Dali
Posted in China | By tim |
The bed is just a few inches too short to be comfortable, a bit like sleeping in a bath and by dawn my legs are painfully stiff. Sunrise over the mountains, however, as we drive along a typically mountainous path is special enough for minor discomfort to be forgotten. We roll into Dali at 9am, with bladders almost bursting with the accumulated pressure of 14 hours worth of dehydration. We dodge the touts and duck into the toilets to relieve ourselves. The bus didn’t have a toilet and every time it stopped it was always moving again before you’d had chance to get your shoes on.
We decide to head for the No. 4 Guesthouse which has been recommended. We are not disappointed. It is basic but beds in quads are very cheap and there are hot water showers and washing machines. The toilets are stinking holes in the ground but that probably won’t matter… Our two American friends are here also, which is a little unfortunate. The ruddy chap is in a dorm, and the journalist, now wearing a new and even louder shirt, has requested his own private room. He probably has an embarrassing genital disorder.
Dali is great. It is hot, sunny, peaceful and more people speak English here than anywhere else. There are a million and one tourist shops, stalls and street traders for souvenirs. The bubbly street life and the dark-skinned minority people here remind me in many ways of Istanbul. We have certainly come to a place where we can, fittingly, enjoy our remaining days in China. Amazingly, in one of the little streets there is a newly opened Internet cafe and for 20 Y I manage to check my mailbox in Cambridge where I find a message from Liz and we send one to Chris who ought to be able to pick it up somewhere on his way from New Zealand to Canada. It is truly amazing how close home can feel when you can reach out and touch it from a small town in the depths of China.
After a hearty breakfast we get stuck into our washing. It drys almost immediately and following a shower it is incredible how good a clean shirt, socks and undies feels after being a tramp for so long. Llew has a shave to tidy up his shaggy beard and comes out looking like a bizarre cross between Elvis and a Kung Fu hero. I am looking more and more like Noel Edmonds by the day. We spend the rest of the day wandering the streets bemused at the choice of souvenirs we now have to make.
Dali is famous for its marble, hewn locally into every imaginable shape of vase and ornament. Other shops are selling beautiful batiks and wall hangings. The prices are pretty reasonable too provided you are prepared to haggle hard. We decide to leave purchasing until nearer going home time but in the meantime have some practise at haggling and choosing what we will buy. Steaks for dinner in our continuing quest to re-educate our stomachs in the art of Western food digestion. We eat from tables out in the sunshine.
The beggars and the shoe-shine brigade are out in full force providing moments of amusement and some beautifully candid photos, which unfortunately were mislaid somewhere on the way home. And in the streets, the local Bai minority women in their coloured head-dresses peddle their silver jewellery to all and sundry. There is a distinct drug prescence too. We are approached several times by minority women who first offer jewellery but when they draw close whisper conspiratorially “Ganja, ganja, ganja”, and smile a toothy grin. We have no idea if hash is legal in China but it seems remarkably prominent at times.
Dali seems to have a historical atmosphere and with it, a kind of independence from ‘real’ China unlike anywhere else we’ve seen. The surrounding area around Dali certainly has plenty to offer. Whether we’ll see any of it is a different matter. Many people have said spending a couple of nights in a village called Lijang about four hours away by bus is exceptionally rewarding. However, right now, a whole week relaxing in Dali’s sunshine seems incredibly tempting. We’ve done all our travelling now.
Llew has decided to start as he means to go on in the relaxation game with a visit to a professional masseur tonight. This one is recommended as excellent for travel worn muscles but we have heard that if you slip an extra few yuan in your pants with some of these outfits you get something more for your money. And come to think of it, Llew has been gone rather a long time. Sipping a beer as I am now, overlooking the gardens of No.4 Guesthouse as dusk falls and the lanterns sway in the breeze is the perfect way to end a day here and to begin to end our travels in China.
Our two room mates are cool – an oddly matching couple from Britain, Phil and Kirstyn. We swap stories and agree to meet them later for happy hour in the tree house bar of the guesthouse.
Recent comments