Add caption

I was tempted to take a day tour of Erhai Lake which brought tourists to some of the villages and islands across Dali but it was too expensive and like most Chinese tours I'd been to, my time would have been limited in exploring these areas, more so by the fact that the tour offered too many places in one day so, that one had to be a miss. I decided to take a walk to the foot of Cangshan Mountain and to take a chair lift to Zhonghe Si. I walked up Boai Lu then turned left to the West Gate. I crossed the street looking for markers I saw in the map but I couldn't find them. I hiked farther up on very rough cobbled streets which to my surprise was partially deserted in the middle of the day. And then there was this sign board that led me to the chair lift. Huh! It looked so close in my map I thought it was going to be a short walk - and that was only to the foot of the mountain! I got a ticket from a tout who offered me 50 RMB for the chair lift instead of the regular 60 RMB fee. I thought these people must have different sets of tickets for the same service! Back at the hostel, I overheard the lady at the ticketing office selling the same tickets at 80 RMB each to some Australians which she even boasted to be much cheaper from the regular price of 100 RMB. Whoa! That's a big mark up there. The chair lift was a 15 minute ride to the temple and provided a commanding view of the Old Dali Town and Erhai Lake and the villages around them. Climbing Zhonghe Shan to the temple is not recommended if you want to view the city from the hill. The hill was thickly covered with pines and there were too many different paths that mostly led to the cemeteries underneath the tall trees. I was particularly drawn to the pine trees along the way. There seemed to be two varieties growing in that area. One was like the one's covering the Cordillera ranges in the Philippines [Note: For some of you who haven't been to the Philippines, the archipelago is normally warm being located right below the equator but there's this patch of land that's eternally cool and grows Khasi Pines in the tropics.] and Himalayan Pine or Blue Pine. Both trees grow as tall but the Himalayan Pine had a trunk that looked more like an alnus, smooth and grayish unlike the Khasi Pine which had dark red brown barks that can be peeled off from the trunk. The cones sticking out of the branches of the Himalayan Pine were much bigger and the long needle like leaves had a shade of grayish green that looked silvery in the sun. I had fun checking out those trees. You see I grow up practically around pine trees and it's always been a source of joy for me to be able to breathe the sweet scent of a pine covered forest.

I followed the trail to the temple from the chair lift station. Although there were monks [not really sure whether they were monks since they were not wearing robes] in residence, the temple itself was not extra-ordinary. After lighting some joss sticks handed to me by one of the monks, I was coerced to give a donation of 100 RMB for goodluck. What? I thought that was a highway robbery! No, I gave ten which was enough to buy me lunch and more. I would have readily given him ten yuan but I felt bad that he had to ask that much. Even Bill Gates I suppose would mind where his money was going specially when taken by a stranger. I walked out of the temple and hiked to a guesthouse farther up into the mountain. The little map in my ticket showed the way to a pool and a waterfall but finding my way there now was a pain. I was really tempted to explore the mountain, however, a public announcement posted near the temple advised trekkers to bring adequate provisions, have enough clothes and to climb with somebody - got me worried. I was trekking alone and I had no provisions, besides my legs were already aching from the intensive walking the day before so I gave up. Instead, I scouted for a nice place to get a view of Dali, sat there and tried to contemplate on my life and its impact on other people.

Coming down from the mountain, I took a quick lunch and rode a bus to Eryuan. I stopped at the crossing to Xizhou 18 kms. north of Dali. There were three wheeled motorbikes waiting for passengers at the crossroad. I took one and we drove through some dirt and paved roads to the town. Xizhou is known for its ancient Bai houses and that was why I was going there. There were no other tourists when I got there and so walking around all alone in empty streets and alleys and gawking at buildings under the heat of the afternoon sun made me look like an idiot. I wandered at the vicinity of the town square and found two blue batik cloths for my wife. Aside from the ancient houses, I read that people in Xizhou do have a tie dye industry and so shops sold genuine batik cloths than most shops in Dali did. Having nothing more else to do, I went back to the crossing and waited a while for a bus to Dali to come along. The rest of the day was spent checking out shops and cafes at the foreigners' street in Dali.

The trip to Dali from Kunming took some four hours. As it is written in the guidebooks, the bus stopped in Xiaguan, the new Dali City. Local buses 8 and 4 run through the main city street up to the Old Dali Town. The ancient town is a walled city accessible through four major gates and smaller passageways. The buses pass through Boai Road from the south then turn left at Yu'er Street to the West Gate. I stayed in a nice and cheap hostel teeming with backpackers at Boai Road. As a rule of thumb, when I get to a new place and while the sun is still up, I explore the area as much as I can to check on places to see, eat and wander around. And that was exactly what I did after checking in at the Old Dali Town Hostel. I found a map in a ticketing office by the gate of the inn but it was too large it wasn't convenient to carry around, besides I didn't like attracting attention to myself in any way possible [being invisible is much more fun I guess] so I quickly memorized the location of the hostel in relation to the main streets. My goal was to find the tower I saw on my way to the old town from Xiaguan and determine my next itinerary from there. I walked down Boai Road to the south gate and climbed the wall and the tower. Well, that was easy! Dali was beautiful from the tower - rows and rows of traditional Chinese buildings swathed with the shadows of massive tall mountains to the west and tamed by the gentle breeze from the Erhai lake to the east. Months of hazy Longzhou and everywhere else I was in China made me long for the blue Cordilleran skies back home; and there I was in Dali overwhelmed by the enormity of a clear sky made more prominent by the hugeness of the mountain ranges surrounding a vast valley and a wide lake. On the downside, the development of the areas around the old city into commercial and residential spaces seemed to have taken away the novelty of an otherwise sleepy quaint village.

Next stop was Fuxing Lu. This was a cobbled walking street lined with souvenir shops that stretched from the south entrance all the way to the north gate, well, almost. I've noticed that stores started to dwindle after Yu'er Lu. Traditional houses close to the north gate, I later found were more rickety and worn out than those towards the southern gate which I think more truly represent the Old Dali Town. If you are into jewelries and Chinese arts, then this might be the place to hunt for that precious stone or antique painting you've always wanted, otherwise you can simply wander around, ogle at things and watch people come and go and enjoy the distinctiveness of the place from most Chinese cities. I tried a grilled cheese from a woman selling in one corner of the streets as suggested in some of the guidebooks - well, it's nice but for me, it's not something I'm going to crave for.

I turned right at Renmin Lu towards the east gate and Erhai lake. The tower looked very close from where I was standing. It turned out it was quite a distance. I climbed into the tower and waited for the sunset. It was a beautiful sight watching the city at twilight as the streets came alive in the evening with the lights popping up from the street lights and house lamps. I headed back to the main commercial area and wandered some more. Huguo Lu was abuss with diners and shoppers. Apparently, it has become a favorite hang out for foreign travellers so western foods and drinks are served in almost all of the restaurants. Coffee is of course ever present in a western menu in the Chinese context which until now I can not understand why it's very expensive when very few Chinese persons drink it. Yunnan coffee was free at the hostel during breakfast and so I had my fill there. I found out it's the same variety I used to pick from our backyard garden when I was young! Now, I missed my mother's freshly brewed Arabica! Back at the hostel, Indiana Jones was showing on a wide screen.