Entrance to Baisha Old Town 白沙
It was quite difficult to see how Baisha used to be the center of the Naxi universe. The Naxi are an ethnic group which reside in the area of Yunnan. If you have been to Lijiang, then you have already been exposed to Naxi culture. Honestly, it was difficult to tell which was Naxi and which wasn’t since it seems to have blended in quite well. Apart from the clothing and food I don’t really know much about them. Anyway, Baisha was the capital of the Naxi kingdom when it was still a kingdom. There were numerous nationalities at the time and made for a cosmopolitan town. As a result, the palace was decorated with what became the Baisha Murals. There were apparently other murals but this one the most popular.
Local Women of Baisha Old Town 白沙
Outside the gated area of the murals, there was another “Baisha”. This one had a sign on top of the entrance to the town. It was as if it was a theme park asking for visitors to go in an have a look. I don’t think there would be much to see here but since I was quite disappointed with the murals, I might as well have a look here. There were three middle aged women who were hanging out at the entrance of the old town, they were in costume and asked me to take a photo of them. I willingly obliged only to be asked for a token amount for the photo. I wish they stop doing that. Then again, if you look at it. The murals are probably the only reason why anyone would be here. The restaurants here probably don’t even make enough money. It only relies of a fraction of the traffic from Lijiang and it is probably not enough, I can’t say I blame them.
[xmlgm {http://www.worldwanderings.net/kml/BaishaMurals.kmz} zoom=19]