March 7, 2007
Rest Day in Zinghong: enjoying good food
What we have noticed first about Chinese cities is we can walk ON the sidewalk, side by side, and not have to watch your step too closely for open drainage. The city is very clean with women wearing orange caps and orange vests sweeping the gutters.
The time is an hour later, we have not adjusted yet; we look for breakfast at 8am, the stores are still closed. We do internet until about 9 and by then the Mei Mei Cafe has opened. Patrick has an American breakfast including hash browns, Rachel and omelet with bacon, mushrooms, onions and potatoes.
Patrick goes to the Post Office to mail DVDs and Rachel goes looking for a long-sleeved riding shirt--and finds that Adidas, Nike, Converse--name brands are just as expensive as in the USA. We meet up at the Peacock Lake and walk back toward our hotel. We stop in at the Thai restaurant for lunch. We sat at the table unattended for 15-20 mins as Patrick says we didn't get into the system. Rachel got menus and finally our order is taken and another 30min before the Pad Thai arrived. The food is tasty though and worth the wait.
After lunch, Patrick cleans the bicycle chains, Rachel shops at the supermarket and bakery for supplies and bread for the road tomorrow. Patrick researched on the internet our route to Dali, and Rachel sent out a newsletter email to family and friends about the boat ride from Luang Prabang to Pak Beng and cycling to the China border.
We returned to Mei Mei for dinner. The owner allows us to copy part of her menu to help us order food out in the small towns. There is a table of American High School kids, one student from Sun Valley Idaho, they are part of an exchange program in Beijing.
We end the evening packing up and relaxing to prepare for the next section of riding to Dali.
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