Yakity, Yak

  Dali, Yunnan, China
May 19, 2009

We landed in Dali last night at 10:40 and a driver was there to pick us up. It was a long, windy drive to Old Dali. You have to go around Er Hai Lake and through New Dali. There was a huge new sports complex on the lake and it was surrounded by all kinds of new condos and they are still building.

Kerri (from Colorado originally) and Maffi checked us in.

I went to sleep around 12:30, Bill was awake until 2:30.

We woke up late and went down to the courtyard for breakfast. We played the cliff-hanger game and once I again I won! I have few victories, so I have to revel in them! Although he never rubs it in, so that is nice (yah right)!

We are both sniffling today. We must have caught colds from Yangshuo (likely the hotel because we were trapped there by the rain). It could also be from all of the horking and spitting... No wonder so many people wear the Michael Jackson masks here, it is really disgusting and not sanitary.

We were waiting for Maffi to get fresh bread for our breakfast (sounds like it is worth waiting for and was). We had sunnyside eggs with coriander and paprika or mild chilli (I have been missing that), plums that are red and prickly looking, bananas and the wonderful fresh bread. I toasted some and had it with peanut butter and banana. Yum!

After breakfast Bill weighed in on a scale at a pharmacy. He weighs 89 kilos or 196 lbs and I weigh 64 kilos or 141 lbs (without subtracting for clothes and shoes). As I had imagined, Bill is losing and I am gaining.

We walked through Old Dali starting at the South Gate on the pedestrian streets. To walk from the South to the North Gate is 1.5 kms. There are lots of places to spend your money - bakeries, restaurants (some have their menu on display - live fish and fresh veggies), cafes, dumplings, flat bread, fried potatoes, jewellery, traditional crafts and artwork, marble, intricate wood carvings, fabric, sports wear, guest houses. Foreigner Street, Huguo Lu, has lots of restaurants and bars to choose from. We are surrounded by tons of Chinese tourists.

There are lots of people dressed in traditional costumes. I think the younger people are required to for their jobs, but we believe that some of the older women dress this way all the time.

Some of the streets had man made brooks running between the main path and the sidewalks. It is very pretty. I think Eddie Francis should do something like this instead of canals.

We exited the Old City through the North Gate and headed West to see the San Ta (3 Pagodas). Along this street I purchased a flat bread that was warmed and filled with caramel for 1 yuan. It was very good!

We walked by San Ta, but did not go in because it is extremely expensive and you can not go inside the pagodas anyway. The tallest of the 3 is Qian Xun Ta at 230 ft or 70m and was built in the 800's. Each tier has marble figures, but we did not see them from where we were. The 2 smaller octagonal pagodas were built during the 900's are are 138 ft or 42 m. They were renovated in 1972. The pagodas house reliquaries and were built to gain protection from the gods against natural disasters.

We walked back into the Old Dali and through a market. We saw prickly cucumbers, bamboo shoots, eggplants (similar to the ones in our grocery stores), potatoes, huge spring onions, tofu, coloured noodles, spicy hot lady (she was selling chillies), live chickens and fish and 1 row each of butchered chickens, pork and beef.

The buildings are beautiful with the tile roofs, wood carvings on the doors and shutters, scenes of landscapes, birds and flowers, tattoo-like paintings, gargoyle creatures under the roof overhangs that remind me of totem pole animals and red lanterns.

We had lunch on the upper balcony at Marley's Cafe. I had an apple and cinnamon yogurt shake with Dali fried beef (ginger, 2 kinds of mushrooms, thin slices of carrot, peppers and potatoes - like a stew). Bill had a Dali Beer and chicken fried rice.

After lunch we walked up Renming Street and out of the Old City. We followed the very vague instructions from the Lonely Planet and were totally led astray. We hiked up a steep hill where we had seen tour buses go. It led us to Tranlongbabu Chinese TV and Movie park. No thanks!

We took a minibus for 3 yuan (is what we thought we were agreeing to) to the chair lift that we were looking for. It was down the hill and a bit more North than where we had been. If we had walked out of the North end of the Old City, we would have been more likely to find it (although there were no English signs to point the way off the main street). When we arrived 2 minutes later she wanted 30 yuan ($5) - NO WAY! Bill finally paid her $15 which was still ridiculous. I think this cab driver makes my list of the top 5 cab/tuk tuk drivers I have disliked on this trip.

It was 30 yuan each to get into Cangshan Mountains Park and then 60 yuan each to take the chair lift up to the top (it is now after 3:00 and the last lift down is at 6:00) over top a graveyard. The ride up was slow and took over 15 minutes. Our first stop was the Zhonghe temples. The old guy talked us into taking three insence sticks and then bowing three times. We were then sat down and asked to write down our names, our countries, our Birthdays and our wishes. They then wanted a 100 yuan donation from each of us to make our wish come true. I tried to give the guy 10, but he refused, so I got up and walked away. Bill ended up making a 40 yuan donation. This brings our total spending in the last 30 minutes to 220 yuan ($40). Plus the taxi.... What a rip-off! The temples were nothing special...

We bought some water and ice cream for an additional 10 yuan ($2) which was a bit more reasonable.

We walked around the paved path toward the Dragon Eye Cave and Phoenix Eye Cave. We walked to the base and then part way up, but had to turn around and go back to the lift so we did not get stranded on the hill.

There were lots of trees, flowers, birds, butterflies and squirrels on our walk. It was sunny 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 Foreigner Street.

Bill and I shared the Yak Steak with baked potatoe, mushrooms and tomato. The lady did not lie, it was very tender and had no fat or grizzle. We also had fried rice with egg and Dali spring rolls. The food was very good. We washed it down with Happy Hours Beer and man were we full! It was a lot of food and was a reasonable 100 yuan ($18).

We checked our emails on their computer (I did before dinner and Bill did afterward). One email was from Karen and the kids have received some postcards, letters and foreign money from Nigel and Freddie. They seem pleased, so that is good. I am working on keeping Nigel current so we can send another letter or two before the school year is over.

We had a chocolate chip cookie from Sweet Tooth on Bo Ai Street near Renming. It was so moist and delicious! It is the best dessert I have had in months. It was like a little piece of heaven! The store gives opportunities for deaf people.

We went back to Renming and had a Beer Lao at a Shangrila Cafe. The beer was good, but expensive (30 yuan each), and the music was good.

Bill had used the sunscreen from Shinoukville again today and now has a sunburn. That stuff is going into the garbage. I think they refilled a sunscreen bottle with body lotion.

We headed back to the hotel and took a picture of the South Gate at night. We went to bed on good time because we have to get up early tomorrow.