Today Chen invites us to go with him to a small town called Suho which is right near Lijiang and shares it's old world charms, but in a more rural setting. Ilya needs to go and change some money first, so he sets off to get it done and in the mean time we potter about the hostel and grab showers, wash clothes etc. An hour passes, and then another one and we think that we must have lost our Russian companion. We decide to go and grab some brunch and Chen takes us to a Lijiang hot pot restaurant which is delicious and with an interesting decor, pig carcasses being dried on racks by fans along one of the walls. Chen insists on paying for lunch, the taxi fare to the restaurant and the bus fare out to Suho, he won't accept our money and wants to treat me and Michel to everything. We call the hostel and ask for Ilya but 4 hours later and there is still no sign of him.
Suho is lovely and
so laid back, we hit a cafe and drink espressos with cheesecake and tiramisu, Manu Chao playing on the stereo system in the background, incense swirling up next to the window and big deep sofas to recline into. This really doesn't feel like China and it seems like I am in a seriously relaxed coffee bar in Camden somewhere. When we eventually pull ourselves back to the hostel in the late afternoon, there is still no sign of Ilya, he m
ust be seriously lost and without a mobile phone there is no way to contact him. Chen makes us some tea in the traditional and old fashioned way, it's delicious. We also have Pu'er tea, which is a traditionally made, old fashioned tea and is lovely, it also stimulates your appetite and I am starv
ing after a few cups. Ilya eventually makes it back and tells us that he got lost several times, eventually made it to a bank in the afternoon and then spent over two hours searching for the hostel. Epic. We all head out and Ilya takes us to a place he found where we drink Chinese moonshine, two small glasses equate to about 4 UK shots and it definitely packs a punch.
No comments:
Post a Comment