Dali

Dali is about 250 miles from Kunming in the direction of Tibet. It’s motorway all the way and our comfortable long distance bus took 5 hours, including one stop at a service station for refreshments, etc. And then it was a short taxi ride to the ancient walled city. Our guesthouse was near the east gate on an almost pedestrianised main road, a short walk from the city centre. Our hosts were hospitable Moslems, the only drawback being that they spoke no English and we are still struggling with Chinese.

The old city has a wonderfully informal and relaxed atmosphere, very different from Kunming with its hordes of people and vehicles. Dali has been deliberately preserved and developed as a centre for tourists, both Chinese and foreign. We saw many more westerners than we ever see on the streets of Kunming, including the backpackers for whom Dali seems to be an essential stop on their journey. There are many restaurants and cafes where English is spoken and whose menus include both western and local dishes. And they all have free internet access.
And yet the local people are still very much in evidence. Dali is home to the Bai minority people, but there are other groups in the area too. We saw a lot of people wearing their traditional costumes, the younger ones for the benefit of the tourists but the older ones simply because that’s what they’ve always worn. Our first full day it was market day with an amazing array of fruit, vegetables and other items, as well as the open air dentistry. True!

We went out in a fishing boat on the local lake (the fifth largest in China). We were the only two passengers apart from the seven cormorants who did the fishing! The fisherman punted and rowed his boat out into the lake and then gave the birds the signal to start fishing. They had strings around their necks so they could only swallow the smaller fish which they caught as they repeatedly dived and surfaced. Big fish had to be brought back to the boat for the fisherman. Eventually another signal called the birds back on board and we returned to harbour. We were photographed with a cormorant on each arm; the wounds from their claws were only minor!

The rest of our time was spent shopping and walking in the surrounding countryside. All very relaxing.

Then, at 2.30 in the morning we were due to go home, Judy began to be ill. No need to go into details except to say that we were so grateful for our western style toilet and en suite bathroom! By 11 am she was no better, so we phoned a friend who put us in touch with two English speaking doctors. A taxi was called to take us to the hospital where Judy was put on a drip for about 2½ hours and given an injection and other medicines. Total hospital charges were less than £2, plus taxi fares in each direction. We won’t be claiming on our medical insurance.
So we returned to Kunming a day late. Judy was just well enough to go and teach over the weekend, but she will probably take a few days to recover fully.

Andrew is with us for another week before going to Thailand with the water purifier parts for assembly and delivery to the Irrawaddy Delta. It’s raining again today (!) so we hope that means the monsoons are still providing fresh water to Myanmar.