Three hours by plane, three weeks by train

by Ken
(Japan)

After a delay, due to a typhoon that struck Shanghai causing the airport to close, which was defined as 'indefinite' on the airport monitor, I arrived in Kunming via Shanghai at 3am in the morning - five hours later than scheduled. The flight from Shanghai to Kunming took 3 hours. I would have to make it back to Shanghai, travelling mostly by train, in three weeks, in order to catch my flight back to Japan.
I showed the map in my guidebook to a taxi driver at the airport and he took me to my youth hostel. The 8km taxi ride cost 30 yuan off the meter, which means that with the meter running it would've cost 20 - 25 yuan. I was greeted at the hostel by a drunken Englishman from Leeds who joked that there were no beds available. I was tired and at first I didn't realise he was joking. Hilarious.
The next morning I looked around Kunming. It is a modern city with not many sights, but it is not too big and was a good place to prepare for the long journey ahead. I needed to arrange a train ticket to Dali, 359km away. Most hostels in China have a travel desk and for a small service fee can arrange train, plane and bus tickets. The ticket to Dali cost 77 yuan for a hard sleeper (second class bed) plus a 15 yuan service fee. I wanted to take the night train, but had to take the day train as that was the only ticket available. This meant that I would arrive in Dali in the evening with no hostel reservation.
The train left at noon the next day. As far as I could see I was the only foreigner in my carriage. I was given snacks by some of the Chinese passengers, and one of them spoke a little English. Some children tried to speak basic English phrases that they had learnt. I tried to sleep but it was difficult with people running up and down the carriage, and talking loudly. The train didn't go directly to Dali. It stopped at Xiaguan which is 18km away. The passenger who spoke a little English showed me to where the taxis gathered.
The 18km taxi ride to Dali cost 50 yuan. The driver dropped me off outside a hostel different to the one that I showed him in my guidebook. I was tired so I decided to stay here anyway because it looked nice, and Dali was quite small, so the location of the hostel was not important. I hadn't made a reservation but that was no problem because they had beds available. One night in a room with four beds cost only 15 yuan. The only problem was that next to the hostel was a building site, so it was a little noisy. I went to the bar and bought a decent size pizza, a big salad, and an orange juice for 32 yuan. A 620ml bottle of local beer cost 5 yuan.
The next day I looked around the city. It is a small historic walled city with a large gate on each of the walls. To walk from one wall to the opposite wall takes about 10 or 15 minutes. It is a relaxing place with a very laidback atmosphere. Unfortunately the weather was not too good so I alternated my day between sightseeing and having drinks at the restaurant and hostel. I arranged my ticket at the hostel reception to my next destination - Lijiang. My minibus was due to leave early the following morning. The ticket cost 40 yuan plus a small service fee.
I woke up very early the next morning to the sound of construction. It was too early to get up so I tried to ignore the noise and go back to sleep. Unfortunately this also made me ignore my alarm. I was woken up by one of the hostel staff who told me that the minibus to Lijiang was waiting downstairs. In five minutes I was on the bus and we made our way around Dali to pick up the other passengers. Very soon we were on our way out of Dali heading towards Lijiang. Lijiang is 200km from Dali and the journey was supposed to take three and a half hours. The road passed small mountain villages before eventually winding up the hills into the mountains themselves.
Half way through out journey another minibus overtook us and urged for our minibus to stop. The other driver had noticed that we had a puncture in one of our tyres. We kept on driving steadily until we found a place where the tyre could be changed. It was a welcome break and people on the bus walked down the road to take photos of the mountain scenery. After 30 minutes we were on our way and eventually arrived in Lijiang in the early afternoon.

Lijiang has an old town and a new town. Since the old town is completely pedestrianised, the minibus dropped me off in the new town. I took out my guidebook to use the map to find the hostel where I wanted to stay. According to the map in the book, the old town didn't have many streets - just a few running approximately parallel to the river. When I arrived at the old town I realised that my guidebook only contained the major streets. The whole town was a maze of cobblestone streets, and what looked like straight streets according to my map, actually had kinks and turns that the makers of my guidebook didn't feel necessary to print. After walking around trying to find the hostel for nearly one hour, I decided to buy a tourist map of Lijiang from a street vendor. I arrived at my hostel a few minutes later. I wasn't sure whether I would stay for two or three nights, but one night only cost 30 yuan so I paid for three.
I had already seen a lot of the town during my search for the hostel. But now I didn't have my luggage to carry, so I set off to have another look. For the last 1400 years, Lijiang has been the centre of the Naxi minority - of which there are more than 250,000 followers. Around town Naxi women, in their traditional blue clothes, can be seen.
The evening came and I found myself waiting for the minibus to the airport. When it came I thought there would be some sort of storage space underneath the bus for our luggage. It turned out that we had to take everything onto the bus with us. There was one more seat than there were people, so fortunately I was able to put my backpack on it. Others crammed the isle with their large suitcases and there really was no place to move. As we pulled out of the car park a few minutes before schedule, I saw some foreigners arrive by taxi, probably hoping to catch the bus. The driver either didn't see them, or ignored them and we continued on our way. Besides, the bus was full anyway. On the way to the airport a Chinese university student spoke to me and asked me about my trip. He was from Xi'an, which would be my next stop after Chengdu.
After an 80 minute delay, I found myself on an extremely modern aeroplane on the one hour flight to Chengdu. During the flight, a passenger was having difficulty opening her bottle of water. She asked me if I could do it for her. I gave her a smile which suggested 'give it here, love, I'll do it for you.' I really tried but I was unable to open it. It hurt the skin on my palm. I apologised and gave her back the unopened bottle. She asked the stewardess for help, and the she opened the bottle with one easy twist. I must have loosened it for her.
At 1am the plane arrived at Chengdu airport. The only way to get to the city was by taxi. I showed the map in my guidebook to a taxi driver. After some discussion with other drivers as to where the hostel was, we set off on the 20km journey. The driver talked on his phone and drove with one hand most of the way to the city down the highway. We passed a serious traffic accident. A taxi had smashed into the back of a truck, which had destroyed the passenger side of the taxi and nearly taken the roof off. I was also sitting on the passenger side. The taxi driver continued to talk loudly on his phone and drive with one hand. We arrived at the area where the hostel was, and the driver asked a local shop owner where it was exactly located. He pointed towards an extremely dark street, which was mostly blocked off by construction leaving only a metre wide alley at the side of the road. He pointed and gestured to me that the hostel was down there. I paid the 68 yuan fare and stood at the end of the alley. I was extremely hesitant to walk down it. I took out my guidebook and checked that I was in the right place, hoping that the taxi driver had made a mistake and the hostel was actually on the next street. A local came up to me and asked if I needed help. I showed him the name of the hotel and he gestured me to follow him down the alley. I wasn't sure whether I should, but the situation seemed ok and he offered to help me carry my luggage. We walked very far down the alley and I was a little worried, but eventually we arrived at the hostel. I wouldn't have walked this far if someone hadn't shown me the way, so I was grateful. I thanked him and checked into the hostel, waking up my roommate by opening the door just as she was about to after hearing someone fumble around with keys in the door to her room. A bed cost 40 yuan per night.
The next day I was able to see the hostel in the daylight. The Dragon Town Youth Hostel is a four storey building, dating back to the Qing dynasty, surrounding a courtyard. The people who run the place are the friendliest hostel staff that I met during my trip.