Xi Jiao Hotel Dali

Yousuo/ShuangLang Villages
I have been on the go pretty much from the day I arrived in Dali. After I run into Tony again, we have been out and about in Dali and its surroundings, including some of the villages around Erhai Lake. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Er

Our group of three extended to 5 people; one of the girls I met in Zhongdian joined us and big uncle from Jiangsu. Friday is market day in Yousuo, one of the biggest markets in ...

... br>
Now the bus ride. Miaow's mother got us the best seats in the house as usual. Front row seats with a bench to put my computer on. So I thought this will be a great 3 1/2 hours of comfortable, constructive bus ride to Dali. Not a hope. I started to do my blog from yesterday, by the time we reached the mountain I new this was not going to be as I imagined.
The bus driver thought he was a Kunming Taxi ...

... the upper floors (thats roughly 20p!). As we went from floor to floor the views got better and better until we finally reached the top.

To the east there is er hai lake, it stretches all along the east side of the city and has a backdrop of mountains behind it. To the west and curling round to the north are mountains that easerly reached the clouds. As well as these natural views ...

... and calm after some scattered showers. It was all very peaceful until the ride down. We were able to get some good photos of the town on the lift down and there was no one around except the guy in the chair behind us. He was yawning extremely loud, talking to himself and horking the entire way down! We walked back into the Old City and tried to find Yunnan Bar. Lonely Planet was wrong again. We found the restaurant, but it is on Renming, not ...

... friendster generator nativity pattern felt advent calndar to colour gameboy for iphone roms source ...

... trip. I chocked it up to travel fatigue and hoped the issue wouldn't come up again between such good friends. Everywhere we drove, there was activity in the fields and new houses being built. Even though it was the end of November and a visible frost covered the land, the countryside between Lijiang and Dali was green as spring and summer. They were showing an old Hong Kong film called The Happy Ghost 2 ...

... doggy! We're all a bit happier here than Dali, the distance to home is much lessened by internet access in the rooms, and being able to ring family and boyfriends/ free webtext ppl is great! Dinner was a feast of chineseness with bowls of meat and veg and tofu (doufu) and steamed bread and rice on offer. Theres a pretty big thunder storm outside but the temp is grand, just a lil warmer than home! Love and hugs, your Steph xox

... at our rather snazzy guesthouse to a very comfortable double room and some eagerly anticipated Tsingtao beers. The laid back atmosphere made it a perfect place to spend a few days relaxing and enjoying doing nothing for once, so we apologise that this entry is a little bereft of events. Dali finds itself situated in a picturesque setting, sandwiched between the Canshang mountains and Erhai Hu ...

... us that Dali exports most of its garlic crop to Korea, and we saw many huge trucks loaded with garlic traveling along the small roads. We also stopped in the small town of Wase at the northern tip of the lake, as we had mentioned to A Qing that we'd been looking for some of the beautiful Chinese tea mugs we had seen at our hotels that had lids to keep the tea warm, and that we had not been able to find any ...

... including a huge statue of Guanying, (the most worshipped Buddha in Yunnan and rare in the world as shes female!) which we would see in all the temples we visited. We had lunch on the island, which was cooked by this very old traditional Bai lady. I felt very peaceful, despite losing a close game of chess with Zhong. We headed back in a dreamy and happy fashion only to get a reality check when we saw the car in front run down a puppy. It was horrible to watch its life leak ...