Wangu Pavilion, Yunnan, China

3kathysjourneys 5:00 PM Aug 31, 2010

Nice Views from Lion Hill, but Beware of "Free" Blessing
Our family of four (2 adults, and 2 children ages 7 and 10) visited Wangu Pavilion during our 3-night stay in Lijiang. The Pavilion is at the top of Lion Hill within the Old Town district. It has the appearance of an older building, but it was constructed in 1997, the year that Lijiang was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We enjoyed hiking up to to the Pavilion. For a fabulous view of all of the grey rooftops in Old Town, there is a large patio viewing area right inside the entrance to Lion Hill Park. (Like many other places in and around Lijiang, the fee to get into the Park was covered by our Old Town ticket, which we had purchased from our hotel for about $12.) Continuing upward, we stopped to make a wish and ring the Dongba Aspiration Windbell. The Pavilion is five stories high and has a staircase that zig-zags to the top. The windows are enclosed all around at the top, but there are wonderful views of both Old Town and the more modern part of Lijiang. There are two pagodas behind the Pavilion, where you can ring a giant bell and beat a huge drum (we did so quietly). I would have given the Wangu Pavilion more stars except for what happened next. A woman came over and gave us 2 ribbons, saying that we would receive a "blessing" inside the building to our right (facing away from the Pavilion). Something about her actions triggered our "scam" radar, and we asked if it cost money; she insisted that it was "free." We entered and found a man in monk's clothing, who motioned for us to sit across from him at a small table. He held our ribbons together, lit some incense, and said some things in Chinese. Then he slipped a bracelet with wooden beads over my husband's wrist and said many more words. We were almost seduced into thinking that this was a real spiritual moment. Then, the monk wrote the number "100" on a piece of paper, and motioned that he wanted some money. He refused to take the 10 Yuan that we offered, and he kept pointing to the 100 (100 Yuan was about $15). In the end, we gently refused to pay, and we gave him back him bracelet. Somehow a scam wrapped in spiritual clothing seems even worse than a regular scam, and it tainted my experience at the Wangu Pavilion.

4lauremm m 5:00 PM Oct 22, 2013

worth a walk,
if you manage to find it, there is a direct way from the Mu palace to the Wangu Pavillion, a nice pagoda in the middle of refreshing pine trees with a great view on the gray roofs of the old town. . it is quiet too...