May 12. We live in a beautiful cartoon.

I buy train tickets, then ride the tricycle to a village, a couple of miles north of Lijang. The thing has only one gear, but works well. It is tough to ride uphill, wind from the front, Yeon in the back, but also great fun. In the village, we can't find anyone in need of a trike, and decide to wheel back into town.

Back in town, we donate our vehicle to a merchant who has come to sell berries with only a wreckages of a little bicycle. This gift will make her happy, we think, and as these things go, our own happiness is instantaneous when I hand over the keys to the merchant to the amazement - and amusement - of the bystanders. 

The sleeper train between Lijang and Kunming is a new model and gives us a good night's rest. Just before bording something funny happens. We have forgotten our snacks in the taxi and Yeon runs the reclaim the peanuts that are ours. She did, however, overlook the low iron chain separating parking lots and stumbled over it. Her tumble was so cartoon-like funny that she laughed for hours after the fact. I love her for that.

May 11. The TRIKE.

Lijang offers what we need the next morning. We walk to a grand hotel and feel grand as well, when several employees do their best not only to seat us and offer us a Western breakfast, but also to call a taxis that can take us to a tricycle store. We use their internet for several hours, and look for couchsurfing contacts in Laos, Vietnam, Cambodja, Thailand, Malaysia, and Bali, do our correspondence and leave the place with red eyes eager to DO something.

But what good can we do without ngo's, without language, on a limited budget? I decide to make a dream come true. I always wanted to buy a tricycle (a 3-wheeled cycle-cart for adults), use it to cycle around the countryside and enjoy the view, and then - donating it to someone who needs it. It can considerably enhance the livelihood of an empoverished merchant, let's not forget that. And we don't need to be all professional and statistical all the time. There is no harm in giving a gift to the right people. Yeah, right. But how to find them? Here is how we did it.

May 10. Very scenic busride.

The busride through the countryside of southern Sichuan and northern Yunnan, connecting Xichang and Lijang via the Lugu Hu lake, is long but extremely scenic. It takes from 7:40 in the morning until about 10pm to cover the distance of about 300 miles through beautiful hills,  mountain passes, and alongside the majestic Lugu Hu. Sitting in a not too spacious bus almost from dusk till dawn would be nobody's favorite passtime - unless the scenery is really splendid. And believe me, part of the way that is the case here. The road winds around green hills practically all the time, allowing us passengers to stun at one of China's most impressive lakes.
Something happened on the way and we stop near a mountain pass at a little village. We get off the bus and wave at the locals. Some of them are waving back, others are too busy carrying a young pick into the barn where it might await, well, we all know. I try to ask the policeman what has happened and slam my fists together with an inquiering expression, to indicate a frontal collision. He nods and I confidently turn to Yeon, "there has been an accident."

Our involuntary break doesn't last long, and the rest of the way to Lijang we don't experience any difficulties. The town itself is nice and only two hundred meters walking suffice to end up in just the right family-run guesthouse for as little as 40 yuan (even though the sign said 280). I love com...nism.