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Yesterday, we booked one more night in Dali, partly because the laundry wouldn’t be done until 4:00 and partly because it’s just so nice here.
My theory that the food wasn’t too spicy was being contested by my stomach. Sticking to fried rice & egg soup today.
We spent way too many hours trying to get air fare from Kunming to Changsha. For whatever reason, we were unable to book online. The travel services required cash and we were trying to avoid this. Fortunately, Betsy put a deposit into our account & it cleared this afternoon. We were able to make a big enough withdrawal to buy the tickets and probably get us through the week.
It took about 4 hours to sort out the tickets, so we didn’t have lunch until 2:30. Adam, Chris, Dan and Judy have become big fans of Yangren Jie (foreigner street). Dan got a big burger & fries: the others, pizza. Me, fried rice with a Pepto Bismol chaser. While eating at an outdoor café, we got harassed by Bai street vendors & beggars for the first time. The proprietor was getting irate because in addition to trying to sell us junk (which he didn’t mind), they were trying to collect our recyclables (which he did mind: he wanted the revenue from that himself).
Afterwards, we wandered & Judy shopped. More Dali pictures can be seen at http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=172068581/a=102868539_102868539/t_=102868539.
The area is noted for its marble & blue batik cloth. Judy got some of the latter & shopped for the former. They create some amazing articles out of marble & we’ve watched some artisans on the street creating anything from toothpick holders to streetlight poles from the stuff.
We also took a walk on the city walls (see pics at site above), which is accessible in the tourist area for 2 yuan and for free elsewhere. It affords a nice view of the old city.
The importance of the water channels that run along the major streets has become apparent. The walls of the channels are paved with cut stone – like the walkways – and are about a meter across. We saw residents washing clothes, cleaning sidewalks, and dousing faces with water scooped from the water channels. The whole system is remarkable. There are man-made waterfalls and ponds throughout the town, feeding and fed by the water channels.
We didn’t go out for dinner until 8:30PM – more pizzas and burgers (and rice for me), but not as good as lunch and more expensive. We retired relatively early (11PM).
My theory that the food wasn’t too spicy was being contested by my stomach. Sticking to fried rice & egg soup today.
We spent way too many hours trying to get air fare from Kunming to Changsha. For whatever reason, we were unable to book online. The travel services required cash and we were trying to avoid this. Fortunately, Betsy put a deposit into our account & it cleared this afternoon. We were able to make a big enough withdrawal to buy the tickets and probably get us through the week.
It took about 4 hours to sort out the tickets, so we didn’t have lunch until 2:30. Adam, Chris, Dan and Judy have become big fans of Yangren Jie (foreigner street). Dan got a big burger & fries: the others, pizza. Me, fried rice with a Pepto Bismol chaser. While eating at an outdoor café, we got harassed by Bai street vendors & beggars for the first time. The proprietor was getting irate because in addition to trying to sell us junk (which he didn’t mind), they were trying to collect our recyclables (which he did mind: he wanted the revenue from that himself).
Afterwards, we wandered & Judy shopped. More Dali pictures can be seen at http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=172068581/a=102868539_102868539/t_=102868539.
The area is noted for its marble & blue batik cloth. Judy got some of the latter & shopped for the former. They create some amazing articles out of marble & we’ve watched some artisans on the street creating anything from toothpick holders to streetlight poles from the stuff.
We also took a walk on the city walls (see pics at site above), which is accessible in the tourist area for 2 yuan and for free elsewhere. It affords a nice view of the old city.
The importance of the water channels that run along the major streets has become apparent. The walls of the channels are paved with cut stone – like the walkways – and are about a meter across. We saw residents washing clothes, cleaning sidewalks, and dousing faces with water scooped from the water channels. The whole system is remarkable. There are man-made waterfalls and ponds throughout the town, feeding and fed by the water channels.
We didn’t go out for dinner until 8:30PM – more pizzas and burgers (and rice for me), but not as good as lunch and more expensive. We retired relatively early (11PM).
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