Resting Up in Lijiang

With my second semester teaching English now over, and the new year brought in, I find myself quite uncharacteristically spending a day relaxing in Lijiang, Yunnan province.

Let me first say that Lijiang if boring.  Like, really boring.  At least for me.  Lijiang is famous for it’s old city district, a UNESCO World Heritage site.  It is a nice place and there is definitely a certain charm about it.  The architecture, the winding cobble-stone alleys, and the small streams quietly burbbling away give the impression of a time in China when a place like this was simple and peaceful.

Unfortunately, a lot has changed since that time.  Lijiang’s old town is a much different place.  It has been completely invaded by people looking to take advantage of the glut of tourists that regularly visit.  This place seems like an endless maze of guest houses, restaurants, bars, and shops.  If you like shopping, eating and drinking, and absolutely nothing else, then the old town is the place for you.  At the moment I am incredibly bored.  There’s nothing to do!

It’s uncharacteristic of me to be spending an entire day relaxing while traveling because I am pretty gung-ho about getting out and seeing the sites, as it were.  I always try to make sure I have something to do or some place to go to during my days precisely so that I don’t find myself sitting around in a hostel doing nothing.  But given my recent rash of travel fatigue, I’m trying to take things a bit slower.  I’m trying to take a little more time to enjoy some R&R and the beautiful weather down here in South China.  It’s hard to believe it’s January; I’m only wearing a t-shirt and jeans as I write this.

I think this day of rest is especially important for me because over the past two days I had an awesome and exhausting experience.  I hiked Tiger Leaping Gorge, one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.  It was just so incredible alking along the deepest gorge in the world.  Everything about it was amazing.  Words alone fail to describe what I experienced for two days; unfortunately you will have to wait until I return to Xi’an to see some pictures.

The hiking was pretty harrowing.  7 hours the first day going straight up the side of the gorge and 8 hours the next day coming down the other side.  My ankle is pretty badly swollen right now and my entire leg hates me.  Hopefully today will ease some of the pain and I can recharge my batteries for when I head further South to Dali.

Traveling as I am right now is kind of a liberating experience.  I have no set plan, I have no itinerary, I have no return plane ticket.  I will simply keep traveling until I don’t feel like it anymore, and then return to Xi’an.  It’s great to be able to say “I have no idea” when people ask me what my plans are.  I’m just going to go where inspiration takes me and stay for as long or short a time as I feel like it.  The world is my oyster, as the saying goes.

Last week I had read a long string of New Year’s resolution posts, and decided that the world has seen enough.  Despite that, I found myself writting up a post detailing my goals for 2010.  Not resolutions, mind you, real, achievable, measurable goals.  In my opinion resolutions are for people who like the idea of change but aren’t really willing or committed to putting in the effort.  I have goals for 2010 and I will achieve them.  Or die trying.

I was planning on uploading the unfinished piece so that I could work on it while on the road.  But unfortunately I forgot in my rush to pack and get out the door.  A piece of advice: whenyou have to leave for the airport at 8 AM don’t stay up until 1 AM drinking with friends without having packed a bag or done the mess of dirty dishes in your kitchen sink.

That’s all for now.  There won’t be any photos for a while but given myslower pace of travel I should have plenty of time to write. Until next time, when I will (probably) be writing to you from the back-packer haven of Dali.

Related Posts:

1. Back in Xi’an Once Again