I got out of Dali today and went to a market in a nearby village. I’m still a bit burnt out on the whole tourist thing, but today I was tagging along with someone else and that made it more interesting. I met Sarah the first night I was here. She is a fellow English teacher and traveler who told me that I would have no problem getting a job on my own in China because I had a degree, a TEFL certificate and I was under 60. She isn’t, and it’s a sore point with her. Not the fact that she’s over 60, but the fact that the Chinese government won’t allow her to teach because she has passed this threshold. It’s a tragedy for Chinese students that this bright and energetic woman can’t be allowed to help them learn English. She has such enthusiasm for exploring different cultures and learning about people both generally and specifically that it piqued my interest as well (sign of a good teacher). The market in Shaping was ho-hum, but it was good to get out and socialize a bit as well as practice my Chinese.
Between Shaping and Dali there is another small town called Xizhou. It is here that an American couple (the wife being Amer-Asian) purchased and restored an ancient home and turned it into a hotel. It’s actually more than a hotel. The Linden Centre is a place where they really try to give you the Chinese culture experience whether it’s through tours, classes or volunteering opportunities. I was there for less than an hour and I got to see a Chinese funeral procession. When they passed the hotel, we all went running out to see the spectacle, including the owner. I asked if we were being disrespectful and he told me that it was considered good luck to witness a Chinese funeral. Just being able to look around the place was a treat because they involved the local artisans to bring the original architecture back to life. With the exception of the addition of the Linden Centre and a few mobile phone stores, life in Xizhou probably hasn’t changed much in the past fifty years and it doesn’t have the feel of a tourist trap. I had the opportunity to walk through the town and out into the cane fields. Actually, I was running because Sarah keeps up a crazy-fast walking pace. She had written an article on the place last year and she wanted me to see it.
I had planned to stay in Dali for a few days, but I liked The Lily Pad so much that I extended it to four after the first day. Today, I found out just how difficult it is to travel in China when there is a holiday. During the May Day celebration that is a long weekend for some and a full week off for others, a lot of Chinese get out and travel to places like Dali and Lijiang, which is where I was headed. First I found out that the bus companies not only increase their prices during this holiday, but they also don’t schedule until last minute. Then I found out that the hotel rooms in Lijiang were doubling their prices. When I first read about it, I knew that May Day was going to cause complications with my itinerary. If it got too complicated, I thought that I would find an inexpensive guesthouse and lay low until the madness was over. I asked one of the staff if the prices here were going to be raised. She told me that they weren’t, and so I booked my room until May 5. I like it here. It’s inexpensive. There’s plenty going on. Lijiang is just going to have to wait.
