China Entry the 10th: Things You Need to Know

There are two things you need to know before we head on to stories of Lijiang.

Thing #1 That You Must Know: There was an overnight train ride to Dali.
Why must you know this? Because the lack of sleep obtained on the overnight train ride to Dali probably was what put my body in a position to be so severely impacted by the fried, dried salted beef. Why was there no sleep on a moving train, in a cushy soft sleeper car, while traveling to Dali? The answer, my friends, is Jeff.

Jeff was our berth partner since Ho was in another car. Actually, three other men were our berth partners, but they all wanted to be together so they switched, and we got Jeff. It started out seeming like Jeff was a great berth partner. After I whined to Lisa that I needed somebody to tell me a story so I would fall asleep, Jeff told us Chinese fairy tales -- one probably something similar to what Mulan was based on in which a princess disguises herself as a boy so that she can be close to the forbidden prince whom she loves but once discovered the two both die and are then brought back to life as butterflies and fly away together (I guess Disney didn't like the death and reincarnation thing any more than they liked Cloudy Bay). The second was about sexy women ghosts and lame mortal men.

So it begins like Jeff will be awesome. Then we all bed down.

Snorer. Not a light snorer. I heavy snorer. And by heavy I mean that I had my iPod on and I could STILL hear him.

On top of that, Jeff tells us not to worry about the lights because they would automatically go off at 11pm. They did not, and Lisa didn't figure out we could turn them off ourselves until 1am. But at least she did.

And it was cold. I did not sleep at all.

Thing #2 That You Must Know: Fried, dried salted beef.
Though I am planning on taking the day off in Dali, when we arrive I decide to go to breakfast with Ho and Lisa. Because Dali is full of Bai minority population people, we ordered some Bai specialities. I ordered fried, dried salted beef, which is exactly what it sounds like. Take some beef, preserve it in TONS of salt, and then pull it out and fry it in lard. I ate, like, a pound of it.

I was out. OUT. My stomach had had enough of this nonsense. The fried, dried salted beef was the last straw. For Ho and Lisa, Bai minority culture and old town Dali. For Jocelyn, a bed and a bathroom.

Fortunately, Lijiang was next.