu’, or ‘blacks’). In ths 1950’s slavery was abolished by the Chinese government.
Not far from Yunlong is the old village od Nuodeng. It is famous for its cured ham. According to some sources, this village of the Bai people is around 2,000 years old. During the Ming Dynasty (mid 14-17th century) the village was granted permission to trade salt (the government used to have the monopoly over the tea and salt trade, so one would have to have a special government-issued license for this kind of trade). The salt is extracted from an underground source in the village, which is why preserving meat using salt is their know-how. The ham trade is quite active – we saw some buyers coming in cars to purchase the meat in preparation for Chinese New Year.
This is the process of salt production.
We were invited into the house to have lunch and to watch the owners prepare for the upcoming tourist season.
This is the kitchen where our lunch is being cooked.
There is ham in every house and it’s usually kept upstairs or in the backyard.
This is a typical farmhouse yard. The owners live on the first floor, and on the second floor they house guests and store food.
This is a guest room. Facilities are shared.
The food is decent, and almost free. No issues with digestion during the whole trip.
Wi-Fi in the farmhouses.
We also popped in to see the neighbors who live in one of the oldest houses of the village – a former temple.
The owner is showing us a stone slate with some sacred inscriptions dating back to the old times.
And here is the grandpa talking about his military past, when he was a young soldier liberating Tibet in the late 1950s.
And this is grandma showing us their family relics:
She is showing us woodcut boards. She’s not sure about their age. She told us that the boards contain short stories for youth, which they plan to pass on to the their grandchildren to keep as family relics.
The poster looks like a picture of Leonid Ilyich’s family; everybody resembles him a little – or is it just my imagination?
In the next house we tried moonshine. In the picture you see the chief moonshine maker in the village. 1 liter costs 12 yuan.
Below you can see another house. The owner is showing us woodcarvings decorating the house wall in the backyard.
Then we went to a hill near the village, with three temples: Confucian, a temple dedicated to the great general, and an ancient Taoist temple (with paintings of heavenly bodies).
Newly-built Confucius. The original one was destroyed during the cultural revolution.
The ceiling in the Taoist temple. I couldn’t take a photo of it from the distance as it’s all surrounded by trees. Beside the temple there are monk barracks. There aren’t any monks there now.
Bridges of the Pea River Valley.
Many trade routes converged in this valley – the Salt Road, the Chai-Horse Road, the Southern Silk Road. Many bridges are 400-500 years old, once they were built as a business project to collect transportation tax, as a prayer of a benefactor to the gods for posterity, as a penance for the sins of turbulent youth. They have different construction – there are bridges on iron cables, covered, wooden, suspended, wicker. But each bridge has an obligatory element – an altar or altar as a part of the bridge construction or next to it, 20-50 meters away from the bridge. All the same, the roads in the old times were not easy, the journey was long (the road of Chai-horses from southern Yunnan to Tibet took 15 months), so the intercession of the higher powers on the road was a necessary and desirable thing.
This bridge in the village of Beidou is 500 years old.
This bridge in Yangbi has been preserved since the late 15th century and was used by salt caravans to Tenchong and caravans of the Southern Silk Road.
This iron-chain bridge on the outskirts of Yunlong was rebuilt in 1840, but its predecessor was honored by a visit from a famous military commander, later Emperor of China. To commemorate this event, a poem by this military commander, inspired by the sight of the turbulent river, was carved into the rock above the bridge:“ The green river pushes its current through the rocks”.
Nowadays the river has lost its turbulent current and green color, but the bridge is invariably popular with the local population – there is a temple near the bridge, where infertile women come to pray for offspring. According to the competent opinion of our guides, “it works”.
And this bridge is one of the extremely rare examples of a “closed” wooden bridge in Yunnan. The reason for this design was to preserve the bridge from the weather. In the rain, caravaners could camp overnight on the bridge.
Another wooden bridge, with a small room at the top – a former mini monastery.
There is a sanctuary on the other side of the river.
A few more bridges, and then some….
А вот эти- настоящий восторг- подвесные!
And this eyeballed one…
Shibaoshan National Park
The park is located near the town of Shaxi and is well hidden among the mountain hills. It is home to several very old Buddhist monasteries that, thanks to their hidden location and lack of roads, survived the whirlwind of the Cultural Revolution.
Baoxiang temple is located on top of a pine-covered hill, under an overhanging cliff with a waterfall.
From the parking lot to the temple can be climbed in 15 minutes, observing elementary precautions in case of meeting with numerous squabbling monkeys looking for food. Safety measures are simple – do not show food, keep your hands in your pockets. The monks, though Buddhists, are not particularly peaceful towards the lesser brothers.
The temple has been renovated and restored ( i.e. parts of it rebuilt), but it has some very old sculptures, such as this Buddha.
Shizhongshan Temple, caves with statues of Buddha and rulers of Nazhao state
The caves have been known since the 9th century A.D., and over time they have accumulated many interesting statues of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas (including the female incarnation), but the Highlight of this place are two small filigree reliefs depicting court life under the rulers of Nanzhao states. The level of sculptor’s skill is close to the level of Ankor Wat reliefs.
Unfortunately, photography is not allowed inside.
Tiger Leaping Gorge
We allocated one day for the tiger jumping gorge, and it was very little! If we had known in advance that it would be so sunny and warm in those places in January, we would have planned a hike along the upper road with an overnight stay. As it was, we just drove down the road to the parking lot and hiked down to the rock blocking the river flow.
Cities
As I wrote, our route took us through several relatively large tourist towns-Dali, Shasi, and Lijiang.
We liked Shasi the least of all.
Once a quiet and provincial point of the pass on the way of Chaya Horses is being actively built up by huge hotel complexes masquerading as ancient quarters, the first floors of the buildings are occupied by souvenir shops, coffee shops with “real” espresso, travel agencies and other tourist infrastructure. There is dust everywhere, trucks with construction materials, the rumble of jackhammers.
The only oasis of silence is the central square with the building of the old theater – it has already been restored a couple of years ago.
And this is where we stayed for the night- Old theater Inn- another former theater adapted as a hotel 4 km from Shasi.
Old Dali was more to my liking. Despite the abundance of guesthouses, stores and cafes for commuters, the old town is still inhabited by locals.
A little away from the center is a remarkable architectural ensemble of the Tang Dynasty “Three Pagodas”. The middle one of the pagodas was built in the 9th century and survived all the earthquakes, which are so rich in earthquake-active southern Yunnan.
The pagodas themselves are ancient and real, all the other buildings around them are newly built.
On the other side of the old city there is another pagoda of the 9th century, the territory around which is also going to be “ennobled” with parking lots and administrative buildings. But for now it stands proudly alone and abandoned.
Old Lijiang is a very colorful town with many tourists even in the non-tourist January.
However, early in the morning, you can wander around the town almost alone, looking at the ancient neighborhoods along the canals of clear mountain water that line the town from north to south.
There is a market next to the old town.
Lijiang is the residence of the Mu family, the viceroy of the region.
It occupies a large area and consists of a complex of buildings, temples, gardens and ponds built in the image of the Forbidden City in Beijing. Only, of course, the scale is not the same.
And these are our organizers and travel companions.
Jenna and Løwe.
Everyone have interesting roads and good travels!
