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Published: June 10th 2015
The Help ...ers.
Good rapport and even jokes made the situation workable and left us all with huge smiles.Written June 10, 2015. Am enjoying the writing of the events as I sit at the cottage/cabin/camp with the water lapping at my toes. It has not yet become hot enough for the blue algaeto become a nusiance (sic). Will try not to overload with publications.
Odyssey HK to Lijiang - Pack up all the stuff … leave behind plastic bags, skirt thats too long and the rubber sandals I bought just for the HK heat … which disappeared suddenly ... the heat that is.
- Took taxi to the airport express.
- SIGNED IN HERE!!! Was rid of the big backpack … just like that…would not see it again until Lijiang
- Boarded MTR train and sped to the airport.
- All of the above were not accomplished without asking for clarification … it was truly too simple.
- At the airport ... up the escalator and there was the departure board plus a totally bilingual man helping direct people to the correct airline desk.
- The flight was uneventful. There was an older foreign couple at the front, the man speaking Mandarin…must have been missionaries
- Five passengers
Honeymoon Sweet
The deco of the room and the view were very pleasing ... in a frigid way. from the flight to Kunming were continuing to Lijiang … we were in transit and led by an attendant.
- To and from the plane in the airpports was always by bus.
- In Lijiang there was a long walk in the dark. I followed one of the other passengers to the main lobby of airport … no idea where we were supposed to be or go … we were Passengers ... no attendants in attendance.
- Found the airport bus … not shuttle????
- For 20yuan it was off to the city... it was a very dark night.
- And then disembarkation.... IN A PARKING LOT… where was the hotel??? mentioned in online instructions!
The No- English nightmare begins!
No drivers sitting in the taxis parked in the lot. (Later on, because I was for some time in the area, all the taxies were gone)
Go into small hotel … girls speak no English … ok ... take out my cheat card and go out onto street to wave down taxi … figured out if light red in left side taxi available.
Stopped one … he reads
Fancy sink
In the modern bathroom brushing teeth and making tea at the same time. the address and shakes his head No! What do you mean NO!?
Back into hotel … sign language and the help of a cigarette-smoking man. We make progress. He phones Amu’s House and writes more on my cheat note.
THEN I HAD TO PEE….BAAAAD .... REAL BAD!
The trip to the WC was only made possible with my mobile’s flashlight and the help of a young girl from the airport bus. Only saw one lit doorway …tried the doorknob. Heard a voice, waited, and a woman who lived there opened … obviously not the WC. Directions to a dark dark alley were given… up some stairs along the cement way and finally the WC.
Did not want to go back to airport … put trust in the cigarette smoker.
He flagged down a taxi … explained it all to the driver … gave him the cheat note. I was on the way.
Past construction, thru busy, busy intersections with no directional signals, and on and on thru town.
And then a stop beside a refuse station. The man motions for me to get out. He has spoken on the phone. So
Tiled Rooves in the Old Town
No vehicles on the cobblestones ... no rule against satellite dishes. I was to get out. OK and then what? He is pointing down the cobbled street past the refuse station.
LUCK LUCK LUCK shines down on me! …a group of young people wanting the taxi spoke English and told me that the driver had called the hotel and the manager was coming to get me.
Two young girls come, help me with the black bag and I just follow …with my flashlight … to Amu’s House.
Right up to the room again with flashlight. The room is cold. There is no shower but a lovely bathtub. The bed has an electric blanket found by sheer chance.
The view … sublime!! …sublime!! …sublime!!
Tiled roof tops, mountains in the background and a lit up four tiered temple on a distant hill. The room is big. The bed is fine. The room is very cold … open to the 3 degree weather thru a bathroom vent. Had a hot wash after figuring out the hot was cold and the cold was hot when it came to the bathtub faucet. Sleep came quickly.I slept with sweater, socks pants and hat on! Sorry no selfie :-(
Space Panda
...became one happy panda when I heard english ... In the morning the Wi-Fi was available in an open courtyard. A very cold courtyard … the temperature had not risen. Not a one spoke English, not even in the hostel I checked out across the street. When I finally had a map in my hand it was in Mandarin. Is this situation to be believed? Impossible!
A Afghan hound is tied to the banister. Three young room-cleaners and I work for two cold hours getting info about a hotel where English is an available choice.
I am beyond desperate. The girls … at least one of them make the call. I speak to Wang at the Crowne Plaza. What a relief! OK so it is astronomically expensive and I will not go to Tim Horton’s for five years!
After my experience last night and this morning with only two words of Mandarin I had begun to panic … closest I have ever come to a meltdown … EVER … during any past adventure into the unknown … no mention on website that English was not spoken. Concluded that this lovely place is geared towards summer visitors and domestic tourists ... because Lijiang is a popular destination.
Courtyard of the Crowne Plaza
Had to pass thru the courtyard to reach my suite ... and sweet it was ... larger than my apartment at the Senior Centre! in Sudbury. The young girls at Amu's House are very helpful and between their mobile dictionary and my notebook translator we somehow, after 2hrs, make sense of each other. They help get me to a taxi.
Now in daylight I perceive that the old town of Lijiang, a world heritage site, is closed to vehicular traffic, totally cobblestoned and all the houses are kept in or refurbished in the traditional style. Actually most impressive and amazing … wish I spoke Mandarin.
Will! …before the next china trip!
Now in the Crowne Plaza I feel safer but am somewhat spooked as concerns wandering around. The concierge has written on a card instructions for a taxi driver to return this old lady tourist back to the Crowne Plaza … don’t know if he wrote old lady … it’s all Chinese to me! LOL.
Am making tentative outings. Am keeping a close watch at turns in my path using the yard of an elementary school, a gushing canal, a corner with electrical wires galore, a silver shop and a row of food kiosks as markers for return walk to the hotel.
Will stay here till it is time to fly to Lhasa.
Will now double check the place I booked in Lhasa and make sure there is heat.
At Amu's I had become an icicle.
That was another reason for leaving. Was sorry to leave the sublime night view. During the day the expanse of tiled roof was enthralling.
Staying with the Intercontinental chain is extravagant but after the NO-English nightymare my psyche needs to be mended ... luxury will accomplish that!
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