Wake up and creep out of the room, so the Irish boys can sleep. They didn’t get in until quite late. I go to my usual place – it’s cold, so I have some porridge. Quite tasty. I wander around the old town for a bit, then head back to the guesthouse
The Irish guys (Alan, Wolfy and Aidan) are up, and heading to Lijiang this morning, so I find out where they booked their tickets, to see if I can tag along. I head down to the ticket office, and manage to get the last ticket on the bus. I have just enough time to head back to the hostel, grab my bag, and get back to the ticket office to catch the bus.
Bus ride isn’t too bad for me, despite the Chinese guy that spends most of his time sleeping on me. The Irish guys, along with Stephanie from Germany, are in the back row – and tell me later that they were pretty cramped. The driver is terrible, and goes way too fast, and takes too many risks, but we manage to make it alive. In Lijiang, we phone Mama Naxi, to pick us up and bring us to her guesthouse. The van can’t go into the old town, so we have to walk a bit, but it’s not too outrageous.
We check in to a 6 bed dorm at Mama Naxi (along with Bill, an American guy we met at the bus station), then head down to the common area for her dinner. Word of mouth is pretty important when you’re travelling, and the dinner at Mama Naxi’s had been recommended to me a few times – most recently by the Dutch couple in Kunming.
Dinner was quite good – a buffet style Chinese spread. Quite nice, and plenty of it, for less than $2. After dinner we walk around old town, then Bill, the Irish guys, and myself check out an Irish pub. It’s not too great, but has a nice view of the city, and plays some decent music, so it might be worth coming back to. The sun sets, and I wish I had a tripod to get a nice photo of the lit up hill in Lijiang at night.