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.

Kunming to Dali (2-6)

This was a travel day. My bus seat was in the front row. With the broad window in front of me, I could see everything. Much of the scenery was beautiful. The road went through a number of mountains, the tunnels reminding me of the trip to Jiuzhaigou. 

Some of the hills were terraced, but most were barren at this time of year. Rape seed was growing in some fields.

After a while, I noticed that houses in the villages we passed had paintings on them. So I enjoyed looking for paintings. Around a place called Dinosaur Valley, the houses have paintings of dinosaurs. 

In an area that must be famous for mushrooms, they have paintings of mushrooms. We stopped for a break in that area, and the shop has bags of many kinds of dried mushrooms. 

A sign beside the road features mushrooms. 

In both areas and later along the road, houses have round, often geometric designs in the eaves. These were usually different on each house. A road sign welcomed us to the home of the Yi ethnic group; so I think the villages may have been Yi villages. 

As we approached Dali, the paintings on houses changed to black and white designs and pictures as well as designs in the eaves.

The trip to new Dali took five hours. I remembered reading that buses go there and you then have to go to old Dali, which is farther along the lake. When we were arriving at the bus station, I noticed vans with signs saying Dali in Chinese. Having had the word pointed out on my ticket, I recognized it. So I headed for the vans, and sure enough, they were going to Dali. The next decision was where to get off once I arrived in Dali. I waited several minutes for a taxi, but the only one that passed was occupied. A few girls who were standing to my right decided to move to my left so they could hail a taxi first. 

So I started walking to the ancient city to find one elsewhere. The two that came along wanted too much money; so I kept walking. I was enjoying walking since I’d been on the bus all day. As I went down the hill, the sun was starting to set behind the mountains behind me.

The ancient city was crowded with tourists, but I enjoyed my first glimpses of the buildings. No more taxis came along, and I eventually came to an intersection with a sign so I could call the guesthouse and tell the man where I was so he could pick me up. But a young man with a car approached and offered to take me for 30 yuan ($5). Since I wasn’t sure if this was reasonable, I called the guesthouse and the man said that was a fair amount, so I agreed to let the man drive me. The guesthouse is near the lake, which is farther from town than I had realized. I had chosen to stay near the lake rather than in the ancient town, and I as I walked through the crowded town and we drove out of town, I was glad to have made this decision.

The man dropped me off and pointed to the pier. The address I had said the guesthouse is near the pier. I walked up the street and asked and was twice pointed toward the pier. Then a woman pointed to the left; so I went that direction. After a while, I decided to ask once more and then call the guesthouse. When I entered a building where there were some people eating, a young woman came to help me. She called the guesthouse, and Andy came to meet me. The guesthouse is located on the main road to the pier farther up than I had walked. The people pointed me toward the pier because they saw those words and not an address. The guesthouse is new—four months old, and the name I had was in English; so people didn’t recognize it.

Andy studied and worked in England for ten years; so his English is excellent. When he called me to ask how and when I would arrive in Dali, I wasn’t sure if he was Chinese or foreign. He returned to China last year to help his parents, who are getting older—59 and 60. They moved to Yunnan because the weather is good. I found it strange to be talking to a Chinese person who speaks English so well and sounds British. But it was nice to be able to communicate easily.

When I commented on all the new buildings and construction, he explained that the government recently built a ring road around the lake; so all the small communities are expanding to accommodate more tourists.

Andy invited me to join the family for dinner, but they were having beef dumplings that his parents were making. So he took me to a nearby restaurant. The server recommended a vegetable dish; so I had it. It was a soup with white radish strips cooked with a small number of beans. Not quite what I was anticipating, but it was quite good. As I was finishing, Andy came to see how I was getting along. Back at the guesthouse, he offered me some Australian wine a friend had recently given him. As we finished, he left to pick up some guests. When I started to go upstairs, a man said something to me and then indicated that they wanted to take a photo. I ended out sitting and chatting with them for an hour. They are an extended family from Guanzhou. The 12-year-old boy did a nice job translating some of what the men wanted to say and answering some of my questions. After a few photos and some chatting, they decided to offer me tea. They had special Yunnan black tea, which I hadn’t had before. After a while, the other man’s daughter came down to chat with me. She is 24 and works in a bank. She apologized for her poor English because she hasn’t used it for a year, but her English is quite good. They thanked me for spending time with them, which they appreciated because they don’t have many opportunities to talk to Americans.

Kunming (2-5)

I flew to Kunming in Yunnan province on Monday. My flight was with Hong Kong Express, which I had chosen because it was the cheapest flight that left at a time when I wanted to leave. From the plane’s magazine, I learned that it is a new airline with only five planes, planning to expand to fourteen this year. It flies only between Hong Kong and several Asian cities. Kunming is the only city it flies to in China. Like U.S. planes, it did not provide lunch but sold it instead. And no drinks were provided. But all else was fine. The seats are farther apart than American planes, which was also the case on my previous plane and on April’s planes. The sky and clouds were especially beautiful, and I had good views of the land below.

After arriving in Kunming, I took the airport bus into the city and a taxi to the guesthouse. By this time, it was 4:45 and I was hungry. Because of the holiday, most places in the area are closed. The guesthouse gave me a great map of the area. Using it, I set off for a walk to become acquainted with the area and to find food. Going up the hill, I noticed the air is thinner in Kunming and remembered that its elevation is high—6,000 feet. This took some adjustment on my part.

I found a street nearby with a lot of old buildings, some of which have been renovated and some not. I enjoyed walking down that street and found a place that sells drinks. 

Eventually, I ended out at Green Lake and decided to walk around it. The streets beside the lake were lined with lanterns. By this time it was dark and the lighted lanterns and the lights reflecting in the lake were beautiful. Half way around I came across a woman selling sticky rice in bamboo, one of my favorites in Thailand; so I bought that for dinner. It was good to be walking after the day of traveling.

Tuesday I headed to the Western Hills, the mountains outside Kunming. The guesthouse map had bus directions, and they worked well. When I arrived, a few women were pushing bus tickets at people getting off the bus. I didn’t see any buses and didn’t know what they were talking about; so I just followed the crowd, which was walking up the mountain. Later I saw the green buses going up and down the mountain. We walked along the road most of the way, sometimes having views of the lake below and the city across the lake.

The first stop was the magnolia garden. Luckily, the trees were blooming, and it was a beautiful place to sit, relax, and eat. Many people were doing that. Farther along there were two temples. When entering these, I was given the senior free entrance, which was nice. 

Huating Temple, the second one, had the arhat figures that I enjoy, as each one is different and serves a different purpose. The ones here are golden rather than painted like I’ve seen before. 

I was especially struck by the detailed painting on the guardians at these temples.

After the second temple, I took the old path through the forest to the third temple. The first half is steps up the mountain. These were challenging because they are steps uphill and because of the higher elevation. But the walk was lovely.

At the third temple, the woman selling tickets said I wasn’t old enough for free entrance; so I paid. Before leaving the temple, I had a bowl of noodles. When I left and started to put the ticket in the bin, she called me over and pointed out the other two temples that the ticket is good for. I told her I’d been to them. When she asked about my ticket, I said they didn’t give me one. When she asked how much I paid, I explained that they didn’t want money (The only Chinese I know to say I didn’t have to pay.) because of my age. Then she gave me back my money. That was nice, but what I was really pleased about was that I had communicated successfully.

At the top, the ticket seller suggested I take the cable car up, walk down, and then take the shuttle back to the central area where I could get the green bus to the bottom. That sounded like a plan. The cable car, as always, was wonderful. It goes through the forest, and there are great views of the lake and city. 

The main destination at the top—elevation 8,000 feet—is Dragon Gate, a gate and grottoes carved out of the side of a cliff. These were carved over fourteen years starting in 1781. To get to the area, the path is downhill. One section has a group of karst rocks that are called a miniature Stone Forest. Not really. Part of the path is a narrow tunnel through the stone cliff. Part of it goes along the edge. 

There is a cave grotto with figures carved in it. 

At the main gate, there were many people and everyone had to touch it and have a personal photo taken with it. So it was hard to see the whole gate. But there were good views from the other side later. And many people went to the gate and then returned to the cable cars; so it was less crowded the rest of the way down. There are a couple more grottoes and a few temples on the way down.

At the bottom, I was happy that I had a ticket to take the shuttle back to the central area, as I was tired. From there, I took the green bus down the mountain. Once there, I started looking for the bus back to Kunming. I saw a group of people who were waiting and, thinking they were waiting for the bus, asked them about it. They were waiting for their car. But they had enough room for one more person and offered to drive me back to the city. Then they decided to drive me to the guesthouse, which was really nice. The woman speaks some English and wants to improve her spoken English. I was too tired to be very friendly, but I managed to chat a bit. She wants to be email friends. We’ll see.

I tried to order the special noodle dish—across the bridge noodles—that is recommended. I had it written in Chinese, but the woman at the restaurant only pointed to the photos on a menu. Maybe that’s all she sells and I should have tried to go upstairs, but I was too tired to deal with it. (After having the dish later, I realize that one of the pictures may have been it, but I had no idea at the time.) I had noticed another café that was open, and when I glanced into it on the way back, the man said “hello.” That usually gets me to go in. It was a Muslim noodles shop; so I had noodles with vegetables.

When I was relaxing in my room, I realized that one reason I was so tired from the day’s walking was the altitude. I probably did too much, but the altitude also contributed to my more than usual tiredness. But I enjoyed the day. I had no idea what Dragon Gate was; I only knew it was highly recommended. I’m glad I made the trip, and I’m glad I walked so much, as I do enjoy the walking.

Wednesday was a slow day, which was good, as I needed to take it easy. I returned to Green Lake to see it during the day. It’s a totally different place. I’d read about the sea gulls that come to the lake between November and February. The area capitalizes on the sea gulls: A board at the entrance features 3-D sea gulls; the street lights have sea gulls. When I saw a sculpture I’d seen Monday night, I realized that it is sea gulls. 

In the morning, there were hundreds of sea gulls on the lake. People were feeding them bread, which, of course, attracted them to that area of the lake. Many people were riding paddle boats on the lake among the sea gulls. Many were walking around or standing or sitting and enjoying the lake. 

Flowering trees were in bloom. Tulips, daffodils, and narcissus were in bloom. It was a very pleasant, relaxing morning.

In the afternoon, I went to Yuantong Temple, which is the most important temple in the province. It was constructed in the 9^th century. In front of one of the buildings there were two statues of mythical animals. People would rub part of the animal, the eyes for example, and then rub that part on their body. I remember being told that this is done to bring good heath to that part of the body.

After a brief rest in my room, I went to the bird and flower market that is near the old street I’d walked down Monday evening. All kinds of animals are sold to be pets—birds, dogs, turtles, snakes, mice, rabbits. More places were open because it was earlier and, I think, because it’s the end of the Spring Festival holiday. I joined many other tourists walking among the stalls. Most of the items being sold were things I’d seen in Fenghuang—Miao embroidered bags, horn combs. I found a hat stall and bought a hat since, for some reason, I’d forgotten to pack a hat and I needed one for protection from the sun. I chatted with a woman from Gansu. Her father was looking at hats and wanted to know what “Marlboro” means. He chose the hat with the Marlboro band after I explained it.

At breakfast I was introduced to puer tea, a red tea that is a specialty of Yunnan province. I really liked it and knew I’d be buying some to take with me. In the morning, I stopped at a tea shop and priced it—220 to 350 yuan ($17 to $58) for a six-inch disk. The man at the guesthouse had told me it can be expensive but it lasts a long time. At the market, a woman was selling disks for 25 to 120 yuan ($4 to $20). I figured the cheap ones wouldn’t be as good; so I purchased the more expensive one with a 20 yuan discount.

I had dinner with an American man who lives here. He’s 69 years old and is a life coach, doing most of his work by phone with clients in the U.S. He cooked mixed vegetables—no rice—that were delicious, especially since I hadn’t had vegetables for a few days. We had an interesting discussion.