Dali and Lijiang

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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 soon on a local bus heading for the old town of Dali.

Arriving in the old town of Dali we were so keen to explore the city after Kunming we headed out straight away without even stopping to check into the guest house. Unfortunately it was not long before we saw the error of our ways and headed to the Sleepyfish lodge to check in to our room. Please note this is definitely the official version of events and we did not get lost on the way to the guest house.

Unfortunately, when we arrived at the guest house we immediately discovered two problems with exploring Dali, Milo and Vespa the two Golden Retrievers, one of which was a 2 month old puppy, that also reside at Sleepyfish Lodge. It was only when our stomachs got the better of us that we eventually headed out in search of food and found a delightful vegetarian Chinese restaurant. We also caught our first glimpses of the actual old town in Dali before heading back to the Lodge when the light failed.

The next day we had our first set back in Dali, rain. Once it started it didn't really let up all day. We therefore decided that there was only one way to see the Old Town, which was to quickly run from one shop to the next. This gave us the perfect opportunity to try some local dumplings which were delicious and some mint chocolate cake which was possibly even better.

Aside from eating we also found the time to check out the Old Town. It was not all actually that old as some of the buildings and one of the temples was clearly new however, most of the buildings were not, including the old town church. This Church, which has classic Bai architecture (the local people) is stunning from the outside and a bit bonkers on the inside, as it has a night sky painted on the ceiling. What was more stunning was to read that the three ministers for the Church have a congregation of 80,000 scattered over the Dali region of the Yunnan province.

When the clouds eventually cleared towards the end of the day it gave us yet another chance to see the stunning views of the Cangshan mountain range behind, framed by the old streets and houses of Dali. Having explored the majority of the old town we retired to the lodge ready to head out the next day and walk in the mountains.

Thankfully the weather was good the next morning and after a quick breakfast we arrived at the base of the Cangshan mountains ready to start our hike. Thirty minutes later and we were at the top of the trail and exploring a small old temple in the Cangshan range. True, we were assisted greatly in this effort by the chairlift at the bottom of the mountain. We then started our hike in the mountain. Or so we thought as it appeared that it was actually a rather nice path which went the entire 12km distance to the cable car at the other side that would take you back down to near the base of the mountains.

We had already decided not to walk the entire 12kms, but only to do the first 7.5km to the seven pools, stopping off at phoenix eye cave on the way, before turning back and walking down out of the mountain range. We were a little disappointed that the tracks to the cave and pools themselves were closed due to recent rock slides. That said we did get some magnificent views of Lake Er Hai from the trail and a good view of the three pagodas - all that remains of an old monastery that you would otherwise have to pay to see, but not be allowed to enter.

Having fully explored the old town, been in the mountain ranges and taken a shattering walk down from them there was only one way to end the day and that was with a good game of Cluedo. Stephanie likes to claim that it was a draw, I'm more convinced that I won; it was my go after all.

The next day we woke up with a bit of a dilemma. We both agreed that we wanted to head off to Lijiang so that we could do a trek in Tiger Leaping Gorge. However, we had been advised that the weather might not be the best for the gorge and that the trek would be rather hellish if it rained. Instead of heading to Lijiang we could instead have started the long trip to Hong Kong where we should be ale to apply for our Russian tourist visas. In the end we decided to head to Lijiang and check the weather out first hand before deciding to abandon the trek in the gorge. We therefore found ourselves enjoying another 4 hour bus trip to Lijiang.

Lijiang, as a town, is much like Dali in that it has both an “Old Town” and a new town. The Old town is much more touristy than in Dali and not actually that old as it was devastated in an earthquake in 1996 and rebuilt afterwards. That said it is still very quaint and much easier to get lost in than in Dali as it is much larger. Sharing a taxi from the bus station we were soon plodding the streets looking for a place to stay.

Having eventually settled on the International Youth Hostel, not great but fine for a night, we decided that the weather was looking pretty good and booked ourselves two bus tickets on a very early bus to Tiger Leaping Gorge.

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