PRC - Day 32 - Deqin 德欽

Warm & quite bright at times

Alt: 3550m

The Chinese like to do their chores at a set time of day, such as mopping and cleaning.  If a lazy forigner is still in bed when this time arrives, then they will just work around you.  Thus I was woken at 10:30am to the swish of a mop and clatter of ash trays.

Taking a shower was a long and drawn out process, first to get the hot water switched on, then trying to wash in it due to the water pressure being so low that even at its lowest setting, the electric heater was making the water hot enough to scald you.

The hotel people told us we had to register with the local police as Deqin was not yet officially open to foreigners.  So after a good fried noodle breakfast, again with chillies that we had not asked for, we paid a visit to the little police post, signed our names all with no trouble.

Public transport went no further into Tibet and so now we knew we would have to search for a jeep or truck driver who would take us on the next stretch.  Our quest was fruitless on this day, but we wandered around Deqin, said hello to the friendly locals, ate, drank tea, ate, drank more tea and ate more - all with chillies, but we had resigned ourselves to this by now.

Deqin

Nine other westerners arrived on the bus from Zhongdian that afternoon, which disappointed us because it meant we would have much more competition for lifts if they were also planning to head west.

At night time we watched a very comical local 'disco' with old fashioned nationalistic songs and a sort of ballroom dancing style, mainly with girls dancing with girls, and boys with boys, though all dressed up in suits, ties and farming boots. After a while we decided playing cards in our room again was more exciting.