Yunnan - Day 4 : Dali (大理)

today being our last full day in Yunnan we woke early to explore the old town.
on the way however we were accosted by some local men offering to take us up mount Cangshan to visit the Zhonghe temple on horseback.
who would refuse a trek up a steep rocky unkempt path on horseback?

exactly.

so that's just what we did.

the 2 guys were really chatty and were happy to answer all our questions.
turns out that he walks up to the temple about 3 to 4 times a day.
it's pretty steep going and 3 hours return... no wonder he looked so fit at age 54! although he smoked like a train...

my gorgeous horse was called "t-toe" and was kinda old but knew the path like the back of his/her (i forgot to check) hand... or hoof.
the guys walked behind us without any ropes attached to us and every now and then would call out something in chinese and t-toe would gallop away with me bobbling around like a stupid tourist trying to hold my camera in one hand and the reins in the other, all the while yelling "sto~p!".
mmm, t-toe didn't speak english that's for sure...

our two guides & my horse t-toe on the right


the path started out wide...


after a relatively peaceful one & a half hour trek we made it to the top of the mountain, to the cable car stop.
yup, another cable car... but i wouldn't choose this over t-toe for the world.

views along the way


Zhonghe temple wasn't great, but it did over great views over Dali towards lake Erhai.
oh yeah, the toilets up here weren't amazing either.
pretty standard in many parts of china, but just so you know what i "experienced":

sorry ladies... but this is a guys urinal


doors & flushing water obviously not invented in china


the trek down-hill was much harder than going up.
the next day i had the sorest bum muscles... great for shaping the bum though!
it didn't help that our horses knew there world be a nice helping of food for them once they got back to their little camp... they were trotting like there was no tomorrow!

overall a great experience though, and i'm sure better than the smooth ride of the cable car.

horse price: 45-yuan
mountain entrance fee: 30-yuan (the money obviously wasn't going on the maintenance of the track!)
experience: priceless


after a late lunch and a wonder around the old town it was finally time to say goodbye to Dali and head back to Lijiang (this time by bus!) to catch our early morning flight back to Hong Kong the next day.
Dali gave us a nice farewell view from the bus:

Yunnan - Day 3 : Dali (大理)

coming all the way to Yunnan Provence we didn't wanna miss visiting the city of Dali (大理) famous for its marble stone and its ornately dressed Bai ethnic people (白族).

for those who can read chinese you can see that "Bai" in chinese literally means "white people".
this is because the Bai people dress in white; with women wearing a white coat trimmed with a black or purple collar, blue loose trousers; embroider shoes, very ornate head piece, and silver bracelets and ear rings. much more colorful than the Nakhi women in Lijiang.

we had planned to take a bus (around 3~4 hours) from Lijiang but after arriving at the bus station were told that there was only 1 bus to Dali late in the afternoon rather than buses departing every 30 minutes as previously told!! very frustrating when travelling on limited time... but i think it was mainly due to the fact that it was the chinese new year.

after asking a few taxi drivers if they would take us to Dali most said "bu qi!" (won't go!)...

finally after a lot of asking and pleading we found a taxi to take us, along with a nice charge of 600 yuan! man, that's more than our accommodation! to give you an idea the "best" bus to Dali cost 65 yuan.
oh well, at least we made it to Dali safely.

the scenery on the way was pretty stunning too zooming past terraced rice fields and small villages alive with traditionally dressed locals.

arrived at our pre-booked accommodation; Emu Jade International Guest House, run by an australian and his chinese wife. the rooms were extremely clean and comfortable and best of all were priced very reasonably.
a short stroll away and we were at the old town.

unlike Lijiang this town was in a festive mood with real carnival atmosphere for the chinese new year. the streets were packed with locals out buying their goods and kids (and adults) lighting fireworks left right and center! suddenly people would run for cover and next minute there would be a huge boom! left standing was usually some old man covered in ash who couldn't hobble away quick enough...


famous Dali batik cloth & huge incense sticks


cooking yak cheese on a stick & making toffee animals


never ending stores selling fireworks


crowded streets & making candy floss with a moped bike!




also checked out Dali's famous three-pagadas (崇圣寺三塔) at the foot of the massive Cangshan mountains overlooking lake Erhai.
amazing structures built more than 1800 years ago with the main pagoda being one of the tallest in china.


photo from wikipedia