March 19, 2008

Dali (CHINA)

Touring Dali One Last Time Before Catching a Bus to Lijiang

For a city I heard is a tourist stronghold, Dali turned out to be an extremely likeably city. Maybe I just got lucky with my timing - I can easily imagine the now-quiet streets inundated with people, killing off everything I enjoy about the city - but whatever the case, I am glad I spent a few days enjoying the pleasant scenery. However, there are other places to visit on this trip, and early this morning I purchased a 14:30 bus ticket to Lijiang, which is only four hours away by bus.

Before leaving, I made one final tour through the cobblestone streets, stopping to chat with the many vendors hoping to sell me various knickknacks and handicrafts. Unlike so many other places, the vendors didn't seem to mind that I wasn't interested in buying something, and rather than blowing me off they would actually take more time to chat. While I am by no means fluent in Mandarin (and I likely never will be), I am easily conversational, and holding 20 minute conversations is not as painful as it used to be. I suppose it goes without saying that visiting a country when you speak the language is infinitely more rewarding than doing so without speaking the language, but since the practicalities of life don't always make this possible, at the very least one should learn important phrases and a moderate amount of cultural background; the experience is infinitely more rewarding this way.

Below are a couple of pictures taken while the bus made a bathroom break at a small gas station between Dali and Lijiang. Beautiful, huh?

We arrived in Lijiang at 20:00 - with Japan as the sole exception, I have yet to ride a single bus in Asia that runs according to schedule - and since it was already dark out we were in a bit of a pinch as far as finding a place to sleep for the night. Certainly, there were plenty of touts at the bus station, but we instead teamed up with a Shanghai businessman from the bus and paid for a taxi into the old city. He called a guest house, and the owner kindly guided us along the many winding turns. Although it was only night, Lijiang reminded me of Venice in that there are small winding streets that are impossibly to navigate if you don't know what you are doing.

After checking into a triple room - again at a bargained-down price of only 30 rmb/person ($4) - we felt obligated to eat with the Shanghai businessman who was eager to have company for dinner. I was entirely opposed to the idea because I was really struggling to keep up with his "Mandarin" (he actually spoke the slang-ridden Shanghainese dialect), and for the next two hours I was the go-between guy expected to keep up with everything being said. This was basically like asking me to translate for a proper Scotsman - while he may speak "English", it can be nearly impossible to follow everything being said. Making matters worse, we were taken to an awful restaurant, but since the Shanghai guy was treating us I could not suggest another place. Needless to say, the food would come back to haunt us tomorrow...