“I went somewhere new, and…and found everything was just the same.” I forgot where I first saw this sentence, but I remembered what it wants to convey: Is there any meaning behind travel? While it may be true that there is nothing “new”under the sun, I still decided to follow the Earth Walker Travel Club as I began my tour around the Nu River in southwestern China. But I kept asking myself, does travel necessarily need any meaning? When people work so hard and strive for a so-called better life, why not leave the routine to see something different? There is nothing new though, there is simply things that are different.
“Indeed, there is difference,” I said to myself when I came back. This trip was the first time I had seen so many different and extraordinary primitive bridges: patent protector bridges, log bridges, suspension bridges, vinemade bridges, bridges between the two peaks; For the first time, I saw the last part of the Ancient Tea Horse Road(Chamagudao), which is still in use; For the first time I saw the Chinese Spring Festival celebrated in a western way. For the first time I saw many people bathing together as a way to celebrate and socialize; For the first time I saw and experienced a new way of drinking wine; For the first time, I came to a real paradise—with unparalleled natural beauty.
On February 2, along with Club members, I went to Kunming, and then on to Dali, from there we came to Liuku, the capital city of the Nu River State.
The bus was climbing the winding road, moving deeper and deeper into the mountains. The seemingly endless mountains narrowed to valleys, barren or verdant, and filled with short plants or woods of plantains. By noon, we arrived at one place with a broader bay, and on the beach surrounding the bay were woods of ceibas. “See, this is Nu River!” the team leader exclaimed. Hearing this, I got so excited that I got out, held my camera up and snapped pictures crazily.
The Nu River neighbors snowy Biluo Mountain in the east, and lies next to Gaoligong Mountain, on the other side of which is Burma. The city of Liuku, home to the Nu River State government, is a very beautiful city running along both sides of the river and also between the two mountains. I heard that in the past this small city had been plagued by miasma. However, maybe because of its industrialization, there is no miasma here today. What I saw was simply a pretty riverside garden, with flowing water, banana trees, and coco trees greening, along with red ceiba and many other kinds of sub-tropic flowers blooming everywhere.
Listening to the Four-part Chorus
A civilization without its own written language is considered primitive, and at the same time fragile. At the Baihualing Church in Liuku, I heard the renowned fourpart chorus, which is also known as “barefooted farmers walking into the highest paradise of music”. The Lisu ethnic tribe doesn’t have its own written language. So when western missionaries came to the Nu River, they easily conquered the minds of the ethnicities there, creating phonetic symbols for them and converting them to Christianity. Therefore, nearly all of the villages here have churches now. While on one hand I felt sad for them not having their own written language and being easily converted to a foreign religion, on the other hand, as I saw the villagers dressed up in their holy looking outfits and when I heard their pure heavenly sound, I was still deeply moved, with tears running down my face unconsciously. The so-called “bathing party”
According to arrangements made by the Earth Walker Club, we went to a hot spring near Liuku, to see the so-called “bathing party”, which is actually a local custom in the area. From January 2 to January 5 on the lunar calendar, thousands of people of the Lisu ethnicity, whether male or female, young or old, come to the hot spring and bath together. This is actually a social event for them. The bathing is believed to wash away all the evil and bad luck of the past year and bring good luck and blessings for them. Nowadays, with more and more tourists, there has been some changes at the bathing party. Men and women are now separated, and they no longer bath naked. As more and more tourists come to see this unique rite, and I was one of them, I suddenly had a sense of guilt: why did we come here? Was it just to satisfy our curiosity or our prying desire? These people should be able to carry out their own rites undisturbed, so I do not want to say anything more about the bathing party.
Burying lovers at the beach
At twilight, we came to the banks of the Nu River. At a distance, we saw the hospitable Lisu people welcoming us already. People had to finish one big glass of rice wine before stepping onto the beach, where we first saw a contest that involved climbing a bamboo pole and scrambling for a small bag. The brave winners would get the opportunity to drink the so-called “samehearted wine” (drinking wine together from the same glass). This was followed by an event of burying lovers with sand. A friend of mine was “luckily” caught and buried together with a beautiful Lisu girl, they were then pressed to drink the wine together in the sand. After which, people began to get crazily happy like children.
Eating with hands, two or three drinking from the same cup of wine Arriving in the small town of Fugong, we were lucky enough to experience eating with our hands and drinking two or three at a time from the same glass of wine.
Actually a meal eaten with hands is the respectable manner in which the local Lisu people treat a noble guest. When entering through the door, the guests have to wash their hands and drink three glasses of wine, symbolizing the bitterness, sourness and sweetness in one’s life.
When we stepped through the door, a shallow basket full of steamed rice, steamed bread, many kinds of vegetables, roasted pork filet, as well as many kinds of insects such as bees, bamboo worms and silkworm pupas, jumped into view. Wow!
The host told us to pick up the roasted pork filet and rub our hands with it first, then pick up the rice or steamed bread and the vegetables or meat. In this way, the hands would not become sticky from the rice. Hmmm, delicious! Actually, it was the way we were eating and the host’s hospitality which made me feel the food was so delicious, as it was the first time for me to eat this way.
As we were enjoying the “hand-picked” meal, the Lisu hosts proposed many toasts, which were definitely different from the usual toasts at banquets I had been to before. The first was the cross-cupped wine, i.e. drinking from each other’s cup. It is said, that after finishing the first cup, the two will become friends. The second was the “hugging wine”, i.e. the two hugged each other and finished the wine in the cup, this is meant to express friendship and sincerity. Last, was the “same-hearted wine”, i.e. two people stand side-by-side, cheek-to-cheek and mouth-to-mouth, then drink wine together from the same cup. Finishing this third cup, the two participants, even if they are from far away ends of the earth, will become close friends forever.
The wine the hosts treated us with was made locally made with rice or corn, it had a low alcohol content and was both sweet and fragrant. However, the aftereffect was so strong that I didn’t think about that part before I drank so much. When I went outside for a walk, the breeze kissed my cheek, and I found myself a little drunk as laughter and simple joy filled my mind.
Bingzhongluo—the place where people and god lived together
On the way from Gongshan to Bingzhongluo, the bus stopped for us to appreciate the beauty of the acclaimed First Bay of the Nu River. I thought that I must have seen a picture in a school geographic text book, but the real scene was beyond my imagination.
With mountains towering around, and the mean- dering river so calm, the amazing green water was like a huge piece of pure jade which took my breath away. As we crossed the mountains, the Nu River makes a U-shaped turn, and there was a small island in the middle filled with blooming bright yellow cole flowers. Seeing this, the tiredness of the long journey suddenly disappeared. It is said that the island was called “Peach Flower Island”, since when the cole flower withers, the peach flowers will be in full bloom. The beautiful name and the beautiful scenery made everyone forget that it once was used as a place to isolate those with leprosy. The danger of the place before, in my eye, added some luring color to the beauty of the island.
On the afternoon of January 3 in the Chinese lunar calendar, we arrived at Zhongding Village, which is claimed to be the place where people and god lived together, or in other words, the real Shangri-La. I stayed there for one day and one night, of which nearly every second was so magical.
On the way to Wuli Village (which means “the village in the fog”), a place where the Ancient Tea and Horse Road reaches, and Qiunatong Village, “the real ShangriLa”, the scene was beyond words. The road was carved out of the rock of the mountain, where one side of the road was a cliff, and on the other side had the Nu River below. Wuli Village was close to the river while Qiunatong was located high on the mountainside. Both villages had only a few dozen households. The purely wood-constructed houses had turned dark by the smoke from the fireplaces, spread out along the stretch of green wheat fields. In my eye, this was a picturesque countryside.
Village in the Fog
We brought candy and stationery as gifts for the children in this village. Many people drank tea in the homes of the villagers, saying that their houses were dim, as there were no windows and they relied only on the fireplace for lighting. Some people said that the villagers were poor but very hospitable. Some people said that we did not arrive at the right time, since it was the day for them to worship their ancestors and most of the households had nothing to offer guests as most of their food was used for worshipping. In the village I saw two girls pulling weeds out in the wheat field, the elder sister’s necklace was the Madonna, while the younger sister was wearing the Cross.
Peaceful Shangrila—Qiunatong
I was feeling a little tired on the way to Qiunatong, when a truck filled with standing passengers, who must have journeyed somewhere and had a good time, passed and waved to us excitedly. Their joy immediately influenced me and my tiredness suddenly flew away. The villagers of Qiunatong were richer than those in Wuli Village. There was also a Catholic church in the village. The scene there was very beautiful, just like an imaginary land. At some houses, nobody was in, but the gate was left open. It was said that in their village, the gates do not need to be locked since there were no thieves. The natural beauty and pure and peaceful atmosphere there is beyond my capability to describe with words. Only if you were there would you understand why it was called the place where people and god live together.
After such a long long journey, I finally came to the heart of the Nu River—where the people and god live together. I wanted to say something profound, but I found no words suitable for this place. I knew I would never forget it for the rest of my life, and never forget the time I spent there .
(My acknowledgement goes to the Earth Walker Club and Leng Shuai, CEO of the club for offering materials and pictures for this article. )