Day Eight

Today began with a trip to a local museum in Li Jiang for the Naxi "Dongba." The Dongba are the "shaman," "witch doctors," or "necromancers" of the Naxi people, who are talented in the arts of divination and who know the ancient Naxi pictograph language. While museum itself was certainly interesting - one of the most striking things about the museum was a chart that compared ancient Naxi pictographs to the hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt - with some eerie similarities.
Our visit to the museum was followed by a leisurely walk around one of Li Jiang's beautiful Chinese gardens. The garden was tranquil and relaxing, featuring several lovely pagodas, bridges, and gorgeous views of the "Jade Dragon Snow Mountain" - one of Li Jiang's main attractions.

Before grabbing lunch at the Banyan Tree we roamed about Li Jiang's old town for an hour or two, glancing in the local shops and meandering Li Jiang's many quaint backroads. The shops in Li Jiang boast a strange variety of goods, ranging from dried Yak meat to five-dollar fake designer (Chanel, Gucci, you name it) sunglasses.

In the afternoon we visited a small township outside Li Jiang, where Dr. Rock, an apparently famous anthropologist and horticulturist, manned the National Geographic expedition to the Yunnan Province. The town was a serious blast from the past - chickens and donkeys roamed the streets, and we wandered about through dilapidated stone buildings to find the museum honoring Dr. Rock.

Our last stop for the afternoon was a visit to the "Baisha" murals - a unique selection of frescoes dating back over 600 years that, thanks to the innovation of the Naxi people, were spared from destruction during Mao's cultural revolution. While the murals were very interesting, the array of ridiculously misspelled signs that dotted the Baishai area were the true highlight of the visit.

At night we ventured back to the Li Jiang old town in order to see a Naxi cultural music show. The music was shrill and discordant, unlike any music we have heard in the past, but it was very amusing to watch. The ensemble also featured several unique instruments that were cultural artifacts of the Naxi People. The most interesting parts of the show, however, were the eighty year old men, sporting some classy sunglasses, that comprised most of the band.