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After breakfast, we went to an internet café & Dan was able to find a hotel in Dali that looked OK. We booked 2 rooms for 2 nights online, went out for some lunch, and caught 2 cabs to the bus station.
The bus to Dali takes 4 hours to traverse several hundred kilometers. Cost is 116 yuan/person, about $15, and we were able to secure our seats just a couple of hours ahead of our departure. I’m amazed at how easy it is to get around China, at least to major cities.
The bus was modern and air conditioned with 2 big LCD screens on which the hostess plays movies and KTV (karaoke TV, or music videos). We saw a Chinese romance first, and I tried to follow it. Bottom line: the girl abandons her wealthy boyfriend to be with the nice cook. Some themes are universal. The second movie was Terminator 3, which was clearly chosen for the 5 of us. Chinese, with English subtitles. I missed Arnold’s voice.
Meanwhile, the bus threaded Northwest through some pretty spectacular mountains. The road is a major highway with no sharp switchbacks and several long (and impressive) tunnels. We went through true rural Yunnan – farmers hand-tending their crops, nestled among the peaks. Pre-industrial farming.
The bus ride ended at a terminal in new Dali (Xiangtan). A couple of cabs and 80 yuan got us to old Dali. Click on http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=172068581/a=102868539_102868539/t_=102868539 for some pretty amazing photos.
Dali lies above the southwest side of Er hui hu, a large mountain lake 1900m above sea level. The Jade Mountains (Cang Shan) are behind it, rising to 4000m. We couldn’t see the top due to cloud cover.
The old city is walled, with impressive (and beautiful) gates. The native people are mainly Bai rather than Han, and are believed to have been here for 3,000 years. In the 900s, they banded together and successfully defeated the Tang Imperial Army. They established the Nanzhao Kingdom, which at one point controlled upper Burma. Dali was the endpoint of the Burma Road. It fell to Kublai Khan in the 13th century.
Today, Dali is a tourist Mecca for Chinese… which is really nice as we Laowai aren’t singled out as easy marks (which we are). The streets are cobbled with carefully squared stones, and many old buildings with traditional architecture remain. The town walls were renovated in 1998.
Our hotel is another true treat: the Lan Lin Ge, or Landscape Hotel. The complex consists of a series of 2-story buildings with gorgeous garden courtyards. We paid a little over 900 yuan for 2 rooms for 2 nights in this little Eden, or about $30 - $35 per room per night. The staff dress in traditional Bai garb, all part of the tourist appeal (and many of the guests are Chinese arriving by the busload on chartered tours). The Han tourists love to pose for pictures with the Bai, or in “rented” Bai garb themselves.
After checking in and absorbing the ambience for awhile, we went out in search of food and adventure. There’s a walking street a block up form us, toward the north gate (Bei Men). It’s called Fuxing Lu. The entire street – paved with carefully cut stones – is lined with shops, mostly tourist crap. Lots of leather, jade (or faux jade), marble carving, jewelry, gourd flutes… but also clothing and other practical stuff, particularly at the north end, which seems to be less designed for tourists. Huguo Lu is about a block south of the hotel, and is filled with cafes and an area for “night snacks.” Dan lit up when he saw that. Heading east, Huguo Lu is known locally as Yongran Jie, or “foreigner’s street.”
We ate on Fuxing Lu, a couple blocks from the north gate, at a hole in the wall with about 3 tables. The menu was all in Chinese & nobody spoke any English. Dan recognized a couple of things, but ultimately went up to a cabinet that contained the raw material for the dishes (lots of veggies and noodles: only pork for meat) and told the Laoban (proprietor or “boss”) “make us some dishes from these.” What arrived at our table was perhaps the best food that we’ve had yet.
After dinner, we walked Fuxing Lu and did some window shopping: preparation for the intense negotiation that is Chinese shopping outside of department stores. Adam & Dan went to Huguo Lu for “night snacks” and beer.
The bus to Dali takes 4 hours to traverse several hundred kilometers. Cost is 116 yuan/person, about $15, and we were able to secure our seats just a couple of hours ahead of our departure. I’m amazed at how easy it is to get around China, at least to major cities.
The bus was modern and air conditioned with 2 big LCD screens on which the hostess plays movies and KTV (karaoke TV, or music videos). We saw a Chinese romance first, and I tried to follow it. Bottom line: the girl abandons her wealthy boyfriend to be with the nice cook. Some themes are universal. The second movie was Terminator 3, which was clearly chosen for the 5 of us. Chinese, with English subtitles. I missed Arnold’s voice.
Meanwhile, the bus threaded Northwest through some pretty spectacular mountains. The road is a major highway with no sharp switchbacks and several long (and impressive) tunnels. We went through true rural Yunnan – farmers hand-tending their crops, nestled among the peaks. Pre-industrial farming.
The bus ride ended at a terminal in new Dali (Xiangtan). A couple of cabs and 80 yuan got us to old Dali. Click on http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=172068581/a=102868539_102868539/t_=102868539 for some pretty amazing photos.
Dali lies above the southwest side of Er hui hu, a large mountain lake 1900m above sea level. The Jade Mountains (Cang Shan) are behind it, rising to 4000m. We couldn’t see the top due to cloud cover.
The old city is walled, with impressive (and beautiful) gates. The native people are mainly Bai rather than Han, and are believed to have been here for 3,000 years. In the 900s, they banded together and successfully defeated the Tang Imperial Army. They established the Nanzhao Kingdom, which at one point controlled upper Burma. Dali was the endpoint of the Burma Road. It fell to Kublai Khan in the 13th century.
Today, Dali is a tourist Mecca for Chinese… which is really nice as we Laowai aren’t singled out as easy marks (which we are). The streets are cobbled with carefully squared stones, and many old buildings with traditional architecture remain. The town walls were renovated in 1998.
Our hotel is another true treat: the Lan Lin Ge, or Landscape Hotel. The complex consists of a series of 2-story buildings with gorgeous garden courtyards. We paid a little over 900 yuan for 2 rooms for 2 nights in this little Eden, or about $30 - $35 per room per night. The staff dress in traditional Bai garb, all part of the tourist appeal (and many of the guests are Chinese arriving by the busload on chartered tours). The Han tourists love to pose for pictures with the Bai, or in “rented” Bai garb themselves.
After checking in and absorbing the ambience for awhile, we went out in search of food and adventure. There’s a walking street a block up form us, toward the north gate (Bei Men). It’s called Fuxing Lu. The entire street – paved with carefully cut stones – is lined with shops, mostly tourist crap. Lots of leather, jade (or faux jade), marble carving, jewelry, gourd flutes… but also clothing and other practical stuff, particularly at the north end, which seems to be less designed for tourists. Huguo Lu is about a block south of the hotel, and is filled with cafes and an area for “night snacks.” Dan lit up when he saw that. Heading east, Huguo Lu is known locally as Yongran Jie, or “foreigner’s street.”
We ate on Fuxing Lu, a couple blocks from the north gate, at a hole in the wall with about 3 tables. The menu was all in Chinese & nobody spoke any English. Dan recognized a couple of things, but ultimately went up to a cabinet that contained the raw material for the dishes (lots of veggies and noodles: only pork for meat) and told the Laoban (proprietor or “boss”) “make us some dishes from these.” What arrived at our table was perhaps the best food that we’ve had yet.
After dinner, we walked Fuxing Lu and did some window shopping: preparation for the intense negotiation that is Chinese shopping outside of department stores. Adam & Dan went to Huguo Lu for “night snacks” and beer.
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