Settling into Lijiang

Guilin --> Yangshuo --> Kunming --> Dali --> Lijiang

On the bus from Dali to Lijiang last night I knew I had an even chance of waking up in the morning with either a fever or a reprieve, thus were the signals my body -- my poor, battered, persevering body, willing to shut down and kill itself in order to kill the pathogens -- were sending. After showering that night I realized the cause of my sudden discomfort -- there was a distinct moment while biking along a Dali highway that I felt my spleen shutting down, and later my stomach grew warm as when with virus -- might have been due to a spider bite. Hiking Chanshan Grand Canyon yesterday I walked into a web and thought I felt something. Later I reconsidered: maybe it was a mosquito. I lay shivering under sheets with the fear that I'd wake with Japanese encephalitis and might have to go to the hospital.

Instead, I woke up happy, feeling a mild delirium that comes to those whose fevers have just passed or, I surmise, who smoke opium or other mild hallucinogens.

The hotel, I should mention, is awesome -- two beds, shower, Western-style toilet (that is to say, an actual toilet), towels. I could have easily bargained the price down to 30 kuai/night (a little more than $4) but I settled at 40 kuai because the receptionist was sleepy and nice (I'm too nice for haggling). Here's the best part: the room hasn't been used for so long that there are mosquitoes dried and withered on the walls, dead from starvation. Another one was alive but too weak to fly. I killed it with my bare foot.

POSTSCRIPT: If you ever make it out to Lijiang -- and you should, because it's beautiful -- make sure you try the Naxi (not to be confused with Nazi) bread pancake. And the sugary Lijiang cakes. Absolutely delectable.