The group split 8-2, as Efan, Mari, and all our luggage went to thank the lady who had helped her organize our extra adventures. Meanwhile, we others walked through the old town one last time to meet up with them at the other gate. Along the way, there was a market that looked like it wasn’t just geared towards tourists, and we had breakfast there.
It was a shame we’d only explored the upper part at first, and when we had to head back to the meeting point, we saw that the lower part was even more diverse. Finally, we set off, at least for a few minutes, as one of the drivers took us to his parents’ jewellery store. The problem wasn’t that the items weren’t beautiful and worth the price, but nobody wanted to spend €500 or more at that moment.
there are about 35 characters for the provinces. “云” (=”cloud”) stands for 云南 = Yunnan (南 = “South”) and the letters A,B,C … represent a city, sorted by BIP. SO Kunming has A, and the “M” here stands for a city ranked nr 13
So, we continued, again for a few minutes, again for jewellery. I thought this would go on until we finally buy something, but I don’t know for sure, because Danny actually bought a ring at a reasonable price.
And then we really started a four-hour drive with a lunch break, again with unknown food on a round, rotating table. Interesting detail for Europeans:
It’s customary to eat together and help yourself from all the common plates, but you’re supposed to have a separate plate for bones (the main course was a bony chicken).
The hotel was again a nice place, but apparently, I have to accept the trend toward acoustic and visual transparency in bathrooms. I don’t remember if that was the case in 2019, because as a solo traveler, it didn’t matter to me. But this time I’m paying attention, because it’s important to me. There are situations in which I do not want to be exposed like a fish in an aquarium, and I wonder when this nice Roman habit of finding relief in groups was lost on the way to my acculturation.
The hotel is near Er Hai Lake, but 4 km from Dali’s old town. So, we went there to explore the very touristy area and have dinner. It was a barbecue place where you could choose what to fry from a display case. Unfortunately, the guy was too quick and seasoned my tofu, but Tony showed me how to make it edible by soaking it in a cup of hot water. Now it was a bit too bland, but still better for my digestion. We had such a good selection that everything was eaten, especially the mushrooms, which were a huge success. One variety is called “See You Tomorrow,” and I wonder why they are eaten if this has so little effect on them.