I checked into the hostel at 25 yuan a bed. There are better deals around but I really didn’t want to shop, I was tired and wanted to drop my bag off and have dinner. I ended up in a room of 10 with it’s own restroom shower. I discovered Danica was also in the room too.
After dropping off my bag I walked all over to check out shops and know the way around things. I had purple sweet potato and yellow corn. I also came across a vegetarian restaurant tea shop. I sat down happily and spent a 46 yuan for a meal. This was the most I spent on a meal so far. It has only been like 6 yuan for a meal which was under a dollar. I was really excited over the two vegetarian dishes I ordered but when it arrived on my table the excitement went away. I was severely disappointed. It looked better than it tasted. Well, I did like the atmosphere of the place as it was decorated beautifully in wood set for drinking tea.
I met a Polish girls who was staying at Lisa’s for 20 yuan a bed and had the whole room to herself. She invited me to switch out of the over crowded youth hostel. This same Polish girl I had met back in Guilin at the same youth hostel whose Lonely Planet book flew out of her hands while she was on a public bus in Guilin. She cried profusely and I saw her walking in tears while I was window shopping on the main strip in Guilin. I walked with her to look for her lonely planet book with her. She was devastated to go without her security blanket of the Lonely Planet guide. I told her I have traveling all over China without one and it has worked out for me and that in any case it is also accessible online. And if she really needed to have one in her hand, she could always buy another one at a bookstore. It really didn’t do much to comfort her at the moment. But today when I saw her again in Yangsho on West Street, she looked great without her Lonely Planet guide. She was no longer afraid
Danica talked me into going shopping with her and at this point I had already done the walking I wanted. She promised it would only be a sec. I don’t know why I believed her. It turned out to be a three hour ordeal. She wanted me to go with her to haggle prices for her. I was her personal haggling agent. I enjoy her company so I didn’t mind until she could not walk and kept wanting sit on the sidewalk. This reminded me of the time on Wulingyuan. Where she could no longer walk anymore and had to stay with us at Xiao Lao Shr’s. I told her early on that if she was going to drag me with her to shop then she better be able to walk all the way back. We ended up eating dumpling and taking a break off our feet.
Danica and I agreed to pair up for tomorrow’s day trips on one term which is no shopping together. And that if she wanted to shop she would do it on her own time. Otherwise I would take off without her on my own.
