Dali:

March 21st, 2005 - March 23rd, 2005

Greetings from Dali...

We left Kunming on a bus to Dali which is northwest of Kunming and known as a "backpackers get-away" as well as the drug capital of China - at least the herbal variety. About halfway the bus stopped for a break and we had our first chance to experience the one thing western travellers fear most - Chinese Public Toilets!!!

Basically, you stand with your feet on either side of a trough filled with sewage and you squat down to do your business.

However, there are no doors, just 2-foot high dividers separating you from the next guy. And this all takes place in one big open room. The only positive part to the experience is the small package of Kleenex / toilet paper handed to you when you enter!

Dali was just what we needed after racing through Vietnam. It's a small, slow town, and we were able to kick back and relax and even sleep in for the first time in ages.

The old city is walled and was once a former capital many centuries ago. The streets are narrow and full of character and several nice temples can be found throughout town.

Each of the town's gates is designed like a traditional Asian temple. The two main attractions outside of town are the lake, which is a few kilometres to the east, and the mountains which impose over the city to the west.

On our first full day we chose to go the mountain route. We walked outside the city walls and greeting us immediately were a few locals offering us rides in their horse carts to the chairlift that would take us part way up the mountain. The only real ways of getting around here are by bus and horse cart. With no bus going our way, we rode the horse cart over the cobblestone streets to reach the chairlift.

The chairlift, of the 2-seat variety, resembled something from a 1980's ski resort. The ride up was slow, but we were treated to spectacular views of the valley below. At the top was a temple which we visited briefly before being enticed to climb up further for a better view.

We climbed up the stairs, pausing several times to catch our breath. The altitude was clearly getting to us. At the top was a cute guest house / cafe where we stopped for some ginger tea. We were at 2600m above sea level - or about 300m higher than the top of Blackcomb Mountain at Whistler.

It was the highest either of us had been before and it took a bit of getting used to. But, the air was clean and the sky was clear making for a relaxing way to waste away the afternoon.

Our second day was rather exciting for such a small town. After getting a 5 Yuan haircut from a guy who didn't speak English (about $0.75 CDN), we headed off to see the Three Pagodas on the outskirts of town.

That's where we had our first encounter with a xenophobic Chinese dog. It calmly ignored all the local people around and beelined for us "foreign folk". After yelling at it in English a few times, it finally left us alone.

On the way back from the pagodas - via horse cart, of course - we were walking down the main street where a huge crowd had gathered. We found ourselves in the midst of a good ole street brawl... only this was between a group of women.

The police arrived shortly thereafter and all the involved parties simply got into the police van with little hassle. Unlike COPS back home, there were no beat-downs or F-bombs... I think the people here are somewhat afraid of the police. One lady was pretty bloodied!

Oh, and we finally discovered what was blaring the awful sounds of Fur Elise around town all day and night... it was the garbage truck. It cranks out Fur Elise at obscene levels indicating that it is time to bring out the garbage! It also prevents us from taking naps or sleeping in...

We spend the first part of our final day in Dali in a small boat on the lake near town. The weather wasn't in our favour so we didn't see very much in terms of scenery, which was a shame. We did climb a hill on one island and go to the Sky Temple, which is a big pagoda overlooking the lake.

We entered a smaller temple and an old lady grabbed us and placed 3 sticks of incense in our hands. She directed us to the candles in front of the statues on the main platform and we lit the incense. She then had us stick them in a pot right in front of the statues and then she rang a bell and chanted some prayers.

Of course, we made the not-so-voluntary donation, but we got a nice warm feeling inside from the experience and it was a little pick-me-up from the outside rain and cold.

The second island we visited was populated with Bai people, who are prominent in this part of China. We visited a temple and paid another not-so-voluntary fee; this time for taking photos.

Afterwards, some villagers guided us and 4 other people from our boat to a local Bai house where we were offered the ceremonial 3 teas: one bitter, one sweet for happiness, and the third one made of spices to cure headaches. One of the girls, dressed traditionally, sang and danced for us.

Back in Dali, we shared a taxi-van with two couples from our boat. Both were from Beijing and they were quite helpful in guiding us as we were the only foreigners around and no one spoke English. They saved us from paying the "Foreigner Price" for the taxi and then invited us to lunch when we got back to Dali.

We went to a local place that looked like every other local place on the street, but apparently they had heard good things on the Internet about this particular one.

We left the ordering to them and we got a variety of dishes from chicken and veggies to spicy pig intestine. Jess tried the pig, I passed after having flashbacks of eating sheep brain in India.

The lunch was nice. We shared all the food as per the custom here in China and we had a nice conversation to wrap up our time in Dali.

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