South-Roaming #9 Settling Awhile
The temperature in Lugu Lake soon dipped to 1 degree, so I felt urgent to head south soon. After one day of rest, I took my leave and felt recharged riding in the mountains. Soon I arrived at Lijiang, still much in mountains. It had long been termed as a town of tranquility for tired souls from cities… but I felt it was no different from any remote down in mountains. Lijiang Ancient City also lost its charm when antique elements like stone-paved streets and old shop plaques had been copied and pasted everywhere in this country’s “ancient towns”. Besides, the unified plaques, with golden-inscribed Chinese characters and black background, lack diversity. Anyway, the hotel I checked in was neat and well-equipped at a low cost. The next day, I headed to Dali. From then on, mountains in my view trail off and the altitude kept lowering. The tire’s rubber grasps well not the road and I felt the thrust back. The familiar sense on state roads came back and in some moments I’m lost about where I am: roads to Inner Mogonia, roads to Hainan, roads over the past twenty days… memory fragments interact and overlap with each other. A bit puzzling and a bit bittersweet.
Before long, Erhai lies along ahead. Concerned about the settling down and house locating, I passed it without giving it much thought. In Dali Ancient City, I checked the map for quite a while. The house I had contacted dozens of days ago was just a block away, but I ceased going as I found no ball courts on the map near the house. To have all the elements matched is not easy: ball courts and a low house rent and quiet surroundings. So I stopped searching at a crossroads and booked a hotel room first for the night.
Fortunately, this afternoon after checking two spots, I found a decent ball court about 6 kilometers from the Ancient City, and after trying only once an online contact number, I rented a perfect room in the same village where the court was. “Second-Hand Warehouse” became my new Foundation.
As I was passing by Warehouse, the owner at the door calling out to me: Hey! I got you! I know you are looking for me! A middle-aged man sounded surprisingly youth-like while maintaining his steadiness. I responded briskly as well and I felt natural doing so. The man had white-tainted beards and I soon realized my tramp-like unshaved chin, too. I took a shine to everything in the Warehouse. The man was doing a second-hand furniture and appliance business and he hired two lads working for him. Into the huge door, I was soon encompassed by second-hand chairs, stools, sofas, refrigerator… But these didn’t bring clutter in the house; on the contrary, they are arranged well along the corridors on the first floor. At the corner near the man’s room, there were two sofas, not luxurious, but comfortable enough. The man led me up to the third floor. It was a spacious room. “My parents used to stay here in summers,” the mad told me. Also, there was a lovely yard with some flower pots. The man had lived in Beijing, worked for an ad company and even cooperated with CCTV. He had been in Dali for 6 years and run a hotel for two years and turned to this business two years ago. Overall, the man was like a seasoned veteran.
南部漫游#9定居一段时间
泸沽湖的温度很快降到了1度，所以我觉得很快就要南下了。休息了一天之后，我离开了，在山里骑马感觉很充实。很快我就到了丽江，那里还是山里。长期以来，这里一直被称为一个宁静的小镇，供来自城市的疲惫的灵魂们居住……但我觉得它和深山里任何一个偏远的地方都没有什么不同。丽江古城也失去了它的魅力，在这个国家的“古镇”中，像石板街道和旧商店牌匾这样的古董元素被复制和粘贴。此外，统一牌匾，金字黑底，缺乏多样性。不管怎么说，我入住的旅馆很整洁，设备齐全，而且价格低廉。第二天，我去了大理。从那时起，我视野中的山脉逐渐消失，海拔一直在下降。轮胎的橡胶很好地抓住了路面，我感觉到了推力。在国道上熟悉的感觉又回来了，在某些时刻我迷失了自己的位置：通往内蒙古的路，通往海南的路，过去二十天的路……记忆碎片相互作用，相互重叠。有点费解又有点苦乐参半。
不久，洱海就在前面。考虑到安顿和房子的定位，我没有多想就通过了。在大理古城，我查了很久地图。几十天前我联系过的房子就在一个街区外，但我停止了去，因为我发现房子附近的地图上没有球场。要让所有的元素都匹配起来并不容易：球场、廉租房和安静的环境。所以我停止了在十字路口的搜寻，先订了一间旅馆房间过夜。
幸运的是，今天下午在检查了两个地点后，我在距离古城约6公里的地方找到了一个像样的球馆，只试了一次网上联系电话，就在球场所在的村子里租了一间完美的房间。“二手仓库”成了我的新基金。
当我路过仓库时，门口的店主对我喊道：嘿！我抓住你了！我知道你在找我！一个中年男人在保持稳重的同时，听起来却出人意料的年轻。我也反应迅速，我觉得这样做很自然。那个男人留着白色的胡子，我很快意识到我的下巴也像流浪汉一样没刮胡子。我看中了仓库里的所有东西。那人在做一家二手家具和电器生意，他雇了两个小伙子为他工作。走进那扇巨大的门，我很快就被二手椅子、凳子、沙发、冰箱包围了……但这些并没有给房子带来杂物，相反，它们沿着一楼的走廊布置得很好。在男厕所附近的拐角处，有两张沙发，虽然不豪华，但足够舒适。那人领我上三楼。那是一个宽敞的房间。“我父母夏天常住在这里，”疯子告诉我。还有一个可爱的院子里有一些花盆。这名男子曾在北京生活，在一家广告公司工作，甚至还与央视合作。他在大理已经6年了，开了两年酒店，两年前开始做这个生意。总的来说，这个人就像一个经验丰富的老兵。
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