Snow in Dali
“So where are you from?”
“The UK.”
“That’s a pretty long way away, eh… How much does a flight cost?”
“About 4,000 kuai. Which isn’t that bad, when it costs over a thousand kuai to go Kunming to Shanghai.”
“Yeah, we spent a lot of time in Shanghai, but the plane was too expensive – we took the train for 300 odd. Two days one night.”
“Working?”
“Yeah, building site.”
“Is it worth it? I mean, with the travel and living costs, wouldn’t it better just to get work here?”
“No, you can’t make anything here. In Shanghai I can clear about a thousand kuai a month. If you work three shifts straight through – two day and one night – I can get 230 kuai.”
“Yeah, but you can’t keep that up for long…”
“What ya gonna do? Got to make a living. But in Shanghai things are strict, they say turn up at eight you’ve got to be there at eight. Here, you can take a day off whenever you want…”
“Eh, you should be careful wandering around up here.”
“Why’s that?”
“There’s wolves.”
“Nah, you’re joking. They’ve all got hunted down. Few stray dogs, maybe.”
“Straight up. It’s the snow – they get cold and hungry and come down off the mountain. Last summer, there was a security guard from the old town was up the mountain looking for snakes, and found a couple wolf cubs.”
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The sign says “No swimming”
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