Moved on from Kunming to Dali. China is a real surprise for us. We had no expectations when we crossed the border but have found the cities very modern with good infrastructure, transport systems have been excellent, some of the motorways up with the best, accomodation good, food good and the locals friendly. Also very cheap, cheaper than Thailand and Laos. We would recommend Yunnan as a tourist destination for the adventurous with a phrasebook!
Old Dali was rebuilt in its former glory in 1998 and is a fabulous tourist city within the old city walls. The place has a lot of history with the area falling to Genghis Khan in the 13th century. Historians have found fragments of human teeth dating back 2.5 million years ago in this area. Talking of teeth, one of these photos shows a local dentist doing an extraction in the market place!
Most of the tourists are Chinese with just a few foreigners. As the Chinese are becoming more affluent they are really taking to local tourism. There are hordes of them. They have a leader in the front with a coloured flag for all to follow and a sherriff at the rear chasing along the stragglers.
Language is a bit of a problem for us. Lil's Chinese is getting better by the day and our Lonely Planet (LP) guide book is our " bible ". All of the cities, hotels, restaurants and attrations are written in the LP in Character, so we just show the book to the locals and they point us in the right direction. The teenagers are the best to ask for help as they sometimes practice their limited English on us.
So travelling is relatively easy and as Dali is around 1950 metres above sea level the temperatures are cooler than nearer the coast. Around a pleasant 25 Deg. during the day.
In the evenings the local Bai population come into the old City to sing and dance and entertain the crowds. There are a few photos of this attached.
Above Dali is a paved walkway of 12 kms so took a chairlift to the start and a gondola down to the bottom. Had a great view of the lake where they use cormorant birds for fishing.
Above Dali is a paved walkway of 12 kms so took a chairlift to the start and a gondola down to the bottom. Had a great view of the lake where they use cormorant birds for fishing.
