Blogs from Dali, Yunnan, China, Asia
Day 22 - Impressions of Lijiang - Dali Ancient City
Published: April 22nd 2012Asia » China » Yunnan » Dali
April 21st 2012
We had the whole morning to ourselves as it was a mild 3 hour drive to Dali which we decided to do after lunch. Following a chill out breakfast overlooking the Snow Mountain, we went back to our rooms to pack and ready ourselves for the drive. Looking through the small booklet on Lijiang in the room, I thought it might be fun to check out the hot air balloon ride just 10km away. Suffering from vertigo, I would abstain and take pictures from the ground, and Sin and Lily would do the ride. Unfortunately, although the weather was picture perfect, we had to make other plans as the place told us that the winds were too strong and it was the wrong season for hot air ballooning. Back to the booklet and Lily found a ... read more
April 14th 2012
Next we traveled to a small town called "Dali". I think this was one of our favorite times on the trip. It was interesting and beautiful. The sun shown over mountains and a beautiful lake. The breeze blew warm and free on our faces. The air felt clean, which in China... is a treat. We ate good food and hiked around a bit. We were all shopped out from the last town, so we did not go into many shops, but instead turned our wants over to less material things- like viewing mountains and pagodas. We spent the night at a very nice hotel and woke up early the next morning to take the cable car up the mountain our flight. It was like living in a postcard. Even the taxis were clean. :) This trip ... read more
February 2nd 2012
Dali (dah lee) Dali is one of Yunnan's most popular tourist destinations; both for its historic sites and the Foreigners' Street that features western-style food, music, and English-speaking business owners, making it popular among both western and Chinese tourists. It is situated on flat farm land between a high mountain rage and Lake Er hai (R Hi). On the opposite side of Er Hai are more mountains yet these lack any trees. I was not able to determine if this was a natural phenomena or a result of man-created deforestation. It is home to a group of ethnic minority Chinese called Bai and Yi (Bye and Yee) Our bus ride to Dali was 4 -1/2 hours on a very comfortable bus, yet the drive could have been faster. After 90 minutes of driving we stopped for ... read more
October 4th 2011
Sitting in the rooftop bar at Jim’s Tibetan Inn in Dali writing what will likely be my final notes from China this trip. Only 3 more days left, most of them mainly travel days. Dali is in the midst of the annual National Day holiday and is one of the more popular destinations for Chinese tourists. The place is a mob scene. I had heard only good things about Dali, but Dali Old Town isn’t as interesting or as nice as the old towns I’ve visited so far this trip. Like those old towns, this one is filled with restaurants and souvenir shops. Unlike those old towns, the quality of handicrafts and souvenirs is poor. The crowds only make it less attractive. Thankfully, I got out of town today on a day trip to some villages ... read more
July 2nd 2011
Dali is situated on Lake Erhai which is 2000 metres above sea level. Behind, the towering mountains set a magnificent backdrop with mount Cang Shan 4000 metres above sea level. We have hired a car and driver for the day, non-English speaking of course. First stop – the famous Three Pagodas which are very beautiful, but during my life I have become church and pagoded out. Next stop is the local Bai market; anything and everything can be purchased from tobacco to pigs. We find every vegetable, herb, meat, cheese, clothes, jewellery, baskets and everything else necessary for day to day life. The local people seem completely indifferent to us, friendly but not staring like every else we go. Kathy has a go at the local tobacco, which was kindly offered to her by an old ... read more
An English speaker, an English speaker, my kingdom for an English speaker.
Published: June 29th 2011Asia » China » Yunnan » Dali
June 26th 2011
Hello all! So my time in Lao has finally come to an end, after nearly three weeks in the lovely Luang Prabang I finally peeled myself away and caught the vomitous 9 hour bus up North to a small town called Luang Namtha. My one day in Luang Namtha was very wet so I spent some time doing some internet life maintenance, checking bank accounts, doing accounts, that sort of thing. I am currently overspending by around 25%, this is due too: 1) Ignorance in Cambodia 2) Vicious Tourist Pricing in Vietnam 3) A soft spot for the Laoations 4) Having to buy two extra cameras (one broke, one was pinched by a mental American called “Alabama Glyn” who was convinced the US Government was trying to assassinate him, it was only after I extracted myself ... read more
June 12th 2011
I would like to share with you something I think every backpacker has experienced, and experienced a multiple of times. Indeed if you are still on the road you are experiencing it as we speak. It is the standard conversation between two random traveller's anywhere in the world. Perhaps the only traveller's out there who might not know about it are those true adventurers, the unique ones who go to far off the beaten track places every time they are on the road and don't actually meet any other traveller and don't care to meet them either. But I am not talking about them of course, I am referring to the standard backpacker, to which I humbly submit myself. I am one of them and thus what I will write should not be taken as criticism, ... read more
May 18th 2011
After leaving Kunming we headed for the relaxing old town of Dali. Billed as a look into an old Chinese village it sounded a great change from Kunming, where there was nothing to see, to a town where there was everything to see. The trip to Dali actually went remarkably easily. Arriving at the bus station we were able to buy tickets for the very next bus to Dali and, 15 minutes after arriving at the bus station we were on our way. A short 4 hour bus trip later, and remarkably bereft of any crazy driving, we arrived in Dali. Only we didn't arrive in Old Dali we arrived in Xiaguan (New Dali). However, thanks to the Rough Guide and after conquering the language barrier with the use of some inventive hand signals we were ... read more
May 5th 2011
This rural village located in the farmland is just what we needed. We spen time shopping, eating some good street food and going fishing on the Erhai Lake with fishermen who uses a bird to catch the fish. No poles required. The fisherman sung us many songs, we dance and had a very relaxing day. We closed our night by boarding on a overnight train so we had the sleeper train experience with a ton of luggage.... read more
May 4th 2011
It was hard to leave Lijiang because it was unlike anything we had ever seen. We were reminded of other places we had all seen around the world but this place was truly unique. We had to say goodbye around 10 and catch a bus to the next town. Uncle Leslie and I developed a strategy to tell all the ladies the bus leaves 30 minutes early to make sure we made it on time. So we did not missed the bus but was very early. We took the luxury bus that lasted 3 hours and it drove all around, up and down and through mountains. So the view was very nice. That showed a kungfu movie on the t.v. in the bus. There was a man in front of us that tried to sheesh us ... read more
