The "Jade Emu" in Dali

Trip Start Apr 06, 2008
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Trip End Jun 20, 2008


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Where I stayed
Jade Emu
(Dali hotels)

Flag of China  , Yunnan,
Wednesday, May 7, 2008

From Kunming to Xiaguan its a leisurely bus ride of 5 hours.In Xiaguan I changed to a local bus, just waiting along the road and shouting the name of 'Dali'  is enough, and one of the minibuses will stop.Its just 18km from here.
Dali has an amazing location, sandwiched between the Jade Green mountains and Erhai lake.The old city center is within high walls and gates, and it retains an atmosphere of the times when this place was the center of power in Yunnan.The ethnic minority that lives around lake Erhai, is the Bai people who number about 1.5 million!
The "Jade Emu"  is a new guesthouse, put up by Dave from "down under" and his charming chinese girlfriend!
A wonderful place to relax a few days in Dali, the rooms are excellent value (I guess the best I have had in China so far!), the service excellent and the dumplings just so yummy! Pitstop for my bike
Pitstop for my bike
 !
Dave also has some excellent bikes to go out to the villages along the lake.Its rice planting time, there are many farmers very busy in the rice fields.While they all have hats, I forgot mine, and the result is that I have a terrible sunburn the following day.In the small village of Xizhou I turn around and take the Tibet-Yunnan highway with lots of  stinky trucks overtaking me.Getting thirsty, good there is an old Bai lady selling fresh watermelon!
The place to hang out in the evening is the so called "Bad Monkey" bar, on Dali's main Renmin Lu ("open til the last person drops"), or you can try to beat Dave playing pool, then you get the room for free!A fair offer, I believe.
 
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