except plan what I was going to do next and sort out some laundry.
Benji and Karin were heading for Lijiang so I went with them to the
bus station to buy a ticket - which turned into a real adventure.
My original plan had been to head back to Lijiang, and then Kunming,
and then head towards Hong Kong, as I need to leave China every thirty
days. But my plan totally changed when I got chatting to an Israeli in
one of the bars in Dali about a really rough back route to Chengdu. It
sounded great - and the fact that it was officially closed also peaked
my interested.
So after some research (and a few rumours that the route was now open)
I decided to go for it.
So I get to the bus station and ask for a ticket to Xiancheng and
after a lengthy conversation in Chinese amongst the bus station ticket
counter staff am told the bus is for Chinese only - no westerners.
Luckily - I'd met some guys in The Raven the night before who'd bought
tickets and had left that day - so I explained this - but the woman
starts getting irate saying no foreigners allowed. So I ask for a
ticket to Litang - which is the next town after Xiencheng - but she
says there are no buses at all and I can't go as I'm a foreigner.
So slightly frustrated I headed back into town to decide whether to
give up the idea. Kate suggested that I try one of the locals to see
if they could help, so I headed to a cafe called Sean's where the
owner Daisy speaks really great English (and makes awesome breakfasts)
to see if she could help.
She tried phoning someone, but they weren't in, so she told me to
return in a few hours. So I wandered around town and when I went back
she'd gone to all the trouble of actually going to the bus station and
buying the ticket for me. She even offered to open extra early in the
morning and make me breakfast and a packed lunch. (Thanks Daisy - your
awesome!).
That night a few of us met at the prayer wheel at sun set and went for
food - and then it was one final hot chocolate and baileys at The
Raven...
No comments:
Post a Comment