Sunken Fish - Chapter 21
Finally, Esme became the owner of this little dog. It will accompany my friends on their crazy journey for the next few dozen days.
Benny's room was originally assigned to me, at the end of the corridor, opposite Vera's room. This hotel likes to curry favor with tour leaders, arranging rooms for them with views of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. Those undulating peaks truly do resemble the back of a sleeping dragon.
Last time I was here, the hotel told me I had a mountain view room. I was skeptical at the time because other hotels advertise panoramic views but only show a corner of the room. The only downside to this mountain view room is that while the view is indeed of mountains, it's directly opposite the window, blocking out all the light and giving off a dark, damp smell.
Benny took a deep breath, inhaling all the mountain's essence. The tour group had initially considered inviting Dr. Bill Wu to lead the group, which was a wise choice; Bill Wu and I had been good friends since our days teaching at Mills University. But he was going to lead another tour group researching the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang.
Although Benny had a few years of experience as a tour guide, unlike me, he had never been to China or the Kingdom of Lanna and knew very little about the two countries and their art. After my funeral, he was told he would be the new tour leader, and he shouted with excitement. Given this difficult position, he vowed to do everything in his power—organizing baggage collection and shipping, confirming tickets and passports, checking into hotels, liaising with the guides arranged by the tourism bureau…
He liked to say that making people happy was his greatest joy. Unfortunately, he often made promises he couldn't keep, and so when hope was replaced by reality, Benny became the target of everyone's criticism. His business was the same. He was a graphic artist who always promised clients impossible, rapid turning points, special design elements, and free materials, with budgets 20% lower than other companies, yet ultimately spending 25% more. He could always find a plausible reason to overspend, and of course, he always won the clients' gratitude. Because clients were always obsessed with his products, he was a very talented designer. But during his three weeks in China and Lanna, he went too far.
The First Night (2)
Benny convinced himself: I, Bibi, who had already ascended to heaven, had been subtly suggesting to him that he should lead the team. For example, he saw the phrase "follow your instincts" on a cookie; in the bookstore, a book about the Kingdom of Lanna fell into his hands with a "thud"; and on the same day, while organizing documents, he received an invitation from an Asian foundation, with my name listed as a donor, and his as well… Believe me, I couldn't send such a love letter. If I had that ability, I would have advised Benny to stay home.
To my credit, Benny studied the materials I had prepared diligently. On the eve of his departure, he called the tourism bureau to confirm everything was in order. He kept eating cashews to calm himself down. Later, he ate pistachios and sunflower seeds, as shelling them helps reduce anxiety. He even gained a few pounds, meaning his goal of losing twenty pounds before the trip had to be revised. He believed that a trip to Lanna should be like this: because of the hot weather and the constant running around, fat would melt away like glaciers in the Gobi Desert.
On his first night in Lijiang, Benny was certain everything would go smoothly, as precise as the second hand of his Rolex watch. On the plane, he had to stay awake because he couldn't find a power source to charge his continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine, which prevented sleep shock. He was afraid that if he fell asleep, he would snore loudly, or worse—he might stop breathing while flying 35,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean. During his layover in Shanghai, he felt like he hadn't slept in years. As the plane landed in Lijiang, he even hallucinated: at San Francisco airport, he was late and missed his flight.
In his hotel room, he safely put on his sleeping mask, adjusted his sleep apnea machine to the high-altitude setting, the pressure to 15, and lay down with his horseshoe-shaped inflatable neck pillow. He silently thanked me for my wise suggestion that the tour group sleep in a little longer the next morning, then relax and enjoy a "winter delicacy" at a local restaurant. I had already ordered: stir-fried ferns, spicy pine needles, wild basil mushrooms, porcini mushrooms, and oh, the best dish was a lovely stew of white reeds, its fibers almost as tender as bamboo shoots and chicory.
This is my friends' first night in Lijiang.
A Turning Point in Fate (1)
December 21st.
At seven o'clock in the morning, Mr. Marseille woke up Rocco and Heidi, along with the young and mischievous Rupert, Esme, and Wyatt and Wendy.
They left the hotel and jogged through Lijiang Old Town, dodging hunting dogs on the rough, cobblestone streets. Rupert and Esme overtook Mr. Marseille. Esme, a Chinese girl, would be mistaken for a Lijiang native; the local population is mostly of mixed ancestry, with Han Chinese and over a dozen Yunnan ethnic minorities, as well as nomadic peoples from the south, all living together. Unintentionally, everyone is mixed-race; no two people look alike, as if everyone is a work of art.
The morning air carries the fragrance of the mountains; they can smell the smoke, hear the crackling of barbecues, and even sense the hoofbeats of Kublai Khan's cavalry legion that passed through this area hundreds of years ago.
"I'm catching up with you!"
They shouted as they walked past a group of Naxi women, each carrying about ninety pounds of pine needles.
These Americans, breathing heavily at an altitude of 7,874 feet and in a temperature of 48 degrees Fahrenheit, ran for 45 minutes before finally finding a perfect place for breakfast.
They were lucky enough to sit on a bench, enjoying spicy noodles and scallions; their stomachs were already rumbling, and they craved a delicious snack instead of the hotel's bland breakfast.
At nine o'clock, the sun rose, the frost disappeared, and these energetic people returned to the hotel, waking up the others who had been sleeping in. They all gathered in the lobby, ready to set off with the guide.
However, Benny brought unexpected news—he received a phone call that morning informing him that his former tour guide, Mr. Qin, had encountered an accident.
(The leader of the other team knew that tour guide Qin was invaluable, so he gave him some money and "kidnapped" him to their team.)
Benny told everyone that their guide, Qin, was sick, or perhaps a family member was sick. The person on the other end of the phone said that they could now choose between two guides: one was a local old man, a living map of the area, knowing every rock from the mountain peaks to the foot of the mountains, fluent in English and Mandarin, and speaking several minority languages, with Bai being his mother tongue. He was kind, energetic, and everyone was very satisfied with his service, but "he's been missing something lately."