Day1
Our day began with a Chinese tea ceremony performed by a proprietor in one of the specialty Tea shops selling fine tea in incongrous shapes and sizes. Prices ranged from $15 to over $200 a kg. Our Master of the tea ceremony surprised us by initially overpouring the tea and then discarding the first 'draw'. It was seductive artistry and we succumbed to the theatrics with a purchase of fine aged jasmine tea.
Today also saw us walking for an hour from Dali to the Three Pagodas built around the 9th century AD. Tea plantations and a grand columned walkway lead to the temple complex.The Pagodas are doing their job - no dragons in sight! They are situated in the grounds of ChongSheng Temple which was once the Royal Temple of the Kingdom of Dali. It is one of the largest Buddhist centres in South East Asia. Situated spectacularly in the foothills of Zhonge Peak and overlooking Erhai Lake the temples link in perfect symmetry upwards with spacious granite walkways and steps leading between linked temples which house gold coated copper deities. Around 3 pm we were lucky enough to observe monks chanting and drumming within the temple.
I was enthralled by the beauty of the dragon influenced temples, the spacious and grand walkways, beautiful gardens and peaceful surrounds. Even Chinese tour groups could not fill the spaces. The temples are grand, the statues enormous and radiating peacefulness by the enormity of their presence. A must see on a travellers journey in these parts.
Hunger from 6 hours of wandering took us back to the Ancient city for a meal of beef noodles and eggplant -delicious!
The shopping opportunities are overwhelming -jade, silver, embroidery, ornaments, fabrics etc etc etc
Days 2-4
Dali has been a busy place as our stay coincided with a holiday week. We have easily spent 4 days in this delightful and interesting town wishing our Mandarin was better. Thousands of Chinese tourists thronged the narrow, ancient streets in the old city, There are very few foreign tourists in Foregners street...all are overwhelmingly Chinese on holiday.
Prices are steep at Tourist venues so we have had to be selective. The cable car ride to the top of the Eastern Himalayas was missed due to being about $56/CNY286 per person. So we settled for walking and visited the lakeside village of Caicun. A pleasant 2 hour walk to Erhai lake & Caicun past rice fields and flower nursery. This town is fast transforming with massive new hotels being built on the lakefront ,catering for an ever-growing Chinese tourist market.
The roads are filling with new cars and well dressed Chinese tourists and growth and development continues within and around Dali.
