There was no flight from Shangri-La to Changsha so we had the opportunity for a round #2 with Lijiang, being that there is a flight out of Lijiang. It was a 5 hour bus ride back…ordinarily, this would cause despair but the terrific views of mountainous farmland nearly made up for the windy roads and lack of ventilation.
Were James and I nervous to return to the old town maze where so much drama had occurred just a week before? After all, it had taken us hours to find our hostel even with Drama’s help and we had booked a completely new hostel in the old district.
Fifteen minutes after getting off the bus we arrived on the doorstep of our new hostel. I looked up from google maps in my hand to the sign on the stone wall and took in a deep, relaxing breath. The bustling cobblestone streets almost seemed peaceful without Drama tugging at my elbow.
The day and a half in Lijiang was just what we needed to dry out our clothes from the damp mountains and rest. So while James slept in, I headed out to enjoy the quaint tradition of an ancient town, by which of course I mean the ladies doing Tai Chi outside McDonalds.
I ordered a coffee and watched the tourists watch the middle aged ladies do their morning exercises in the plaza before moseying through the market streets. Later that afternoon, James and I decided to splurge (also safer for his digestion) and take our lunch at Pizza Hut. I realize all this horrible fast food sounds inauthentic…yep. We love Chinese food but we also live in China and eat it pretty much every day. There is a fake Pizza Hut in our city – stole the logo and recipe apparently but we never felt like paying for it at home.
On the other hand this Western restaurant thing is getting a little ridiculous. Did you know that at the top of Tianzi Mountain (see this post) there is a McD’s? In Changsha we also got some ice cream from the same franchise…and perhaps also a Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks.
I do believe that Starbucks will single handedly bankrupt the New Rich of China because I Grande latte costs $5.85 (if you’re not a drinker of coffee, just know that that’s more expensive than in America). To buy one of those everyday for a year would be just about half of my students’ college tuition. And Starbucks is always packed. Now they’re selling their own branded mooncakes (recall, extravagant gifts of food are fashionable and mooncakes *ahem* take the cake during Autumn Festival). One box of these fancies goes for $80.
Despite the complete commercialization of Lijiang, we had a pleasant enough time. I even acquired a little jade ring. Jade is very popular and no doubt more often counterfeit than genuine. Being a discerning customer, the little shop I selected had actual rocks with jade veins still in them, obviously proving that every piece of jade in there was legit.
I passed by the rows of pricy bracelets and Buddha pendants until I reached the rings. The listed price was 80 rmb ($13) but after a few protests the clerk hopped down to 50. Can’t pull the wool over my eyes. I won’t pay a cent over 50 rmb for a fake.