Picture perfect

Okay. Fair cop. I’m a hypocrite. I slammed the fake, movie set creation of Huanglong Xi village for purporting to be from the Ming Dynasty when it’s actually more bling than Ming.

But I just loved Lijiang, way down in the south west and just a couple of inches from Myanmar/Burma on my big wall map of China.

Largely flattened by an earthquake in 1996, it has been restored/rebuilt so that, ironically, the ‘Old Town’ is in fact newer than the so-called ‘New (modern) Town’. The contrast couldn’t be more clear. Climbing Lion Hill at the very centre of the town, to one side you see a sprawl of pretty utilitarian, concrete buildings but to the other there’s a sea of clay-tiled, traditional roofs all jumbled together, eddying this way and that.

Perhaps I was just lucky to visit in January when there aren’t so many people around (the narrow, winding streets might be hell in high summer) but there was a terrific lazy vibe about the place. Historically even, Lijiang would submit itself to the rule of any new emperor to save them the bother of coming to conquer the place; in truth, they knew that the town was so remote that they could go on living autonomously anyway.

The bus journey to Lijiang confirmed this remoteness. It’s situated on a huge plain surrounded by mountains on all sides – like being a tiny pea on a huge dinner plate. The plain is incredibly fertile, the climate generous, the mountain air pure and the isolation quite glorious. (A further 140 kilometres up the road is the town of Zhongdian which takes this idea of perfection even further by renaming itself Shangrila.)

At the top end of the town is Dragon Pool Park whose crystal clear pool reflects both the park’s pavilions and the majestic Jade Dragon Snow Mountain on the horizon. It’s the quintessential China photo-op and absolutely perfect.


I'll be back.