Lijiang - Lugu Lake

April 22 2013: Lijiang - Lugu Lake

We left Lijiang through the modern city past people doing tai chi in the park and out across the plains, now with Naxi style homesteads, different again.  As the drive was not too long, we stopped at two “traditional” villages near Lijiang; the first, Baisha, was charming, with lots of lovely old buildings and local people in ethnic dress affording loads of Kodak moments! 

Beautiful rambling roses

Tile detail

I bought 2!

Embroidery, featuring...Happy Feet!

The “star” of the village in Dr Ho, aged 92, who makes traditional medicines, and has served the likes of many ambassadors and had his 15 secs of international fame with Michael Palin in Himalaya, which we are now watching again to spot him (and Tiger Leaping Gorge).  He was far more interested in talking about his famous connections than his medicines!!

His lovely wife, collecting rose petals

However, the next place Shu He was less endearing, being full of tourists and stallholders out to make a buck.  The houses looked newly built, though admittedly in the old style, so we just grabbed a quick early lunch, accompanied by a young lad with an electric guitar  and a very loud PA system belting out the likes of Red River Valley and Michael Row the Boat Ashore – a very surreal experience!!

Working silver

Dressed for tourists - these garments haven't seen a field or open hearth!

The drive to Lugu Lake restored our souls with lots of bendy bits but nothing too alarming! Luckily, along with no altitude sickness, none of us suffer from car sickness – this day could have been a challenge.





The approach to Lugu Lake was a long fertile valley where harvesting methods haven't changed for thousands of years. At one point we passed a load of schoolchildren who gave all the cars very formal salutes. It seems that the only time they see cars like the ones we were in, they generally contain party cadres.

Lugu Lake itself is very, very lovely, and we were ferried to our island on traditional long boats with no engines, hard work for one man to scull 9 people and all their luggage in a strong headwind, but we got there in the end!

The team had sensibly walked round, but there is no car access, just a narrow causeway, so we needed to ship the cases. The guest house was quite modern, built in traditional style, though not as well finished as it could have been, unlike the Songtsams.  However, it was slap on the edge of the lake and the food was excellent – and I particularly took to the resident dog, a huge but friendly chap who looked like a cross between a Tibetan Mountain Dog (huge, we saw several on our journey) and a Husky. 

An evening beer - chilled in the lake

We all passed on the chicken's feet - even Aggie!