Rest day in Dali

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The beds are so hard that I am struggling to sleep. It took several hours and many shifts of position to get any sleep at all and the the next I heard was my phone ringing at 9am. It was our guide David wanting to know if we had gone to the wrong restaurant since he had not seen us. Us being myself and room mate Jeff from Oz. Today was a steady day roaming around the many streets of this ancient city established in 1382 but much of it rebuilt in the last 20 years or so as a major tourist city occupied by mostly Bai minority people in their distinctive white and blue dresses and fancy head dresses not unlike the American Indians without the feathers. The city is set out in a grid pattern and there are three gates at each pole. The North and South are spectacular especially when they are lit up at night. There is a chair lift to take you up,the Cang Shang (mountain) where you can take a long walk along the hillside or you can visit the Three Pagodas Buddhist Temple. The tallest pagoda is 69m tall and was restored in 1979 but dates from 836 AD. The other two are from sometime later and are well worth a visit with their traditional architecture and magnificently decorated Buddhas etc. On Lake Erhai there is Jinsuo Island which can be reached by boat and is interesting to walk around. Opposite out hotel is Yuer Park where you can find people dancing and old musicians playing traditional orchestral instruments and singing giving the park a real old time Chinese atmosphere. Also there are many groups playing Mah Jong, which is a bit like cards but with domino looking objects and also a game like Chinese Chequers. All very interesting. It goes dark is time of year about 6.30 when the town looks really impressive with all the many shops, with wide open fronts, open until very late and lit up in spectacular fashion. Tomorrow we are on the road again heading North to the town of Eryuan where there are many geothermal hot springs.

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Photos

North Gate Dali
The impressive north gate at night in Dali

Comments

[Kay Whitney]

Hi, Richard
Sounds like you're 'enjoying' your visit, Richard. Hope you get your beauty sleep soon!! Keep safe. Kay

[Pennyfarthing]

China
Hi Kay, Glad you enjoy the blog. It is a great place to visit.