DALI

Looking, feeling and no doubt smelling like a tramp I finally arrive in Dali, a whole 36 hours after leaving Yangshou, which felt like another lifetime ago without so much as the sight of a proper bed.

I say ‘proper’ bed, as although the sleeper train had beds on the carriage they were approximately the size of a rasher of bacon and probably just as unhealthy!


I’m pleased to say that Dali, besides the major touristy parts has all the charm, character and interesting things to do that made advancing to here a good choice.

With arriving there, a nice Tibetan meal (Yak meat goulash – awesome!) with the guest house owner Jim, along with a couple of beers and some homemade corn whisky ((best local spirit by far!) and I set a new trip bedtime reckon…retiring dead on my feet at 10.30pm!

With Tibet in the plan still, and my promise to be in Shanghai by the 27th, I undertake some hardcore sightseeing in order to get a good feel of the place before the next move on to Lijiang.

So, on day 1 of hardcore tourism I decide to be not quite as hardcore athletically and take a horse up…. Hill to look at the various sights (pagoda, waterfall, view etc.).

As well as the sheer laziness of this option, part of my thinking was that at least with a horse I’m not in control, dramatically reducing the risk of any kind of crash.

So after payingmy 30 Yuan (about 2 GBP) I get on the horse with the guide behind us and start the ascent up the hill / mountain.
After about 10 minutes through the remaining houses and markets the journey begins to feel more like a hill climb and starts to get pretty steep pretty quickly , at which point myy horse begins to breath a bit harder due to the increased effort required to drag my heavy tourist backside up 60degree inclines!

I was starting to get a little concerned about the increasing discomfort my horse was in and was preying for a flat bit for him when he let rip what can only be described as possibly the loudest fart in the entire world.
Right on cue, I started laughing like a little kid, and carried on all the more by the fact that the guide was standing about 6 inches from the rear of the horse! Am surprised it didn’t knock him over to be honest.

Soo,as well as demonstrating my sophisticated sense of humour, the recently exploded methane bomb actually seemed to propel my horse up the ascent with greater speed, some kind of nitro boost I suppose. Amusing and productive – excellent.

After returning to a state of mind more appropriate to my age (over 12) and claming down, the track up to the top began to get steeper still, at which point my horse decided that clearly more nitro was needed for this challenge, although as I later found out it wasn’t just required for this section but for the remaining 45 minute climb at 5 second intervals!!

Needless to say I struggled not to pee myself with laughter on thet way up, especially when thinking about my guide, who must have felt like he was ascending the mountain in some kind of force 9 gale.

After the touristy activities were done at the top (photo’s attached) I got myself a painfully fast but silent horse to the bottom, filling the rest of my day with my usual random wandering around.
With being booked on the evening bus the following day, my time during that day was spent visiting the islands that sit just off Dali on Erhai lake.

IN typical style for my travels in China, I’m the only westerner on the boat although I get talking to Cyril, a Chinese student (still lovin’ those English names) and we take a look round it all together, as well as grabbing some of the excellent local seafood.

It turns out that Cyril is heading further west later that day as well, so once satisfied with my sightseeing in Dali I head off on the evening bus for an overnight stop in Lijiang before making my way to the famous Tiger Leaping Gorge.