China’s hot pot of surprises

by Yeoh Siew Hoon

There we were in Shu He, a 1,000-year-old village in Lijiang, and checking out a local guest house. In the lounge was a flat screen computer with a Yunnanese “batik” fabric protecting it from the sun’s glare.

Hidden amid the rickety rattan chairs and wooden tables was a tiny sign that said “WI-FI”.

“I can’t believe it,” says my Australian friend. “Wireless. Here?”

“What’s not to believe?” I asked.

“Well, this place is so old. Ancient. A village. In the middle of nowhere.”

Despite media reports portraying China as a nation tipped to be the world’s largest economic power in a couple of decades, most people still find it hard to grasp that it is actually going to happen – until they visit the country and see for themselves what’s really happening on the ground.

No infrastructure legacy means places like Shu He are able to leapfrog in technology – almost everywhere we go in Lijiang is wifi-enabled. I am able to send photos through my wi-fi enabled camera to brag to my friends where I am; download mail anytime, anywhere; text friends; and update my blog.

Even in this remote village, perched almost 3,000 metres above sea level, and just three hours by road from James Hilton’s Shangri-La (Zhongdian), there is no escaping the outside world.

It is May and the start of the tourist peak season for Lijiang or “Beautiful River”. In this land of “eternal spring”, the temperatures are always mild, the sky is a piercing blue and the air fresh and sweet.

No wonder therefore that each year, millions and millions of Chinese people from smog-choked and dust-filled cities flock here. Up to 90% of the tourists that come here are locals.

You walk around Lijiang old town and it feels like Roppongi at rush hour. In the square in the evening, what must be the biggest square dance in the world takes place as everyone joins in. They like doing things enmasse here, for some reason.

They also like their dogs. I can’t get over how many canines there are on the streets, and they all look healthy and well-cared for. The only thing is, I don’t know which ones are for loving and which ones are for eating. In this part of China, dog meat is a speciality.

An expatriate friend who lives there tells of a neighbour who, over the last 12 months, has brought in four different dogs – each starts off small, grows plump and then disappears. “I felt I shouldn’t ask them what happened,” he says.

Shu He and Lijiang old towns are wonderful places to spend time in, exploring. There are museums, lodges, bars, restaurants and lots of shops. They are all geared up for the local market, so it helps if you speak Mandarin. Otherwise, bring along a guide or a dictionary. People are happy to help, in any case.

But it was in Kunming that proved the biggest eye-opener. I was due to meet up with Uttara Sakkar Crees, a remarkable woman who runs Gyalthang Eco-Travel in Shangri-La. (Gyalthang now goes by the Chinese name of Zhongdian.)

Uttara built the first hotel in Gyalthang, the Gyalthang Dzong Hotel, which is now a Colours of Angsana and her company organises treks and pilgrimages in the Tibetan Autonomous Region.

Anyway, after we met up – it has been six years since we last saw each other in Sarawak – we talked about what we should do for the day and Uttara asked, rather embarrassedly, “Would you mind if we go to Carrefour?”

See, she had just come the mountains (almost 4,000m high) where landslides had caused her group to be stranded and she had had to send in reinforcements plus apparently, there were two villages at “war” with each other and her guests were caught in between – these are part of daily life for Uttara – and she needed an urban experience.

“Why not? I love Carrefour,” I said.

Well, let me tell you, this Carrefour is the biggest I’ve ever been in outside Singapore and it was packed to the gills – on a Wednesday at three pm and it felt like Sunday afternoon in Singapore. Talk about consumer power.

Inside was the land of plenty. In the food section, I saw dumplings by the gazillions and preserved sausages and waxed meats by the tons. I whipped out my camera but was instantly told that photos were not allowed. I think they thought I was the competition.

Uttara wanted tuna fish and shampoo. We ended up, three hours later, with more stuff that we could possibly need.

As we chatted over fries and coke at McDonald’s – we had to complete the urban experience – Uttara told me of a group of Indian friends who had just finished a 10-day trek of Shangri-La and was now taking the train from Beijing to Lhasa.

“They couldn’t believe their eyes. They had a notion of China that it would be undeveloped and rural and poor. And then they saw the highways, the buildings and how orderly everything was, including the people.

“One of them said to me, ‘Uttara, even their dogs walk on the zebra crossing’.”

And that is the new China. Even the dogs are orderly, even if some of them end up in the hot pot.

CATCH UP with Yeoh Siew Hoon every week at The Transit Cafe – www.thetransitcafe.com