Last Stop in China

Friday, July 18, 2008--Dali to Kunming

It rained with thunder and lightning all night in Dali. And it was still raining when I got up this morning. I had seen all I wanted to see anyway, including the famous Three Pagodas which supposedly are one of the most familiar photos from all of China.

I had made a reservation to have breakfast again today at The Bakery No. 88, so I headed for there with my umbrella protecting me from most of the rain. They were just opening. I had the same breakfast as yesterday except that I had plum jam instead of the mango-apple jam I had before. The breakfast was just as good. UMMMM!

I had bought a ticket to travel to Kunming by VIP (First Class) bus today. I was glad not to be staying with all of the rain. At 9:00, the driver picked me up and took me and two other passengers we picked up to the nearby city that has the main bus station. The bus was very nice with only 3 seats (2+1) across an aisle. They were leather seats with nice armrests. I was on the side of the aisle with a single seat.

As we made our way toward Kunming, I slept some. And the rain gradually stopped. By the time we got here, the sun was shining. But what a mess it was getting to the bus station. There were crowded streets with construction going on. It took us almost an hour to get to the bus station after being inside the city.

I had decided to stay at a hotel near the university. It was a long walk from the bus station, but I didn't know what bus would take me there. And I was tired of sitting and felt like moving. I just walked the 5+ km (3+ miles) to get there. It would have been easier if Kunming didn't let the bicyclists and the motorcyclists park their vehicles on the sidewalks leaving only a narrow path for pedestrians!!

The room is nice, but it is over-priced like the last room I had here. The TV has only local TV, too, which is strange since the room is so nice physically and since everywhere else in China has had either cable or satellite TV.

I have always been suspicious of vegetarian restaurants that try to duplicate meat or fish dishes. Why would a vegetarian want the taste of meat or fish? And how could a restaurant duplicate the taste of meat or fish without having actually eaten meat or fish before? It just seems like a wrong-headed idea to me. But the guidebook highly recommends a place like that, and my traveling compansion in Shangri La and Deqin had been there and recommended the place, too. So I walked to a nearby vegetarian place for dinner. The whole menu was a list of "meats" and "fish" that were not meats or fish. I picked out a dish called "braised pork and vegetables" and ordered it with rice. Well, it was way too much food to begin with. It was a bowl full that, if filled with something like mashed potatoes, would have served 6-8 people. There were cuts of "bacon" inside--vegetable substitute that even had stripes like bacon. But when I tasted of them, there was no taste of bacon. It was just bland--like any other substitute meat dish I have ever tasted. But the vegetables and the sauce were good, so I ate some of that over my rice. When I finished, I had eaten no more than 20% of what was in the bowl. What a waste of food. And I was wishing I had eaten elsewhere and hadn't wasted my money here.

I finished reading The Lighthouse by P.D. James last night. It's not the type of book (murder mystery) that I normally read, but I enjoyed it. I gave it 2 1/2 stars out of 4. Then this morning, I exchanged it at my guesthouse for a copy of William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury which someone had left there. I don't think I have read the Faulkner book, but I may have seen a movie version of it. Anyway, it's nice to have a new book to get me through more of my trip.