29th December: Shaxi, China to Dali, China
It was another sunny but smoky morning in the bowl of mountains where Shaxi sits. Crop burning seemed to have accelerated today and, as well as the smell lingering even inside, the surrounding hills were barely visible.
We needed to get a bus back over the pass to Jianchuan and then onwards to Dali. I thought this would be simple, given how easy it was getting here but it proved to be anything but. Firstly, with my neck still sore and to hopefully prevent it getting worse from lugging a backpack, we got a DiDi to the bus station. However, this was very much abandoned, despite still having a large sign out front. We did consider just getting a DiDi to Jianchuan but the only driver accepting was the one who’d dropped us off to begin with and I couldn’t fit in his car without further neck discomfort. Eventually, we decided to take another ride to the main road where we’d been dropped a couple of days ago. Confident that buses were every half hour, we waited and waited. After a while I asked one of the minivan drivers waiting there and he said he’d take us. This was a marshrutka-style situation though and he still wasn’t satisfied with the number of passengers 40 minutes later. Kaja had wanted to try to get a Didi all the way to Dali since the morning, but the cost didn’t make sense to me when buses had been so easy getting here. After 2 hours and having not made it out of the village, we tried the cheapest Didi option for Dali and someone picked it up! I guess £35 isn’t too much in the grand scheme of things, but it felt like a lot in a period which was supposed to be where we reduced our average spend by not travelling by train. The journey was just under 2 hours but still less than half of what it would’ve been by bus, if we had ever left Shaxi!
The smog lifted as we passed through the mountains into another valley. The brown hills at this moderate-to-high altitude felt a little like central Anatolia. Lake Erhai came into view, this time to our east, and we passed a never-ending town along its shores before reaching Dali ancient town. The new town itself is another 15 km south, so the sprawl hemmed in by the lake and mountains must be 40 km north to south.
Check in at the hotel was lovely. The owner was very friendly but got another long-term guest to help him check us in. It turned out that Shan had cycled from her home in Hong Kong and was waiting out the winter in Yunnan before continuing on into Tibet, Qinghai, Xinjiang and eventually around the world! We’re slightly envious and hope to chat more over the next few days. We were also given an upgraded room on the top floor with a view over the lake and for miles in all directions. For an even better view, there is a roof top terrace!
Hungry, we walked down the hill and across the main road into the ancient town. At first glance, it seems like most touristy old towns in China, but we’ll try to get off the main areas more in the next few days. Firstly, we found various mushrooms in rice paper, which we had dipped in soy for a snack. Not content with that, there was a vegetarian place with more friendly owners. After nearly banging my head and having a laugh with them, we ordered mushroom and vegetable fried rice and some mushroom dumplings. I think I said before, but mushrooms are a very popular locally grown food in northern Yunnan. These were cooked perfectly and satiated us to continue strolling.
The sun began to dip behind the snow-flecked mountain an hour or more before sunset and the temperature quickly dropped. Before heading back, we took a turn down a side alley and happened upon a Catholic Church in a typical Chinese architectural style. They had real decorated Christmas trees out front. Finally, some proper festive decorations to remind us of home! On the way back we stocked up at the supermarket and found some unusual versions of chocolates. They had dark chocolate and almond snickers, which Kaja loved.
