DATELINE: Dali, China
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Author: Lauren Cohen
A night at an expat bar and an afternoon of sunshine and blue skies was just what I needed to turn my mood around. After writing my blog last night, I walked to a bar called Bad Monkey that I'd read about in my guidebook. The first sign that things were looking up was when I saw a bottle of Makers Mark behind the bar. After two weeks of drinking wan Chinese beer, cloyingly fruity cocktails, or vodka-sodas, it was a treat to sit at a bar and have "my" drink; it was comforting even, given my mood at the time. I ordered one on the rocks and talked to Adrian, the German bartender. The bar remained crowded with patrons and workers alike; at times I think there were 6 people behind the bar, talking and joking as they shoved around each other. The whole atmosphere was convivial, with the bartenders remembering the names of travelers and expats who had been through there before. I talked to a guy from Mauritius who was of Indian descent and now lives in Guangzhou. He had only been to Dali once before, a year ago, and the dudes behind the bar treated him like an old friend. We did a bit of barhopping, though the lack of good bourbon caused me to switch to Coca-Colas from glass bottles (doesn't it taste better that way?) On my way back to my guesthouse, I saw things were still hopping at Bad Monkey and decided to stop in. A different bartender took my order and he beamed when I ordered a Makers on the rocks. "I'm a Scotsman," he explained, "and it hurts me that people around here don't appreciate good whiskey." He said he occasionally hears people ordering Chivas Regal........with Red Bull. When he marked down my drink on the register, he said, "Oh wow, we've already sold two of these tonight!" I laughed and said they were both mine. Another bartender detected that I was from New York, which was where he grew up. He went to U of Buffalo, so we were even able to commisserate about our time in that city. I stayed until closing time, promising that I would be back tomorrow. The charming Scottish bartender, Russ, took me to his favorite dumpling house for lunch today (then back to Bad Monkey for a cup of coffee (no bourbon this time). I spent the afternoon wandering the old city and shopping in the markets. There are dozens of stores that, pardon the disrespect, all sell the same crap. The ritual of bargaining gets a little old, but there's always the option to leave and go to another place. I made some fun purchases for myself and others. I also discovered my new favorite street snack: cheese fan - a thin slice of goat cheese wrapped onto a stick, pan fried, and sprinkled with sugar. Tomorrow I've signed up for a Cormorant fishing outing (yay!) and ended up changing my bus to Kunming from tomorrow to Friday. Tomorrow night is the annual torch festival and my new buddies say I can't miss it. It's hard for me to believe that yesterday at this time I was feeling thoroughly depressed about this city.
