As with many people I've spoken to since, Dali in Yunnan Province is probably my favourite place I've visited in China so far. I decided to alter my original plans to be in Kunming longer and head to Dali for a few days after a little advice from some people back in Tianjin. I'm so glad I followed their suggestion because I absolutely fell in love with the place. It's a stunning little city just a four hour train ride from Kunming. I would highly recommend for everyone visiting China to go to at least once.
Poppy and I took an early train and coincidently booked onto the same train as another British Council ELA I knew. It was really great to catch up with Will and hear all about his time teaching in Jiujiang. Even better was that he was about to embark on a pretty random 20 day trek in the mountains of Yunnan with his own personal sherpa who coincidently didn't speak a word of English. If ever I thought I was being adventurous, Will completely blew me out of the water. Again, it was moments like this that made me feel like its a small world after all. What were the chances that in a country as huge as China, we'd be booked onto the exact same train?
一。Cangshan Mountain
Poppy and I took it easy on our first night in Dali. We ventured to a nearby dumpling restaurant and the lovely lady chef let us make our own dinner and help out making dumplings. We were also charmed by a lovely little girl who practised her English on us and began reeling off some lines she memorised really well. She proceeded to tell us that her name was Daisy, that she was 10 years old and that she was a happy girl.
The following day, we decided to do a little hike on Cangshan Mountain - surrounded by nature, the fresh smell of Yunnan pine and the odd waterfall. With a summit at over 4000 metres, we were unable to see the very top of the mountain veiled by thick cloud. Visitors can reach one of the highest peaks via chairlift but due to weather (apparently it'd been snowing the night before), this wasn't an option for us. We settled for a hike about halfway up the mountain instead.
I found the sight of these sticks at the base of the mountain paths quite curious. Poppy said she'd been told that Chinese people will often leave sticks to prop up the base of mountains to keep them more stable. It's such a strange concept but actually I think it's quite nice to believe that you're helping keep the mountains upright. This made the various signs along the mountain which urged visitors to "beware of falling rocks" and to "run fast" in the case of rock fall quite amusing.
We walked along the Cloud Pass, a 13km path along the middle of the mountain. The path itself meanders a great deal. One minute you're over looking the city with stunning uninterrupted views, another you're tucked away underneath rock overhang wondering how on earth gravity isn't causing this monstrous mountain to come crashing down.
There were so many moments where I would just stop dead in my tracks and just have my breath taken away by how stunning the views were from Cangshan. The skies were clear, the air was fresh. These are things that I took for granted back home. Before moving to China, I never really considered what the air quality would be like, nor did I think about the fact that seeing a blue sky is actually considered lucky back in Tianjin. In this part of Western China, away from factories or constant road traffic, Dali was just beautiful because you can actually see it clearly. I don't think I ever really understood what it meant to 'drink air', but being so high up on Cangshan, you really can!
Dali is just unbelievably picturesque from Cangshan, truly like something from a postcard.
二。Ancient Town
The hostel we were staying in was based within the Ancient Town walls, making it incredibly convenient to explore. Dali has a reputation for being a bit bohemian and hippie. I'd even go as far as to say it's quite hipster (although the vibe isn't as imposing or contrived as the word might suggest). For all of it's crafty stores and independent coffee shops which still maintain the original architecture of old Dali, you're never left with a lack of places to explore within the city walls. Listen to the music that echoes out of local venues, sample the unusual tastes of rose pastries, browse the beautiful patterned clothes on store racks. The Ancient Town host so many little gems.
City wall archways
Maybe one of the best things is that Dali is incredibly charming. It is touristy but it still feels unspoilt. The tourism there isn't intense as it is in other Chinese cities I've visited. It almost feels as if this is still a cool Chinese secret that people are yet to find out about and see as a commercial tourist opportunity. Personally, I hope that it remains that way - although maybe that'll be hard if I don't stop singing Dali's praises...
三。Xizhou Village
Along the huge Er Hai Lake that Dali is nested on are a tonne of villages you can visit via bike. As we've heard from my Xi'an post, my cycling abilities aren't the best. Knowing that I'd be heading to Vietnam (a motorcyclist's paradise) after Dali, I thought there would be no better time to try my luck on an e-bike to ride around the lake. Turns out, e-bikes are harder to ride than they look. I could never quite find the sweet spot on the accelerator that made you go at a decent speed. As someone who wouldn't describe themselves as a road safe cyclist, even the lady who rented the bikes out to us had reservations and suggested we give the bike back. The good news was that the villages are also easily reachable by public buses, so off we went to Xizhou.
Xizhou baba cooked on an open charcoal 'oven'
Much like the Ancient Town, Xizhou has it's own charming quirks - local people hanging colourful tie-dyed fabrics for sale, traditional Bai ethnic architecture and winding alleys to get lost in. Our helpful hostel receptionist told us we must try the local delicacy of 'Xizhou baba', which she likened to a pizza. Not directly comparable, 'Xizhou baba' is like a doughy flatbread cooked on open charcoal ovens and filled with either pork for a savoury option or red bean paste for a sweet choice. Naturally, I opted for both...
Street graffiti
Xizhou was full of little surprises. A random turning took us to a paddy field, vividly green with farmers working away. Back down another alleyway, we stumbled across some Chinese graffiti art. For those looking for a bit more of an 'off-the-beaten-track- type experience of Dali, Xizhou is a good place to visit.
四。Erhai Lake
Just a short tuk tuk ride away from Xizhou, we sped along to get a close up view of Erhai Lake.
It's easy to forget you're in China when you're by Erhai Lake because it's not your typical 'Chinese' scenery. It's hard to put into words just how beautiful Dali is, but photos speak for themselves...
五。Chinese Coldplay
Just when we thought we'd explored every corner of the Ancient Town, Dali threw us another surprise on our last night. A few nights before, we'd enjoyed some live music at a local bar - a hippie looking expat armed with a Spanish guitar playing smooth covers of Blackstreet's No Diggity and Sinatra's Fly Me To The Moon (quite the repertoire). Our impressions of the music scene in Dali were incredibly positive but on our final night, we stumbled across a strobe light filled street with pumping music. I didn't really know where to look. To my left, a pair of young Chinese dancer girls dressed in identical outfits which appeared to be a cross between cowboy fancy dress outfit and traditional Chinese cheongsam. To my right, another performance by some Chinese acoustic artist, trying to wrestle away attention from passersby. What did catch my eye was Chinese Coldplay singing a rock version of Yellow. China just continues to surprise me in all the best ways...
I feel like I only scratched the surface of Dali but from what I did experience, it's got to be one of my favourite places in China so far. I know that I absolutely have to head back to Yunnan Province and see even more at some point. Until then, Dali!
The people you will meet in China are some of the kindest and most sincere people you will ever come across - fact. There's much to be said about how easy it is to settle into a place with such a foreign culture when the vast majority of people are welcoming and willing to help. Sure, it's not easy when the language barrier is such a big factor that can isolate you, but most people are very patient and friendly, willing to look past the fact that you can't communicate in the same words. At least, in my experience, it's true.
