Dali at last, I’d been hearing so many things about this particular part of China that I was anxious to get here. There has been a debate amongst travellers as to which is the better, Dali or Lijiang. As I have yet to visit the latter I shall have to reserve judgement on this until later. What I can say is I haven’t been disappointed with Dali in the least.
The first thing that hits you about Dali is the sheer impossing Jade mountain (Cang Shan) which lingers over the city to the West. To the East but not easily visible from Dali Old town is the equaly impressive Erhai Lake (Erhai Lu).
I decided as things up to now had been a little cheaper than I expected to spend a little extra on my accomodation. I have no problem with sharing a room with people but as it’s coming to the end the of the off season in Dali, I was able to negotiate a great price for a single room, with wait for it my own bathroom! Not only that but a bath tub, I could get quite used to this!
I was pleased to find that the temperature was also pretty high and the late afternoon sun made it the perfect opportunity to take a walk through the old town. In fact Dali is so small it’s easy enough to walk from one end of the city to the other in under half an hour. The cities walls which were originally destroyed but have since been restored have four very prominent entrances, the North, South, East and West gates all of which are still in their original form.
Despite it being late afternoon the streets were packed with tourists all looking to pick up a bargain or two. Dali is famous for it's marble but depsite it's obvious beauty I don't think carrying a large slab of marble around is very practical.
I'd also heard lots about the food in Dali and decided to dive straight in with some of the Dali specialities on offer. I love cheese but this was the first time I've ever tried fried goat's cheese, all the same it was really quite good. After a hearty meal of cheese and meat, not great if you're looking to lose some weight I headed back to the hostel in order to get and early night in preparation for my planned excursions the next day.
I'd been told the best way to see Dali much like Yangshuo is out on a bike, so off I set early in the morning for my first stop the much renowed Three Pagoda's (San Ta Si) I've seen my fair share of temples in and around Asia so I was a little warry of the 121 rmb entrance fee and just wasn't sure that it was going to be worth the money. How wrong I was to be proved. The rather high ticket price also included entrance to the Chongsheng Temple (Chongsheng Si) which is situated behind the three pagodas. It was all very impressive from the beginning and you are immediately hit with these three towering pagoda's upon entering. The pagoda's were originally built on the ruins of Chongseng San Ta monastery and date back to the mid-9th century. Qianxun Pagoda (the middle one) has 16 tiers and is 69 meters (230 feet) high. On either side of this are two more each with ten tiers standing at 42 meters (137 feet) tall. The pagoda's much like those found around the rest of Asia were built to invoke divine protection against disasters and, sometimes, to store sacred scriptures and saintly remains.
I wandered up past the pagoda's and towards Chongshen Temple, which one of the vendors had told me was the largest collection of temples in Southern Asia. What was so incredible about them for me is that they are set into the background of the highly impressive Jade mountain. They were also in fantastic condition and it was obvious where most of the ticket money was going. I walked further and further whereupon each temple became more spectacular that the previous and the crowds became less and less until I finally reached the last temple and was then able to look down and see temples, the three pagoda's and Dail itself down below me. It takes something special for me to get carried away and quite often I've seen things on my travels which were supposed to be good but failed to live up to their billing. This however, personally for me, was something quite special.
I had only anticipated spending an hour at the most there but in fact the whole tour around the temples took me a leisurely two and a half hours. I peddled off to the "ear shaped lake" or Erhai Hu. Once again it was one of those places highly recommended by the guide book as it can boast to be seventh biggest fresh water lake in China. Not for the first time the guide book seemed to be inaccurate with it's information and it clearly said that local ferries run back and forth across the lake. However I was only able to find a ferry which would take me over to the other side for 150 rmb! I decided that this would need more investigation and as the weather was also turning it seemed like a good idea to head back to the hostel and find out the deal there.
Once again my temple watching, bike riding and general walking around had left me shattered, I chatted with a few people at the hostel over a few beers and with that it was off to my 'luxury' room!
I'd been advised that the Lake in fact was nothing special after all, I'm sure other people will say otherwise but I decided the next day it would be best to follow the advice of some of the other people I'd met and skip the ferry ride over to the other side and instead ride my bike along the banks of the river popping in at the numerous villages dotted along the way.
The problem with many hostels is that the bikes they hire out have usually already seen a fair amount of use and this was certainly true of the bike that I was to end up with. The ride along the riverside gave me a good idea of how the local people lead their lives. It was certainly a far cry from the tourist haven in the centre of town. Life out here for most people is tough, a combination of farming, building and stone cutting seems to be the way most people earn a living. It wasn't a surprise to me that I didn't see any tourists around and some of the local people seemed surprised to see me riding in and out of the narrow streets and through the fields. Children were happy to chase along behind the bike and I even entered in a small game of hide and seek with them. Whilst being a great experience it was for me somewhat of a humbling experience. I don't want to make this a social commentary on poverty but these were obviously people who didn't have a lot and it made me thankful of the life and the things I've done and am able to still do. It was interesting for me also to note that the calls of "Laowai" had also stopped and most people greeted me with a simple hello and in English.
Dali it would appear is also home to as many dogs as humans and riding around I was as times confronted by angry dogs, thankfully chained to gates but more often than not the dogs would be stretched out in the sun and very docile in nature.
It was becoming clear to me that there wasn't too much to do in Dali and instead of staying and extra day it might be best for me to head off the next day. I'm sure if you wanted a place to relax and just sit back and not do a lot then Dali would be a great place to head. In fact only that morning I met an older American guy who was planning to stay there for five months!
I had planned to head Shangri-la or to give it it's Tibetan name Zhongdian next however as it sits 3200m above sea level I thought it might be best to check out the weather there for the next few days. I was thankful I did before booking a ticket as it appears it won't be too great until the middle of next week so I've shelved those plans for now. I decided that a stop off in Lijiang (which I plan to visit later) would be the best idea and therefore booked my ticket to travel there tomorrow.
So my mini Dali adventure is nearly over, there was one more thing to do however before I left. The staff at the MCA Guesthouse where I stayed have been extremely friendly to me and as far as value for money goes it can't be beaten, especially the "all you can eat" 15rmb breakfast! So I was therefore very happy to help the boss when he asked me to write a new introduction in English for their soon to be new website. I was only happy to oblige and the free beers he kept giving me also helped.
Perhaps one day I will come back to Dali, perhaps as the years go by Dali will also become another tourist haven so once again anyone thinking of visiting this charming place should come now.
As this has been a log blog don't expect too much information for the next few days! See you all in Lijiang......
Dali - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=43063&l=535a5&id=665850931 (not all of them, check for more later)
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