Kunming and Dali

For the 1st of May we had a week off, and we decided to explore the West of China with Giz and Jan. It was definitely worth it! We all agree that this is the nicest part of China so far. Thanks to the altitude (around 2000 m), sunshine is almost guaranteed. After a week of grayness and rain in Guilin, that was most appreciated. Due to that region being on the “Silk Road”, one finds a lot of cultural variety. Some merchants brought more than their goods to this part of the world. Thus, the gene-pool got “mixed up”. We found it very interesting to guess the origins of the people there.

Afterwards we traveled on to Dali, a lovely city surrounded by mountains and next to a big lake. There, we found both perfect weather conditions and lovely Western food. The latter made us strong enough to go for a bicycle ride in the countryside and on a big hike up the local Changshang Mountain. Believe it or not, but the Chinese workers built a 12 km – long hiking “pavement”… 2800 m above sea level. Very convenient and impressive. In fact, the track was wide enough for people to cycle on it. The views we got on there were breath-taking. If we got you curious, please take a look at our photos at our flickr site.

Lee followed his nose and found a large plantation of his favorite plants. They can be found all over Dali, and old grannies are continuously trying to sell their herbal wares.

On our last day, we took a bus to a neighboring village inhabited by the Bai minority. We were able to see a lot of original Bai architecture buildings. Most of all, we liked the concept of courtyards. They are such a great idea. Why don’t we all do it? Shikun, what do you think?