Blue-eyed granny

We met our Granny Naxi on the same day as the incense cowboy; in fact, probably not a half hour later. We strolled past her restaurant where she was working in the garden and she waved an arm our way. "Come, see if you want to eat. If you want to eat, you eat; if you don't want to eat, it's ok."

Swayed by her kind lilting voice and good-natured soft sell, we sit ourselves down by the window. She brings us sunflower seeds and tiny nectarines to whet our appetites -- "We grow these ourselves. We don't sell them. Try. For free!" Tasty noodles and the best(!) wild mushroom fried rice later, she settles down to sit with us for a while. She tells us that most of the things they eat are wild -- from the mountain -- and not the things they grow. She tells us about her daughter, teaching Chinese and Chinese history at a high school in Shangri-la for over 10 years. She tells us about her son, now married to a Shangri-la girl, and their eight-month-old son that she's been helping to care for, until yesterday.

"Have you been to Bita Hai? It's really beautiful. My daughter drove me there -- she can drive -- on June 14th. It's beautiful. Everywhere you look!" She turns her head, "Over here is beautiful," and again, "Over there is beautiful."

"It's beautiful here," we interject, gesturing towards the mountain scenery.

"Yes, it's beautiful here, but it's more beautiful there. You didn't go? Oh, what a shame. Such a shame. And a shame that you came so late! If you came earlier, we would go around the village to tell the Naxi girls and they would do some Naxi dance for you. But now, so late, no time to go around. They would put on the traditional Naxi dress and dance. When the six students from Hong Kong came, they danced for them. And when the chefs from Guizhou came, they danced for them. They would dance for you too, but now, too late."

She's a sweetie, this granny, and she invites us back for breakfast the next day. "Good morning! Hello! I'll make some baba for you. Sit down." She watches out for our bus and encourages us to eat more, eat more. She worries we don't like it because we can't clean the plate. "No no, we like it. We're very full, thank you." She warns us that we won't get to Lijiang until after lunchtime.

"Next time, come again and I will take you to all the beautiful places around here. I know them -- Bita Hai, etc, etc. We'll go together. Next time you come. Do you live far? If you come, we'll go together. If you don't come, it'll be a shame but there's nothing I can do. Come again. May is the best time. Bye bye!"

We leave her, our granny Naxi with the kind face and grey-blue eyes, her little pup tangled at her feet, standing in the front yard making porridge and waving goodbye.