A Mountain, a Village, and a Show

Ms Waterman
(teacher)

Our day started in the dark this morning since we woke up before sunrise to eat breakfast and set out for Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. That might sound like it was incredibly early in the morning, but we ate at 7:00. It was so dark because the time zone here in Lijiang (which borders Tibet) is in the same time zone as the rest of China. It is strange to me that such a huge country has only one time zone, but it has been great not to have to reset my watch over and over as we travel.

On the drive to the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, we learned that it is 5,600 m high - 17,000 ft - and that it measures 40 km north to south and 25 km east to west. The footprint of the mountain is huge! It’s called a snow mountain because there is snow on the top year-round. It’s also the southernmost snow mountain in the northern hemisphere and no one has ever succeeded in summiting the highest peak. That sounds like a challenge to me!

As in National Parks in the US, the land is protected from development and you need to pass through a checkpoint to enter. Once in the park, we took a bus to the cable car which took us to the Yak Meadow at 3,500 m in altitude. I have to admit that I hadn’t really thought through what ‘cable car’ meant before arriving - was it a tram? a railroad? - so when we had to board two people at a time into what looked like a small ski lift with a roof, I got a little worried. I shouldn’t have been stressed, though, since the 25-minute ride up steep mountain slopes (which were 20-50 feet below us as we ascended) was smooth and overlooked beautiful mountains on both sides. We disembarked (clumsily, on my part) at the Yak Meadow, a huge grassy expanse where farmers bring their livestock to graze in the summer. Evan, our guide, also led us up to visit the Tibetan temple that is in the meadow. The colors of the painted walls and prayer flags were striking in the bright sunshine. The mountain in the background was incredibly beautiful!

During our cable car descent we were serenaded by Kelby and Iona who rocked out to great sing-along songs (“Country roads”, “Signed, sealed, delivered”, “Ain’t no mountain high enough”, and “The climb”). We took a bus to the White Water River which was a bright teal color today. The water changes colors, apparently, with the presence of different minerals. We loved seeing yaks wandering around the boardwalk.

On our way back to Lijiang for a late lunch, we stopped in Dongda Jade Water Village, a holy site for the Naxi people, another ethnic minority who have lived in this valley since the 800s. As worshipers of nature, they believe that humans should not take too much from nature and should take care not to harm it. Historically, they were able to make peace between the Buddhist, Confucian, and Daoist believers as well as other ethnic minorities (the Bai and Tibetan people, for example) - not an easy task! In the garden-like village, we saw a temple filled with statues paying tribute to different ethnic minority groups as well as to the Naxi goddess of nature. The prayer at the foot of the giant gold goddess statue was very modern in its references to how humans have harmed the earth with pesticides, trash, and over-development of the land. It was fascinating to see the mix of ancient tradition and modern environmental consciousness.

We finished this long day with a dance show called “Mountains and River” which featured dances, music, costumes, and stories from the 12 ethnic groups which live in this region. The dances were colorful, lively, and absolutely engaging. Even though we didn’t know exactly what was going on in each scene, we figured out that the dances were love stories told in many ways. It was a great way to see more examples of the rich history and culture in this region where we’ve been immersed for 2 happy days!