Bicycle Ride along Lake Erhai, Dali (2-7)

My first day in Dali was perfect. I rented a bicycle—a really nice 24-speed one—and rode along West Erhai Lake Road, which goes along the lake and has beautiful views of the lake on one side and farms, houses, and the mountains on the other. The weather was perfect for riding and the road is flat. My destination was Xizhou, which I’d read is a good village to visit and is about 20 km/12 miles from Dali; so it would be a good distance and amount of time to be riding. However, I didn’t see a sign for Xizhou and ended out going to Shagguan, which is farther. With my many stops, it took five hours to get there. Riding back steadily took 2.5 hours; so I think it was about 20 miles each way. More than I’d planned, but it was good and I wasn’t too tired at the end of the day. I started riding at 10:45 and returned at 7:15; so it was a full day.

The road is relatively new. It’s two lanes most of the time, but through the villages it is often one lane. Not many cars were on the road on Friday. But, as the drive becomes more popular, traffic flow could be a problem. I was glad to be riding when it wasn’t busy. New buildings are going up in all of the villages. Many of them look like new guesthouses. (I learned later that much of the new construction is also for wealthy people from elsewhere who want a summer house in Yunnan province.) A couple of the villages have cafes and small shops where one could buy a drink or snack. One village has a drinks shop. As time goes on, I think the road will be lined with more places for tourists and there will be many shops and cafes. I was glad to be there while it is still quiet.

Street lights along the road and in the village near the lake are wind and solar powered. That was the first time I’d seen those. Andy said he saw them in England.

The first part of the road—and some of the rest—goes through farm country. I enjoyed watching the people working in the fields. 

Green vegetables were abundant, especially green onions and green, leafy vegetables. Some people were picking green onions; others were hoeing. People took baskets full of green onions to the lake to wash them. On the way back, I saw a small truck being loaded with green onions to take to a market somewhere. And there are fields of yellow-flowered rapeseed, which is used to make canola oil.

The views of the lake were stunning with the late morning light. 

In some places there are trees in the lake near the shore. In the morning and early afternoon, the lake is calm and they reflect into the water. 

There are brown ducks in a few places and white ducks in another place. 

There are boats kept along the shore. 

People in boats were doing something with nets, as nets were collected in the boats. 

On the way back, it was windy and there were waves on the lake in some places.

I stopped at three temples, two of which were old. One has a sign that says 1894. 

They may be a form of Tibetan Buddhism, as they have blue, demon statues and no Buddhas. At the first temple, some boys were playing. They stopped to say “hello” and show off a bit, but they didn’t want photos taken. After a few minutes, they went back to playing and ignored me.

At the third temple, an old man was sitting outside the main building. He showed no interest in me when I nodded and went in, but when I left he growled. I didn’t know what that was about; so I ignored him other than to confirm that the sound had, indeed, come from him.

The villages are home to Bai people. Houses have black, blue, or green and white paintings. There is usually a geometric design at the eaves. Many have other paintings, mostly of nature, on the sides. 

Old women wear traditional clothing.

A highlight of the day was coming upon a special gathering with dancing. When riding through one village, I heard drumming and decided to see what was happening. I saw women—ones I’d seen dressed in special costumes in another village—carrying a dragon; so I went down the street, thinking it might be a parade. They took the dragon into the courtyard of a house where people were sitting to watch the activity. A man indicated for me to go in; so I did. They did a dragon dance with the women carrying the body and a man carrying the head, which was not attached to the body. I was really excited to be able to watch the dance.

People liked that I was taking photos and some indicated for me to photograph someone. And they enjoyed looking at their pictures on my camera. One man holding a baby was especially friendly even though we never exchanged a word. 

After the dragon dance, the women did other dances with flowers (artificial), fans and ribbons, and blue cloth I think might have represented a river. They faced the front of the courtyard; so I viewed most of the dances from the back. After a while a woman gave me a low bench to sit on. 

Later another woman, a hostess I think, as she wore a red sash across her chest, gave me a bag that had two pieces of dense rice flour cake. 

People at the front wore dark clothes with red sashes. Later I saw cars with large red flowers and sashes on the front driving away from the village. When I asked Andy about this, he explained that since red is for weddings, the event was probably a wedding. I had thought that might be the case, but I didn’t see anyone who looked like a bride and groom. I enjoyed the dances for about an hour and then moved on.

Eventually I arrived in Shagguan. I recognized the name from a map and knew it was much farther than I’d intended to go. I stopped at the lake briefly and saw a boat with ospreys sitting on the side. There was a sign about the osprey culture of the lake outside the parking lot. A woman was frying small fish and shrimp; so I had a few skewers of those before beginning the long ride back.

Since I’d already taken many photos and wanted to return before dark, I rode back steadily at a good pace. But then it was sunset time, and I had to stop to enjoy it and take a few photos. I also stopped for a milk tea about halfway back. 

With the evening light, the reflections in the lake were different than in the morning.

After a brief stop in my room, I went to a small restaurant for dinner. I managed to communicate that I wanted vegetables, showing “vegetarian” on my phone dictionary, and the woman suggested fried vegetarian, which was perfect. Now I know what to ask for. The dish had the white radishes and cut up stalks with green tips. I think it might have been the strange vegetable I’ve seen in markets but I don’t know what it is. At any rate, it was delicious and was just what I wanted.