After a pleasing wash + shave using hot water – such luxury – Val + I went down to the Garden restaurant to have some breakfast. We’d spotted one or 2 dishes on their menu last night that we thought we could face, so wanted to give them a try at least once, if only as a change from sponge. It was, in fact, quite successful – the only real mistake was the coffee. It was interesting enough – a cup of hot water + a sort of large cube that one dissolved in it. It was only after we added sugar that we discovered it was ready sweetened, so I don’t suppose we gave it a fair try.
Got to talking with an Anglo-Australian couple on the next table, + once we’d established that we were all approaching being on the same wavelength, I suggested we team up for dinner, an idea with which they readily agreed – with Chinese food, it’s almost the more the merrier.
Today was market day in Dali, so we spent much of the day wandering around. It was a very nice market indeed – not smelly + sordid as I’d found the couple we’d been to already in China, but folky + normal, with almost the feel of a market in a rural small town – Launceston, say – in England. Tho’, sadly, in an England long gone. Something out of Hardy perhaps. It wasn’t confined to one area, but spread out along all the main streets, which helped to ease congestion, tho’ you could hardly have told – it was still desperately crowded. It was too, for a change in China, very colourful. Dali is very close to the Burmese border, sharing many of the same ethnic peoples. They certainly brighten the dress of the locals, normally dreadfully drab, Mao suits in navy blue or khaki. The tribal people wear a predominantly royal blue costume, brightened up, especially in the case of the young girls, with colourful accessories + headdresses. We tried to take some photos, but it wasn’t easy. The people were shy, and the streets so very crowded, it was difficult to pick anybody out.
We both felt faint at one stage, Val for longer + more severely than I. It was very weird, almost like a drug experience, + couldn’t readily be explained by the press of the crowds. Fortunately, it wore off soon enough. We walked out to the bus station, where we’d been dropped off yesterday, to buy our tickets back to Kunming, but there didn’t seem to be anyone about, so had to give that a miss for the time being. It was well into the afternoon by now, + I suggested strolling down to the lake, not realising how far it was. As it was, we went down that direction a little way before cutting across + returning on a different road. A pleasant walk.
Even better (+ more looked-forward to) was our trip to the public bath-house. 60 fen each it cost, for which price one received a glorious hot bath in a grey marble tub – an individual affair, like a bath back home, rather than the communal affair one hears of in Japan. Afterwards, walking back to the hotel, I felt so relaxed + at ease, like I remember feeling after my first sauna.
When the day’s bus crowd arrived, who should it contain but Mike the Newfie. He was assigned to my room as well, along with a Dane called Jacob. I didn’t mind really – in fact, I was quite pleased to see him again. He had no sooner arrived than David + Laraine knocked on the door to invite us to dinner, so he joined us. A very fine meal it was too, the only thing slightly off being that Mike tended to be left out of the conversation, being a little bit of a cultural outsider. Afterwards, we all went to the local ice-house for ice-cream, then back to D + L’s room. The intention had been to look at some slides they had of the Langtang trail in Nepal, but we never got around to that. Dave had some Bob Hope, picked in a neighbouring field, so we smoked that. It was by no means potent stuff, but, with coffee, made a relaxing end to a good day.
An extremely pleasant and relaxing day, the sort that makes the hassles worth-while, with interesting things to see, nivce things to eat, pleasant company…
