Head first into a corn field...then full body into the rice paddy...

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Due to the excessive amounts of rain in Lijiang (and the rest of Yunnan province), we decided to forgo our trip to Tiger Leaping Gorge in favour of heading back east to a town called Dali on Monday. After a rather uncomfortable 3.5hr bus ride through gorges, mountains, clouds, goat and ox herds (and the feeling of imminent death due to the lack of road guards beside the cliffs....) we finally made it. We were dropped off on the side of the highway amongst a bunch of rocks. There were lots of taxi guys waiting around to take everyone who wanted a ride into town, but we decided that we could hike it to our place. Since it wasn't raining for once, it was actually a nice change. It was about 4km to our hostel and we didn't get lost for once! We are staying at the sister hostel to where we stayed at in Lijiang (MCA Hostel). They are quite nice, reasonably priced, hot water etc.

After checking in we headed out to walk around the touristy part of town which turned out to be the exact same crap as Lijiang. The architecture was typical Chinese and the city has a partially complete wall that was used to fend off the Qing army in the 1700-1800s. We also sampled a bunch of street meat/veggies in Dali to ensure that they met our standards (turns out; they did!). The people in this part of the province like their food extremely spicey - and cold (?). But we opt for warm/cooked food. We walked around for a few hours until heading back to the hostel. As we arrived back, we met a girl from San Fransisco (who also went to Stanford) and we exchanged movies/tv shows on our ipods - we now have more than law&order to watch...we now have law & order svu....She was great to talk to - very interesting. Her family is Chinese, but it is their first time in China, as her parents grew up in Burma and were educated in Taiwan. She speaks Mandarin quite well though since she learned it at home and she has also been working here since October (and plans to return home this september).

Yesterday morning we got some buffet breakfast (!) and then rented some bikes. Dali is surrounded by a chain of mountains on both sides and in the valley below is a large lake. The lake is dotted with small Bai communities (local cultural minority). We headed off for a day of adventure - Hanmu on a mountain bike and me on a road bike....and that's where the trouble began...Even though the bikes were made for a person about 5'5", we thought they'd be ok. After biking on the highway for a while we turned down towards the water on a dirt/mud road and wound up in a village. We continued to bike from village to village through corn fields and cow paths, getting funny looks from the locals and the constant calling of lao wie (foreigner). I'm a pretty good biker, but when you have a small road bike going through a rocky, muddy cow path in the middle of a corn field, not many people stand a chance. So I fell. The first time, my bike jumped off the trail, I did a 360 off the bike, and right into a bunch of corn. Hanmu said that he heard the corn break so he knew something was wrong. However, instead of making sure that I was ok, he took a picture of my upsidedown bike and me with my feet in the air first, before helping me out of the dirt. I only sustained minor injuries behind my ear - I lived. In between falls, we went through several more villages, played witness to a traditional Bai funeral and crossed the road to the mountain side (rather than the lake side). Not wanting to exclude the other side of the road, I also fell again. Similar situation as the first, but this time it was into a muddy, murky, cold, wet rice paddy. As I started to sink, Hanmu was nice enough to pull me out.....then take a picture of me...My entire right side was covered in mud from my shoes right up to my arm. Luckily, there was a small family who had the pleasure of witnessing this comical act and they told me to wash off in the nearby stream. I don't know what is worse though - falling in the mud or washing in the stream. I think that the water in the field was cleaner than in the stream...After biking for another 30min or so, my bike was officially broken (oh yah - we both had to replace a pedal on each bike as they broke during our ride...but what do you expect for 10rmb/d???). We hopped in a modified 3-wheeler with a cab and headed back to town. All in all, we biked about 30km and saw some great sceanery + cows + pigs + chickens (avian flu status is currently undetermined....). I had a shower with my clothes on to get the mud off...which was everywhere...and then we spent the rest of the afternoon just hanging around and eating more street meat/veggies.

Last night, we ran into a group of dutch travellers that we had met in Lijiang and ended up spending a better part of the evening with them as we did on my birthday. They were very popular with the Chinese as most of them have very blonde hair so lots of pictures were being taken. I think that they really enjoyed it (especially the kids about 15/16). After a few beers, one of them borrowed my hat and started charging money for the pictures. All in all I think he made about 20rmb - all in good fun. Unfortunately, there was none left when I got my hat back....😞

It is raining again today so activities are limited. We're heading back to Kunming tomorrow morning and then catching a train to Chengdu (north) tomorrow night.

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Comments

[JLee]

I think you should post the pics Hanmu took after your falls. I was laughing really hard. Keep writing, I check everday!