Wants to Quit and Continues to Light Up

I offered people candy and people offered me food back. They spoke Tibetan to me as if I understood because they wanted to talk to me but didn't speak Mandarin. To the right of me was a gentleman who was in his middle ages and offered me cigarette. I said I didn't smoke. He said, ”good!” He knew it was not good for his throat and lungs, the medical bills are expensive but he can’t seem to quite. He's stuck looking frustrated and sad. I told him just smoke one less a day and start with that. He kept lighting the whole way and offering to others on the bus. I felt sad for him.

Set to Marry Each Other Even Before Conception

Y3 and I arrived in De Ching to get onto a bus to Xi Dan Hot Spring where the trail head for Yu Beng is. She had already called the driver who she knew from her previous visits and made arrangements to pay him afterwards. I didn’t know what this was about until the end of the day.

She warned me on how cute he was and indeed he was handsome. He could have been a movie star but instead he drove buses all day long making sure everyone stays alive on his bus on these very dangerous sharp tight turns mountain snowy roads.

She also ran into a girl who worked at the hot spring. Who turns out to be the parent arranged marriage to the driver who is twice as old as she was. It was decided before either one was conceived. I know, doesn’t it sound just like some script out of TV soap. Well, regardless if they like it or not, they have been arranged. They are both very beautiful people.

Tickets, we did not buy tickets at the counter. Instead Y3 did this whole connection thing with the driver. I later learned that the money did not go to the agency but went to the driver who was now her friend and he would save us the tourist gate toll fee to enter a part of the mountain.

What was the point in all of this? Was it money that was vastly being saved? No, it was more like investing in a connection, establishing a relationship through this method. This was new for me and I understand was quite a common practice.

Ice Runs Through It

On the drive over, we passed by many beautiful snowy mountains. What a feast for the eyes. One was called White Horse snow Mountain, another was called Mei Li Snow Mountain, Golden Peak Mountain, there's even something called Ice Runs Through It. Maybe at one time river ran through it but it froze into ice before it reached the valley. It's pretty cool.

The public bus driver really didn't have to stop at any of theses places because he's not a guided tour bus driver, but he was nice and knew people really wanted to photograph and go ooo-ahhhh, so his choice to stop at these places for pit stop made it legit as a public bus driver to so, very cool, very cool thing to do.

Mr. Chive

I left Zhong Dian a.k.a. Shangrila of Yunnan Sunday. On the ride to De Ching, I sat in the back row of the bus. To the left of my seat was a seat empty next to the window. To the right of me was an very nice elder gentleman who smelled like he bathed in fresh chives, washed all his clothes in chives, slept in a bed made of chives, and wore fresh chives fragrance. He did,........ wow, it was such an extravagance for the senses. What a way to torture someone.

I offered everyone candy and this man who had a strong accent from oozing from every part of him offered me salted eggs and peanuts all of which were home made. I ate the peanuts. Then he began to smoke, I put all my gears on, suited myself up in warmth and opened the window wide. Let's just call him Mr. Chive, noticed I was fully covered except for my nose and was breathing out the window, he finally took notice that I couldn't handle smoking and kindly chucked the cigarette out the window. That was nice of him but it was a nice 5-6 hour ride and the rest of the buds he lit he offered to others to join him to light too. I continued with my full coverage window wide open operation. He would always get really cold and then put out the bud at the end.

The funny thing was, people who smoked, I've noticed in China don't really smoke it. They would light it, take maybe two puffs and then just let it burn the rest of the way. It’s so odd to me. It seems like such a waste.

Swim Swim Fish

In my room last night five new girls showed up as my new roommates. One of the girls goes by the name of “swim swim fish” in Chinese. I think for simplicity I will call her Y3 since they all started with the letter Y. She told me the most beautiful place in the world is Yu Beng “Rain Avalanche”. She was an aquarius dragon from Hubei, with enthusiastic spirit powered by love for her man who she calls Earth, doing a noble deed by being a volunteer teacher in Yu Beng. I was convinced and decided I would join her since Yu Beng was just next to Mei Li Snow Mountain. Plus I wanted to see this volunteer sustained school.

She’s been traveling from Li Jiang once a month to visit him running straight up 15.5 kilometers up the trail then the steep sharp 1.5 kilometers downhill to the valley of Yu Beng where only 21 Tibetan families reside. Her dream is to have her own bed and breakfast in Li Jiang. Actually it would be more like bed and tea in Li Jiang.