Half a year in Dali, the youth hostels I stayed in and the friends I met

It has been a month and a half since I returned to Hangzhou, and I always think of the time in Dali, the people and things I met, and the youth hostel or inn where I stayed. Occasionally, I will be confused as to whether those too beautiful existences are real.

Good Sister Inn was the first hotel I stayed at when I returned to Dali. Because I really like listening to the songs of the Good Sister Band, I saw the name of the inn on Meituan and made a reservation. The boss can play the guitar and sing well. He is a big boy who looks a bit like Haitao. Sometimes a few people gather together in the lobby at night to listen to the boss sing.

Later I heard from the boss that he opened this inn and named it "Good Sister" because he liked "Good Sister".

The boss lady, like me, was also an extra in the crew of "A Journey to Meet Love". Later, when she checked her WeChat Moments, she saw Erqi and I at the entrance of Dali No. 4 Middle School, and couldn't help but sigh. The world is so small.

In the days when I first returned to Dali, Erqi often asked me to pick up people to look for her. Every time I went there, she would bring out a bunch of lychees for me to eat and make me turkey noodles herself. My good sister gave me Chenglian’s yogurt before and asked me to go back and drink it. I piled them all on the storage board next to the bed, and I couldn’t even finish them.

On the fourth day of my stay, the summer peak season in Dali came. The price of the Good Sister Inn had increased, and the price of the picker staying in Erqi had also increased. We made an appointment to book the same youth hostel. Erqi and I met at Erhai Gate. We dragged our luggage one behind the other and used the navigation to find the way.

There was a big bag on Erqi’s luggage, which contained freshly washed clothes. On the map, the youth hostel was located in a small alley. She told me that she would go and check it out first. Look at the luggage. I didn't hold it steady and the bag fell off. All my clothes fell to the ground and were covered with dust. I felt a little guilty, but when I came back on February 7th, I said it was fine, just wash it again and it would be fine.

After that, Erqi and I laid out the sheets at the Moment of Time Youth Hostel and complained that the bed was so hard. We also went to the supermarket to buy Corona and lemons, and went to the kitchen to cut the lemons into small pieces. In the bag, I took the wine and lemon cubes to the entrance of No. 4 Middle School to drink at night.

The bed was too hard and it was uncomfortable to sleep on. The next day we moved to Tangxia Wuchen, a youth hostel where Fairy used to be the manager.

The fairy liked Erqi. In those days, she often prepared the ingredients in advance and cooked the dishes and invited Erqi, Xiaomi, Dayan and me to have dinner together in the yard.

Once we all went to the supermarket to buy a bunch of food and Diao Mei wine and went to the Erhai Lake to chat and drink and wait for the sunrise. There were many stars that night and Xiaomi and I chatted for a long time. They chatted for a long time, while Erqi listened to music and played games alone for a long time.

The clouds were very thick that day, and we still didn’t see the sunrise. There were no cars nearby, so we had to walk to the Dali Line and then take a taxi back to the ancient city. Erqi and I were playing "Goodbye, Miss Miao" on our mobile phones and walked quickly. Later, Erqi walked faster and faster. I listened to the song and walked faster while Xiaomi Fairy and the others walked slowly behind and chatted. It was getting brighter and brighter. After we returned to the ancient city, we had a bowl of Chongqing noodles in a restaurant before going back to the youth hostel to rest.

A few days later I went to Sanxing, Jiuzhanhuazhi, u, and picked up the people and stayed there for a few days each. Later, I got tired of having to move every few days, so I moved to live with a picker.

Roommates Pingping and 66, two girls who have lived in Dali for a long time, also resigned from their jobs and came to live in Dali. In order to lose weight, Pingping goes for a run very early every day. She is probably back when I wake up. Sometimes the girl goes to set up a stall, sometimes she goes to Guangwu Road to play shuttlecock with her friends, sometimes she cooks and eats with Da Zhuang and Da Zhuang's girlfriend at the front desk, and her life is lively.

66 works in a bar. I often chat with her before she goes to work, chatting about life, feelings, and why she came here. The day before I left Dali, 66 and I went to Yeyu Road in the ancient city to buy barbecue and Coke. We ate and chatted in the pick-up hall, and we talked a lot.

We met Ono when we were in Xiamen. We watched the sunrise at the beach and drank wine together at a youth hostel. Ono went to Shangri-La for a few days and then returned to Dali. She planned to visit Yunnan and finally go to Tibet. Dali was where she stopped in Yunnan. When she was tired, she came back to rest for a while.

No matter how late I come back every day, she will lie down on the sofa where the picker is and eat chicken. She has the best relationship with Pingping, and they often go shopping for fruit together and eat chicken together. Whenever I see them, I always think of Erqi and me.

I also met the cute girl Taozi on Renmin Road. We drank together in the bar, bought late-night snacks on Renmin Road, walked from the street to the end, and sat on the steps to chat. But I still miss Erqi who left Dali, and I always feel that something is missing.

It is said that wherever there are people, there are rivers and lakes. Dali is the place with the most rivers and lakes atmosphere I have ever visited. All kinds of people and various lifestyles merge into its entire world, allowing people who come here to be themselves without restraint.

For those friends we met here, we may not have the chance to meet again after we part, but the time we spent together will be frozen forever.