shaxi valley was once a significant trading post along the old tea and horse caravan trail, which linked southern china (yunnan and sichuan), to tibet and through the himilayas to nepal and india. sideng village has the only surviving market from this once historic trail. read more about the conservation and sustainable development of the shaxi rehabilitation project.
day 1.
we leave lijiang on what is a lovely afternoon, and find ourselves on a local bus to jianchuan with ron. it is a small bus, with people and items packed in on a winding road that leads down into shaxi valley over the next 3 or so hours. i have discovered that it is best if i don't look out the window at our surroundings if i want to avoid feeling nauseous for the whole ride, but i can't help but peek every so often at the stunning landscape that i am spying out the front window for more detail. we stop often along the way to drop people off or pick them up on the side of the road, their belongings strewn about the bus or thrown on to the rooftop. some truly stunning passengers get on part way, very dramatic local attire, faces full of character. unsure at many points if we are on the right bus, we do arrive at jianchuan as hoped, and are directed easily to the minivans that will take us the remainder of the trip on to sideng village, our destination. stephen, ron and i are put in the back seat, and i manage the 45 minutes to our final stop by resting my head on stephen's shoulder and looking straight ahead, the lady in the seat in front of us doesn't fare as well. we arrive in the village late in the day, not sure where to go to find our guesthouse from here. we find our way to the square which is the direction point to our accomodation, but somehow miss the turn off. stephen thankfully still has minutes on his mobile, and after a quick call, someone comes to greet us in less than a minute. he takes us down the lane to the shaxi cultural center, the place we have booked for our first night here. we are it's only guests, and are shown to our rooms to settle in. they are simple, but lovely rooms, with nice details, and very stylish bathrooms. we all freshen up and decide to walk around for a bit before sunset. it is small here, and has a wonderful feel. we catch sunset over the hui river, and decide to find some food. stephen and ron end up at a little shop for bowls of spicy noodles, i decide to use the kitchen at the cultural center later on to make myself dinner. i am pretty excited, it has been since our early time in chengdu that i have had the opportunity to cook myself food, and the guesthouse has told me i can just use their vegetables and rice to cook with! on our way back, stephen spots a little place lit up that we peek into and spot the only other foreigners we had seen in town earlier upon our arrival. bert and rachel invite us to join them for tea, and we enjoy some good conversation before my hunger takes over and i excuse myself to go cook my dinner. it is an early evening after a lovely day of travel and wandering with ron. i think we are all enamored with this place.
day 2.
asked the night before what time we want our breakfast at, we had decided on 10 am. having told them of my diet, we were told last night that they were soaking beans to make something for me for breakfast, little did i realize it was freshly made soymilk! and warmed too! ron and stephen get warmed cow's milk this first morning, and we all share some very yummy vegan pancakes made with what i think is sweet potato (they are a natural looking orange!). after some confusion over whether we are getting more food for breakfast, we linger awhile until we realize that we aren't, and decide to head out and start our day. we are contemplating moving guesthouses, as ours is a little expensive (relative to the part of the world we are in...), and we are it's only occupants, but decide to spend another night (the kitchen and soymilk a big draw!).
we wander back behind the village again and over the river through some fields. it is sunny and vibrant, both in colour and local activity, we take our time wandering directionless and enjoying the scenery. many photos later we make our way back into the village and to lunch. we stop at another guesthouse, ou yang, the one that bert and rachel are staying at, and stephen and ron ask if they are serving food. told to wait for half an hour, we have tea and browse some fascinating books on the local history and environment until lunch is ready. having no idea what they were going to get, ron and stephen enjoy a really nice meal and some socializing with the owners. we wander the other way through the village in the afternoon, and out on to the main street for a bit. it is a slow day, and we are all just enjoying our surroundings and the pace of this tiny village. stephen and ron decide on another hotel's restaurant for dinner, i have decided to take advantage of the kitchen once again at our guesthouse and make my own. i meet them after, to discover the lovely restaurant at lamodian, and meet some other foreigners who are here from xizhou where they live and work now. afterward, the three of us head to another bar for a drink, and have an early night again. a day well spent!
day 3.
this morning is sunny again, and we enjoy our pancakes and soymilk for each of us today before deciding we would like to move to another guesthouse, no. 58 guesthouse and café, the place where we had tea the first night. we will be saving quite a bit sharing a room with the three of us, and the owner is a lovely woman named jackie who left her life in taiwan to start up a guesthouse here with a business partner. her place is also lovely, and we hear quite a bit about how it all came about. another late start to our day, by the time we settle in to our new location, it is time for lunch again. i have been eating leftovers from my dinners the night before, so stephen and ron return to ou yang for another enjoyable meal. we have been consciously 'spreading' our spending around and trying to support each of the local establishments in some way. everyone we are encountering here are really friendly, and genuinely happy when we frequent their place. after lunch, the three of us head out of the village to try and find a trail into shibao shan that jackie has told us about. it is an interesting adventure along the main road to another nearby village, through some rice fields, first followed by a charming group of four children calling out 'hello' and giggling as they inch closer to us, then later being led by them through the fields to the trail. unfortunately when we get to the trail there is a sign warning against taking it as a part of it has been washed out, so we make our way to that point and have to turn back. we realized out trip through the village earlier was not the way we had been directed to go, but are happy for the error and having had the opportunity to meet the children and wander through the fields. we take the other way back as it is an easier walk, and some new scenery! we are having dinner with the 'family' at our guesthouse, and head back in time to join in. the meal is fantastic, shared with jackie, her helper and another guest. just as we are finishing up, a man comes in to the bar in the front part of the guesthouse and peeks around the curtain dividing it from the dining room. it is gordon and sue, arrived here from lijiang to meet us! we had thought at this point they weren't coming, and find out that they had never received our message to them from panba, but came anyway, and spotted us in a quick glimpse as the curtain moved! they sit out front and wait for us to finish eating so that we may join them for a drink. can't remember at what point naomi and angela had come in, but we are all sitting around jackie's having drinks when bert and rachel come in also, and i think we are now offically all of the foreigner's in sideng gathered together in this one place! there is animated conversation, and probably our latest night here so far before we all part ways and try and get some rest before the big event here in shaxi tomorrow, the local market.
day 4.
market day, really the reason many have come, definitely a highlight of the trip here we didn't want to miss. it is held up on the main street now, as it is quite extensive and too big for the square where it used to be held. the reason many travel here for the market? many from the surrounding hill tribes make their way in to town to sell their goods here. it is bustling and lively, and definetely not a 'tourist' market, but one the locals rely on to get there supplies. there are separate areas through the town, the first we come across is the dried goods. legumes, rice, corn kernels, staples. we wander up the street where many are selling cooked food, dried spices, some fruit and smelly tofu (really, that's what it is called, deservedly when cooked!). we decide to wander down to the end of the market first, where there is supposed to be livestock for sale. i hold back once in the area, ron and stephen go to check it out. we wander back in to town, and make our way to the produce area where of course we buy some fruit and take some photos. then we check out the clothing area, which is for some reason followed by the meat area, so i again turn back, and plant myself on the main road to snap some photos. once ron and stephen meet me, we wander slowly back to our starting point, and head to lunch. lamodian again, this time i eat too.
after lunch, we each do our own thing, i am so tired i take a nap, ron chats with jackie, and stephen wanders back out to catch the mass exodus of market goers. he then follows a narrow trail through fields, taking him to another nearby village about 45 minutes away, before finally deciding to turn back. dinner again with the family that night, then drinks at jackie's and after, across the square. stephen and i retire early while ron, gordon, sue and naomi head off to a third place for another drink! it has been another beautifully sunny day here, followed by a cold night, which is normal this time of year in this part of china. stephen and i have decided to head out tomorrow morning for dali, but ron will be staying on for a bit (it turns out a long time!). we will meet gordon and sue in the morning and share a ride in to jianchuan to make our seperate ways from there.
day 5.
our last breakfast here in sideng, we say goodbye to jackie, her helper and ron and make our way to the main road with gordon and sue. what is to be the most nauseating ride for me so far in our travels ensues, and i actually have to get the driver to stop part way so that my head will stop reeling and because i thought i was actually going to throw up. the fresh air revives me a bit, i change seats for the remainder of the ride and make it to jianchuan. gordon and sue say goodbye and head on their way, we wait a bit until i am more settled before hopping on the bus to dali. turns out to be a nice ride, and i have to say that in general, i have been impressed with the driving of the bus driver's in yunnan so far, the last mini van ride excluded! after some uncertainty about our communication in jianchuan, we are dropped off outside of the old city in dali, exactly where we asked to be, and this part of our journey has come to an end. it has been a really fantastic five days here, and in hindsight, we wish we had also stayed longer.
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