I dreamed that I saw Dali

Asia » China
December 1st 2007

Published: December 10th 2007

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Roundyrhino

Dali

An tired old building leans over

...with a supermarket trolley (U2 1990)

'I'm not getting in that' Alan said, looking at the stuck together with sellotape mini-van, crammed full of smoking people, coughing non-smoking people, luggage, sacks, chickens. I felt for him - the nightclub outside our window had wound down at eight am, and it was now nine am. Imagine Busáras. Now take away the glamour. That was the bus station.

'I want to get on a plane to Bangkok.'

He looked so sad, so tired. All he had talked about in the taxi was the five hour sleep he planned on the bus. And now, it seemed a little unlikely.

The hagglers, chancers, uniformed workers, all conspired to coax us onboard. Bewildered we sat there, as the aforementioned tried to wedge as many people as possible onboard. Intermittently ladies ventured on with bowls of freshly steamed corn on the cob, hard boiled eggs and newspapers. Eventually the driver and the hagglers shrugged and we took off.

As the bus chugged and bumped its way down the road, the young hypochondriac in front of me bashed three glass vials separately off the window frame, slugging back the sharp smelling contents before

3 pagodas

One of the smaller pagodas from its base

flinging them out the window. She then neatly peeled two boiled eggs. The smell of egg and eucalyptus mingled in my nose. Thankfully, the road surface smoothed and my iPod entertained. Further entertainment ensued with many pit-stops for noodles and rice, the driver visibly concerned when I didn't join in (Chinese people love to eat - and they are so thin. For a few weeks I tried eating lots, hoping I would get thinner, but unfortunately on the Irish constitution this does not seem to work), and the extra passengers the driver shirtily pushed in on the sly - one of whom was very dodgy and seated beside the hypocondriac, which added greatly to my amusement - he hacked and she shuddered.

Arriving in Dali we were very underwhelmed until we realised that it wasn't Dali at all, it was 'new' Dali. To be honest 'new' Dali is a bit awful, reminding me of the Northside Shopping Centre without the roof and jaunty radio jingle.

Old Dali though is amazing. First off it is pedestrianised (yay!) and second off it is maintained as an old Chinese town. Mountains loom to the left, while shimmering Erhai lake lies to

Delicious fresh food

This worked a bit like pick&mix - you select anything you like the look of and it's cooked up for you on the spot!

the right (great Feng Shui apparently). Beautiful walled cobbled streets, wooden houses with sloping roofs that peak at the end, bedecked with dragons, lotus flowers and such things. Water bubbling through the roads, mountain streams diverted originally to act as a sewerage system, now a beautiful sonorous accompaniment to the tourists' wanderings.

It's a real Tourists' Haven - many of the old houses now act as craft shops, in the style of Dingle or Galway. The people of the region are 'Bai' and wander the streets acting as tour guides and entertainers wearing the native clothes (which weirdly enough remind me of the style in Ireland a few years ago - like white combat trousers with flower patterns down the outside - although the hats haven't hit the high streets yet - very ornate and perched high on the head). To my delight, side-street upon street of cafés flank the centre drag. An old lady hounded Alan here, following him saying 'smokey - grass - hashish-y', knitting all the time.

Many people objected to the cost of the Three Pagodas (it was 12 euro) but we decided to go in - it was a gorgeous day, and we

The walls of Old Dali

The clouds lay like a blanket on the hills all day

had travelled all the way to Dali, it seemed worth it to pay the few quid in. I think it is probably a bit expensive, and yet we had a fantastic time, as all the other tourists stood outside tutting at the expense, we had the entire complex to ourselves, so we spent hours wandering around, exploring the never-ending temple complex and getting higher above the city as we walked.

Dali was refreshing to us as we had spent most of our time in big cities, and blue skies, fields, clean air, smell of greenery, sound of birds - the things we're used to in Ireland, I suppose - were glorious and we ponced around like Wordsworth.

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