The Songstone

Leaving behind Odyssean indulgence... BoneyOCoonassa , Guardian comments scribe, quoted a Larkin. Had to reply : Larkin's original (How to win the next election) Prison for strikers, Bring back the cat, Kick out the niggers, How about that? Trade with the Empire, Ban the obscene, Hang all the commies, God save the Queen! My reply (same title) Prison for fatcats, they're taking the piss, Kick out the rentiers. How about this? Trade with whoever, the economy's planned. Hang out the red flag in this pleasant land.

Ten minute walk to Shuhe Ancient Town. Dinner of fish, exquisite fiery down. Buoyed up by spice and 白酒 , faerieland.          

Rain. Time to say 再见 to Dali. Train. Valleys in mist. 你好 Lijiang, you're cool! Four hundred metres further up; a coat at night. My inn's in rural silence, broken by owls.  

Hired an electric scooter; trundled to Xizhou. Lunch at the Linden Centre , charmed. Then wandered by the lake a while, went back, discovering strange flora. Burned a bit; should have worn the long-sleeve silk.  

Dali old town. Ten years ago, when I first came, this was a laid-back backpack haven; old Bai women sold you weed, (not that I tried it). No longer: now the roads are crushed with Chinese trippers. Still, there is quiet away from them. The climate's wonderful, 2000 metres high, 25 ° N. Mountain streams lilt along the streets. I sit in peace.  

Yi people, fire festival, Dali. In immemorial time, the hero Atilaba drove a plague of locusts from the land. Remember him: a greater deed than all the business done.  

Dinner of bacon, local red and bamboo worm. Morning another train to Dali; carriage three between eleven, twelve: 云南 . The city fades; the hills advance in echelons. The weather turns: the clouds cling to the peaks like sodden s heets . We're climbing high.  

My journey to the Himalayan hills starts with a twenty-eight hour train from Guangzhou. Dozing and fruit, rattling along the slow. The humid Pearl behind and into clear. A day's recuperation: Kunming – Green Lake oasis of tranquility.