Get me out of here

Our bus journey from Shaxi to Lijiang, the next stop, was uneventful apart from a fellow traveller.

He was an older European who looked quite ill, and was carrying mountains of photographic equipment and luggage. We all alighted at the bus station and he approached us to enquire about accommodation. He had a card from a hostel but had no money to ring them and needed our assistance. Mandy's phone had run out of credit but we chatted and he was sick indeed. He had been mauled by two dogs in Dali and had spent a month in care. His stitches and scars were horrific, both on his legs and arms, but he was still travelling on.....you gotta wonder about people sometimes!!!!

Luckily two Chinese women helped him and we borrowed a taxi driver's phone to get the directions to our hostel and were soon ensconced in the Panba Hostel, a great place to stay.

Lijiang is well and truly cemented on the Chinese tourist trail, one of its most famous destinations. The old city is a larger version of Zhoaxing, beautiful to look at, but as we entered the main tourist area I could not believe the masses we encountered. I have never seen so many tourists in one spot....not even in Disneyland....I turned to Mandy and said, quote " get me out of here "

She refused and like most travel destinations, once you give them a little time and perseverance, there are aspects that grow on you.

In Lijiang:

we found quiet havens in small, interesting restaurants watching through the glass, the mayhem outside;

we found tiny upstairs bars that were the living rooms of the owners. In one we sat and drank on a tiny terrace overlooking the rooftops of the town whilst the Scottish owner and his Chinese wife ( we believed) and their son ( Mandy hoped ) watched a violent dvd on the couch inside and a group of young American girls did some dope next to us;

we visited a lovely village outside town and lunched and drank and watched a fascinating game of Petanque;

we wandered less travelled lanes, the Chinese tour groups being sticklers for following only the set routes, and found the quiet solitude that does exist;

we stayed in a hostel again and met some great people;

and by doing all of this we stayed longer than planned and left Lijiang reluctantly.

We did , in addition, order our first real burger. We had been told that a tiny restaurant served the best burgers in China...how could you ignore such a statement. We checked out the place and planned our burger purchase for the next day. We talked of nothing else ( probably a slight exxageration...but only slight.) We arrived early, drank a beer and had to decide between a beef or chicken burger. Mandy wanted the beef but being such a good girl opted for the chicken, it being healthier.

My naughty burger arrived and it looked magnificent. Mandy's arrived, and far from the chicken fillet we imagined it was a roll, choc-a-bloc full of shredded chicken, covered in an inedible sauce.

I believe Mandy nearly broke down and wept.

Sometimes it pays to be unhealthily naughty!!!


Our travel choices to Jinghong, our next stop, were 48 hours in buses or a fifty minute flight. For some reason we have developed an aversion to short flights and really had to think about this decision. In the end the flight won.

Having made the decision we spent an inordinate amount of time googling Chinese airline safety records to single out the company we wanted, but in the end it came down to choosing a company that had a solid sounding name...............................................

We chose Lucky Air.