Rivers, lakes and cute little towns

I'm in Yunnan province in south west China, in the northern mountains bordering the Himalayas. There are some Chinese ethnic minorities here, and some tradtional old towns, a bit touristified with lots of hanging lanterns and people in traditional costumes wandering about. But it's a beautiful area, and a nice bit cooler than elsewhere in China so far.

Dali is a square town with the remains of some walls and gates. Water is the over-riding theme in this area, and Dali is situated between a mountain range on the west and a lake on the east. Numerous small streams run down from mountain to lake, some through the town, and in places this has turned into a feature, with a stream running down the middle of the street and walkways on either side connected by little bridges. You can sit outside here to eat and drink, and it's very pleasant. Other parts of town are refreshingly normal with a produce market and shops selling ordinary household stuff as opposed to endless souvenirs.

I really liked my hostel in Dali: the staff were really friendly. You can join them for an evening meal, which is a great way of trying lots of dishes at once, and is very convivial.

I took a local bus one day to explore some of the villages. One of them was meant to have a harbour with boats across the lake. I walked all around this village and could not find a harbour anywhere. It took an hour to get to the lakeside. When I got back, the hostel manager swore blind there was a harbour. It's a mystery that'll never be solved. The most likely thing is that I was in a completely different village, or the wrong part of it. It's an example of the general state of confusion and uncertainty that accompanies a trip in a country where you can't speak the language or read any signs. And where there aren't any maps. The government and military have good quality maps but they are not available publicly. You just have to go with the flow and enjoy the scenery, even if it wasn't what was planned!

I've spent the last couple of days hiking in Tiger Leaping Gorge, where the Yangtse River passes through a deep narrow gorge and the scenery is dramatic. The hike felt very much like a walk in the Alps, with mainly westerners on the path and a lovely overnight hostel right in the mountains. The distinctiveness came from the dense fog that lifted throughout each morning and hung around the peaks, and the chocolate-coloured Yangtse River roaring its way through far below.

You have to buy a ticket to get into the gorge, which I don't mind, but do draw the line at being asked to pay again to take photographs at scenic spots. The rationale is that local people "maintain" these viewpoints, not the government, so the overall fee doesn't cover it. I can picture in a few years' time the whole route being a series of fee-paying sections, and indeed it's like that at the bottom of the gorge, where each route down requires a payment, and you pay again if you cross into the neighbouring area. This is really a stupid way of doing things, and illustrates the Chinese contradiction between top-down government control on the one hand, and a chaotic free-for-all on the other.

Back to Lijiang tonight, another scenic town but this time with winding cobbled streets and no wall. I'll try to get out to some of the villages again before I leave for the big city, Chengdu in the middle of the country, in a day or so.

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