Blogs from Dali, Yunnan, China, Asia - page 5

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

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

It was the cakes that did it. There were so many of them. They tempted me. Lured me in. I was lost. I resolved to try as many as I could during the time that I was in Dali. And so my visits to The Bakery No. 88 began. Chatting to Karine, the German owner, I discovered that in a past life she'd been a chemical engineer. But she told me - "I always baked. My mother made wonderful cakes, and when I was fourteen I made my first cake, telling her I could do better than she could". A wonderful thing, the confidence of youth. She made cakes for friends and now in her retirement has used this passion to help young Chinese women. "I wanted to show them that if they worked hard and ... read more

Tues 26 / 10 Kumming to Dali Again our itinerary indicated a very busy day with and early flight to the former capital of this Yunnan province followed by a full day sightseeing for the1 night stay in Dali It was a slow start at the 5:00 am wake-up call before a final shuffling of luggage and into the bus at 05:45 with a breakfast box for the airport. Check in was delayed due to errors in passport numbers of one of the group resulting in a busy time for tour guide Jackie's skills. Some confusion as an unknown number of our group proceeded through security and onto the tarmac bus for the plane at a remote standing area and others searched the terminal for potential stragglers All eventually re-united for a the short 30 min ... read more

On Saturday, Dianne and Linda went exploring on their own. From Dianne’s keyboard: Linda and I wanted to visit the village of XiZhou, near ErHai (Er Lake). Max told us how to find a “bus stop” on the busy road at the edge of town. So off we went, dodging the traffic - lots of big trucks, climbing over the railing, ending up on the opposite side of the road. We saw some people standing at a break in the railing so said “XiZhou” (translate that to mean “Is this where we catch the local bus to XiZhou?”). Head-nodding led us to believe we had found the right spot. A bus came along and we asked the assistant (each bus seems to have someone who collects the money, puts out small stools for sitting on if ... read more