The Dali Community

It seems like not much has been happening over the last week, but when I think about it quite a lot has. I have been in Dali for quite a while now and it is a really great way to get a better understanding of the way people live and the way of life here.

I have been spending a bit of time at the renowned bar 'The Bad Monkey', helping one of the owners get a website organised. It is a bit hard working on old computers with bad software but we have done quite a bit.

Whilst I was in there one evening a local guy came in to look at getting a tattoo from Ollie (the tattooist). The local guy had a friend with him (Yuxiu) and after a while we were communicating, really we could only use Yuxiu's English, which isn't that great - but it is much better than my Chinese!

Duan Zhangdi decided not to get a tattoo but before they left I arranged to meet Yuxiu for some home grown coffee in the morning.

So the next day she introduced me to local Bai breakfast (pancake thing) called Er Hai (ear - the same as the lake here), because it is shaped like an ear. It was delicious. After that we went to Duan Zhangdi's hostel where Yuxiu had been staying for the last week on holiday. It is a house/guesthouse that is over 100 years old and had a great feel and character. After coffee we went to the local market because we were having a lunch where everyone had to cook a dish. It was the first time that I've cooked for a while - and even longer since I cooked Chinese but my dish got finished so it must have been OK (or maybe my friends were being polite!)

I got a bit of a shock when Duan Zhangdi put a chickens heart into my bowl - I think this was considered the best part of the dish but I had to graciously refuse.

I had been noticing for a day or so that my elbow was feeling a bit tender. I got a small cut on it when I fell in the dark at Tiger Leaping Gorge. The following day it had blown up a fair bit and was very red. I was sure of an infection and was hoping to see the building owner of the Jade Emu who is a Chinese Doctor. I missed him that day but I was lucky enough to get invited to a family dinner at Yuxiu's house. Yuxiu lives with her parents in Xiaguan (Dali new town) which is 20 minutes from Dali old town by car. Duan Zhangdi was good enough to pick me up and we had dinner with Yuxiu, her parents, her 2 aunts, one uncle and 2 cousins (who she calls brother and sister). It was a great experience - unfortunately I don't speak enough Chinese to really talk to too many of the family, but I really enjoyed the meal. Afterwards we came back to the Jade Emu for a bit of pool on Dave's pool table.

The next day my Elbow was very swollen. Luckly I saw the Chinese doctor when I got up (quite late), his immediate response was 'straight to the hospital for an injection'. I decided to head into Xiaguan as there are better hospitals there and rang Yuxiu to see if she could come with me. She agreed but unfortunately due to communication breakdown she was waiting at a different bus stop to where I got off and after an hour or so I headed off on my own.
It's quite an experience walking into a hospital where you can't communicate effectively. Luckily I had a note written by the staff at the Jade Emu and after I showed this to the registrar(?) she quickly took me around a few sections of the hospital and then pushed me to the front of the queue to see an outpatient surgeon. He couldn't speak English but soon had his wife on the phone to translate for us! She explained that the doctor thought I would OK after an injection but I needed a blood test. I managed this, and after that the surgeon send me down to some emergency doctors. These 2 could manage a small amount of English and wrote me notes. We considered 3 injections but they decided to give me some strong antibiotics instead (yay!). These weren't cheap in Chinese terms - probably similar prices to Australia, but considering that I didn't have to pay anything for the medical services, I was really pretty impressed with the treatment I received. (I fetl a bit bad being pushed to the front of medical queues!)
My arm is healing quite well now - Dave's brother Tim is here from Melbourne so yesterday I did the Cloud Belt path walk in the Cangshan mountains with them (again!).
It's getting cooler here in Dali so I think it's really time for me to head south soon. Xishuangbanna on the Laotian border is looking good.
Yesterday I visited Xiaguan and had "cross the bridge noodles" which were delicious for lunch. For dinner I went to visit some of Yuxiu's friends and we made and ate heaps of dumplings..