Naxi’s, Dogs and Movie Sets

Wednesday 6th December 2006

A free day to explore the town on our own today. Andrew opted for a bike ride to a Tibetan village whilst myself and Emily decided to find a market which was marked on the map. After asking many locals of which there are three steps to: 1. Say Ni hao to them (hello in Mandarin) and look as if you can speak Mandarin. 2. Point to the map (this is where point 1 falls down as you know no more Mandarin) 3. When the local has gabbled on in Mandarin to you, you nod politely and say xìe xìe (thank you in Mandarin) and go on your way to get lost even further. This is what happened to us and some 2 hours later we accidently stumbled upon the market, where we finally had breakfast which cost us all of 1.5 pence each. I must admit though I can’t say it did my insides any good as I was feeling the affects of it a few hours later. But we did get a greesy fried long thing that looked like cod in batter but wasn’t cod, some interesting soupy bun things and a big dumpling for this 1.5p so no complaining please. Street venders filled the space peeling all sorts of wierd and wonderful fruits vegetables and animals, one sight i never want to see again was that of the skinning of a dog, I felt i was going to keep this vegetarianism up for a while longer. Our venture was to find the number 6 bus to go to the Tibetan village where Andrew had gone on his bike, but we were unable to find the bus stop despite asking at 2 hotels, by repeating the steps above. Instead we accidently found the “blind man’s massage” which we had heard was good, so spent an hour being prodded and pressed by blind men all for the price of £2. This would have cost up to or more than about £30 in the UK. To complement the cheapness of the massage we dug deep into our pockets and treated ourselves to an ice cream which cost all of 12p. I do like China. The novelty of the old town was begining to loose its charm a little after feeling so relaxed, shop after shop packed with souvenier shops to fix those hungry tourists so we headed back to find a cafe that served tea and had internet, the latter was so slow that I gave up half way through. I was not used to that sort of electronic service after free wireless broadband elsewhere in China. We were left to fend for ourselves in the evening, as Bora had told us, so we ventured up to a Naxi street to find food. En route a Naxi Orchestra using antique instruments weas re performing in the square for free. Using weathered transverse flutes, copper going-frames and 3 string banjos, it was an interesting performance of magical sounds which made the feeling of being there even more unreal. Eventually we headed to find food, there was little choice apart from Kebab food so we became adventurous and opted for this. I decided that I would try a local dish – Baba – thick breads served with a sweet sauce a bit like golden syrup rather than noodle soup and Kebabs which the others had. My insides were begining to feel a little like a chain saw had grated through them, as I was having some difficulty eating and drinking.