Oreo Cheesecake
Turns out that the deluxe room doesn’t have solid walls all the way to the ceiling so we were up with the Spanish couple next door on skype till late last night. The morning’s mission was to finalize our Tibet plans and it ended up absorbing the entire morning. We exhausted all the possibilities for an overland crossing from here with the help of the hostel owner (May – who is from Inner Mongolia). She was fantastic; on the phone to agencies for us and getting information via QQ (Chinese Skype) and email all the while checking people in and sorting complaints. It seems impossible to get the additional military permit you need to cross from Shangrila into Tibet this year (even for locals). No matter which way we decide to do it (and there are a lot of options) it’s going to explode our budget.
We overheard an American chap talking about a similar plan but after spending a few minutes chatting to him it soon became clear that he was substantially more clueless than us and also unbelievably annoying. We couldn’t believe his arrogance. Complaining that there were not enough staff to solve all his travel problems instantly. These were hostel staff going above and beyond to help, not travel agents ! We decided to take a walk to clear our heads and consider our options (with the added benefit of getting away from the yanker).
We strolled through town and out towards the Black Dragon Pool with the ambition of taking the mandatory Lijiang photo. We had heard that you could avoid the £8 fee getting into the attraction by going around it but we didn’t try very hard and ended up coughing up. The weather was really not being helpful and we were generally disappointed with the park (and our shots of the pool). We also found the ‘free’ entrance which was easily accessible with a 20 minute walk up the road to the end of the park where a stretch of Mao era graves proved interesting.
On the way back into town we decided to celebrate Ro’s birthday (Happee Happee) with a treat and stopped at The Nordic Cafe. It was just like stepping into an American coffee shop – amazing find. We overloaded our sugar tanks on Oreo cheesecake and diluted it with an excellent coffee. For the next few hours we wandered around the old town gathering supplies for the Tiger Leaping Gorge (TLG) hike and trying to decide on Tibet. Lijiang is the least interesting of the tourist towns we have seen. Alley after alley looks as if the town planners used a Photoshop clone tool, even down to the ‘Silver-smiths’ hammering out flat-bar.
Back at the hostel we spent a frustrating evening plotting, but we now have a plan. We will spend a week backtracking to Chengdu after Shangrila (first time on the trip we have had to return to a place). The tour will take us by train to Lhasa and we’ll spend 8 days in Tibet (Land Cruiser and a guide) taking in the sights including Everest Base Camp. It will cost a whack (conservatively £1000 ea) and we hope to get the price down by having other travelers join us.
Have to mention dinner. We selected an arbitrary restaurant and sat down. After being presented with tea we watched a 20 minute hissy fit by what we assume was the head (or only) waitress. No idea what it was about but it was accompanied with flying order books and a lot of shouting. What a primadonna ! Eventually we gave up waiting and left – ended up eating back at the hostel. We are both looking forward to getting out to the TLG tomorrow – hope the weather improves.
[Pictures: Our shot at Black Dragon Pool. What it should look like with fancy camera, good weather and a generous helping of talent. Cake !]
– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi