Dali, Yunnan, China Visit

After our visit in Lijiang we took a bus to Dali.  It was a beautiful drive across a range of mountains to reach the valley where Dali was.  This large valley has a very large lake, called, Ear Ocean (pronounced r - high in chinese) and there is a few-mile-wide band of fertile land between the mountains and the lake.  The weather was beautiful.  Yunnan province is the same latitude as Mexico so even though the elevation for many of these towns is quite high (Dali is about 6000 feet, lower than Lijiang 7000 feet) the weather in winter is moderate and the fields produce crops year round.

I mentioned before that this area was part of the southern silk road connecting India and China for hundreds of years.  For this ancient fertile land the nearest seaport was through Myanmar (the old Burma) to the ocean.  During the events leading up to the 2nd World War when Japan was fighting and occupying portions of China we aided China by flying supplies into China along this southern silk road route.  The famous "Flying Tigers", at least very famous in China, are the American air force contingent that flew supplies in.  So many here talk of the Flying Tigers and there are memorials in recognition of this assistance from America.  I was surprised because my only prior learning about the flying Tigers was in learning about the history of American bombers and airplane development.  There were some problems pre-WWII airplane design and also airframe and engine manufacturing problems that, if I remember correctly, were fortunately identified and rectified during the long arduous flights crossing the Himalayas.

The drive from Lijiang to Dali crossed a range of mountains.  It was amazing to see how extensive the small terraced farms.  In some areas they have rice patties terraced like this.  These fields grow mainly wheat or grains other than rice.

One of our first stops once we got to the valley was a cultural center and tea house where we were served some interesting teas (many herbal, fruit & grain based teas) and saw some traditional dances of local minority people.  One custom of humorous note is that on a bride's wedding day, guests and family pinch the bride as a token of luck and best wishes.  This custom was shown as part of one of their folk songs and I felt bad for the poor bride who was pinched everywhere and apparently almost anywhere from upper and lower cheeks to appendages.

These 3 pagodos and the large Temple complex on the slope of the mountain are the most famous sights here in Dali.  The first of the pagodas was built in the 9th century AD.

Lot's of sunshine and reflecting pools.  If you look carefully both of the smaller pagodas lean due to earthquakes over the past couple of hundred years.

These are guardians for the temples and their myriad gods.

These statues are knives or daggers common to certain sects of monks and martial art.  There was an American movie, perhaps the Shadow?!?!...I don't remember for sure....that had a dagger that would come alive and attack people as directed by the mental energies of its master.

This temple complex has the most gold-leaf covered gods & goddesses of any temple in China.  This temple complex is also about the most active with worshippers, donors and was clearly very well maintained.

This temple complex is on the slope up the mountain.  From the upper temple you can look down toward the lake.  To get proper scale the narrow lake in the background is over a mile wide.  Just over the top of the largest center temple you can see the 3 pagodas sticking up.  It was a long hike up the hill from the pagodas.....good exercise, rewarded of course with a Magnum bar after I returned to the shop areas!

The walkways up the mountain to each row of temples was quite magnificent

As previously mentioned, the Chinese are big into reflecting pools and lakes usually filled with fish and turtles both of which are symbolic of good fortune and prosperity.  Turtles are also symbolic of wisdom and longevity.  This pond had many turtles.

Dali is also famous for its marble which is beautiful.....and a small vase of Dali marble (in fact the name for marble in Chinese is Dali rock) found its way into my luggage.  I wanted a large vase but it wouldn't fit and I couldn't carry it.

The old town of Dali is a walled city half of which survived a major earthquake a couple hundred years ago.  The old city is picturesque and has been tailored to tourism and leisure.....kinda like Park City but not so expensive.

Just inside the city wall there is a large spring and this stream flows down the middle of this street.  Very beautiful and there were many shops and restaurants with cuisine that was very tasty to the American pallet.  Including the Belgium waffle place to the immediate left of the stone structure on each side of the stream.

There are many bike rental places.  The five of us road down to the lake and back....what a coincidence I am wearing the same clothes as I type this that I wore on the bike ride....except I lost my sunglasses.

Some crops are being harvested and others planted...very productive land.  This area provides a lot of the fruits and vegetables for the north of China during the winter.

When we left Dali we flew on Lucky Air....we didn't feel so lucky though.  Lucky Air only flies in and out of Dali and has a very high rate of flight cancelations.

It also had the tightest seating of any airline I've flown on!  The seat in front of me is not reclined and my knees are pressed into the seat pocket.  We were lucky it was a short flight and we were lucky the weather was clear and we were lucky we didn't have to fly on lucky air again!