The First of the Old Towns

One of the many entry gates into the old city.

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Ah Dali, the city of smoka gunja.

As I waited in Dali city for the number 4 bus to take us to the old city, standing in the shade of a pillar looking after our bags, (Kandace was getting rid of all that water she drank.) a voice called out "do you need any help?" I replied "no, I'm all good."  and noticed that the person looked rather familiar.  He says "Hey, I know you."   and we both say at about the same time

Me:From Don Det right.
Him: From New Zealand right.

Talk about a small world. Two and a half years after our trip into South East Asia and this Israeli guy we hung out with for approximately a week bangs into us in the middle of a street in China with absolutely no contact in between.

After a brief conversation he says he's living up in the hills above the old city and he's playing at the dragonfly, we should catch up there.

Take a close look at those leaves..

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Soon after we arrive at the old city and start our room hunt. This lady (in traditional Bai dress) approaches Kandace saying room this way or something similar. She leads us up a small alley, up some rickety stairs and into a room with two kids sitting on bed watching TV. About this point we're both thinking I think she's trying to get us to stay in her front room..  She then pulls out a box opens it up and says a phrase that will soon become the catch phrase of the old town "smoka gunja?". We couldn't help but smile, nice try lady. We politely refused by saying that we would like to find a place to stay first. In hindsight this was a mistake. We should have just said no thanks cause her and her buddy stalked us for the next day and a half saying "you smoka gunja now?". Of course they weren't the only ones. It appears that pot smoking in Dali is overlooked by the authorities. After a few conversations about this anomaly we came to the conclusion that the Bai people eat the marijuana seeds and the powers that be have for whatever reason chosen to ignore any possible other uses of the plant in this region. This has led to plenty of cafes sticking up smoking encouraged signs or something similar to say that you're in a safe place to smoke. While I'm on the topic, the stuff grows wild everywhere around Dali. We took a walk at some stage and found a plant growing on the side of the road. We thought that was a hoot and took a whole bunch of photos unaware at the time that that was just the beginning. At some Pagoda which was technically closed for renovations, (as if a sign and a bit of wood was going to stop us.) we found massive patches of them just growing wild, like weeds!

Ok, so this photo isn't very good but this is the roofs of the various buildings.

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So anyway, Dali. When you hear about Dali you can pretty much guarantee people are talking about the old town. There is a new Dali but that's just a bland medium sized city with no soul. Old Dali however is an ancient walled city which is primarily pedestrian access only. For 500 odd years Yunnan province was it's own kingdom starting around 800AD. During this time Dali was the capital and it wasn't until Gengis Kahn came rolling through that the kingdom was reabsorbed into a larger empire. Up until this point in urban China I'd have to say we'd really only seen the new China. While there has been much renovation and I'm sure the city has lost some of it's charm and authenticity, Dali still has it's narrow old roadways, cobbled streets, open waterways and old style architecture. As I sat on the balcony of our room I could imagine being an old school ninja and running across the the rooftops leaping with innate skill from one street to the next across the narrow alleyways. (Cause I'm that awesome) Anyway.. somewhere back in reality.. Dali is nestled between Cang Shan Mountain (seems like a hill nowadays.) and Erhai Hu, one of the largest fresh water lakes in China. There are a few Pagodas just uphill from the oldtown and some temple about half way up the hill. There is apparently also a shaolin temple nearby but I didn't realise this until after we left.. We hung around Dail for 5 days cause we needed a rest and it really was one of those chilled out places where you can take a break from traveling. Add to that our "rest" in Thailand wasn't very relaxing and the few weeks leading up to leaving were pretty hectic and we were pretty knackered. Kandace found some sort of Chinese rasta cafe where a couple of the chilled out workers spoke english. They taught us chinese chess and gave us the low down on a couple of good chinese dishes. The Lazy Lizard, a bar ran by a German guy, gave us some insight into Chinese drinking culture. Apparently they're even worse binge drinkers than Kiwi's. They'll drink anything you put in front of them.. Even if it's a cup of vodka.. They will then, of course, fall over backwards and vomit: all over the floor/off the balcony and on to the floor below. This to them appears to be acceptable. They paid for the drinks so you have to clean up after them.. Nice.

We never did in into the Israeli guy again which was a bit disappointing but hey, maybe next time. You never know.

 From Dali we headed to Lijiang and Tiger leaping Gorge.