19/2/07 A night at the Higherland Inn

I couldn't afford to spend anymore time in Kunming as nice as it was. Gonna have to budget time as carefully as money as there are so many places that I want to visit in Sichuan, Qinghai and Tibet but so little time as I only until March 31st. 2 months disappears really quick when you're travelling!



I arrived in Dali Old Town 大理古城 this afternoon after being dropped off at bloody Xiaguan which is known as New Dali by the long distance coach. Luckily I encoutnered a taxi driver who was nice enough not to rip me off and told me how to take the public bus for 1.5 rmb instead of driving the whole way for 20 rmb. The locals here are nice, I see a lot of the Bai minority walking around in their white costumes with their colourful hats.

On the advice of Simon, I went to stay at the Higherland Inn which is halfway up the mountain range on the western side of Dali - I guess I'm at least 2800m from sea level as there is snow on the rooftop of my quaint lodgings. It's quite remote.




What I didn't know is that the HIgherland is supposed to be closed for Spring Festival week - luckily enough the caretaker who lives here let me in to stay for the night. I was cold, hungry and tired when I arrived and I really didn't want to go back down the mountain to look for another place to stay.