a little coffee

We boarded the bus in Ruili at the very quiet hour of 9 AM (because of China’s One Time Zone policy, the sun doesn’t rise until well after 8-8:30 so the town doesn’t either) and proceeded north to the city of Dali.  

This was certainly the most obnoxious bus ride- four stops within a two-hour period so the authorities could search for smuggled opium from Burma and the little kid peeing AND puking into the garbage can right next to me and Chris (Chris even got it on his jeans).  

Surviving the Rottweiler that barked bloody murder at us from a rooftop, we settled in for three nights in Dali’s Old Town- one of the few places in China where their old architecture has been preserved.  The architecture was Bai (one of the ethnic minorities).  White walls with a gray roof and pictures painted on the wall just below the roof.  Often quick Chinese script surrounded the pictures.  

This city was my favorite stop on our trip.  It was busy and full of tourists, but not incredibly crowded.  Aside from the proliferation of shops where every other one sold super cheap scarves or gourd musical instruments, it was the look of the city, the architecture, the river trickling through town and the easy access of cafes, coffee and good Western food.  There were also gorgeous surroundings.  Behind Dali were the Cangshan mountain range, which Chris and I would take a chairlift up the super steep incline and spend an afternoon leisurely walking around the mountain, and below the Erhai Lake (ear-shaped lake).  Try as we might, we never made it all the way down to the lake, but we did catch some great views of it from the mountain and the villages surrounding it.

We spent one afternoon walking around one of these villages and the surrounding fields of something that could have been tea or some fragrant herb. A jovial “motorbike” driver (more like a motorcycle attached to two covered benches for passangers) fought his friends tooth-and-nail for the 1 kuai (about 15 cents) to take us to Xizhou from the main road where the minibus dumped us.  He barrelled down the dirt path, our butts jumping each time he ran over rocks, until we reached some temple Chris and I had no interest in seeing. We set off on foot to find the lake and this beautifully preserved Bai architecture the Lonely Planet swore Xizhou had.  Chris used his fairly reliable sense of direction (well, more reliable than mine) and guided us to a sign with an arrow that proclaimed, XIZHOU SCENIC SPOT.  Yes!   We followed it and it dumped us into a small, crowded square with vendors hawking goods and selling snacks.  There were about twenty different roads we could have taken from there but no other signs to this scenic spot.  We picked one that ended up taking us down a dull back alley and through some of those fragrant green fields.  Instead of looking for a pretty building, we decided to find the lake, but once again ended up walking through residential alleys.  

Tired of the sun and walking, we took a motorbike back to where we could take a bus back to Dali. Enroute we saw a charming, quiet city street with a small creek trickling through surrounded but what surely must have been those pretty buildings the Lonely Planet mentioned!  Ah!  Too late.

So that was our eventful day in Dali.  The rest of it was reading, relaxing, and drinking delicious tea at a cafe.  We strolled through the lively streets at night while dodging both the women who asked Chris 20 some-odd times if he “smoked the ganja” (never me!) and the four-year olds with their lighters and firecrackers (in celebration of upcoming Spring Festival of course).

Great tourist mecca of Lijiang coming up next!