Back in Shangri la: A glimpse into the present

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"What the heck am I doing here!?"
That was the thought that has occupied my mind for days over the past week. I mean, I know I've said i'll go to Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu, but that was before i've realized what they meant when they said cold. As in "It's very cold now in China. Why d'you wanna go there?!"

Yup, I admit, the cold, the language barrier and the loneliness broke me. Almost. It's so f**king hard to get out of bed in the morning that the day's sometimes spent trying to get over the cold and then wandering around the city, believing there's still enough time left to do something with it.

And besides, IndoChina is winking at me just around the corner, inviting me to come back. I'll be lying if I'll say I am not missing the warm weather, the massive blond European guys (I'm shallow) and the ass-licking. Yes! I want some serious ass-licking! Even though there are good souls here in Southern China and I love the food and the tea, I still miss some of the, how to say... English speaking. And the "evelybody is my flend" attitude. and India, oh, India calls!

Us, Jews, we're desert people. We like the heat! And we like complaining about it, but that's another story.

I even started to miss home a little bit. Just the little things. Beccause sometimes I get lonely and the last time I had a man was... well, let's just say that now, when I want to lie about having a boyfriend I have to look through my previous SD cards to show what I mean, since I can't say it in Chinese.

I miss only the little things, like Cottage cheese and spending Friday morning shopping with my Mom, or having drinking nights with my flends. Even having coffee with my co-workers before the show at my old job place in Eilat.

But then I forced myself topick up my 15 kilo (or so) back-pack, two "small" bags and one plastic bag (shoes...) and get the hell out to some other places in the county. I bought a ticket to Benzilan, a village less than three hours away from here.

Just before i went on the bus I have been warned that Benzilan is colder than Shangri la, so I almost changed my mind, but as I found out later - Let's just sat that it isn't the warmest place on the face of earth, but it's definitely not the coldest place i've been to in the past couple of weeks. To put it the least. And the cold in the evenings is bearable, unlike here. There's a lake running between the mountains there, and it's not frozen, not even in the early-morning. I checked.

Benzilan is a laid-back (Noga-style, I mean) Tibetan village that's located down and between some wild mountains, where the view is breath-taking and people on the street smile at you and say Hello as they cross your way.

After an afternoon just walking through the farms and main street there, helping some girls to practice their English (they hugged me when we said Goodbye) and a night in a 10 Yuan bed - I have moved on an excitingly beautiful bus-ride to Deqin - another town in this county, three more hours northways, full with atmosphere, cinamon and insence smells. Even though many times I can't stand "world music", The Tibetan songs and music played there were heart-warming for some reason. It's so close to the Tibetan border that there are 80% Tibetan people there.

Deqin is actually pronounced Deichin, but in Pinyin (the Latin set of writing in Chinese) Q is actually "ch". Just FYI sometimes Deqin is also refered to as Shangri la by the locals, probably for financial reasons.

Among the other things that just walking up and down Deqin's road's reminded me of was some old cities mixed (or minority's) settlements in Israel, and actually, there is also a Muslim minority there, so There were some signs that right next to the Chinese and Tibetan writing there were some Arab letters. So I wasn't really far with my Arab places associations.

By the way, I don't mind smelling smoky anymore anyway. You can't really avoid it in China and the Japanese advice i got in Dali about not using any soap and just scrubing myself with a wet towel as a good way to keep great skin is useful both against the cold and against those "Pooh! I just showered and now i smell again" regrets.

Uh, and another thing that will make you happy: I've joined the Swein-flue-mask-fashion-victim-club. Not because I find O.R. nurses so sexy but because, well, there are many reasons to wear it: Swein flue fright, air-pollution (that's really strong around this part of Asia), local ladies here use it as a sun-block as a part of their white skin rush and I use it to keep my face from the cold and the dumb-succer-Luwai look. Not that anybody believes that I'm Asian, no...

After trying out the disposal masks I got in Israel and deciding that it gives the dentist assistant look (not a great association, even for the most kinky people) I have bought a nice black velvety with dark blue flowers. I thought it would suit everything plus my favourite warming blue shirt, but it's just ugly. It looks criminal.

You know what?! I don't care. I'm cold!

When I saw people wearing these things at first I thought about diseases and pollutions, but now I just think "What a nice pattern! I wonder if this color will suit me." and stuff. If you ever wore a puffed sleeves shirt, sharp pointed shoes or anything else that'sonly justified because it was on a long-back Russian girl on a magazine - Don't judge!

Back to our traveling affairs: the stupidest thing: Deqin is bordering Sichuan, but to get to Chengdu I have to get back to Shangrila and then to take two busses to get to get to Chengdu. I went back through Benzilan and spent another night there.

I had to make a quick decision concerning the China/IndoChina crysis, since my Chinese visa expires in a few days, so, and i'm so proud of myself for that, I got up at seven something and went on the eight o'clock bus back to Shangri la, went straight to Western Union and then to the visa extension office.

My intention was to return to Lijang today and go have a beer in the New Amsterdam bar (where Lauwais are to be found!) and tomorrow morning get up to Juniper's carrot cake at the Nordic Delights cafe and bakery, but the procedure of visa extension here requires an acomodation registration from a hotel in town, so i have to spend another night here (better. I like my hotel here, i needed the internet and i found out that there's a less-stupid way to get to Chengdu, which means i don't have to go back south to Lijiang to do that).

Besides, I could go to Lijiang to do all my arrangements, but Shangri la is so much comfortable - it's smaller and everything's so close. After 3.5 days here I already know where everything is, like in Rishon, Tel Aviv on Eilat. I'm already a local, using the intercity busses and know where to get everything. Plus, you have to work really hard to get lost here. You look for a cafe that you saw the other day. F**k. Who knows where it is... There are three exits from this square. But hey! There it is! No matter which path you took - it led you there. So, you see, even though it's freezing here I got to like this little town.

So, after a small beaurocratic procedure (Checking into a hotel, taking the papers, going to the police that didn't really understand what i wanted from them and back to the visa extention authority office, accompanied by a cop) - The requested Chinese visa extension has been achieved. It's decided then. I am going to Sybir... Oops... Beijing. And Shanghai.

Yeah, as if a few freezing mornings and a language barrier could ever stop me.

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Comments

[mom-ish]

I too miss shopping with you on Friday mornings. I'd liketo give you a warm (no' hot!!!)hug. mom-ish