Not a bad place to be sick in (Lijiang, Yunnan Province, China)

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(Day 114 on the road)I made the journey from Kunming to charming Lijiang by overnight sleeper-bus. Now I have been on many sleeper-buses on previous trips, most notably in South America, but never on one of those. It was basically a dormitory on wheels, with three rows of double-story bunk-beds filling the whole bus. The bunks however must have been designed with tiny Chinese women in mind, as they were way too small to lie in (about 30cm too short). They were not very wide either, and I felt a little sorry for the fat American girl in the bunk next to mine; I am sure her night was not too comfortable.

Lijiang is a beautiful old town with narrow, cobble streets. Due to its proximity to Tibet it is also quite high up at 2600 meters, meaning it is much cooler than most other places I have been to. The city has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is thus preserved from the destruction and rebuilding that is the fate of most other cities in China. However, this also means that the place is swarming with tour groups, making the beauty of it somewhat hard to enjoy at times. But in any case, it is still worthwhile coming here to see what China used to look like.

The first night in Lijiang, I woke up in the middle of the night with stomach cramps and a bad case of diarrhea. This was joined after two days by fever, which forced me to stay in Lijiang for six days altogether, much longer than I had intended to. It also confined me to the guesthouse I was staying in a for almost the entire time, with very few exceptions (one thing was treating myself to a nice foot-massage on day four, plus a visit to the Black Dragon Pool Park with stunning views of the snow-capped Jade Dragon Snow Mountain - "Yulong Xueshan" in Chinese).

So with the fever and the need to have a toilet close by at short notice my daily routine looked like this for about five days: Go to bed at night - wake up to go to the toilet - back to sleep - up again to the toilet - back to sleep - up for breakfast - toilet - read my book - toilet - sleep - watch a movie - toilet again, attempt to eat dinner - quickly to the toilet afterwards - talk to other travellers - toilet - back to bed for the night. Then back to step one.

However, I stayed in a really charming, old guesthouse with a rooftop terrace, a cosy lounge, a decent DVD-collection, free Internet and extremely nice staff, so I guess this was as good a place as any to be sick in. Still, I don't normally get sick, and especially not diarrhea as my stomach is quite strong, so I wonder what caused it. The only think I can think of is that I shared a dorm in Guiling with an American guy who had caught a bad virus, maybe I got it there.

But the forced rest also gave me some time to reflect and think, which was valuable. With almost four months on the road by now I have come to the conclusion that giving up my old life back home and going travelling was one of the best decisions I have ever made. It is hard for me to put into words how much I am enjoying it all every single day - I assume if you are following my blog then this feeling shines through on most entries. I also realised that I thoroughly enjoyed my old life including my job back in Berlin, and that I left at pretty much the right time. So if you are still working and contemplating such a move, there is only one advice I can give you: Do it, and do it now!

On day six I felt strong enough to attempt the trek through the Tiger Leaping Gorge, so that's where I will be heading this afternoon.

Next stop: Tiger Leaping Gorge (Yunnan Province, China).



To view my photos, have a look at pictures.beiske.com. And to read the full account of my journey, have a look at the complete book about my trip at Amazon (and most other online book shops).

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