Mei Deng Hotel Dali

... however the city is for tourists, every shop is a tourist trinket shop, all selling near enough the same thing. it was nice to walk around and let ourselves feel like tourists for a change. we had food in a place that had food in bowls outside, you choose 5 things for the bowls which are served up on a plate for you then you get as much rice as you want and all for 30p! we ate with the ...

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... s what they were saying...), and introduced us to the Chinese way of buying rounds of drinks containing far too many beers for just four people, before stumbling off at 9:30pm, either to bed or maybe just for some more food. The remaining empty beer bottles and us two 'gweilos' sat there chatting away caught the attention of all who passed and we were the subject of many tourist photographs. We ...

We caught the local bus from New Dali, where the night train dropped us off, to Old Dali City. We wandered the city in the early morning to find a guest house. B2 inquired about prices at a couple of places until we just finally settled on one which was recommended in the guidebook. We took a quick nap and then ventured out into the old city. Dali City (Old Town) is a lovely old well preserved town with its city walls still intact. It's been recently ...

... in Siem Reap. Either my memory stick or the PC I was using was riddled with viruses. I hate Net bars. Friends Hostel, although cheap, is grossly overrated if it's recommended in Lonely Planet. Half the electric points weren't working, neither were some of the lights. We split up into other rooms. Mac said I should share with Loman. Being foreigners, we could talk to each other and understand each other better, according to Mac, but also a ...

... back of a horse and my ass was incredibly sore by the time we reached the top. Once at the top we hiked along the mountain face for about 13kms before loading back onto the horses and heading down the hill. Completely exhausted from the journey, we spent the remainder of the day watching a movie and drowning our pain in Dali beer. Day 11 - Dali - Monday, December 8th We spent our last day in Dali at the lake. After wandering through the dirt roads ...

... class, and back up at 11 in the 28degree heat (for those of you who know Passage West, it's like walking from the bottom to the meadows in the hottest of Irish Summer days!) We had a Chinese folk music class at 2, which was pretty so so, think we all fell asleep listening to the pieces..! The teacher was playing them on the computer, and the third time, he explained a little about the piece being a classic and really beautiful, hit play and it was an ...

So I'm here, but I'm tired. My cloths are tired. Every T-shirt that doesn't have a stain has a whole. The last pair of slacks I bought in London are tearing off as if I'd soaked them in acid. My shoes are tired. The hiking boots are coming apart and are not waterproofed at all anymore. The flip flops are pealing off. I've lost my computer mic. My mobile refuses to charge, so it is now just a dead weight in ...

... from. Further away from the centre it becomes a bit more local, with a multitude of small workshops making all manner of things. Gravestones seemed to be a recurring theme, due to the expensive marble that comes out of the nearby mountains (and no, Lonely Planet, the stuff on the tops of the mountains is NOT marble dust, unsurprisingly it IS in fact snow, muppets). We also head up to the nearby Three Pagodas ...

... Tang dynasty. Chongsheng temple was once a huge Buddhist temple, but was destroyed due to war and earthquakes. In 1999 the government rebuilt it according to old documents so it is very new and shiny, but also quite an impressive piece of work as everywhere is so detailed. It is also very scenic against the backdrop of the snowy mountains. To get a good ...