Dali – Day 1
by Sean on Jan.28, 2009, under China
Recently I’ve been exposed to a variety of music and culture outside of my experience. People say that no matter the circumstances of the interaction, you will learn something as a result. From Matt and Nick, it’s “man up;” from Mark, it’s that everything can be good if you just let it slide; and from Tyler, it’s that you should do your best to make the experience better, especially in the form of befriending people who dont even speak your language! Mark has different playlists of music, and over the time we’ve lived together I’ve come to appreciate some of his favorites. One such favorite is Mungo Jerry – “In the Summertime.” I was listening to it on the first day of my 30 hour train ride to Kunming, when it made me think of some stranger with a bandana of things tied around a stick, riding the train around the country for no reason. I don’t know why I thought of this, especially since the song has nothing to do with that.
The Lonely Planet says that if Yunnan is your first destination in China, that it might be your last. I find it to be true and I’ve only been here for 10 hours. Of all the places I’ve seen and countries I’ve lived in, I’ve never seen such natural beauty that could compare, not to mention the blue sky and full sun! It’s great to be away from the large city and inside one of the unchanged provinces of China.
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We left Wuhan at 11pm on Monday evening and arrived in Kunming on Wednesday at 5am. The price of the tickets for a hard sleeper was 400rmb ($60), but only because prices are inflated for the Chinese New Year (we call it “Spring Festival”). During the rest of the year, prices should be closer to 250rmb ($35). We had reservations with the Home Inn in Kunming and were planning to stay there, but after the front desk clerk proved that they don’t know anything about customer service, we rushed to the bus station and bought tickets for a 5 hour ride north to Dali. At the bus terminal, the price should be 110rmb per person (but after the clerk found out there were foreigners in the group, she said the price was actually 106rmb, 4rmb cheaper!)
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Dali is the backpacker’s haven of China and resembles Thailand, minus the annoying Thai people. Instead of Thai touts we have Tibetan touts. The only difference is that the Thai touts would sell you the clothes off their back, but the Tibetan touts want to sell you ganja. The first thing you will hear when you enter Old Dali will be, “you like the ganja?” Some will even follow you! Another interesting thing about the area is the wild mushrooms growing in the mountains. We even saw mushrooms painted onto the walls of people’s houses, and mushroom-shaped structures in the side of a mountain!
The amazing thing about backpacker haven’s is that you get a chance to eaten western food and other cultures’ foods. While walking along, an American stood in the doorframe of the Bad Monkey. For lunch I had “fish and chips,” chips being ‘french fries’ in American English. We were treated to a large portion of fries and amazing beer-battered cod all for 35rmb (a little over $5)! For dinner we had Tibetan food in the form of yak meat, cubed yellow goat cheese, vegetables and rice for 20rmb ($3) at Jim’s Peace Cafe along the main road!
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