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Published: March 11th 2008
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Wishes
Always made a point of ringing these every time we passed by I have read many horrid tales of chain smoking, hurling, and spitting that occurs on this journey and how tourist are often put off and disgusted of China simply because of their experiances on the bus. We also thought that traveling so close to the Spring Festival that it would exacerbate the traveling experiance. After the whole experience and arriving in Lijiang in relatively good shape, the bus ride was not as bad as I had expected.
One thing that we did underestimate was how busy the bus station would be during this time. Sure we expected a mass mob of people, which we saw, and we expected a lot of pushing and bumping people out of the way, which we did and got it done to us, but we didnt expect the magnitude. My gosh is the bus station packed! Not only are the people packed liked sardines at the station and everywhere around the place, (mind you the Chinese do not believe in personal space), but the buses! My God how is one supposed to find one's bus? When Qing inquired about where our bus was parked the kind information officer told us gate 6. We proceed to
gate 6 only to find buses that were not heading in our direction. We searched around for our bus along the gates, not thinking about going beyond this area. Up and down the gates from gate 1 to gate 10, in a fruitless search of our transport vehicle, and after 20 minutes of looking like idiots we gave in and asked an attedant where our bus could be. The attendant then lead us out of gate 6 past the first row of buses, past the first lot of buses, through a fenced gate which lead to another lot of buses where we would find our bus about 4 rows back and next to the wall with food stalls. How the hell is one to find their bus for onward transport in Kunming's bus station?
The journey itself was thankfully uneventful. The only bothersome thing through the journey was the guy that slept to Qing's left smoked a few sticks, which was a little harsher for me since I slept on the bunk above Qing and next to the outlet vent. You could imagine how much smoke would have came my way if there were more chainsmokers on the bus.
We arrived at around 5am in Lijiang, 3 hours ahead of schedule. When this occurs the bus driver does not wake people up and allows them to sleep on the bus until a more respectable time of about 8am. We chose to get out of the bus at 6am and call Mama. If you ever plan to visit Lijiang, make Mama's Guesthouse your home base! My gosh, what service at Mama's! Aside waiting an hour for someone to pick us up at the bus station (They picked up another 2 people who were also going to stay at mama's) Mama and her staff made our experiance at Lijiang enjoyable.
If you stay here, mama will baby you. Every night for a grand sum of 10 rmb, you and those sharing your table will be treated to 8 dishes of mama's choosing. If you happen to be vegetarian, mama will also fix up something extra for you since you wont be able to delight yourself in her meaty dishes. The rooms were a little cold at this time of year, but the 6 layers of quilts, blankets and sheets cured that right up. And whenever you do decide to leave,
Lijiang
lanterns for the Spring Festival just tell mama and she will take care of all the travel arrangements for you. The staff at mamas are a blast. They love people that make a fool of themselves, so I was pretty much loved. The edition of the lonely planet that we were using did not have her listed (the one with the terrocata warrior on the cover), but I was assured by another traveler that she is in the newest edition.
Now to the City
With its cobbled stoned streets and old world architecture, Lijiang is a Chinese city right out of the story books, aside from all the souvenir shops that line the alleys and streets. With winding streets that are not in a grid pattern, I suggest not buying a map and just wander about and discover the city. The most pleasant experiences are those that are unexpected whist walking around aimlessly.
One of our eating highlights here, aside from eating the belt busting dinner of mama's, was Sakura's Cafe. This is a Korean joint right off the town center. Food was
. Only set back to this one particular place was that there are no windows to the windows! So if its cold outside, you are cold inside. This became a recurrent theme to most (read all except for 1) of the restaurants inside the old city.
Aside from the restaurants that have windowless windows there are two other problems that I see with visiting this city. First, most of the eateries around town are open to the elements, so if you are unfortunate enough to visit this place in the winter months, like we were, your eating experience will be hampered by the cold weather outside. Second, there is a serious lack of internet connection here. Mama has free internet connection with 2 terminals, so waiting for a terminal could take hours. But, if you do happen to have your own laptop, she does have wifi, you lucky dogs!
You shouldn't let this keep you from visiting Lijiang. This is easily one of the gems of China that we have encountered.
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Lan
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great pictures!
You capture the expression and moment so well in the photos. Can’t wait to hear more about your adventures. It would be nice to meet you both and catch up with you in person. I also want to hear about your future travel plans. Sounds very interesting! What an intriguing opportunity!