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Published: October 27th 2007
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Went back for sunshine Back in Dali (大理) - the weather is perfect here. Blue skies, long-sleeves and jeans, fleece vest in the morning kind of weather. I spent the day around Erhai Lake (洱海湖) with a couple from Spain. The husband was hard-core, he had his thick LP rebound into smaller sections and spent three months studying China destinations before the couple's 40 day trip! So cool. We rented a car and driver for the day (Y450).
Xizhou (喜洲) We started off in Xizhou which is slightly north from Dali Old Town. There is some old Bai architecture in the area, farmland and a local market. I liked walking around, and since our tour guide Qing was local Bai, he showed us around into some homes and such. The old houses were once very beautiful, but mostly destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, or the artwork adorning the walls was sold for money. The local market looked typical - stands of veggies, fruits, household items. Most of the older women are still dressed in traditional Bai clothing.
Except for the Old City, the surrounding area around Erhai is all farmland. Qing told us that in 1993 Dali had a
She-power
A lot of elderly women carrying around heavy loads. problem with opium farming, and that the army came into Dali to burn the opium crops, and killed many locals. Marijuanna also naturally grows in Dali (i.e. grows on the street), and only in the late 90's was it realized that it was used for smoking and medicinal purposes. Qing told us that he once told this to a group of young Europeans and they ended up staying in Dali for an entire month, smoking free pot. hah. Anyway, I didn't know of Dali's history of drug problems.
Choucheng (稠城) We then continued to Choucheng - the lake views were very pretty and went to a local batik place. Batiks are the tie-dyed and stitched cloths. Very fun to see them make it. I don't know why I like them so much - I had to stop myself from buying more. I bought two pieces in Yangshuo, which is two more than I need.
I prefer my desk job Since we passed by a lot of farmland, we saw a lot of local Bai farmers. I noticed so many female farmers - hauling, digging, cutting crops, thrashing rice, etc. They were all doing very hard labor. Bending over
in the sun, walking with a huge load, and planting seeds looks exhausting. I can't imagine doing that everyday. We saw an old woman (she looked over 70) and she was still farming away! Oye. Qing explained to us back in 1983 the gov't distributed land to each family (tax free). Almost all the Bai families own farmland. Most of the crops were beans and garlic. So much work and not lucrative. Boy, do I love my 60 hour a week desk job now!
Streets and alleys around Erhai Qing continued to drive us around Erhai. The East side of the lake is rarely visited by tourists because it's mostly farmers and poor people. We got out of the car and walked around. We saw where local cheese was made, we saw a woman making fermeted tofu, and saw every other person shucking/kerneling corn. The streets smell yukky and there are flies everywhere. The houses have no electricity nor plumbing (they use wells) and the family pig or horse is next to the kitchen/living area. The people and children are very dirty. From an American point of view, they look like they live in absolute poverty. These locals don't
Good Evening, from Dali
Old Town Gate with Full Moon necessarily seem unhappy though... they get by just fine! However, I had a feeling of discomfort being there. Made me feel really sad for them and I know I couldn't even last one day without my amenities. I definitely gained some perspective - and have redefined what "hard work" really is.
We had lunch at a local lake-side restaurant and had fish and shrimp from Erhai Lake. It was actually pretty good. Erhai Lake's perimeter is nearly 130 km. We drove around most of it, and took a boat across for part of it (Y70 - rip off). We started at 8:30 am and got back around 5:30 pm. Pretty long day.
Full Moon Very beautiful day! It happened to be a full moon and I walked around the city wall in the evening. You can see the moon reflect in the lake. Very charming. I had a ginger tea and a banana pancake for dinner. 😊 I liked the pancakes and coffee at Yunnan Cafe (few doors down from Tibetan Lodge, Renmin Lu #46).
This computer is super slow, so I didn't get to upload all the photos I liked, but here are some from the
day. There are two pages. Click "Page 2" to see more.
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thanks for posting those great pics!!