Exploring Kingdom of Dali

May 17, 2009



Dali is surrounded by endless rolling mountains 360 degrees. Everywhere u turn, u'll see mountains in front. I remember when we first arrived, the sunrise was mesmerizing. I don't remember when was the last time I felt close to Mother Nature and experienced such tranquility and peacefulness in this Buddhist state. From this post onwards, it's bye to high-rise buildings, traffic jams and city life. Here u'll see black and white Bai houses, batik dye, villages and a dazzling array of colours of the Bai minority.


After rotten luck at the previous hostel, we finally had some luck at our next hostel. Jade Emu is run by Dave (Australian) and his wife Song Ping from Shandong. They are really helpful and friendly people who made our stay enjoyable and memorable. Service was great, room was comfortable, free internet access, free map, location was not too bad also. They even have quality pool table, dart board and satellite TV with BBC, CNN and sports channels! Best hostel I've stayed in! Highly recommended :)


A kind uncle who happened to live near Jade Emu directed us to our hostel


Ding Dong!I thought it was quite cool to stay in a Bai style house like this
Nice and clean-120 yuan/nightView from second level

Today's itinerary was to explore Dali Old Town. Compared to Lijiang, Dali Old Town is much easier to navigate bcos it's laid out in a grid form. That's the map we used to find our way. Ok la...rs was the one reading and carrying the map 95% of the time cos I can't read maps very well hee.


Hong Long Jing Gate (红龙井城门) had water flowing out of nowhere

and people use it to wash their laundry

After the fall of the Nanzhao Kingdom, Duan Siping established the Kingdom of Dali in 937. 'Duan' is a rare surname in China. If u come across someone with this surname, he or she is most probably from Dali. The kingdom was destroyed by the Mongols in the 12th century. The Dali Old Town we see today was rebuilt by the Ming Dynasty in early 1400s.

Manual car barrier
All kinds of tropical fruits
Colourful

See the mountains in the foreground?

Grocery shopping time!


白色污染 (White pollution) refers to those extra thin white plastic bags that are commonly used in China. This supermarket forbids the use of such plastic bags to help protect the environment.

烤乳扇-Local grilled cheese with sugar is a MUST-TRY in Dali! There are a few stalls selling this at 2 yuan.



West Gate (苍山门)-Awesome!

I'm not only a cigarette, I'm the boss of a film shop!

白板!

No la, these are paintings on a typical Bai house

Auntie, crocs and desserts don't go together la
Stalls selling local snacks
Pohpiah??
Yu Er Park
We walked into this park and saw people relaxing, chit-chatting, sleeping under umbrellas,

and playing mahjong under the trees

There's a play area for children while the adults gamble away

Rides

Roofs have unique design
Bai ladies

I thought there's no such thing as queuing in China???

We walked into their local market...

and came out in 5 mins cos it was rather dirty inside

She looked into his camera and smiledNobody buy my meat...

Local bakery shop-Nothing looked nice to me

We are the four musketeers

This is our favourite public toilet in Dali cos it's new and clean!

A guide book recommended this restaurant so we decided to eat lunch here. We don't know where else to eat anyway.

Courtyard in a Bai house

Hmm, what shall we eat today? Some restaurants have utensils that come in a set like this. It costs 1 yuan to have clean, sterilized utensils and a piece of mind.


That's our lunch. The only thing I didn't eat was the pickled vegetables (酸菜) at the bottom. We didn't order it. It came with the fried rice. He had diarrhoea after this meal so it must be that plate of picked vegetables.

Stir-fry vegetables with toufuWe had our first taste of the famous 乳扇

YUMMY!Red bean filling inside Not coming back again. Food was rather expensive.

Dinner was at Stella's Pizzeria, recommended by Jade Emu. They bake their pizza using the ancient method.
Hmm, what shall we eat again??
They have books, magazines, games and free wireless
Thanks to my father who taught us Chinese Checkers when we were young, my marbles reached the other side earlier than his in almost every round. Woohoo!


Looks yummy isn't it? We ate Hawaiian pizza (they ran out of pineapples so we had mushrooms to replace), mushroom cream soup, and fried noodles with beef, veg and carrot.

Walking back to our hostel after a full dinner
They have regular hotpot and BBQ nights at the courtyard

There wasn't anyone at the pool table so we decided to play even though we weren't good at it


First time throwing darts!


That's baby Talon sleeping soundly in his grandmother's arms despite the loud rock music in the background. He's the son of Dave and Song Ping, the owners of Jade Emu.

We heard this hostel has EPL broadcast but too bad the tv station stopped broadcasting when we were there. So we just sat at the courtyard and talked to Song Ping and her mother. Guess what? Song Ping is just a year older than me and she's already a mother and owner of a hostel! It was interesting hearing about their stories and perspectives. They have a very good impression of Singapore and Song Ping said when she was a child, her dream was to visit Singapore. Then I told her "Don't come to Singapore! There's nothing to see!" and rs quickly turned around and whispered "How could u say that?!" Well, I was just telling the truth wad...hmph. We were exhausted at the end of the day and went to sleep while a breath-taking panoramic view of Dali awaits us the next day...

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4 comments

  1. rs14 June 2009 at 15:10

    Ya, Jade Emu is the best! mainly becos of its excellent service and non-discrimintation of asians (we were the only non-ang mohs around)

    nice listening to their family stories and meeting a mother and son with dumbo ears like mine:)too

    ReplyDelete
  2. buibui18 June 2009 at 03:12

    i miss the dog sleeping at the staircase!

    ReplyDelete
  3. mb30 June 2009 at 02:46

    this reminds me... rmb the hongmei road i told you on shanghai map but didn't get to go? go googleDITU find 红梅路. its at 上海市青浦区. hehe. 你的名字太强了！

    i can feel the wind from ur pics man.

    ReplyDelete
  4. mb30 June 2009 at 02:48

    ohoh and i used the utensils before also! that 1 yuan is well spent in china man.
    my father open liao still wash with hot tea another time haha.

    ReplyDelete