Through Shangrila

Shana Tova!

 

Out of the trek ...

Well, actually a couple of days ago.

 

Will write about it soon, and then maybe write abit more back about previous stories. But that won't happen until at least Chengdu.

 

Anyway, got out in one piece, and moved on to the last of the line of touristy old-towns (Dali-Lijiang-Shangrila). Intended to stay here one day for recovery and then head on into the "back door" route towards Chengdu, going through some Tibetian towns between high mountains, including some very long and bumpy but supposedly amazingly beautiful bus rides. Seems this has been postponed for tomorrow, so here I am writing.

 

And writing this one was not easy ... Shangrila has a number of cafe places with internet access. Meant for foreigners such as myself. But they normally have one computer, and the few places I found, had that one computer occupied. So I went out on an Internet-bar seeking adventure. Followed some vague directions, got out of the old town, asked some more people, and eventually got to the desired place.

A couple of Israelies I met on the way told me exactly were to find it, and said they used the place easily, and were not asked for even their passport (surprising, but cool, since I am not really carrying my passport with me).

 

Alas, when I got to the place, I was encountered with somewhat of a blank wall: " you cannot use the computers here without a CHINESE ID card " ... ?!

This should obviously not be the case ... ID I know about, but categorically not letting foreigners use internet, that will be a new one ... Adding the fact that a while back on the same day, I know that the same exact place let other foreigners use the computers/ internet without even a glance at their ID's, made me think these guys are just being lazy in some way. I tried one more place I could find across the street, but same answer (and that's after I had to really insist to get an answer, they just tried to completely ignore me and just wave me out).

I sent a message to a Chinese friend, and said I'm gonna go to the police. The friend's reply was along the lines of "Police? what help will they be?"

And indeed, I was about to head back to the old town, when I ran into a few policemen standing at the side of the road with nothing better to do, probably there on some traffic-control mission, and I thought "why not".

I asked them if they know if it's possible for foreigners to use Internet in China, and they said yes. I told them about my little story, and surprisingly enough, one of them accompanied me back to the place, and here I am. What transpired, I did not exactly understand. It seemed like he didn't exactly tell them off, but rather, he gave them his own ID, and I am using the computer under his name somehow - whatever works, right?

 

Shangrila, I was told would be as bad as Lijiang, only smaller, but I do not really agree. Yes there is an old town with cobbled streets, and there is a concentration of shops there. But actually, local people get there as well, and it's a spit away, to get outside of the old town (you are actually supposed to for most of the things you go to see, if you do).

 

Also, the bars - very very different from Lijiang, and that makes a HUGE difference.

The bars in Lijiang are super pricey, and are filled with loads of tourists (although most are domestic tourists).

Here, the bigger chunk of the bar-goers are the locals, mostly tibetians. They sing and dance Tibetian hits, drink beer and Tibetian butter tea, ... but mostly ... they are local. Big difference.

 

For better or worth, everywhere from the Tiger Leaping Gorge and on, 50% of the travellers seem to be Israelies. You can't go around for 5 minutes without running into one, and the places are so small, you run into the same people over and over again.

Daisy's, one of the Cafe-restaurants here, actually had a Jewish New-Year dinner yesterday - I ran into a sign in Hebrew yesterday, but timing didn't work out for me to join.