On our first day in Dàlǐ (after our 2 hour train from Lìjiāng which arrived mid-morning) we had an epic lunch at the hostel and went to explore the Dali old town. It was so much nicer than the old town in Lìjiāng! It wasn’t heaving with people, and the roads were wider so it didn’t feel crowded. There was tourist tat for sale, of course, but people in Dàlǐ seemed less pushy and desperate to sell.
We walked along the city wall and back again, then went on a hunt for some restaurants that were listed in Sasha’s rough guide. The guide being a few years old now, we’ve learnt that, where possible, it’s best to check out a restaurant actually still exists before you go there, hungry and without plans of where to eat when you discover it’s actually been closed down for the past two years! That evening we decided to eat in small local restaurant, and it turned out to be one of the worst meals we ate in China, which was really disappointing! The tángcùlǐjǐ (sweet and sour pork) just tasted burnt and like it has been cooked in the juice from a tin of spaghetti hoops…yuck!
On May 16th we went on a tour around Er Hu (ear lake, so named because it is shaped like an ear.) It was just us, the tour guide/driver and an older American man called Richard. We left at 9:30 (not too early a start, so I was very happy with that!) and got back around 4. It was a great day out for only 100RMB each. Our guide (who didn’t speak much English and was grateful for two Chinese speaking tourists) took us on a drive all the way around the lake, stopping off at various village markets, as well as a temple with very friendly patrons, and a tie-die factory. Batik tie-die is famous in that part of Yunnan and you can buy it everywhere – Sasha bought a couple of colourful pieces of cloth as souvenirs and gifts.
Richard bought us lunch in a little Chinese eatery, and it was great fun talking to a fellow Westerner who knew relatively little about China and wanted to learn more. The day was really relaxed – we stopped often to take photos of the lake from different viewpoints, marvelling at the changes in scenery between the different areas. We visited a traditional Bai house, where several families still live together in the rickety wooden structure with a dusty central courtyard. Lines of women were stooped in the rice paddies, the sun gleaming off the shallow waters.
In the evening we went to Stella’s Pizzeria for dinner, where I had a tuna and sweetcorn pizza and Sash had enchiladas. We were amazed by the variety of Western foods you could get in Dali which is, after all, not a very big place (one night we had fish and chips at a restaurant that had recently been opened by a man from Shanghai. Manolito’s fish and chip restaurant opened in March 2014 on 259 Ren Min Lu (phone: 186-1690-9760). They serve a two person set menu for 128 RMB which comes with two pieces of flounder, hand-cut chips, squid rings, onion rings, scallops, shrimps and two drinks, as well as homemade tartar sauce. Or for 32 RMB you can get one piece of flounder, chips and a drink. The proprietor speaks excellent English) After our dinner we had a drink in the bar and played a 2 person game of poker, while watching scores of inebriated travellers trying their hand at the Ping-Pong competition (play against the boss – lose and you buy him a drink, win and get a nights free accommodation… no one had won it yet!) and the weekly pool competition.
On May 17th we decided to climb Cang Lang Mountain. I say we decided to climb it… Sasha left early in the morning to climb the mountain, and I spent the first half of the day sunbathing in the hostel roof garden. For 110 RMB the hostel arranged a car to take me to the GanTong cableway, which included a ticket up and down the mountain as well as park entry. So when I saw I climbed a mountain, what I mean is that I climbed the stairs from the entrance up to the cable car. I had a small picnic lunch at the top, and then had a look at the giant Chinese checkers board, which was being re-painted at the time of my visit. It was a very picturesque mountain top, with a beautiful pond boasting a religious statue in the water. I also walked up to the Jade Roam Road and walked along there for about 20 minutes before walking back – that path would lead along the mountain tops to another peak where there also used to be a cable car.
On our last day in Dali we had another look around the old town, did a little bit of shopping, and just chilled out really. I thought I’d have tonnes to write about this place because it was one of my favourites, but thinking about it we did just spend a lot of time chilling out, reading and not doing very much at all… just relaxing the last few days of our holiday. Dali was amazing, a great place to unwind in.
After that we travelled back to Shanghai. We took the train together from Dali to Kunming, which was several hours long, and then after that Sasha got straight on a train from Kunming to Shanghai. Just for reference, Shanghai is on the East coast of China, and Kunming is in the South, below Sichuan Province. That’s a distance of almost 2,400 km. By train, the journey is over a day and a half long… so you can see why I wanted to take the plane! I mean, amazing landscape, great experience… but not for me! Sasha loved it, and I’m so glad I didn’t go because I just know I would have been grumpy and ruined it for him.
I took the plane because I thought it would be more comfortable. At only 3 hours long, the pain of travel was over quicker, that’s for sure. But it was one of the craziest flights I’ve ever been on. Western tourists often comment that Chinese tourists are difficult to travel with, but for my flight from Kunming to Shanghai, I seemed to have managed to book myself onto a flight that was also hosting the travelling tour of the world’s most frustrating people. The guy sat behind me spent the entire flight kicking the back of my chair, and holding onto the top of my headrest whenever he stood up or moved, so that my chair was constantly jerking backwards and forwards. The guy across the aisle and one seat forward from me started the flight by noisily clipping his nails, which were scattered liberally all over the floor, and then made the rest of the flight audio-hell by spitting into his sick bag every two minutes with the sound like he was throttling a grunting pig. His mate, who was sitting in the row in front of me, just baffled me beyond belief with his stupidity. As we were coming in to land at the halfway point (not a direct flight) we were about 5 minutes from hitting the ground. The seatbelt signs were on, and the flight attendant was buckled into his seat at the back of the plane. Does this sound like the correct time to undo your seat belt, stand up, open the overhead compartment, rummage through your bags, and then start distributing snacks between your friends? Well, the guy in front of me certainly thought so. There we were, pretty much ready to land…you can imagine the look on my face. The flight attendant started screaming at him from the back of the plane to sit down, and eventually the guy did sit down in his seat… but he left the overhead compartment open, with all the bags and bits of rubbish rattling around and threatening to come flying out as we hit the ground. The flight attendant hurtled down the aisle, screamed at the guy, slammed the door shut and then ran back to his seat just as we touched the ground. CRAZY. You know the craziest thing? On the second half of the flight, the exact same thing happened twice more, with two other, entirely different people at the front of the plane. I almost choked with disbelief when the guys in front of me started shaking their heads and tutting at a woman being told off for doing it, when they had just done the same thing! Yeah… I felt absolutely gob-smacked by the time I reached Shanghai. If you had done that on a Western flight, you’d be in serious trouble – the potential to cause harm from flying bags could even be enough to bar you from using that airline. But China is China, and if there is one adjective to sum it up, then crazy is the one!
I loved my awesome travels in Western China. It was amazing to travel to places so different from where I’d already been. My time in the east of China had taken me to many cities, but once you get out of a certain area, it’s like a different world. The differences, for example, between snowy Harbin in the North of China, close to North Korea, and sunny Xiamen, on the South coast, looking out to Taiwan. Or the differences between the bustling metropolis of Shanghai, and the small cities of Yunnan. China is all one country, but at the same time, it’s like hundreds of different countries all jammed together. The differences between the North and the South, the East and the West… how can that all be the same country?
After a reasonably terrible time volunteering in Yantai, I was desperate to have one last holiday in China and find some things to love about it again. In three weeks we saw such amazing, varied things. We climbed a snowy mountain, got sunburnt and were drenched by torrential rain. We went on cable cars, boats, planes, trains, monorail, subway, taxis…we even cycled! We ate BBQ goat’s eyes and minority speciality foods; we had fried cheese with sugar and amazing Western dishes. It truly was the trip of a life time, and the best way to end an awesome, challenging, unforgettable two and a half years in China.
So, what is the Travelling Bee up to now? Well, I just finished a short term summer contract teaching at a UK Summer School (which was… interesting. I’m thinking of writing an article called ‘How to Survive Summer Camp…as a Teacher!’) and now I’m just sort of floating around, waiting for the next adventure. Travel wise, I’ve booked a flight for September 22nd to head to my next destination (yes, that’s right, I’ve had enough of China and am moving on to somewhere new) so look forward to more teaching and travelling experience blogs from me when I’m safely ensconced in… Japan! Zàijiàn for now!
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