Upon returning from a city called Yibin to celebrate the shuang jie, I still had a few spare days left of my holiday and despite obtaining an annoying cold, I decided I should take the chance to visit Lijiang (a city in the Yunnan Province) again, while I had the opportunity. I had already been there the previous year and had met a friend there - a photographer named Hua Mo Xi, who I'd been promising to go and visit sometime again.
The 13 hour mountainous bus trip is not something to be reckoned with! My journey was made somewhat easier when a boy who had been sitting at the front of the bus made his way down to the back where I was sitting, and whether by excuse or not had asked to sit with me, as there was someone throwing up beside him (not uncommon - the throwing up, that is). So for the remaining half of the journey, we chatted. Well, I should say, he mostly chatted and I mostly listened - for two reasons, 1st one being that he liked to talk, and secondly that he used a lot of words that I didn't understand, although for the most part I could understand the general drift.
Roughly an hour or two before we were due to arrive in Lijiang we had made a bet about what time the bus would arrive. He first guessed 10pm. I don't know why exactly, but I guessed 10:05pm. He obviously laughed about my very precise minute prediction. Anyway... So we did arrive into the city before 10pm and so I pretty much quietly accepted my defeat. I was about to suggest that there may be something wrong with the road ahead or something, hence we might need to stop, but I also thought I'd better not, incase of jinxing myself. Well! We did end up having to stop - literally a few metres away from the bus station to re-fuel. The time was ticking away, and I was still in with a chance. And when the bus wouldn't start after a few turns of the key, I knew I could very well win this competition! Ok, so cutting a long story short, guess what time - and to the exact minute, that the bus did arrive and turn it's ignition off...???
Many people told me before going to Lijiang last year, that Lijiang is the place to go if you want to find love. And if you've ever been there, you can see how it is the perfect place for a romantic get-away: The cobbled pavestones to stroll on; the many pretty little coffee shops, bars and restaurants; the beautiful architecture; clear, mountainous skies; and of course not to mention that every other person is walking hand-in-hand with their lover (well, then I don't quite understand the logic of finding love there - if it seems that everyone you see has already found it?). Unfortunately though, I found this time around in going there that, in being more familiar with the place, I observed more aspects about the place that gave it a tainted edge i.e. The fact that EVERY person will have a camera swinging off them and always ready to shoot themselves and their friends in tacky poses - think standing in the middle of the lane with arms spread wide and the photographer one kilometre away to get the "full picture" (why people continue to do these poses beats me?); The "Di Da" song (actually quite a beautiful little tune, but played in every other shop front, every day, is a little over-kill); and those TERRIBLE hats!!!!! - They are kind of like rip-off country and western hats - it appears that every man that arrives in Lijiang suddenly gets transformed into a cowboy! In saying all this though, I too of course was not immune to excessive photo taking (at least sans wide-arm-spread-pose), and yes I also bought some of the 10 yuan ethnic-style scarves (but at least I didn't buy one of "those hats"). Oh, and maybe some mao niurou (yak meat, which is famous in the area) too... Ok, so I guess I am pretty much the same as everyone else who goes to Lijiang!
Anyway, so back on to the topic of love. So, last year when I was there, me and my newly acquainted travel partner, Xin, who I'd met in the Kezhan (guesthouse) where I was staying, made a wish in a wishing well in the centre of the Gucheng (the old town - which is what I basically described above i.e. cobbled paths and old buildings). Our wish was the same - that we would return to Lijiang again next year, and this time with a lover in tow. This time round in Lijiang, I walked back past (alone) that wishing well and was reminded of our wishes from the previous year.
OK, OK... By now, you probably just want me to get to the point: Did I find love in Lijiang? Hmm, you didn't think I would spoil the mystery and tell you that so easily now!.. ;) Anyhow, I can tell you for certain that in an alternative form, yes, I did find love - In the form of that heart you see on the ground. And, just as whether it was placed there by design or accident, I also can't be sure whether in amongst what must be thousands of paved stones, I found it - or it found me...