Air Quality!

I left Yangshuo on Monday, after a lovely weekend of food poisoning. Back I went to Guilin, where I waited for a few hours before the overnight train to Kunming. This time around I bought a “hard sleeper” ticket, but I didn’t regret it. The only significant difference between hard and soft, apparently, is that in hard there’re six bunks to a compartment, as opposed to four, and there’s no door. This time I remembered to bring some ramen noodles along too.



Once in Kunming it didn’t take long to find a bus bound for Lijiang. I suspect I was gouged on the ticket price, but I decided to pay it anyways since I didn’t know how long it would take me to find the official bus, there didn’t seem to be many English language interfaces around. At any rate, I got on the bus and assumed the catatonic bobble-head position for a few hours, until the driver motioned us to depart and transfer to another vehicle. An enthusiastic man welcomed me to the back middle seat, he was an English professor, and asked me if I’d ever been to Dali before. Oh, I rejoined, is this bus going to Dali? It was, and that’s why I’m in a hotel in Dali right now instead of the Enjoy Inn in Lijiang. I probably could’ve made it to Lijiang today, but my butt hurt and I wanted a shower— I’ll just get a bus in the morning. At least I got a good deal on the hotel, I asked the cabby to take me somewhere I could stay for eighty Kuai. This is where I ended up, and eighty is what I’m paying, but the rates on the wall say a hundred and eighty-eight per night.



I’m loving Yunnan already. It’s the first place I’ve been (in China) with acceptable air quality. The sky is actually blue, and, I don’t know why, but the clouds are amazing. Maybe it’s not like this every day, but they’re just ridiculously tall and billowy. That’s how it is in Dali at least; I hope things are similar in Lijiang.

Thursday—

The boss plays Go, and he’s good! We played two games last night and, while I sure wasn’t in my best form, I can tell he’s severely stronger than I am. Hopefully we can play more in the days to come, provided it’s not too boring for him.



I finally made it to Lijiang yesterday and, as per normal, it was a regular whirlwind. I met the family who owns the place, their dog, their cats (the non skittish one), and went out on a little walk with some guests to explore the area. The little walk was more like a hike, and a thunderstorm caught us near the top of the little mountain we were climbing. But, it was no big deal. To our mutual surprise, the guests and I share a common interest in Anime— even a shared interest in specific series, so we had no shortage of conversation topics (would you believe they also read The Song of Ice and Fire and The Foundation? Nobody reads The Foundation!).



Dear, dear, apparently I don’t feel like writing this morning, but I will soon. I foresee no shortage of morning writing in Lijiang. The family stirs itself around ten, and until then the place is empty save for myself, and the few guests who need the door opened.