Dali, Yunnan 云南省，大理
I spent my last week in Yunnan visiting the hipster town of Dali 大理. Dali has western breakfast joints scattered throughout town and an actual microbrewery with delicious and expensive beer. Officially, Dali is an ugly, cement-ridden mini-city on the south side of the lake (which I avoided), but old-town (where I stayed) is nestled in between Erhai Lake 洱海湖 and the Cang Shan 苍山 (green mountains).
The Green Mountains are one of the best preserved natural environments I found in China, especially considering it is a major tourist spot. I'm happy to tip my hat to the Chinese for this one. This photo is on a walking path on the Green Mountain ridge.
Pagoda in sunlight.
This range of mountains goes north/south with 18 main peaks along its spine (averaging 4,000m) and is unique because each peak has its own water stream jetting down eastwards. 18 peaks, 18 valleys, 18 streams.
The upper-third of Erhai Hu 洱海湖, facing north.
The middle section of the lake. This is "old-town" Dali where I stayed.
The southern third of Erhai. When looking from above, Erhai Hu (Ear-shaped Lake) is in the shape of an ear.
Love you too. Translated, it is the not-as-romantic,Chrysoprase Mineral Stream. The "v" in pinyin is a stronger, dipped "u" sound.
I took a break from Dali and hitchhiked to the nearby village of Xizhou 喜州. I wandered around aimlessly.
I heard a bunch of noise coming from a house so I peeked in the courtyard to check it out. People were throwing small candies from the roof and there was music and cigarettes on trays. Kindly, they invited me to join.
Turned out to be a housewarming party. I met this nice family. Photo taken by another guest.
Good luck.
Grandma put a massive chunk of the pig's skin on my plate. It was the size of an average piece of cake and a bit tough to chew.
Outside the house is the assembly line of women doing dishes.
I rented a motorbike and cruised half the lake. This is facing west towards the Cang Shan mountains in the late afternoon.
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