Wario Cart!
This morning we arrived in Lijiang pretty early in the morning. We didn't have a lot of time to dilly dally because Fredo was flying back to Beijing in the early evening and we needed to visit the Stone Forest before he left. As soon as we got to Lijiang was found the bus station and started to figure out how we were going to get there. Because we arrived so early the station was not yet open. We waited around outside, so, of course, other people offering the 'same' service started offering us prices to take us to the Stone Forest. We started talking to them, but knew we were going to wait until the station opened to see what the prices they offered were.
During the process of waiting and talking to everyone we were guaranteed that no one would be able to give us better prices. They were basically saying whatever they could to get us to go. One guy even started laughing at us while he was talking to his friend about us. I am glad he really didn't know that we knew he was trying to rip us off because they confirmed our choice of not going with him.
We got another price from one young guy which were pretty cheap and the driver would wait around at the Stone Forest for us and take us back to Lijiang. This was ideal because the price was cheap and included the 'road fees' and everything. Little did we know we were going to be taken by Wario!
The beginning of the car ride was nice. Wario was sort of talkative. He was a little loud, but it was funny. He also tried to get us to pay the fees for the highway, but over the radio we were told that the highway was closed, so we knew that everyone was trying to rip us off again. Wario knew that we knew, so he joked about it. After about an hour or so Wario lit up a cigarette inside the car. We all protested, but to no avail. He lit up a cigarette and happily smoked it. This made us all uncomfortable and sort of pissed us off. The kicker was that Wario decided to stop for breakfast ten minutes later. Besides the fact that he did not tell us and we were not paying to sit by the road while he ate, was that he could have waited a measly ten minutes before smoking his damn cigarette!
When we made it to the Stone Forest we were disappointed with Wario, so we knew that we were not going to pay any more money than what we agreed to in the morning.
The Stone Forest was pretty uneventful. It is a pretty nice place, but I would recommend going during the spring or summer. During the winter I think it is too cold to make it worthwhile. After walking around and seeing some big rocks MCK tripped over a large ill-placed rock in the trail and fell over. It was the most hilarious part of the morning because it was one of those falls where he made a lot of noice because he was carrying a lot of stuff. As he was falling over this rock he was trying to catch himself, but it was not working. After what sounded like ten seconds of falling (think of Homer falling down the Springfield gorge after trying to jump it on a skateboard) the incident with the crash of a broken bottle. On top of hurting his knees MCK broke his bottle of Sprite that he was taking home to add to his collection of Chinese soda bottles.
After walking around the Stone Forest for about an hour we had pretty much seen all there was to see. We ended up running into some friends we met in Dali (see picture below), so we kicked it with them for a little while and then had lunch and bought a few little trinkets.
The ride back was peaceful because there was no smoking and Wario did not want to listen to any music. We were all exhausted, so everyone except for me took naps. I started zoning out, but once we started driving down a bumpy road I was shaken back to reality. For one, the road was really bumpy and, two, I did not remember driving down this road on the way to the Stone Forest. After a quick left turn we were driving up a steep hill to a big Bhuddist temple. Wario said he was doing business and getting money from the temple. I mean who does this kind of business and what kind of business is that? Maybe he was covering up for his daily practice of praying. Whatever, either way he was happy. So happy that he sped out that place like a bat out of hell. I thought we were going to hit someone crossing the road, but we made it out safe.
The rest of the trip was calm until we reached the city. We paid the first half of the 200 dollars before we left in the morning and had to pay the second half on the way back. We were all tired and grumpy when we were getting out of the van. Then Wario tried to make us pay more money, so Fredo gave him a piece of his mind and told him to go talk to his partner because he wasn't getting shit from us and slammed the door in his face. He was not so happy about that, so we quickly went back to the bus station to grab our bags. After that we hopped into the nearest cab and went the other direction.
During the process of waiting and talking to everyone we were guaranteed that no one would be able to give us better prices. They were basically saying whatever they could to get us to go. One guy even started laughing at us while he was talking to his friend about us. I am glad he really didn't know that we knew he was trying to rip us off because they confirmed our choice of not going with him.
We got another price from one young guy which were pretty cheap and the driver would wait around at the Stone Forest for us and take us back to Lijiang. This was ideal because the price was cheap and included the 'road fees' and everything. Little did we know we were going to be taken by Wario!
The beginning of the car ride was nice. Wario was sort of talkative. He was a little loud, but it was funny. He also tried to get us to pay the fees for the highway, but over the radio we were told that the highway was closed, so we knew that everyone was trying to rip us off again. Wario knew that we knew, so he joked about it. After about an hour or so Wario lit up a cigarette inside the car. We all protested, but to no avail. He lit up a cigarette and happily smoked it. This made us all uncomfortable and sort of pissed us off. The kicker was that Wario decided to stop for breakfast ten minutes later. Besides the fact that he did not tell us and we were not paying to sit by the road while he ate, was that he could have waited a measly ten minutes before smoking his damn cigarette!
When we made it to the Stone Forest we were disappointed with Wario, so we knew that we were not going to pay any more money than what we agreed to in the morning.
The Stone Forest was pretty uneventful. It is a pretty nice place, but I would recommend going during the spring or summer. During the winter I think it is too cold to make it worthwhile. After walking around and seeing some big rocks MCK tripped over a large ill-placed rock in the trail and fell over. It was the most hilarious part of the morning because it was one of those falls where he made a lot of noice because he was carrying a lot of stuff. As he was falling over this rock he was trying to catch himself, but it was not working. After what sounded like ten seconds of falling (think of Homer falling down the Springfield gorge after trying to jump it on a skateboard) the incident with the crash of a broken bottle. On top of hurting his knees MCK broke his bottle of Sprite that he was taking home to add to his collection of Chinese soda bottles.
After walking around the Stone Forest for about an hour we had pretty much seen all there was to see. We ended up running into some friends we met in Dali (see picture below), so we kicked it with them for a little while and then had lunch and bought a few little trinkets.
The ride back was peaceful because there was no smoking and Wario did not want to listen to any music. We were all exhausted, so everyone except for me took naps. I started zoning out, but once we started driving down a bumpy road I was shaken back to reality. For one, the road was really bumpy and, two, I did not remember driving down this road on the way to the Stone Forest. After a quick left turn we were driving up a steep hill to a big Bhuddist temple. Wario said he was doing business and getting money from the temple. I mean who does this kind of business and what kind of business is that? Maybe he was covering up for his daily practice of praying. Whatever, either way he was happy. So happy that he sped out that place like a bat out of hell. I thought we were going to hit someone crossing the road, but we made it out safe.
The rest of the trip was calm until we reached the city. We paid the first half of the 200 dollars before we left in the morning and had to pay the second half on the way back. We were all tired and grumpy when we were getting out of the van. Then Wario tried to make us pay more money, so Fredo gave him a piece of his mind and told him to go talk to his partner because he wasn't getting shit from us and slammed the door in his face. He was not so happy about that, so we quickly went back to the bus station to grab our bags. After that we hopped into the nearest cab and went the other direction.
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