Up early, and figure the others will be in bed for a while, so I go grab some breakfast and mess around on the internet. When I finish, the women running the cafe suggests I check out the market. She points it out on a map, but Lijiang is a mess of small narrow streets, so I’m not sure I’ll find it. “Just follow the women with the baskets on their backs.” She tells me, so I figure I’ll give that a try.
I find the market eventually, but after going way out of my way at one point. Had I made a left at one point, I’d have found it much easier. When I do find it, it’s quite big and bustling with people, and I’m not sure how I managed to miss it. Must have been a lull.
After the market, which I just walk around in, since it’s mostly fruit and vegetables, I follow a bunch of Chinese tourists, who seem to be heading towards something. A lot of the young girls are dressed up, so I’m under the impression some sort of event is going on, but maybe people just dress up on Sundays.
The herd leads me to Black Dragon Pond park, which used to cost 80 yuan ($9) to enter (park/sight prices are outrageous in China – at least in comparison to a 30 yuan ($4) room). Nice park, but nothing terribly outstanding. I meet a Chinese girl who seems to work at the park, although I am not sure what exactly she does. Her name is Fei, and she’s pretty depressing – but wants to practice her English (which isn’t too bad already), so I listen in.
After the park I try and find my way back to the guesthouse, running into a British woman, Kathy, at one point. She’s at the same hostel, but a different building, so following her is useless. I find my actual guesthouse soon after, and run into the Irish boys, and a few others who have arrived from Dali. They’re all going biking, but the weather looks like it’ll turn to rain at any moment, so I pass.
After another great dinner, I help Stephanie with her hard drive, which doesn’t seem to be working anymore. It’s a little difficult to accomplish much on the computers, which are all in Chinese. I tell her everything should be okay, and to try another computer, so we’ll see what happens. Alan, Wolfy and I head out to see if we can buy some pants (I still haven’t gotten a pair since I had mine stolen). I don’t find anything worth buying, but the other two do. We buy some snacks for the gorge trip in the morning, and since it is pouring rain, figure we may as well sleep so we’re rested for the trek in the morning.
