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3 Pagodas Mirror Lake
Dali, Yunnan Province The standard of hawking up in China is truely world class. Sweet old grannies give you a toothy smile in the street and then turn away to noisily flob onto the pavement. The central government has tried to stamp it out (in Shanghai and Beijing at least) in preparation for the 2008 olympics. Fat chance - these guys are pros - if they can't hawk it, it probably wasn't worth hawking in the first place.
Our scenic boat trip down the Li river from Guilin to Yangshou was punctuated by regular ripe phlegm expulsions. Sitting downstairs admiring the beautiful scenery, it almost seemed as if a light drizzle was eminating from the cloudless sky.
Another trait of the Chinese became very apparent during that trip - they just can't resist posing for the camera. When we say posing, we mean the more outrageous end of the spectrum. We're talking full on pouts over the shoulder and simmering gazes with a cigarette strategically dangling from the mouth. No doubt they find our habits just as amusing. It's not uncommon to see a group staring at you from across the street convulsing with laughter. It's probably Tom's lamb chop side burns...
Slow boat through China
Guilin to Yanshou on the Li River The cruise downstream was pleasant - chugging past craggy peaks and semi-submerged Water Buffalo chewing on weeds. A fitting journey to the legendry Yangshou, which has been a backpacker hangout for many years. The whole gamut of western food is on the menu and we must admit that we indulged our weakness. This was particularly spurred on by our last meal in Guilin. We'd eagerly and greedily awaited our duck pancakes. Eventually, out it came - a big plate of sliced duck, skin on. Not so fast Mr Bond - when we removed a slice of skin to get at the meat we discovered that underneath there was nothing but prawn crackers, placed so as to simluate a large sumptious duck breast. You could have taken our photos and put them in the dictionary as a new definition of the word "gutted". We wondered if it was a joke, whether the restaurant was kitted out with hidden cameras recording our reactions, but then realised that fatty duck skin (chewy not crispy as we found out) is probably a delicacy. Our bemusement reached its zenith when we waved at a waitress to get her attention and she just waved back
Karst countryside
View from Moon Hill, near Yangshou cheerily and wandered off in the opposite direction. Like we just wanted to say hi! We collapsed in hysterics.
It was a different story in Yangshou, where all the waitresses wanted to chat with you an improve their English. They were absolutely lovely. Sometimes the Chinese are just so sweet and innocent that you just want to give them a big hug. Both guides that we used in Yangshou fall into this category. They took us cycling through the countryside, past paddy fields and through sleepy villages. We climbed Moon Hill to admire the view and wandered through the market at Fuli, but the best experience was stopping at the farmhouse owned by the local English teacher. We drank green tea and ate peaches and pomello (similar to grapefruit) from his fields.
Yangshou was great but time is short for us and we had to move on. We realised that it would probably take three days for us to reach our next destination (Dali) by train. We enquired about flights and were told that we could reach Kunming that afternoon. We could then take the overnight train to Dali and save two days travelling - sweet! It was
The Li River
'aint it grand pretty cheap too and the service was just as good as any international carrier. We might try that one again. It was definitely the first time that we've bought aeroplane tickets only three hours before take off!
We arrived in Dali at 6.30 am, in time to see the early morning sun hitting the wall of the old town and the streets deserted. It's a beautiful little town, even if it has been renovated for the growing number of tourists. The buildings are markedly different from those further east. Almost all of them have ornately decorated eaves, in bright primary colours. The people have a distinctly Tibettan look about them (not surprising as we are fairly close to Tibet here). The town is also home to some soap-dodging travellers that don't want to go home. Some have opened funky bars and cafes which fit in well with the relaxed Dali vibe. However, Dali is becoming crammed with Chinese tour groups, who pour through the old town gates all day long. There's just so many people in China that the numbers of internal tourists are amazing.
However, we found it easy to avoid the crowds. First, we visited the
three pagodas, just to the northwest of town. The entrance fee of 121 Yuan (approx 8 GBP) was hellishly steep. You could get accomodation and decent meals for a day or two for that sort of money! On the flip side, it did mean that there was hardly anyone else in there and there was a very tranquil atmosphere in the gardens. The central pagoda was built in 831 AD and is one of the oldest large structures in SW China. It really is an impressive peice of work given its age. Behind the pagodas is a monestary with temples stretching up the sacred mountain, each more elaborate than the last. There are rooms full of gilt gold Buddhas and angry looking deities! Monks relaxed in the sunshine next to Tibettan prayer wheels.
The other way to avoid the congestion was to do something strenuous. We climbed to the Zhonge Temple in the mountains above Dali (almost 3,000 lung busting metres above sea level). The chairlift (we were almost tempted...) means that this trek in itself will not ensure solitude. However, the 11 km hike south to Gatong Temple was pretty much deserted. An amazing path has been built
Lunch break venue
Nice bit of rustic charm, oh yes up there winding its way around the cliffs, valleys and precipices. It is blessed with the great name - Cloudy Tourist Road. The path is quite a feat of engineering and hard labour. We were surrounded by pine forest, birds with brilliant blue feathers and striped squirrels in the trees. Swifts sped around the vertical valley walls before plunging down into the abyss below. We can't recommend this trek enough.
We've now moved on up the road to Lijiang, the gateway to one of the deepest gorges on the planet - Tiger Leaping Gorge. We're going to try to walk up the gorge if we get some good weather. We'll let you know!
TTFN
T&S
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Ma&Roly
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Haute cuisine
Hi there - pictures ever more stunning! We'll have a duck-skin dinner waiting for you when you get back to Blighty. Keep trekkin'!