Dali

Travelling is about flexibility right- hence our abandonment of plans to go so called 'off the beaten track' in Jianchuan and Shaxi between Lijiang and Dali. Actually we did go to Jianchuan, checked into a hotel, checked out town for a few hours, checked out of hotel and got a late afternoon bus out of town!

It was a fairly nice town, had a modest sized old town, we got shown around a few old courtyards by a an we're fairly certain was mentally ill, and a bit raving mad!, but the weather was simply foul- low hanging mist, rain, and chill, showing no sign of lifting within at least a few days! And in China everyone was born in a tent!! It just seemed impossible to find anywhere warm, and the sights miserable in the rain, so we knew we'd be more comfortable in Dali- a place with a street rechristened "Yangren jie" (Foreigners street) full of cosy cafes who cleverly cater to western tastes with couches, closed doors (!!!!!!), and Yunnan coffee. (Yes it was pouring rain in Dali too- and we remembered why we brought books!)

So Dali has been nice but not exactly to plan- Mum is ready for warm weather and we're off to Jinghong tomorrow (where it is apparently a balmy 27 degrees)， I will be heading to Jinan after -which is well and truly winterish and don't expect warm weather for quite a while later！

There is lots of snow on the hills above town， unusual I think 。 Impressions of Dali？ Little old ladies sidling up to us whispering， "Hello， ganga？ smok-a？"， the same ones again and again- they even came up to the window where we sat inside miming！ You are forced to blow them off like flys！ There is one street here that has been rechristened "Yangren jie"- Foreigners street，which is mainly where this pestering happens！ Lovely buildings，a very criss cross square pattern of cobbled streets， one section that is completely touristified- the only shops are selling cloths， clothes， marble and jewellry etc， but mostly there is a lot more of the old town that is untouristified than Lijiang。
Mum is a bit 'over' the hippy style retro cafes which play 70's music- hasn't anything changed she says？， but personally I don't mind it。 If you， like us today are worn out (the poo-spew type of worn out, until today we've been lucky!)， or it's pouring rain， these places beat the conventional CHinese eatery for hanging out. (Sorry Jianchuan, Shaxi- know we didn't give you a fair go!)

We went to a market in Shaping- crazy suff! buy buy buy- you know ladies running after you saying 2 for 50, no, 2 for 40, 2 for 30, 3 for 30, ...., 4 for 20! (these were beaded necklaces that i didn't want!- the things you don't want are always cheaper!). It was great watching everyone, especially the ladies who had colourful Bai headdresses and scarves, but whenever we bought anything, I felt a bit like a fool with money :), wondering, did I want that thing (insert jewellry, embroidered fabric, batic wall hanging here), hang on, did I come up to that price...

We also went onto the lake (ended up looking round some famous rich chinese artists mansion...not quite what we thought we were paying for...but the lake ride was nice), and looked around Xizhou, another nice Bai historic town.

We sent some of our shopping back to Australia today- was a bit of a debacle。 there was so many people hustling to get served， and when we put the customs declaration on I had ticked two boxes "Surface" and "SAL"（Air was another option）， by accident- the girl asked which way we wanted it sent， and I said is Sal cheaper （in english since she asked me in english）， and she said yes， so I said that one。 Then when she printed out the bill it was 450 kuai， while we were expecting more like 186Y！ I asked to see the book again， and it turns out it was the wrong one (surface cheaper than SAL)。 But the girl said it can't be changed，it's in the computor now！ （Computor says no！）。 Then all these other people came up and she was dealling with like 3 groups at a time， so we just sat and waited， deterined not to pay over 400， then she said to us， about 15 minutes later， "Na zenme ban？"， and I said "Wo zhi you liang bai qian， wo bu xiang fu name duo！"， and she did some stuff in the computor， and what do you know， she could change it， but the bill was more than 200！（including box we brought， was 203）， and she was very suspicious then- If you only have 200， it's more that 200 （didn't tell us it was only 3Y more！） Are you sure you can pay？！！！， We made ammends before we left！

I shall go cosy up with my book (The Namesake- is a fantastic read) near the window and people watch the sly old grandmas dealing weed。 ：）Poor Mum had food poisoning from last nights dinner much worse than me (I just felt queasy and went off my food) and has gone to bed already.