Yunnan province

Southern gate of the old city of Dali
see all photos »

The cities of Dali and Lijiang serve as the tourist centers of Yunnan.  This means that if you are a Chinese tourist, this is your first and final destination, save a few well-orchestrated bus trips to local sights.  You tramp around town in a group of 20 other Chinese tourists, all wearing the same ridiculous hats, following the tour leader carrying the flag.  Watch out for 30 other similar tour groups.  Generally you block sidewalks, take pictures of everything and nothing, talk really loud and spit frequently and, if you are a man, smoke ceaselessly and without concern for anyone else.  The tourists are not alone.  These habits are completely acceptable and normal behaviour for the Chinese (the habits are so pervasive that the government is trying to ban spitting in Beijing as the Olympics approach).

Minority market near Dali
see all photos »

If you are a foreign tourist (not on a package tour), Dali and Lijiang are bases for exploration into rural areas of Yunnan province and for organizing trips into Tibet.  You can go south into the tropical climes near the Thai and Burmese borders or north into the edges of the Tibetan peoples historical influence (and that still enjoys their presence). Both areas are dotted with minority groups (i.e. not the majority Han Chinese).  Dali and Lijiang are large cities that both contain walled "old towns" consisting of traditional Chinese or minority architecture, narrow alleys and cobblestone streets.  In both towns, the tourist trail has turned much of these old towns into souvenir amusement parks for the roving groups of Chinese tourists.  There are generally 5 kinds of stores that appear in indentical layout in repitition as one walks down any given street: stores selling (1) tea; (2) clothes (often 'traditional'); (3) leather goods; (4) wood carvings and instruments; or, (5) a higher level of random souvenir garbage.  Much of the character and organic nature of the old towns has been lost, though with some patience, particularly in Lijiang, you can seek out sectors of the old towns where tourism has not supplanted previous modes of life.

The good and bad of tourism in China

Drying out wheat and hay on the highway
see all photos »

For these reasons, and the inflated costs, most foreigners head to the hills, literally.  Around Dali there are a number of day trips worth doing, but it is a better base to head towards the villages near the Burmese border.  Lijiang is increasingly an overland gateway into Tibet.  Moreover, Lijiang is tucked tighter into the first foothills (5500m) of the Himalayas.  There are endless valleys, mountain ranges and monastarys to target from Lijiang.

The most popular activity is the 2 to 3 day hike of Tiger Leaping Gorge.  The TLG is the world's deepest gorge, measuring up to a startlingly vertical 3600m in some places from jagged snowcap top to river bottom.  The river is the frothing Yangtze, still young, having just just careened out off the Tibetan plateau.  The TLG ranks as one of the most jaw-dropping and beautiful natural wonders I have ever seen. It went a long way to improving my ambivalent image of China thus far. I cannot do justice in words to TLG - I hope the accompanying pictures give some hints of its grandeur.

old gate in the fields near Dali
see all photos »

In recent years TLG has become very popular.  Long known to foreign travellers, the Chinese have discovered it.  As a result, TLG has been made accessible and palatable for mass Chinese toursism (bus tours, high heels and other impractical clothing).  Until very recently, there was only a footpath 100s to 1000s of feet above the river which spectacular views of the snowcaps towering above the gorge and precipitous drops down into the gorge.  This has been the preserve of backpackers and hikers for years, as well as the Naxi people who farm some of the gentler slopes and have set up a series of thoughtful and welcoming guesthouses to feed and shelter hikers.  Most Chinese (and they will tell you this) do not like to walk.  They prefer their experiences in packaged form without exertion of any kind.  The trail holds no appeal to all but a handful of younger Chinese who have embraced a more active and intimate approach to seeing their own country's wonders.

the non-touristed alleyways of old Lijiang
see all photos »

Ah, but the tour operaters are now onto the TLG.  The gorge, which once had no roads along its 22km length, now has 2 roads blasted along the bottom to carry tourists to the rapids of the Yangtze (one such rapid where a tiger is said to have lept to a rock in the middle of the river to cross the gorge - hence the name).  While we have done no better in places like Niagara Falls (!!), Yosemite or Banff, it is nonetheless disappointing to see a raw untouched area made so commercial.  My resulting hope is that Chinese exposed to this wonderous gorge, who would not otherwise have seen it, will gain a higher appreciation of the natural world and this will, in some small way, increase their overall environmental awareness and sensitivity.  To underscore this point, the Chinese government is said to be quite serious about (and even discreetly beginning testing for) the construction of a dam of the gorge.  Building on the success or folly (depending on your view) of the monumental Three Gorges Damn several 100kms downstream, the government is said to be intent on daming TLG to further supply China's rapidly expanding and wanting electrical grid (meaning, feed energy to the factories of eastern China).  No dam will solve China's, or any other country's, long-term energy problems and the permanent scaring of a natural world wonder on this scale is disheartening.  On that note, enjoy the pictures, they may be dated soon, or better yet, visit this place before it is gone, if such is its ultimate fate.