DALI-Of The Overland Trip HK-Shenzhen-Yunnan-Vietnam Feb-Mar 06

大理。。。。十多年前初次到大理是因为金庸的《天龙八部》。。。。。。。。。

十多年后旧地重游。。景物新旧参半，人事已非

(Edited from an email to M from an internet cafe in Dali (Yunnan) 23rd Feb 2006 )

Hello ! Greetings from Dali !

I'm in a very very nice cafe (Cafe de Jack) in dali right now, it's got wonderful ambience n music n food is reasonably priced n delicious. i had this 'la banana flambe' thing yesterday night which comprises of three bananas cooked in brandy n orange juice in a pan that goes into flames right in front of me, 12 yuan only!!

Dali, like Lijiang has changed considerably from my last visit 12 yrs ago as Yunnan is now a popular destination in China and there's an influx of tourists doing the Dali-Lijiang-Shangrila route on tour buses. My first impression of the present Dali was less than lukewarm after having been to Lijiang but i've come to like it for what Lijiang is not. It's definitely got less attractions in its surroundings c.f to Lijiang but it's got a correspondingly much less tourist crowd. i didn't see a single tour group here at all, at least not those with flag-carrying guides. Its old city is smaller than Lijiang but this means navigating is fairly easy. I'm kind of glad there isn't any Disneyland or theme park feel in Dali as there is in Lijiang. Most of the tourist cafes here r empty n they certainly don't hv the noisy bustle at night like Lijiang. Most shops in the old city r actually still v much catered to the local pple, and all housed in v traditional buildings-the Bai tribe architecture. Prices here r certainly cheaper than in Lijiang incl. accomodation. And unlike Lijiang where they have gone all environment friendly, u do find pple here spitting n splashing water on the cobbled streets though not as bad as elsewhere in China.

i felt kind of sorry for the 'touts' trying to get pple to go on a day trip with them. It's easy to cycle around here n most backpackers would do so whilst those who would take the day trips out on vehicles would have been cornered by their guesthouse staff already so the 'touts', mostly old pple, didn't appear to get much business.

i went to view Mt Cang and Er Hai 苍山洱海 and the 3 famous pagodas (大理三塔) and met this v nice pony-cart driver uncle who has 3 daughters; he was so upset that at my age i'm still unmarried that he went on and on quite seriously abt introducing some 'nice' fellows to me and kept stressing that it is not good to remain single :) ha ha ! 'jia-lat'

On my way back to the guesthouse after the 3 pagodas visit, i passed by this park that's just next to the alley where my guesthouse is situated and decided to pop in since the guesthouse staff did say there are some 'cha-hua' (carmellelias) still in bloom. The flowers were not at their most beautiful, however i had an enjoyable time watching two groups of very interesting ladies, one group of middle age and the other all senior citizens practising dancing inside.(They call ladies 金花 here in Dali, remember they call them ‘胖金妹’in Lijiang ? :) ) It was very interesting and heartwarming at the same time watching them and my heart wished for our people , at their age, to be as active, as hale and hearty and strong as these people ...



Oh, i must tell u abt this hair salon i just went to. It's run by this guy who was the designated hair stylist for 'Pin Guan 品冠' of "WuYin LiangPin 无印良品" when they came to Dali. The hair sytlists there all wore v 'hip' hair styles n their skills were also not bad judging from the customers who had their hair done there.
i just had a wash, trim n blow, all for 8 yuan. It's 6 yuan if u choose Pantene or Head n Shoulders shampoo. i like the meticulous ways the guys do the cut for their customers. They took an hour average for every customer n for mine too, even though it's only a trim!!
So if u ever come to Dali, u must visit this salon. :)

Ah..my dinner is ready , so bye for now.

p/s: i'm leaving on the night train back to Kunming.
Happy Working !