27th December: Lijiang, China to Shaxi, China
Yesterday’s neck tweak has gotten a lot worse and is excruciating with the smallest movement. Unfortunately, today also happens to be the first time on our China leg that we’re moving on to a new place by bus rather than train! I’m just glad to have gotten the trips done from Lijiang before it happened, as we should now have a more chilled few days. Painkiller-ed to the max, we got a DiDi to the bus station in time for the 11:40 to Jianchuan. Unfortunately, this bus had actually been at 11:20 and we’d just missed it, so we had an hour to wait for the 12:40. Oh well, time to wander for a coffee!
Once onboard, the journey was very straightforward and our connecting bus to Shaxi was waiting for us on arrival. This is where it got less comfortable as the small bus took the route southwest over mountains, rather than the new road we kept catching glimpses of down below. It was a bumpy and very uncomfortable ride, but the views were probably worth it! One valley would be dry and bare of much vegetation and the next verdant with wild persimmons growing. These passes marked an important milestone in our trip – crossing from the Yangtze basin to the watershed of the Mekong. From here, everything leads south.
Shaxi seems different from anywhere else we’ve visited in China. Despite having to navigate a few tour buses getting into town, it’s a very relaxed place without the usual mass-tourism nonsense. Our hotel is a cute little place in a traditional style akin to the rest of the town. It feels old rather than fake-old, with local craft workshops and little restaurants taking centre stage. Bizarrely, despite us thinking this was one of the more off-the-beaten-track places we’ve stayed, we’ve seen more western tourists than anywhere else. That actually makes me feel slightly uncomfortable, although I can’t quite put my finger on why.
Kaja had earmarked a restaurant she’d found online and it did not disappoint! For the first time since leaving home, we ate a sourdough pizza! Not only that, we tried a delicious local mushroom soup and a pasta dish too. It was a lovely small place, with a quiet local woman making everything from scratch by herself. It was just the tasty, but not too oily or spicy food I needed after not having eaten much for the past couple of days. Our Christmas treat!
Wandering the small ancient centre of Shaxi, we’d explored all of the streets and alleys within a couple of hours. As sunset approached, the day-trippers left and the streets were beautifully calm. By the river, a musician played and the remaining people wandering slowly along. Outside most shops, docile dogs chilled. We checked out some of the local crafts without any haste. One thing that’s great in China is that crime is so low that stallholders often leave their items with a QR code for payment, without fear of theft. Even larger shops often leave premises open with laptops and other high-cost items on display. That’s something we’re going to have to re-adjust away from when we leave here for Southeast Asia.
