Dali Huai Ren Hotel

... In any case, we teamed up again and went around Dali. We checkd out the old Puxian Temple where the old ladies invited us for lunch, then we hang out in a restaurant to try their homemade liquor or wine and watch the owner and an emplopyee de-bone chicken feet. That's the stuff I love; hanging with the locals and talking about about this and that. That's when I feel closest to the people, when I don't feel ...

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... with tourist buses zooming up and down and spitting up exhaust fumes into our faces, not so pleasant. At least it was flat and well-maintained, so we did the first large distance in good time and stopped at our first lakeside town. There we trundled around the market, soaking it all up, before hopping back on our bikes as we had a long way yet to go. The next town on our list was up a different road, parallel to the lakeside road, however this was much more bumpier and was a ...

... to make light of the situation despite our uncomfortable bus journey back down the same bumpy road we passed the day before. We arrived in Lijiang around 1pm and immediately jumped on another bus to Dali. About half-way to Dali we were stopped by an accident on the road. A large truck had spun out of control, ripped its front axel completely off and ended up in the ditch. We stood by for 20 minutes as a crane lifted the truck out of the ditch and ...

... across the threshold/ damselle in distress manner, as she managed to break a flip flop and cut her hand on a raw metal sheet! An argument with the taxi men ensued, as they were demanding double the normal price, but Maria and I brought Louise inside to clean the cut and left the lads to deal with the abusive taxi men- its like they just aim to rip us off, us being westerners! So yeah..pretty eventful night, so glad to see my bed! Sleep tight.. oh wait, its 8pm over there! *Love*

Fried potatoes for breakfast! This is China? Don't think so. First visit of the day, to Erhai Lake. The day is very foggy, so I'm afraid we are not going to anjoy much of the views. A little ride on a boat with 10 passengers, and first stop at an island in the middle of the lake, which contains a small budist temple and many street shops selling tiny shrimps. Next stop ...

... a monk, although he has lived at the monastery for almost 4 years. He wants to become a kung-fu master, which means he will have to stay here for another few years. Yup, it takes quite a few years to get there. On day three and a half my pain starts to wear off. After the afternoon practice I'm almost pain free. Great! That means that after the week is over and I'm back to my usual non-workout routine, I'll have to go through the same excruciating pain one ...

... on up the steps and into a small museum and then through a series of gatehouses that lead you into the temple known as Chongsheng Temple. The temple is built on a slight rise up the mountain so the further you go, the further you climb up. Some of the large halls were very nice and it did sort of make up for the entrance fee. I walked back down to the entrance after visiting the temple and the whole site was virtually empty even though it was about 1pm. I then ...

... you add however much sesame oil, soy sause or vinegar you like to make a sauce for the dumplings. They were really good - not all greasy and fatty like we have in England but hao chi - delicious! I have been having kung fu and tai chi lessons this week - 4 hours already and this afternoon is the final 2 hours. My legs are so so stiff i dont think i can cope! Tai Chi looks really easy. It isn't. I think i definitely have a lot more respect ...