15 August

After a late night's sleep on a rocky mattress and fossilized pillow, I awoke to a body aching all over and several mosquito bites, just the ingredients to start the day in a healthy and active way. Talk about bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. I vowed to check out that same day. Luckily, Yuyuan Guesthouse (Yuyuan Kezhan) had some rooms available, which were a lot more suited to human habitation than the crap on offer at Jim's. After checking in, it was back to the market to buy some bags and bracelets, and then lunch with Matthew (my Kunming friend) again.

I considered seeing some more of the sights, but (surprise, surprise) my laziness and sheer inertia got the better of me, so I just meandered around Dali until I hit on the coolest bar I've found in China so far. As I was walking down one of the foreigner streets, on the way to look at a Chinese cathedral, I suddenly heard the Sex Pistols' God Save The Queen being belted out at full volume and just had to investigate. It was Beijing Pengke, an honest-to-goodness punk bar, slap bang in the middle of Dali. I blissfully wiled away a few more hours discussing music and the Chinese punk scene with the owners, a couple of Beijingers. I just wish I'd taken some photos there -- there were some fab counter-culture prints. (one featuring communist workers and another featuring Jiang Qing, the wife of Mao Zedong) I'm pretty sure these must have been illegal, but I was itching to get my hands on one myself. There were even some retro "Smash Fascism" tees.

Episode 7: 16 August