October 17, 2005 Dali, Yunnan, China
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I woke up this morning feeling not quite right, but not quite wrong either. My throat didn’t hurt, but it didn’t feel right. Same with my stomach. And I was tired. I didn’t want to do anything. I think I have the “China slump.” China takes a lot out of you, and I am starting to dream of a beach holiday on Hainan Island.
My bus didn’t leave until 8:00 pm, so I forced myself to walk to a cable car up to a temple on a mountain behind Dali. I walked for three hours and never found it. I walked up a dirt road with piles of rocks everywhere towards a huge structure I thought must be the cable car terminal. Eventually the dusty little road turned into a huge concrete highway. That is so typical of China. Things go from primitive to modern and back unexpectedly.
The structure was massive, and wasn’t for tourists. Eventually I was forced to accept a tuk tuk guy’s offer of 1 RMB, which is negligibly cheap. The catch was that he would sell me a ticket on the cable car for 40 RMB ($5).
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I am tired of the extortive entry fees, and resolved to walk up myself, which my friend wasn’t too happy about. It was not easy. After 30 minutes of searching, with my driver desperately telling my it was impossible the whole time, I eventually found a way past the ubiquitous huge concrete walls that are everywhere in China, and panted and sweated up a steep, muddy trail for an hour. The temple was mobbed by Chinese tourists and wasn’t interesting, but was amazingly free.
I got on the cable car going down without buying a ticket. Should I feel guilty for cheating some rich officials out of 30 RMB? From now on I resolve to cheat as many officials as possible, but they are normally smarter, so I will be visiting fewer tourist attractions. I’ll save my money for the important things like the Forbidden City and the Great Wall.
I don’t know what awaits me in my next destination, Ruili, which I can’t pronounce properly (something like way-lee). Western backpackers don’t go there, since there are no attractions. But it’s a border town, with lots of goods being shipped in and out, since China is Burma’s only friend. It should be an interesting change of pace from artificial tourist towns.