Our last couple days in Dali were fairly quiet compared to the first couple. With our friends off to the monastery to study Kung Fu for a couple days, Darren and I just laid low. Unfortunately, without hikes and bike rides to occupy us, we spent a vast amount of time walking around the Old City, which is beautiful and full of culture; however, it's also full of little markets and old Bai women trying to sell you anything from jewlery to "gonja" (am I spelling that right?).
There's this one old lady who's always sitting at the same place, who we pass constantly. It's gotten to the point where as soon as she makes eye contact with us, Darren says "wo bu yao" (I don't want). Hee hee. You have to admire her persistence however, because the other day she did manage to reel us in--for bracelets, not drugs. I stopped to look at one or two of the ones she had on the table, and next thing I know, she's pulled out an entire bag from somewhere inside her garments/coat, and had put ten onto my wrist... all ten, up my wrist. Darren joked that she see how many it would take to go all the way up my arm. We had a good time bargaining with her and got them for what we thought was a decent deal. (I find that with the old ladies, I'm not quite as ruthless in my bargaining... I find the whole process more amusing with them, and I find myself just doing it for fun, not even for the actual product.) However, just as I turned and was walking away, examining my buy, the ladies from the next table saw me; and, literally four of them chased me down the street offering me cheaper bracelets. I think with the first lady I paid 50 RMB for 10 bracelets, and these other women were offering me bracelets for 4 RMB a piece, and I'm sure I could've gotten them down to 2-3 RMB. When the one women wouldn't leave us alone, I did attempt to get them for 1 RMB each, and she laughed and walked away. It's always a fail safe method really... you just low ball the crap out of them, and they will either recognize their defeat, or you'll get a super good deal! (These aren't the same bracelets as the ones you got us Ruth. These ones are more like pendant/beaded bracelets.) Last night, while waiting for Darren who was perusing video games, I somehow found myself in a little street market (which we somehow completely bypassed until last night. Those who know me, know that whether I mean to or not, I always end up in a mall or market of some sort or another). Again, I found myself face to face with a little old Bai woman and this time, Ruth, I was buying the thicker "silver" bracelets (who knows what they're really made of, but I think they're half silver, or at least that's what the lady a few stalls down told me). I immediately browsed through and picked out ten (Ruth, I have three or four of the dragon/pheonix bracelets for you to choose from, and two of the zodiac ones as well), and so the bargaining process began. Again, I loose my edge with these old ladies in their blue hats and layers of colours and patterns (I need to take a picture of one of them), and it didn't help that she pointed out that her and I have the same mole on our chins--like long lost relations! I ended up buying 10 for 100 RMB, knowing that I gave in too easy; and of course, the lady from the next stall tried to offer me 14 for 100 RMB. I had to stiffen my lip with her and ended up buying 7 of the wider bracelets for 60 RMB. She wasn't too happy with me, amused I think, but a little disappointed that I wasn't as easy a target as she thought I would be. Of course, after that, I ended up buying earings at the next table, and only got away from the old Bai version of myself who was trying to bait me with silk handicrafts, because the shopping made me really hungry--"Chi fan. Chi fan. Xie xie, zai jian!" (Eat food. Eat food. Thank-you, good-bye!)
Jewellery aside, the owners of our hostel also gave us the address of where they buy their DVD's. Not sure if they're all decent quality, but that's the gamble you make for 8 RMB a piece (we bought 18 :S, including the entire Godfather collection on blu-ray--a little more expensive. Oooo- Leah, I bought Brightstar!). I Love Dali!
Other than shopping and eating numerous dumplings we did a bit of kayaking yesterday. I could totally go for another massage, my back is killing me. It wasn't the greatest day for it, but we managed well enough. We paddled across the lake to a temple and small village, which took us 45 minutes and just wandered for a while. It was supposed to be 20 RMB to get into the temple area, but no one was there to collect our money so that was a cheap little experience. There wasn't a lot to see on that part of the lake, and we were going to paddle across to the island where the "famous" people live, but as we got back down to where we had stowed the kayak, the wind had picked up and the waves weren't looking too friendly. Even getting off the shore-line was difficult. The locals construction workers who were rebuilding the road, gathered around to watch us attempt to launch the kayak. We always seem to be a source of amusement for the local people. I got in first because I was sitting in the front, and as Darren tried to get in, we weren't quite facing the waves properly, and as he was half in, a huge wave came and started to rock us a bit. I got soaked, but he bailed and was standing in waist high water while me and the kayak just waded a few feet away from him. Hee hee. Once we got going, the waves didn't seem to be getting any better, and with dark angry clouds looming over the mountains on the other side of the lake, we thought we'd throw in the towel and head back. Now, for anyone who knows anything about kayaking/canoeing/boating of any unpowered kind, you're supposed to avoid travelling parrallel to the waves as they can knock you over if they're big enough. So, even though where we wanted to go was directly across the lake from where we were, it would've required paddeling parrallel to the waves. So, we had to sort of zig zag our way back, against the waves and wind. It sucked and it was tough, but at the same time it was a blast. The only real downside of the trip, was that my knees are burnt, Darren's too. Never be fooled by the clouds, they may block out the sun but it's not the same as being in the shade, especially on water. So we both have strange red knees, but only on the insides since the outsides were slightly sheltered by the kayak. Once we docked and got soaked again, one of the locals (who the owners of our hostel rent their storage space from) cooked us lunch. It was delicious, and there was so much of it.
We love Dali, but it's off to Lijiang this afternoon. The whole visa situation is still up in the air. We have double entry visas, the first entry expiring in two and a half to three weeks. The debate is whether or not to apply for an extension, since we'll only need an extra week or so to finish up; however, when you apply for an extension, it seems they just cancel your current visa and issue you a new one, so we think we'd probably risk losing our second entry, and we would like to spend a couple days in Beijing before we fly home. So, we either rush through the next few locations and finish before our visas expire (not a favourable option), using our second entry (60 days) just to spend a few days in Beijing; or, we get the extension, take our time finishing China, and apply for another visa before going back to Beijing. I think the latter is what we'll likely do. I've also heard that there is something called a "bridge visa" for people stopping in mainland China on an international flight. We'll see. If we do apply for an exntension, it probably wont be until Guilin. So until then, it's Lijiang and the Tiger Leaping Gorge next. Hope all is well and we'll let you know how the Gorge goes!
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