OLD JOURNAL PAGE

AMUSING MUSINGS
Micro Tale #358: “OLD JOURNAL PAGE” by Leon Enriquez
(A postcard story. Yes, words to fit a brief postcard moment.)


Just the other day, I found this yellowed journal page. A trip taken to Yunnan years ago. Our iterinary was packed with simple panache. Ann and I joined a group of eighteen flying to that autumnal sight-seeing tour.

China welcomes outsiders with an exquisite charm that is part curiosity and part illumination. Ask anyone who has visited the Middle Kingdom and you will get a spontaneous response. Change marks a good deal of what people say.

I particularly liked Lijiang, an old outpost with fabulous cobblestoned streets with an idyllic, old-time facade. But make no mistake. It’s vividly commercial. Even the donkey-drawn carts tell of items that fetch the tourist dollar. Or should I say Renminbi, the local Chinese currency.

Mr Mao still adorns the crisp notes with a revolutionary gaze. But China has progressed beyond the Cultural Revolution. Tourists are treated with a look as curious as the spending spree indulgent with the goods on offer. Things are not cheap nowadays in the 21st century. Only relatively inexpensive! Anyway, we all need souvenir momentos to take home. Proof that we were there. Yes.

The enchantment of our journey here can be simply summarised in a few words: Poignant, Pungent, Pleasing, Placid, Picturesque. Nowhere in the world is any place like Lijiang. Till this day, whenever I think of China, I dream of Lijiang. I remember the cascading waters that flow from the ancient mountains in winding streams through the modern bazaars dotting the old streets. Awesome!

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