Liming Trip
13 September 2005
We heard about the Liming (Laojunshan Mountain) area from an Israeli woman who has been in Yunnan for some time as a freelance writer and teacher. The trip from Lijiang to Liming, depending on whom you asked, was between 2 and 6 hours on roads that were good, impassable, fast, slow or dangerous. With a weekend beckoning and the freshmen students still not here to clutter our schedules, how could we resist. Our excitement rose as we read the description on the back of a ticket stub to the Laojunshan reserve:
“Laojunshan landscape fully embodied in variety of geology, biology and landscapes of “Three Rivers Coming Together” because of his mountain lakes in picturesque disorder, his splendid Dangxia landform, the well-protected biological system and the varieties of rare animals and plant resources.”
Reading on, one’s anticipation grows:
“It is the richest place with different astronomical phenomena in the early morning of the sun rises and falls three time a day. [!!!]”
And then, having successfully tempted you down roads of unknown length and danger, the ticket writers close the trap:
“Laojunshan Mountain is so mystical, magnificent, fluctuate, illusory and fantastic…Laojunshan mountain is waiting for YOU!”
On Saturday morning we were off – me, Ellen and Bei, Tony, Jacqueline, Suzanna and her son Ned. The first order of business was to find transportation and Jacqueline had negotiated a ride in a mini-van by the time we all arrived at the bus station (there is no bus to Liming, but vans for hire queue outside the station to look for riders). The driver reported good roads and a 2.5 hour drive, so we were off for the weekend with her and her 9-year old son. Total cost: 450 yuan (about $60) split between the bunch of us. As it turned out, she was not too far off and we arrived at the Liming entrance station about 5 hours later including several bathroom stops and a long “hot pot” lunch that included an entire cut up and boiled chicken (feet, head and all), some pig blood pudding and a few vegetables to soak up the animal protein. Ellen nibbled at rice and tomatoes.
Liming exceeded our expectations in many ways and, Chinglish aside, it is a remarkable place in a magnificent, fluctuating kind of way. The area is famous for its red sandstone cliffs and it’s reminiscent of a lush green Zion, but without the National Park Service or the crowds. The cliffs are a little smaller, but spectacular and extensive and the valleys are occupied by the Lisu ethnic group and some Yi people rather than by a parade of motor homes that you would see in our Zion. I know little about the Lisu. The Yi women, once they become mothers, wear elaborate square headdresses that perch above and behind their heads decoratively and to block the sun. Both groups appear to have a well-developed sense of fun and a keen ability to relax. The place is so nice that one could envision buying or renting one of the beautiful sandstone farms nestled in a perfect green valley rimmed by sandstone, and then hiking, climbing and exploring until even the thought of a career was a distant tickle inside your Western cranium.
Anyway, we spent Saturday and Sunday wandering around, eating good food and feeling a little heartbroken that the place was so beautiful and that we had to leave so soon. Here are some photos from the trip…
This is our van to Liming. It gets good mileage but it's a small space for us large westerners and for the noise created by a 4-year old and a 10-year old. This was at our lunch stop at a hot pot place outside of Shigu Town, near the Yangtze.
Baskets are everywhere here and people use them like we use day packs (and SUVs)--to carry things around. These old ones were stacked on a woodpile where we stopped to eat.
Here's the village of Liming at the downstream end of the main canyon.
An early morning view of the main canyon from above the village.
For you climbers out there--any interest in a Zion National Park with no routes established yet?
We went on a walk up the main canyon after getting set up in our Liming hotel. Bei helped keep these doggies movin'.
One has to watch for precariously swaying stones when you are in a fluctuating landscape like this one.
People love to give Bei fruit and this lady provided some fresh apples from one of the many trees that grow on people's farms.
Detailed eaves are common everywhere that we've been in Yunnan.
More baskets. These were stacked under a shed roof at a farmhouse in the main canyon.
Sunday is a festive market day in Liming. These boys were enjoying a swim in the cool stream that flows in from a side canyon.
Market day in Liming is busy. We noticed that men were wandering into town at 10 a.m. and were already well into their beers. By afternoon Tony remarked that "I think the whole town is pissed", and I think he was right.
Bei and Ellen inspect a pig head on it's way to market (This little piggy went to market??). Bei seemed unperturbed.
Suzanna, the Brit, bought a teapot for herself and a chain for Ned's bicycles at the Liming market on our way out to hike. The heavy metal overtones were unmistakable.
And this is my favorite. An old woman in Liming that we stopped to "chat" with. Like many of the people we saw, she's enjoying a good smoke, and it isn't tobacco. More on that when I blog on the medicinal plants and botany of Yunnan.
We heard about the Liming (Laojunshan Mountain) area from an Israeli woman who has been in Yunnan for some time as a freelance writer and teacher. The trip from Lijiang to Liming, depending on whom you asked, was between 2 and 6 hours on roads that were good, impassable, fast, slow or dangerous. With a weekend beckoning and the freshmen students still not here to clutter our schedules, how could we resist. Our excitement rose as we read the description on the back of a ticket stub to the Laojunshan reserve:
“Laojunshan landscape fully embodied in variety of geology, biology and landscapes of “Three Rivers Coming Together” because of his mountain lakes in picturesque disorder, his splendid Dangxia landform, the well-protected biological system and the varieties of rare animals and plant resources.”
Reading on, one’s anticipation grows:
“It is the richest place with different astronomical phenomena in the early morning of the sun rises and falls three time a day. [!!!]”
And then, having successfully tempted you down roads of unknown length and danger, the ticket writers close the trap:
“Laojunshan Mountain is so mystical, magnificent, fluctuate, illusory and fantastic…Laojunshan mountain is waiting for YOU!”
On Saturday morning we were off – me, Ellen and Bei, Tony, Jacqueline, Suzanna and her son Ned. The first order of business was to find transportation and Jacqueline had negotiated a ride in a mini-van by the time we all arrived at the bus station (there is no bus to Liming, but vans for hire queue outside the station to look for riders). The driver reported good roads and a 2.5 hour drive, so we were off for the weekend with her and her 9-year old son. Total cost: 450 yuan (about $60) split between the bunch of us. As it turned out, she was not too far off and we arrived at the Liming entrance station about 5 hours later including several bathroom stops and a long “hot pot” lunch that included an entire cut up and boiled chicken (feet, head and all), some pig blood pudding and a few vegetables to soak up the animal protein. Ellen nibbled at rice and tomatoes.
Liming exceeded our expectations in many ways and, Chinglish aside, it is a remarkable place in a magnificent, fluctuating kind of way. The area is famous for its red sandstone cliffs and it’s reminiscent of a lush green Zion, but without the National Park Service or the crowds. The cliffs are a little smaller, but spectacular and extensive and the valleys are occupied by the Lisu ethnic group and some Yi people rather than by a parade of motor homes that you would see in our Zion. I know little about the Lisu. The Yi women, once they become mothers, wear elaborate square headdresses that perch above and behind their heads decoratively and to block the sun. Both groups appear to have a well-developed sense of fun and a keen ability to relax. The place is so nice that one could envision buying or renting one of the beautiful sandstone farms nestled in a perfect green valley rimmed by sandstone, and then hiking, climbing and exploring until even the thought of a career was a distant tickle inside your Western cranium.
Anyway, we spent Saturday and Sunday wandering around, eating good food and feeling a little heartbroken that the place was so beautiful and that we had to leave so soon. Here are some photos from the trip…
This is our van to Liming. It gets good mileage but it's a small space for us large westerners and for the noise created by a 4-year old and a 10-year old. This was at our lunch stop at a hot pot place outside of Shigu Town, near the Yangtze.
Baskets are everywhere here and people use them like we use day packs (and SUVs)--to carry things around. These old ones were stacked on a woodpile where we stopped to eat.
Here's the village of Liming at the downstream end of the main canyon.
An early morning view of the main canyon from above the village.
For you climbers out there--any interest in a Zion National Park with no routes established yet?
We went on a walk up the main canyon after getting set up in our Liming hotel. Bei helped keep these doggies movin'.
One has to watch for precariously swaying stones when you are in a fluctuating landscape like this one.
People love to give Bei fruit and this lady provided some fresh apples from one of the many trees that grow on people's farms.
Detailed eaves are common everywhere that we've been in Yunnan.
More baskets. These were stacked under a shed roof at a farmhouse in the main canyon.
Sunday is a festive market day in Liming. These boys were enjoying a swim in the cool stream that flows in from a side canyon.
Market day in Liming is busy. We noticed that men were wandering into town at 10 a.m. and were already well into their beers. By afternoon Tony remarked that "I think the whole town is pissed", and I think he was right.
Bei and Ellen inspect a pig head on it's way to market (This little piggy went to market??). Bei seemed unperturbed.
Suzanna, the Brit, bought a teapot for herself and a chain for Ned's bicycles at the Liming market on our way out to hike. The heavy metal overtones were unmistakable.
And this is my favorite. An old woman in Liming that we stopped to "chat" with. Like many of the people we saw, she's enjoying a good smoke, and it isn't tobacco. More on that when I blog on the medicinal plants and botany of Yunnan.
posted by Ken, Ellen and Bei | 6:20 AM
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